Overall it was a good day. I'm still in the mental zone of the previous 2 days which I believe was on the right track so the profit was an expect result. On my first trade I experimented a little. Market openned below yty's value and I thought it would rally - especially after the spring which I thought was a successful test. It wasn't ment to be as the market sold off on the immediate next bar. In essense this is the real open for the FESX as the volume is alot lower before 10am my time. On the push to the POC of 2 days ago I took a long which I scratched for +1 as I figured I didn't have enough evidence. On the 2nd push down, price started to stabilize and an indicator dvg formed. Took a long for +9. The market continued to rise but slowly and with some pullbacks. I was considering a long at around 2955 at around 3:45pm but I was afraid of a balancing day and with the market not showing much conviction, it could have dropped lower. On the push to yty's secondary POC I took a short but it was too early and scratched for -2 as price made a new HOD. I gave it a 2nd stab after I saw 1) the candle that made the high close at the middle and close to the open and 2) the immediately next candle about to close down with a low below the low of the previous candle and a close below the previous 2 candle bodies. Got some heat (4pts) but made +6 points on it. Good day. If I can keep up the mental state and avoid stupid mistake, then I can only improve. Comments as always are welcome and would be much appreciated. Trades so far: JAN: W:11 L:17 E:2 Won: +48 Lost: -69 Monthly P/L (in pts):-21 FEB: W:19 L:24 E:14 Won: +90 Lost: -73 Monthly P/L (in pts):+17 2/28: W:1 L:1 E:0 Won: +1 Lost: -2 Loss for day (in pts): -1 3/01: W:1 L:2 E:0 Won: +8 Lost: -9 Loss for day (in pts): -1 3/02: W:3 L:1 E:0 Won: +16 Lost: -5 Profit for day (in pts): +11
No real setups that are typical of my trading of late but did take some quick shorts that worked on good market reads. Market started down and I waited for it but in a surprise move reversed and pushed up. Looking at the profile I thought it could top out at around 3000. It did a little higher and then violently alot of selling volume came in I saw the Trichet annouced that they could be raising rates soon. So move made sense. Volume pushed price through the swing support of 2995 (blue line). I got in short in the next bar at 2996 and took profit quickly at 2990. I wasn't sure if there would be some follow through or exhaustion so I decided to take a bit of profit and run (+6). Priced dropped further and I got another chance to short before the 5pm econ news. Price came back into balance that formed earlier and I shorted for another quick +6 profit. Trades so far: JAN: W:11 L:17 E:2 Won: +48 Lost: -69 Monthly P/L (in pts):-21 FEB: W:19 L:24 E:14 Won: +90 Lost: -73 Monthly P/L (in pts):+17 2/28: W:1 L:1 E:0 Won: +1 Lost: -2 Loss for day (in pts): -1 3/01: W:1 L:2 E:0 Won: +8 Lost: -9 Loss for day (in pts): -1 3/02: W:3 L:1 E:0 Won: +16 Lost: -5 Profit for day (in pts): +11 3/03: W:2 L:0 E:0 Won: +12 Lost: 0 Profit for day (in pts): +12
Best week so far. I attribute it to being able to read the action and patience. Having patience, and monitoring the price action and the volume associated with it gave me good entries. The Market Profile really helped me identify when to pay more attention and when to go off and do something else. Instead of searching for a trade and messing up, I let the market come to me and show me the way. Market pushed up through yty's POC on volume after a down test. It then stopped. It just couldn't break upwards and I took a short which banked me +7pts. Then at US unemployment figures, alot selling volume came in. I knew I had to get in on a short but had to be careful as it could easily just reverse and turn into a V. I first entered a short and scratch it but then got in again on the next bar at a slightly better location. Took my profit at +8 pts. It's all about reading the structuring and figuring out what is going on. There is no magic method or indicator. You have to follow the market, mark down the important levels and watch price react. My charts and anyone elses don't really matter. No one can copy one another anyway. Simply because the secret is getting to the point where your brain can do all the computations and figure out when its a good time to enter and when to stay away. May sound simple but it's not. I just hope I continue doing what I have been doing this week in the future. Trades so far: JAN: W:11 L:17 E:2 Won: +48 Lost: -69 Monthly P/L (in pts):-21 FEB: W:19 L:24 E:14 Won: +90 Lost: -73 Monthly P/L (in pts):+17 2/28: W:1 L:1 E:0 Won: +1 Lost: -2 Loss for day (in pts): -1 3/01: W:1 L:2 E:0 Won: +8 Lost: -9 Loss for day (in pts): -1 3/02: W:3 L:1 E:0 Won: +16 Lost: -5 Profit for day (in pts): +11 3/03: W:2 L:0 E:0 Won: +12 Lost: 0 Profit for day (in pts): +12 3/04: W:2 L:0 E:1 Won: +15 Lost: 0 Profit for day (in pts): +15
