Trades 12/8 (Tues) - Nothing Much Happening

12/7 (Mon) - 12/8 (Tues)

ETF

Long DIG late last night (my last night, 12/7 at 11:30pm; 10:30am ET) and EARLY this morning (my morning, 12/8 at 2am; 1pm ET) but price started stalling after breaking downtrendlines. Both trades were scratched. I needed sleep.

FX Futures
6B
Still bearish on USD. Can't help it. Long 6B during lunch (my lunch time, 12/8 at 12:30pm; 12/7 11:30pm ET) but scratched trade. Waiting for further development. Market's slow and quiet. If nothing good shows up, will spend the day reading Ryan Jones, and nurturing my AUDUSD position.

6B 200-Tick

Index Futures
TF
Nothing on TF. Pivot's below where price is trading now. If it gets a bounce from there, I might get in on a good setup.

TF 15min

FX
AUDUSD (Long)
Never mind.

TF Trades 12/4 (Fri) - FINAL

TF 200-Tick

Total: + 3 Points

Really calling it a day now.

TF Trades 12/4 (Fri) - Wrap Up

Total: + 1.9 Points

TF 200-tick

I am officially very sick of TF's min charts. Was checking out its tick chart shortly after getting out of my globex hour trade, and noticed that it was nice. That run up before market open was crazy but not unexpected. Had I switched to a tick chart earlier, I wouldn't have gotten out of my scratched position.

But I don't look back, so all's good.

US Session
I had been focusing on the bull flag and for price to break on the upside and didn't even realize that market has opened. When price indeed broke above and didn't look like it was pulling back just yet, I put in a buy stop order to get in at 602.8.

Order was filled when D got back to his workstation. He asked to take over, so I let him. Told him to set a limit order to sell at 605 (target was determined much earlier before trade was entered - I went with Fib 211.8 but chose 605 coz it's a whole number and it's a "5"). When TF got to 604, I told him to move stop to breakeven. The next second, I heard "SHIT".

"ok, good, we got 1 point right?" I figured D had ACCIDENTALLY closed my trade.

"We got 1.1" A very, very remorseful D replied, as we both watched price shoot pass 605.

"YAY!!! SMOKE BREAK!" Like I said, I don't look back.

Even Alberto sensed that D was upset, and came running to console him. I told D that it was alright, that I make mistakes much more often than he does (and my mistakes usually cost us big time). D promises that he will start to get used to using the BookTrader instead. But he was still mad with himself. So I had to tell him that actually I wasn't sure that moving stop to breakeven was such a great idea, and would have probably bailed at 604 anyway.

D's now HAPPY.

Men.

Update: I totally forgot about non-farm until I read Paul's post! But then again, had I gone with tick-chart, I would still have bought a breakout on the upside on both the globex trade and the post-market open trade. It was actually the min chart that got me in too early on the globex trade. Great, I just blamed my chart. Soon I'll be blaming my cat. He wants food and massage everytime I sit on a losing trade.

TF Trades 12/4 (Fri)

TF 15min

In at 588.5; scratch at 589.1

Like I did for all previous pre-market trades, I had set a sell limit order to cover position. Target was 593.

But as mentioned earlier, I was starting to feel uneasy about the trade. So I covered at ceiling of channel (bear flag?? bear wolfe???).

I was expecting to see a round bottom sort of formation (with price testing yesterday's low or pivot from the day before at around 586). So yes, I was stupid to have bought at 588.5. But buying at 586 would make me look like a bottom fisher (not that there's anything wrong with bottom fishing). Ok, I just didn't want to miss the ride should I fall asleep (which I had been doing for the entire week).

Unlike the previous occasion where I had bought a pseudo bull flag (price was hanging in mid-range, but there was a flag pole and a flag....), this time, I simply couldn't go take a nap after the order was filled.

Experience has taught me it's always good to walk away from trades that make me feel sick in the stomach. So I bailed.

And now I can take my nap.

AUDUSD position still open. My stop has not been hit, neither has my profit target. I'm starting to really not know what to do with it. I'm tempted to buy some more. We'll see.

WOLFE

TF 1min

Was just talking with Todd. He pointed out a bearish wolfe on Wed's chart, and I thought it'd be interesting to show just how common wolfe patterns are.

There's another bearish one from yesterday that hasn't touched the pink wolfe target line. I'm now really starting to worry about my long position.

Trades 12/3 (Thurs) & 12/4 (Fri)

FX trades from 12/3 (Thurs)

EURUSD 15min : + 29 pips

AUDUSD 15min: + 10 pips

Still holding on to 1 AUDUSD position.

