Took 3/4 profits at 1206.25 with 12 ES pts. I will get flat below 1204. Edit: OK, I am on automatic pilot here so I can post a note for those who are still in the game. I look for (plan for) this kind of move the night before. I look for early entry based on the opening range (30 min). Today for instance I saw an opportunity to get long right after the opening range at 1204+. As I mentioned, I favor sticking the toe in the water, so I was long 10 cars on entry. Then it is a matter of monitoring the reports and adding or closing out the trade as it moves north or south. Today, it moved north, so I added size whenever I had a small pullback to hit. Reports polarize the market and so you have to expect it to snowball on you. The first pullback is a gimmee, you just buy it and watch. If it continues north, you have a chance to hit a homerun. The rest is just judgement and luck. I look to lean on pivots, S/R and gaps. I hope this helps some of you next time. Lefty.
Lefty, What do you mean by "always buy the first pullback", to me it looks like the market is just running to new highs on the day. Does that mean buy "if the close of that bar is a pullback from the high, then buy it?" Thanks, Mike
Thank you sir. For those interested in trading reports, I also posted my trade (as best I could) for the last FOMC report. I think the thread was titled "trading the FOMC report". Same basic idea. I did this for personal reasons, but probably won't be able to post more on report trading as it is just too difficult to manage the trades and type (for me anyway). Hope it helps those who are trying to get in the game. Best to all Lefty Edit: Mike, when the market is making a strong move, you buy the first pullback. Yes, you watch the bar and when it closes below the high you buy that pullback. I use the midline of that bar as my stoploss. You don't chase the bar however, I try to buy the pullback or enter on the open of the next bar. If you miss it, well then thats how it is. Don't chase it. Edit at 12:09 EST my stoploss got hit (1204). So I am flat and closing my books for the day. By the way, I just can resist commenting on GOOG. Over on the other thread, retail traders are commenting on how they are going to short the issue. Naturally I have conflicting feelings about this (remember QCOM?) but hey thats life. GOOG is trading at 287+ right now. In this office, we are long from 150 with a collar.
I'll never understand why people dwell on the past. It's not 1998, 1999 or whenever. Failure to adapt to the playing conditions of today seems to cause some traders to complain and whine. If they'd spend their time time looking into alternate methods of trading, instead of talking about the past they might find. I see trading a lot like sports. Technology and the players improve over time. Can you imagine a pro golfer whining about the fact that players are using graphite shafts instead of wood shafts? Same for tennis ... can you imagine Serena Williams showing up with a wood racket? Tiger Woods, as good as he is, is constantly looking to improve. And so should traders IMO.
May started poorly for me, but have turned out to be great. 4 strategies, and will add one more now in june. How do you manage pairs now Mike? Done research on it, and I find only poor risk/reward. Sure with maybe 20 pairs as you say you might get the whole edge out of it, but but but... It seems so small. 8 out of 10 winning trades gives scratch in my testing and analysis. But Im now talking about intraday pair trading, not longer horizon. Might be a big difference there. ORM
Hi: I think that is a positive way to think about any pursuit. For each unit of trading (hour trading) we do here, I would imagine we spend more than 10 hours researching and studying the markets. As far as I can tell, there isn't another way to do this profitably. Good luck folks Lefty