NoDoji's Day Trading Log

Summertime blues Nod. 1959 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R1bWk7PvpY&feature=related

Do not force trades in summer. Enjoy the summer, things will pop when the mkt is ready.

A little story about Eddie c http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO4fIjfEZuM&feature=related

 

I definitely missed a few opps today by being in that slow summery mood

I emailed you ES analysis/questions.

 

Looks like your simulated portfolio is from a website. Looks like a pretty neat website. Can you tell me which website it is? I'd like to check it out for myself for possibly some similar simulated trades.

Thanks,
+-*/ Math_Wiz

 

lol
+-*/ Math_Wiz

 

It's from Etrade's web site, but I think you probably have to have a real account with them to set up what they call a "Portfolio/Watchlist".

It's definitely a cool way to test out strategies. I have a test portfolio saved from spring 2008 called "Strong Fundamentals" based on IBD's ratings of strong earnings growth companies, and not a single stock is profitable as of today; the portfolio is down over 48% as of now.

I also have one saved called Short0609 from June of 2008, 200-share short positions in 4 stocks. It's up 52% ($22,570) as of today's close, despite the massive rally from March lows. The biggest dollar gainer is WFR ($9650) and biggest % winner is LEH, with a whopping 100% return

These test portfolios are also nice for testing various option plays.

 

+ $195

ES Traders’ Question: What’s the best charting? I find IB’s chart dismal, but maybe I just need to explore the chart setup more. I wanted to use QuoteTracker but have no idea how to display the ES chart.

Short ROST @ 38.65 on downward momentum, stop just above the HOD @ 38.85, hit for -$42

ES short signal @ 890.00, but I didn’t short because I didn’t feel the market was weak enough to provide a decent return if any from that point. Buyers indeed came in @ 889.25, but after a very weak attempt to rally, it made new lows. I don’t think my decision not to trade the initial signal was a bad one, because I didn’t feel the reward potential was worth the risk, since I’m use 2-3 pt stops. However, there was confirmation when price failed to break back through the 10-period MA and pulled back to 890.00. At that point the short position had far more viability, but I was busy trading stocks then, as is typical of me.

Short STEC @ 25.11, strong pullback from double top, looking for ride back to the trend line or better. It broke the trend line and when it was approaching support I went to put in a tight stop and accidentally left-clicked for limit @ 24.80: +$61 (It wouldn’t have made much difference because the bottom of the move was 24.70.)

Short STEC @ 24.85 pullback from lower high. Quickly moved stop close to b/e near support because the overall picture was still one of strength vs. market on this heavily shorted stock, hit for +$5

Short ROST 38.64, pullback from lower high, stop moved to b/e as price dropped in my favor because it’s smack in the middle of its recent range and I didn’t trust it to break down the LOD. Sure enough it rallied forming a higher low after I was stopped out for -$2.

Short STEC @ 24.46, breakdown of all previous support except the LOD, stop quickly tightened as it approached LOD in case of bounce instead of breakdown, hit for +$8.

Short again @ 24.47 when bounce failed to hold up, stop to b/e, hit with slippage for -$6.

Offered 24.95 STEC on the bounce, missed by a couple pennies and didn’t chase (sadly).

Short CL @ 74.00 very tight stop because I was in full size and it looked like some refreshing going on, hit for -$23.

Short CL again minutes later @ 74.00 on pullback from very slightly higher resistance, major move in my favor and I was looking for a test of lows, made a lower low by .01 cent and congested there, so I put in a very tight stop, covered @ 73.68 for $156.

Short STEC @ 24.44, pullback from overbought forming a lower high. Scratched the trade @ 24.42 when it pivoted right off the now-rising 10-period MA: +$2

Missed next STEC short entry by .02 cents, but no chasing in this tight area (again sadly).

Short small position MIL @ 69.69, pullback from lower high, tightened up the stop near the trend line when it moved quickly in my favor. It was strong and jumpy with a wide spread, so no reason to piss money away in the event the trend followers still feel there’s potential to the long side. Stop hit for +$14. I overestimated the strength of this one and would’ve been far more profitable if I left the stop at b/e, as it dropped to previous support and broke down the LOD and made new lows.

ES long signal around 2:10 p.m. just above 884.00 (higher low off “oversold”), but I did not like it at all because of the depth of the lower high that led to that selloff and apparent weakness overall, so I personally thought it a better short entry, but didn’t trade it either direction. (Turned out to be a very solid short all the way down to 875 area.)

I had a nice chat with one of my trading roomies about catching trends and as I was describing how to do it, I realized that I was NOT DOING THIS! I did the research last week when setting up my swing trade test portfolio, and wow that worked beautifully (current “profit” $4868 on my 200-share positions). I need to stay on top of this research so I can catch some of these nice trends. To explain the process I found NAV as an example but by then it was almost end of day. I attached a chart to explain the the setup, and entry signal.

End of day, short small position ROST @ 38.96 pullback from HOD left F/U candle, stop @ 39.02 above HOD. Covered @ 38.84 for +$22.

Missed a lot of great trades today by NOT TAKING ALL MY SETUPS. The usual…

 

yes, the missing opportunities are the best or the not done yet things are always the best, human nature!

"If I ..., then what "are the best

 

Hi NoDOji,

I have tried almost all with IB regarding charting and I like ninjatrader by far for ease of use and functionality. It is free also. If you are just using it for charting you can disregard the information about using a certain TWS version. If you need further info on this please let me know.

 

Here's you symbol for ES contract

GLOBEXESU9

 

i have no problem with ib's chart. before i used windows system, I have this problem frequently such as stuck bid or ask price, or the chart is broken become a horizental line. I think th eproblem is from windows and their windows tws'version has lots of bugs, I siwtched to linux system, it runs perfectly, I never come cross any chart or quote problem, now almost one year, never.