Back in the game after a 5 year break. Brief History: Began trading in 2001. Left a corporate job in 2003 to launch my trading career. Traded full time for about 18 months. Toward the end of that period I had 5 automated systems that traded ES and NQ. Four of those systems were long only. The systems were based on back testing which showed good results...also, one of the systems used a double down strategy which I knew would eventually blow out my account. I pulled the plug on the systems in 2006 with an overall decent gain for the account (maybe about 20%). Had I continued trading the systems it would have been disastrous come 2008. I learned some valuable lessons from my trading experience: 1. Don't quit your day job unless you have a proven track record. 2. Don't quit your day job unless you have a proven track record. 3. Don't blow out your account. This brings us to today. Why am I getting back in the market now? I thought about investing in real estate lately but I am just not that passionate about it. Trading markets on the other hand gets me excited. So let's get started....
Trading Philosophy There are probable a few really good trading opportunities per year in any given market. The key is to be patient for those opportunities and strike when they present themselves. Strategy I will be trading futures contracts. Keeping my eye on a few right now but I expect the list to grow. All my trades will be discretionary (no more automated systems) and will be looking for the following setups: 1. Breakouts. 2. Buy/Sell at support. 3. Pullbacks in trend. Next post I will list my current trades.
Strategy continued... I will be primarily looking at weekly charts but will also reference Monthly and Daily charts. Current trades: Short ES at 1159 Initiated this a couple of weeks ago. Bought pull back off the bounce. I anticipate we will hit 1000. Stop is currently at 1225. Long USD Index (DX) at 77.990 I just initiated this trade. Stop is at 74.00. I am betting we will hit 88 for the following reasons: 1. Bouncing off of Long term support...see chart: http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/US/W?anticache=1315800336 2. Good chance Gold is at an intermediate top. 3. Issues in Europe are making the dollar look attractive relative to the Euro. 4. Previous high is around 88.
1221 is close to the high price since bouncing off the lows. If we go past that point I feel there is a good chance of us running to 1250.
My ES short is barely hanging in there and the DX long is looking solid as price action has been an orderly pull back from the highs. I am feeling good mentally...re-acquainting myself with the reality of trading futures (i.e. swings in account equity).
ES short is still alive! Stop order at 1221 has not been hit. I anticipate that once ES starts a swing to the down side we should get a nice move in the dollar to the upside.