Natural Gas Trades 12/29 (Tues) & Austin P

PnL for 12/28 & 12/29

NG 2min

Both short entries.

Still really clumsy on execution (actually, always the entry). And a little generous on initial stops. Guess they go hand in hand. I can be less generous when I'm more precise. Not exactly great money management in the long run, but am working on improving execution.

2nd attempt after the first was stopped out was a little easier as far as setting stop is concerned. It was a USD 160 stop (less than half of what I set for the first trade). And I was able to move it to + USD100, then + USD 150 just prior to that plunge that hit my target.

It was a real struggle to see 300 disappear right before my eyes TWICE though.

Had I been trading like before, I would have taken the 300, and call it a breakeven day, effectively letting the vicious cycle continue forever.

I decided that since I had the conviction to get in again, I'm holding to target.

Besides, I wasn't going to be taking a loss if I get stopped out at the new stop.

Best case scenario: I get my net USD 400 profit; worst case scenario: -USD 200. I can live with the latter.

Was listening to Austin's videos the whole day, and totally tickled by him, even when I was in trade. A really, really lovely guy. Unorthodox, but definitely VERY wise. He most definitely was the reason that I stuck with what was a reasonable bet. Something about the voice I guess.

Gold Trade 12/28 (Mon) & An Exasperated Doc

GC 2min

Just 1 GC trade today since the last time I posted my PnL.

Basis of entry is a little complicated, but the main reason is MACD divergence (overlayed on main chart - I have difficulty focusing on 2 regions at the same time, so everything at ONE place).

Targeted exit was pivot at 11o3 (thick solid red line on chart), or on MACD bullish divergence, whichever's hit first.

I exited on extreme MACD reading instead, at 1106, leaving USD 300 on the table.

But it's ok. Holding for 10 hours for something I wanted, tightening my stop from 5 ticks above HOD to 2 ticks above breakeven while GC struggled to stay above 1110 - it's an experience I'll pay 300 bucks for, ONCE.

Again, if I see something in the instruments I want to trade tmrw til thurs, I'll trade. Otherwise, I'll listen to the good doc and stay in bed after taking my medication. I was at his yesterday (finally, after 4 days of asthma plus flu attack...Doc was gone during xmas...), and when we were almost done, I asked Doc a few innocent questions.

Me: Doc, do I have to stop taking chilli padi (really, really tiny chilli that's REALLY REALLY spicy) and fried food (I'm a steam food, soupy food, white meat, nearly vegetarian person, but for the past week I've been taking food that my system must find really repulsive)?

Doc: Well, if you're not used to it, then don't take it at all coz it's going to upset your stomach and your throat. If you want your system to get used to it, keep taking it after you get better (what a wise doc).

Me: So, Doc, do I have to stop smoking for the time being?

Doc: I THOUGHT YOU QUIT???!!

Me: ..........

Doc put me on Zyban twice and it worked the 2nd time. That was more than 7 years ago. I stayed clean for 5.5, or was it 6 years....anyway, I pointed my finger at D and said it was his fault.

I'M ONLY HUMAN.

I have 4 pills (for asthma, allergy, flu, and throat infection) plus a really foul smelling cough syrup to take 4 times everyday. I took 3 in the 10 hours I was in trade. What a record.

Trades (Live) & Merry Xmas

Entire week's trading in 2 days.

The rest of the time I sim traded, practising scaling in.

I'm not sure if this is the format I'll be using to blog about my results going forward.

I'm not showing charts and details of each trade for now until I can find a way to explain my trades without letting my explanation affect the way I trade the next day.

I keep a daily trading log and another journal for observation of how each of the instruments I trade behaves on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. So this blog is really just to document my results and my trading journey. It is of course also really my personal diary. I keep no private diaries coz I'm not big on writing to myself.

But I like to write. So, I'll just keep writing as and when I feel like it.

6J Trade 12/14 (Mon)

6J 5min

I'm having a difficult time figuring out where everything's heading. It wasn't the way I felt when I was doing my analysis over the weekend. Somehow everything changed this morning. Typical Dec.

6J was about the only thing that was moving. Oil is dead. For now.

CL Trades 12/10 (Thurs) - Stopped, Stopped, Bingo

Total: + USD 208

CL 200-Ticks

I can't help it. $70 is a bargain - for now at least.

I've used rather tight stops for the first 2 entries (red arrows). After all, price hasn't broken beneath a bear channel that started at the most recent peak (71.20), and so I wasn't sure...

3rd Shot (Blue Arrow)
70.44 was the upper range of a zone support, and also where price had hit a bear wolfe target (an overshoot in fact). Most importantly, price has overshot the black bull channel (I love overshoots), and I was betting on price to bounce off 70.44 on a strong bull reversal.

Stop was at 70.39, and subsequently moved to 70.71. No breakeven stop for this trade.

Target was wherever price hit the bottom of the pink wedge (connecting point 1 to 4 of the wedge is the thick pink trendline along which lies the target for a wolfe setup short from 71.20).

I'll stop for the day. Taking a break before I start losing perspective.

Trades 12/9 (Wed) - Crude Oil Day

Total: + USD 30

I hope I am in the process of morphing into Solfest.

Taking a break tmrw. I think I need it.

