I'm starting my 5th trading combine with TST today (or tomorrow perhaps). My first 4 were blowouts so I went back to the drawing board so to speak. Using the rules of the combine as a guideline I tweaked my strategies and re-tried. I "passed" all the test except for the earnings goal of $2k. I fell short by about half, but I was only trading a single Mini Dow contract. This time around I'm going with the ES. Here we go!
I only had this morning to trade and really wanted to get this party started, but no energy in the market whatsoever. Watching the ES today was reminiscent of the super slow motion shots of Jason Dufner's swings I was watching yesterday. But I took a long position anyway looking for a break over the open. Nothing doing however so after being underwater for what seemed like eternity, I decided to scratch it and move on with my day. As I glance back before I submit this post, I see that I would have been stopped out. So I turned a loser into a scratch... I feel better already!
Forced 3 trades in another slow day and got whipsawed. I slight winner, two small losers. Not the end of the world but I should have stayed on the sidelines like my gut was telling me.
Yes, but I missed trading days and will be gone the week after so I have to trade. One (of many) things I don't like about the combine.
Finally had some movement in the ES today (relatively speaking) and I smashed it. Had a 3 trade sequence this morning starting at 1666.75 and exited the last 2 contracts at 1656.75 (one tick off the low of the morning) for a $900 + day. Saw it... took it.
Got on the right side this morning but tightened up my stop a bit too much and got stopped out by 2 ticks which turned what would have been a $225 winner at my target, into a $100 loser. No worries. Shorted 1 near the top of today's range and added one on the way down to come away with a small winning day. Not exactly the kind of day to make lots of money, so I'll be happy with the account being slightly higher rather than slightly lower. Base hits...
Well I only had the morning to trade today and it was rather dull yet again. I tried to make a few points to the downside but saw that falling apart as it bounced off support and made a new short term high. Got out for a 1 tick profit and just in the nick of time it looks like as I exited a couple of ticks off the bottom of the uptrend I'm now seeing. Halfway through the combine and on target to meet/beat the requirements.
Thought I saw a turn in the market... even added to my short position. Wasn't there and I got stopped out for almost -$400 day. Tomorrow will be better.
Not happy with my performance today. Sat in a trade for over and hour and a half feeling like it was heading south. Got a head fake to the upside and bailed for a tiny gain. No more than 30 seconds after I closed out the trade the ES took a nose dive. I guess that little guy was waiting for me to move my profit target up nice and close before opening the floodgates. First two trades were duds as well. So I basically sat in the market all day for none of the moves and none of the profit. Neato!