TF Trade 12/4 (Fri)
Limit order pending

Trades 12/2 (Wed) - Wrap Up

Total: + 1.2 Point

TF 1min

For the strangest reason, FED day ALWAYS clashes with my "Day 1".

But today's the FIRST of all the black Weds that my brain actually worked!

Well, it did start out a little cranky (which was apparent to D when I told him to SELL).

First trade was not exactly stopped out. I told D to flip. He wasn't fast enough. But, we'll get there.

Anyway, my initial plan was to stay on the sideline on crazy chart days like today, so I'll consider any gain a bonus / narrow escape.

Result for part 2 of the day: - 1.4, +1.9, +0.7 = + 1.2 TF Point

TF Trades 12/1 (Tues) & FX Trades

TF 15 min

Total: + 4.9 Points

Last TF trade was a solo trade (D's at work in his office). I love trading with D - I get a real kick out of driving him up the wall. But his tendency to flee drives me crazy. So, we are even.

This is the last time that the account below will be used to trade TF. New account for TF trading has been funded (forcing me to hedge the amount by selling USD and buying SGD) and we'll be using that instead. This account here will be for ETF trading (daytrading and swing trading) only:

FX

EURUSD 3Hr

AUDUSD 3Hr

All FX positions still opened. All profits in pips.
Leverage: 8 to 1 on 12k.

Update:
AUDUSD position closed:

+73 pips

2 EURUSD positions closed:

+84 pips

TF & ETF Trades 11/27 (Fri)

TF 1min

D and I entered into this arrangement with ONE rule that we promised to observe: I give him the entry and profit target, he executes the trade which includes getting in and getting out based on what the tape and the other indices are doing.

I broke that one single rule and asked to take over everything. Bad news was, my chart and IB's BookTrader went out of sync like 70% of the time, and I missed our 580 exit (2 points away from our entry at 578) when I was focusing on my chart at the wrong time (when Booktrader was FASTER than my chart). I ended up having to scratch the trade at +2 ticks.

D was super pissed.

Anyway, I got us a second entry, and this time, D executed the trade and covered where I told him to.

1.3 points, plus a little in ETFs. $190 to end a short trading session. Happy ending! Ha.

No trades from yesterday. TF had a really short session (ICE closed at 10:30am ET) and I didn't bother.

TF Trade 11/25 (Wed)

TF 1min

TF : + 1.1 Point

Great reset.

D got home really late. US session had begun, and we were having dinner and catching a movie. Well, D was watching the movie. I was busy making notes. It was good that D wasn't paying attention to the market. I had all the time I needed to let market make its move before I made mine.

The best part: D was finally willing to exit where I wanted him to. No more running after 3 ticks. GIRL POWER.

Done for today. We are both tired.

TF 11/20 (Fri)

TF 1min

Day 2.

Day 1 (Thurs) was NOT good. D took calls from his office, from his mum, and couldn't stop checking his blackberry, and his office laptop for emails. Extremely frustrating for me coz I like QUIET, FULL COMMITMENT & COOPERATION and UNDIVIDED ATTENTION.

Day 2 was better, albeit a tad comical. D was argumentative (D's always right...). We got our entries, but none of the targeted profits. D was extremely reluctant to stay in trade and would run with his few ticks each time. Drives me nuts.

Will keep doing this during US session.

Am still trading 6E during globex hours, but will slowly switch to Forex.

Jules Is A Mule (Part 3??!)

6E 15min

Yesterday was an interesting day - not just because I gave away 1k in a single trade again - so thought I'll talk about it.

I Shorted the 6E rather early in the morning (my morning and around 8pm NY time) coz, well, I was convinced 6E was going back down to test the spike low (see chart above). As with other days that I refused to think straight, I held on to the trade until I realized I couldn't be sure if price was going to stop going against me before the day ended. And as with all those other days that I was convinced that price would go to a certain place, price eventually did start going in my direction, or totally hit my target, either a few hours after my exit or 24 hours later.

All these days had been Wednesdays.

After I cut my loss, I had gone into my personal library to dig out some material I came across before, and to take a closer look at something that I never really took into account when I trade the futures: market participants (who they are - farmers/merchants/banks, speculators, hedge fund managers etc, and WHEN they operate).

My hypothesis about why the chart did what it did and why I kept hanging on to my biased view was confirmed when I traded the TF later in the evening (US morning of course) - when a wolfe pattern failed during lunch hour (learning very quickly from my 6E experience just hours before, I told D to refrain from buying a breakout - which is needed for price to get to wolfe target).