I gotta stop doing so well or I could get used to it Part funny, part truth. Losses do help build character and keep you focused. Fortunately, I've managed to do both so far since last week and had another good day. First trade, I took a short off the secondary POC which I scratched for -1. Had that oppty earlier but missed it. Also missed the long on the bounce off yty's POC but that was by choice as I wasn't convinced that would occur. Second trade took a long off the 2nd bounce off yty's POC. I saw the test candles and took a long which I exited early at +8 pts. Got lucky with that exit as the market dropped. My reasoning was based on the 30min chart. I saw that there were some upper tails earlier in the day and feared that price would not push strongly into that area. Third, trade was a short after the big push down. Was stopped at -3pts. Took another short which I scratched at -1pt. Fifth trade came immediately after as I noticed the 5min bar to be a test bar which failed. Price rallied up and then closed down. Made +9pts. Trades so far: JAN: W:11 L:17 E:2 Won: +48 Lost: -69 Monthly P/L (in pts):-21 FEB: W:19 L:24 E:14 Won: +90 Lost: -73 Monthly P/L (in pts):+17 2/28: W:1 L:1 E:0 Won: +1 Lost: -2 Loss for day (in pts): -1 3/01: W:1 L:2 E:0 Won: +8 Lost: -9 Loss for day (in pts): -1 3/02: W:3 L:1 E:0 Won: +16 Lost: -5 Profit for day (in pts): +11 3/03: W:2 L:0 E:0 Won: +12 Lost: 0 Profit for day (in pts): +12 3/04: W:2 L:0 E:1 Won: +15 Lost: 0 Profit for day (in pts): +15 3/08: W:2 L:3 E:0 Won: +17 Lost: -5 Profit for day (in pts): +12
Thanks Jas! Yty = short for yesterday POC = Point of Control (Basically, Market Profile lingo. If you check out anything on the internet on MP you will see POC. Basically where price traded for most time and the peak of the price histogram.) To briefly check out MP see: http://ensign.editme.com/virginpoc http://www.trading-naked.com/MarketProfile.htm http://www.balancetrader.com/main/ Frank Butera runs this last site. Good and honest guy. I met him before he start the site and he introduced me to the concept. We were both members of a chat room that is run by another guy: Ryan Watts (good guy but all technicals -no mp- but the chat room was worth it). Over the chat, while talking he would make real nice calls but more importantly talked about how the market appeared to develop. It was like magic and I needed to find out what the heck he was doing To make a long story short, MP for me is the only market truth. I have tried so many things and at the end I always had come back to it. It is now my main tool. But it's not as simple as some people (like Enthios) make it out to be. You really have to spend alot of time watching the market, and how it reacts with the profile. And like anything else, you have to make it your own. Also 3 books on Amazon: Market in Profile Mind over Markets Steidlmayer on Markets: Trading with Market Profile
Thanks, snow. I read about MP years ago but never looked in to it. Seems you and Ammo are finding it pretty helpful. I'll check it out. Thanks.
Yesterday's trades: Found it a little harder yty to find the rhythm of the market but probably because it wasn't really prepared to go anywhere. Based on yty's "P" formation (see Market Profile), I was expected some oppties to get in short. Started off with a long which I scratched for +2pts when econ numbers were about to come out. Took another long which I scratched after I saw the test candle. The test was for buyers as price tried to move up to swing high and close eventually a little above entry. See chart. Then tried another long at POC. Seeing a theme here? Came into day thinking about short and taking 3 long trades. Scratched in time for -1pt. The thing is that I could get a level which I was happy with - hence the longs instead of shorts. Perhaps should have not traded. I think it was the excitement of last weeks performance... Anyway, finally got it. Went short on the pullback for a nice +7pt profit. Took it off the intraday POC shown by a red dotted line. Trades so far: JAN: W:11 L:17 E:2 Won: +48 Lost: -69 Monthly P/L (in pts):-21 FEB: W:19 L:24 E:14 Won: +90 Lost: -73 Monthly P/L (in pts):+17 2/28: W:1 L:1 E:0 Won: +1 Lost: -2 Loss for day (in pts): -1 3/01: W:1 L:2 E:0 Won: +8 Lost: -9 Loss for day (in pts): -1 3/02: W:3 L:1 E:0 Won: +16 Lost: -5 Profit for day (in pts): +11 3/03: W:2 L:0 E:0 Won: +12 Lost: 0 Profit for day (in pts): +12 3/04: W:2 L:0 E:1 Won: +15 Lost: 0 Profit for day (in pts): +15 3/08: W:2 L:3 E:0 Won: +17 Lost: -5 Profit for day (in pts): +12 3/09: W:2 L:1 E:1 Won: +9 Lost: -1 Profit for day (in pts): +8
He's been posting some MP charts on the ES Journal and also on Hooti's Journal. Don't know if he's got his own .