Hey all, I figured I'd use this journal to start documenting my trading activities. I already keep a very detailed journal breaking my trades down by every statistic you could imagine, but I'm thinking that posting publicly will benefit me in a few substantial ways. 1. It will force aknowledgement of whatever my current trading situation really is in. I've noticed in many areas of my life that physically writing something out or verbally saying something makes me much more aware of whatever the issue is rather than just having it happen. Almost like the theology of confession. For example, for a competitive person like me, its real hard verbally telling a collegue I'm down a grand on the week, and that action shakes me a lot more than just that number in red on a screen. It probably works the same when you're knocking the cover off the ball as well, but i'm guessing its not nearly as helpful. In my trading, pats on the back aren't so good, they make you cocky. 2. It will add another layer of accountability. If I break my one of my rules, point it out to me; call me on it. If I am getting a big head, knock me down a level. 3. Hopefully, more fresh, independent, and unbiased sets of eyes might be taking a look at my trades; and through that, they might catch something I am missing or am not realizing. FYI - A little bit on my trading style: I trade intraday, hoping to average around 4-8 setups a day (I'm higher than that in reality, and am working on being selective). I trade mainly the ER2 but will occasionally take a setup or two on other contracts (Euro, Yen, etc...). I trade two types of setups, volatility breakouts and S/R breakouts, and my most profitable trades by far come when both those criteria are present. I have a relatively small account, so I trade 1 contract at a time, and rarely will get fully pyramided up to my self defined maxholding, which is 3 contracts. Long term goal: Become a PM and head up a futures strategy for my current employer (I'm currently a trader/analyst for a family office - they have no exposure to futures, so I'm restricted to trading soley futures in my own account and am free to do so during market hours when our firms trade flow is low). Hope you all enjoy, and introduce yourself if you like. I'd love to hear from you guys and make this all collaborative and such. Have a good one. -- Tarwater
5/21/2008 Got chopped out in the morning, then had to go to a damn Bloomberg seminar in the afternoon. That post-fed minutes move is the type of vol I historically have been great at capitalizing on. The fat tail type, one-way moves are the ones that keep me in the game, while scraping by the rest of the time. Really pissed I missed it. Reminds me (and worries me) of the quote... "If you make a bad trade and you have money management you are really not in much trouble. However, if you miss a good trade there is nowhere to turn. If you miss good trades with any regularity youâre finished. " â William Eckhardt Trades: 2 P&L: -380 Hope you all fared better.
Was anticipating the BO this morning (yesterday was an inside day and I believe an NR6 or7) and nailed it spot on. Should have called it a day then. Lost discipline on my entries during the midday chop looking for another leg down or a reversal, overtraded and gave back 3/4ths my profit from the morning trade. Trades: 13 P&L: +$360
Traded the ER2 well today and was up ~750 bucks for the day there, but lost all that and more screwing around in crude. I think today has proven once and for all that I cannot adequately handle trading two markets yet. So from now on, I'm sticking solely to the ER2 until I'm back at an equity high and have proven once again I can handle one market before adding an additional. Trades: 10 P&L: -400
trades: 8 P&L = +210 Boring day except for the last few minutes. I really tightened my stops around 11:30 because of the chop. Seems kind of counterintuitive, but I decided if I was going to whipsawed, I'd rather lose a very tiny bit (5-10 ticks) than my normal amount(~1.5 to 2 points based on atrvol), even if it meant having more losing trades.
Bummer of a day. I did an awesome job staying disciplined, traded real small, was selective in my setups, and was set to make make little bit(~150 bucks) on the day, a day when I would normally be down substantially. I was short the ER2 into the close and I was late covering at the end of the of the hour and got whipsawed real bad in all the jumpiness that ensues at the close. turned my entire days profit into a 200 dollar loss. trades: 6 P&L: -250 P.S. - I am currently short 1 contract of the ER2 over the weekend for a mini, mini, swing trade. Today was an inside day as well as an NR7. Couple that with the month-end window dressing being over and I am anticipating a BO to the downside. If we open even the slightest bit positive on monday morning I am out at the open. Have a good weekend you all.
(Day)Trades: 0 (closed 1 overnight trade) P&L = +800 My over-the-weekend short played out almost exactly how I imagined (a very rare occurence and a pleasant surprise). Closed the trade out about an hour into the day for a nice +800 buck profit. We might have a trend day on our hands, but I'm too busy to stick around and see. This is a good start to the new month after a disappointing may. Have a good one. P.S. - I won't be trading/posting the rest of the week. I take the CFA Level I test on Saturday and will be out studying/cramming/freaking out all week.
Shorted a yen future at the break of .9453 for a swing trade. It's been channeling really tightly for about a month and I'm looking for a range expansion through the bottom of the channel. Worried I might be a bit early and am a little uncomfortable with the size (I'm much more used to/comfortable with daytrades w/ 150-350 bucks at risk as opposed to swing trades). But this will teach me to trust my setups and to be more patient and hands off and let the trade play out since I don't have the time to watch and fret over it. Back to a 8 hour cram sess for the CFA this weekend. Wish me luck, I'm gonna need it.