In any case, a hard stop would have saved me from myself. I had a lot of conviction, which was why I didn't want a stop to get in the way (what an irony). Extremely stupid, looking back. But then of course everything always appears obvious with the benefit of hindsight. It takes a hell lot of discipline and UNCOMMON SENSE to immediately recognize and stop a stupid act that's about to happen. I have neither discipline nor uncommon sense.

But I have an endless supply of energy. Maybe that's exactly what makes things worse. Instead of taking a hiatus after that 1k loss (6J took it!) from 2 weeks ago, I went right back to work after a 2-day break....

And after yesterday's 1k blunder, I went right back in to intervene in D's trading.

I had started off by telling D I would stop trading altogether for a while, and share with him about Wolfe Waves instead. After US market opened, D traded the account, taking his usual 1 to 3 ticks (since I said I wouldn't trade) before I spotted the wolfe pattern.

When I told him to go long at 595, he hesitated but went with it anyway. BUT he got out after 3 ticks instead of holding and moving his stops til we see the 3rd target (see chart below). When TF hit 600 in a parabolic move up, he blamed himself for not having persuaded me to take the trade myself.

As if things hadn't been bad enough up to that point, D had to sell at a place that I would buy, after TF pulled back from 600.

I hit the bid column on booktrader, covering his short.

D yelled "WHAT ARE YOU DOING??!!!" (I know, someone who has lost 1k just moments ago really shouldn't be meddling in the trade of another who has a record of zero to one losing day out of 20 on average) .

I was stunned, but only for seconds. Then I hit bid once more to get in on a long trade, at 3 ticks higher than where I had covered D's short (where I covered his short was exactly where I had wanted to go long - in other words, I had wanted to flip his trade - but D shocked me, and I was late hitting bid a second time as a result).

After I covered my long at +9 ticks, D thanked me for stopping his short at minimal damage, and for the rest of the day, we were in consultative mode (until I went in for my shower when D quietly took some "lunch time" trades).

It was fun - trading with D. And we might just do it again. I'm tempted to let D execute all the trades I identify. D doesn't lift stops - which means I can say goodbye to 2.5% drawdowns in a single trade forever.

On TWS - Red arrow shows where D entered on wolfe pattern, Blue arrow shows D's short that that I covered, Green arrow shows where I went long after covering D's short

TF 1min (my apologies for the blur - program was going to shut down, and I hadn't saved the chart, so needed to do a capture immediately - click to get a better view)

6B & TF Trades 10/13 (Tues) - Wrap Up

Long TF: 30min OR hit a mere 6.7 points suggesting that a 2nd leg is unlikely(on trending days, TF usually hits about 10 points within 30min after market opens, and a 2nd leg usually follows). Price closed briefly below OR and reversed back up, failing a bear flag.

Covered at Fib Ret 38.2. I had aimed for Fib Ret 50 initially, but didn't like the wait of nearly 10mins.

D said it's a good time to call it a day.

I keep needing someone to remind me to GO SLOW.

TF 10min

Net PnL: +USD 199.50

6E, 6B & TF Trades 10/12 (Mon) - Wrap Up

TF 233-ticks & 10 min

Started with 233-tick chart, got in on a scalp setup but bailed when there was no momentum (I've gotten used to 3-tick scalp profits - but this time, I got out exactly where I wanted to).

Switched to 10min and took a trade at the close of the 2nd candle.

What I'm doing is really scanning different instruments and different timeframes (depending on the time of the day and the type of day ie ranging, trending, choppy) for something I recognize. I've studied all the charts over the weekend and drawn in key S & R for 23 charts. So I'm playing levels. Timeframe and type of charts don't matter to me. All of them have been studied for patterns that are fairly reliable in the most recent months. I recognize that at some point in the future (hopefully not too near) these patterns will stop working on their respective timeframes. I will adapt.

IB is good with fills. Although it did die on me from 9:30 to 9:35. But it's something I know that happens CONSISTENTLY. That's why I waited for it to die and come to before I entered my first trade.

I had AT placed right next to IB's booktrader. I attempted to take a trade on AT. I just wasn't able to coz AT wouldn't stop skipping prices. Booktrader was stable and traded through every price. I was able to tape-read again.

I have not decided on what to do with my IF account. I will keep it coz I need it to trade commodities, whenever I'm ready to go live.

I like wheat and soybean.

And, I like Anthony very much.

Today's Trades:

Net PnL : + USD 159

TF Trades 10/9 (Fri) - OK Day Crappy Trades

It's one of those classic rotten days.

I stayed in bed almost the entire day. Terrible migraine. And Alberto wouldn't let me sleep (he does that whenever I'm sick....amazing little thing).

Was up at 5 - 6 pm local time (5-6 am N.Y. time). Watched the 6E and 6J. 6E showed a decent setup but something happened and I didn't manage to trade.

Switched to watch the TF chart after US session started, and traded some crap moves.

Checked out the grains charts and saw nothing that I wanted to trade.

Strangely though, I wasn't too bothered/frustrated/mad.

Maybe coz D was working from home today, and I got lots of hugs and kisses (even when he was on calls).

I definitely should fall sick more often.

And I have J (the trader who makes his own blackberry syrup to go with his favorite vanilla ICE CREAM) to chat with. J keeps me cheery. J says that the world revolves around his country and his people - which is why they're called the "US". He's hilarious.

Not a rotten day after all.

Total: USD 60

6E & TF Trades 10/8 (Thurs)

Nothing much happened today as far as trading's concerned.

I traded in a 2-point chop zone for hours and decided to call it a day after my 8th trade and before my PnL got ugly (9 ticks in the red then). Then just when I was having dinner, 6E MOVED. 8:30 news.

6E 10min

I was not happy, and decided I want my money back. Switched to a tick chart and faded that move. Got my 9 ticks back.

6E 200-tick

I didn't even bother with 1-min chart for TF. Used a tick chart instead and took a scalp. Entered at market. Not the perfect way to enter, but stop entry is just as bad. Took my 5 ticks. Now I'm happy. That's more than enough to pay Anthony. Ha ha.

TF 233-tick

The other time-frames I was watching along with 233-tick:

TF 10 & 3min

Total: USD 50

Today's a bad day to trade. It's not the market. There are just too many distractions. Not even going to talk about my chronic migraine.

A very good friend of mine from Hong Kong (I met him in Canada. I was 16 and he was 21. I used to climb up his 2nd story apartment and enter through his WINDOW - never used the lift, regardless of season. I nearly killed him on one occasion when I drove off before he got into HIS car. He was the one who taught me to play mahjong and speak proper Cantonese, and kept me company when I was pregnant - NO, NOT his child - and strandled at home - it was winter in Edmonton) is finally getting married! He called and asked if I would attend his wedding in late Nov.

Nov's autumn in Hong Kong. Of course I'm going!

So, I'm officially taking a real break next month.

Coincidentally, my neighbour's holding his wedding ceremony too, and asked if he could engage my cleaning lady for a day. Then we began chatting about other things. He noticed I sleep late. I told him I sleep early - usually at 3 to 4 am, after I finish work. He had question marks all over his face. I said I trade the US market. He looked relieved.

WHAT WAS HE THINKING???

Anyway, that was a long interruption. And I just couldn't trade anymore. Yes, I'm still having my migraine. And just terribly relieved that my aunt actually remembered my Tylenol! I had my last pill in the bottle and was really distraught. And she called to tell me she's back from Vegas and flying out again tomorrow but she's left the pills at home with her housekeepers. I'M HAPPY!!!!

6E & TF Trades 10/7 (Wed)

6E 10min

TF 1min

Total: USD 212.50

3 Trades: Long 6E, Short TF, Long TF

I'm too tired to write. Woke up early this morning - too early, but I had no choice coz 6E charts were haunting me in my dreams!

Continued to study more charts (and hoping they'll stop visiting me in my sleep) and read more e-books and then 8 hours later, I began watching 6E. Stayed with it from 3am EDT all the way to 9:30am EDT when I switched over to TF.

I don't know how many hours I've been looking at my screen but my eyes are telling me to stop.

So I'm just going to spend the rest of the night listening to D boss everyone around on his 4-hour conference call (which really feels like nothing now after his 40-hour marathon call just 5 days ago on Sat & Sun - I'm not kidding, D had to charge his phone twice, and after he was finally done, he had wanted to clean the air-con unit. I gently told him he's hyper and out of his mind and suggested a massage session from me instead. D's crazy. Really crazy).

6E & TF Trades 10/6 (Tues)

6E 10min

TF 1min

D couldn't understand why I wouldn't take my 1.6 point profit on my first 6E trade (which got stopped out eventually). After all, my risk was just 8 ticks. I said I was aiming for 4759 (purple lines were drawn before europe session opened). I know, that's really stretching it given my stop loss. Anyway, 6E got there, 6 hours later.

That's about the only thing worth mentioning today.

Oh, I kind of dozed off watching 6E's 10 min chart. Actually, I zoned out for a good 30 min. Am sure it will get better...

D fixed my snipping tool (realized it didn't work this morning when I wanted to do my captures for yesterday's trades, and D my IT guru was at work.) But right after he went in for his shower, it failed on me again. So no capture of the fib ext 132.8 target at 4742 that I was supposed to have gotten out at (which I didn't of course, coz I was aiming for a prior support at 4759).

Snipping tool fixed, here's the chart:

TF Trades 10/2 (Fri) - Spooked

TF 1 Min

Red arrow: Loser

Black arrow: Winner

Total: USD 100

It's NFP day, yes.

It's Friday, yes.

My Sim trading platform has not been doing what I wanted it to do for the past few days, yes.

But I'm not in a position to be picky (though with data feed, Anthony did imply that I can - well, he said if there's discrepancy between chart and DOM, it's not acceptable. Sweet Anthony).

I can't wait for the perfect day and perfect feeds to start working again.

And I can't stand it that D went in right after NFP report and got out with a profit!

So, I went live, and to celebrate my first day back at work, I gave away 1 point to the market.

I curled up like a ball in my chair after that, helpless and demoralized. I haven't even the chance to blink my eye before my trade was stopped out. I thought about all those times that I was trading crazier instruments like the 6E and 6J with either a wide or no stop and was almost too relaxed for my own good - those were the days....

Almost in the same instant, I blamed my stop. I was about to widen it to 7 points, when the better part of me told me to CUT IT OUT.

Then I saw a setup. But I had no entry. Great.

Then I saw my entry, but I hesitated.

Then for some strange reason (highly likely Solfest's prophesy about my having 13 kids and being stuck in the kitchen!), I uncurled myself, reached out for my mouse and hit "buy".

Enough is enough. I can't keep chickening out coz of a stupid stop.

I got my 1 point. My heart was racing so fast I felt like I was going to pass out. Yes, I've had that before, but that was a year ago!

Saw my 2nd entry, went in and came out with another point.

By then, my mild headache had become a full blown migraine.

D had no idea the ordeal I went through until he came over and placed his ear on my chest.

He was shocked that my heart could actually beat so fast.

He dragged me out for a smoke, and I missed my 4th signal coz of that (all signals highlighted in white on chart above). But I figured out I should stop before I get a seizure or something.

I'm sure I'm under some kind of curse. J told me about this friend of his whose house is supposedly under an Indian curse. I think I'm under a Chinese curse. In Singapore, they have a term for it: "Kiasu". A direct translation would be "fear of losing", or "scared to death of losing", etc.

Good news is, my platform works perfect today! In fact, it's now faster than my charts. LOL!!

I'm sure Anthony did something. The last time I couldn't access TransAct for 12 hours, I wrote him and by the time he got to the office, I was able to log in immediately. I had thought that maybe I was cursed and D was blessed (coz D got home, logged on, and was in!), until I found out from Anthony that he had made some calls (to TransAct and had them re-sync my account!).

Anthony, again, WHAT WOULD I DO WITHOUT YOU? :-)

I'm going to be using the weekend to think about what the hell is wrong with me. And definitely staying away from anything that causes my heart to palpitate (that means no staring at Hugh Dillon's pictures!!!)

Here's D's chart (the one he hasn't changed since AGES ago - I have dropped TRIX a few times and he still has it!) and his result:

For The Umpteenth Time: I'm A Scalper

Total: 3.5 Points

I entered the 1st trade at 9:33am, and wrapped up at 9:54am.

25 trades: 4 losing (highlighted above)

I realized that I've been using all the wrong time frames to trade the TF (maybe even the ES too.... On NQ, I used the tape and 1min last year and it was pretty darn good).

I used to be good at running, and that was because I wasn't using 3, 5, or 10min charts (actually, NEVER 10 min, as I recall)!

I'm doing this for maybe another day on sim.

Then I'm going live.

Afterall, this was exactly how I traded when I first started ie. it's nothing new.

Why I switched to 10min yesterday, I really haven't the slightest idea.

My most educated guess is that I woke up yesterday morning feeling OLD.

I forgot that D said that I'm a 16-year-old trapped in the body of a 37-year-old.

Really, 10min charts kill my brain cells.

So do 3 and 5 min charts.

I can understand using 5min for forex futures, but for TF during active hours, opting out of 1min chart last year was the single biggest mistake I made.

D has always thought that I'm an extremely extreme person.

I guess I'm just wired that way.

Can't learn any other way.

Definitely no baby steps.

Update:
I was chatting with J and told him I was in and out of the market 25 times in less than 30 mins (20, to be precise, and I totally forgot the Chicago PMI data release!). J said that's a lot of work. I said it's the easiest day for me in the longest time. Really, I'd rather focus intensely on my chart for half an hour than to stare at it for 8, 12 or 16 hours. Looking at my charts for too long makes me see things that are not there, and overlook things that are there!