6B & CL Trades 12/8 (Tues) - Crude Oil Is Mad

Just 1 scratched 6B trade, and 1 CL trade from globex hour:

Total for Dec 8th 's 6B & CL trades : + USD 188

CL 200-Ticks (+ 2 Points)

I must have waited for 5 hours to buy oil. Then, as we were having dinner and watching star trek, I spotted my entry. Got in and got out in under 1 min. Then I tapped D's shoulder. D turned around, saw my trade, and was amazed by how stealth I've become.

I had him press his ear against my chest.

D said no more crude for me for the rest of the week, and imposed a quota of 2 CL trades per week.

Trading ETFs after US market opens. They are just better for the heart.

Trades 12/7 (Mon) - I LOVE CRUDE!

Total: + USD 320

CL 200-Ticks

Waited for a trendline break. CL broke out. Waited for pull back. CL pulled back to touch red downtrend line for the 3rd time. Lovely! 3rd touch! Now what else do I need? A profit target. Lo and behold, a Wolfe appeared!

Went in with a stop at the low of the pattern. It was the first time I was trading crude oil LIVE. Heart was racing. Moved stop to break even. Heart was still racing. D asked why breakeven. Why not a tick above. I told him to shut up. Then I decided that a good experience with crude should be my target. Exited after taking 11 cents. My hand was still shaking and it totally cracked D up.

DIG and DUG - Totally D's. He bought DIG when I was long CL. He bought DUG when I told him CL totally hit my Wolfe target. I teased him. He agreed that he has no views of his own. D's pissed. Muahahaha!!!

I'm done with futures for the day and helping D to move his portfolio.

TF account's going to idle for as long as there's no clear direction on indices.

Update: WOLFE pattern showing the wave counts (For more details on Wolfe, do check out Todd's blog. He has a wealth of info on Wolfe and other patterns that appear often on futures and stocks charts.):

CL 200-Tick

6E Trades 12/7 (Mon)

Total: + 2.1 Points

6E 200-Ticks

Blue Arrow - Long
Red Arrow - Stopped Out / Covered Long
Pink Arrow - Short
Green Arrow - Covered Short

All longs except the last are losers; all shorts, winners

Odd. I am actually bearish on the USD (Which is why I'm still holding my AUDUSD FX trade. Not selling unless it breaks below support on daily chart.). Last trade was a long on a "3rd touch" setup. Given that it's a countertrend trade, I didn't want to stretch it, and took profit once price started stalling. Wasn't sure price was really going for channel ceiling.

D's working from home. I promised a massage after I'm done.

Trading CL instead of TF unless TF stops showing ugly charts.

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.

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

Trades 12/1 (Tues) & 12/2 (Wed) & SPA Saga

12/1 (Tues) US Session

TF 1min

Typical pre-FED day - tight range, undecided market, basically just an ugly chart until after 2pm. There was just 1 trade that I spotted. Gave D signal to enter (blue arrow), then had him cancel buy stop order. I just didn't think I had to resort to taking a crappy trade like that (wide stop; profit capped by 3rd touch on downsloping channel ceiling). I didn't want to short the market either, and decided to call it a day. D was only too happy. He had been wanting to SELL the whole time. So he faded every new peak in NQ:



12/2 (Wed) FX

Closed my EURUSD position (LONG) from last Friday. Result: -14 pips. I'm not sure what the pair wants to do anymore. I overstayed in the first place anyway (This chart shows my entry on Fri - Oanda's not showing that trade anymore...it probably keeps historical records for no more than 2 days?).

EURUSD 15min

Opened a AUDUSD position (LONG) that I didn't feel comfortable holding, and decided to let a breakeven stop take me out.

AUDUSD 15min

Opened a CADJPY position (LONG) to hedge my EURUSD trade and decided to let a breakeven stop take me out when the 2 started to converge.

CADJPY 15min

I think I just wanted to breakeven for the day.

And now I'm totally flat, and HAPPY. PnL for the week is USD 1300, so I'm going to stay out of a FED DAY.

BAD PEOPLE
I was having breakfast with D at our favorite haunt before he went to work this morning, when he received a call from the manager of a spa with which I am a member ( a 2007 Christmas gift from D - a 12k lifetime membership which he paid 8k for with cash - yes, the 4k bonus was for his generosity). His boss had run away. D broke the news to me, expecting some sort of reaction. But I continued to drink my ice coffee, and gave him a devilish grin seconds later. It's nasty, but definitely better than the "I-TOLD-YOU-SO" expression which always irritates the 2 of us.

Truth was, I was taken aback when I received the gift. But being the ever angelic partner that I was (ok, that's totally fabricated), I forced a grateful smile and said "thank-you". The following day, I asked Seabloke if she could sell the membership on ebay for me, since she's an ebay member. No luck. What was I even thinking - the market just crashed!

So Seabloke and I decided we'd go for a nice massage SOME DAY. The day never came of course. First, I can't be massaged. Second, I can't leave my workstation for even a day. Third, I can't spend a day at a spa - I'll go completely crazy.

It's been exactly 24 months since I received the membership card and I've never once stepped into the spa. And I've completely forgotten about selling the card when our economy turned around.

So there goes D's 8k. I'm just glad he hadn't used credit (I read on the Singapore's Straits Times that there were those who paid for the membership with their credit cards, and it looks like they will still have to continue to pay their installments....).

I told D to go to our small court tribunal. I would rather give the 8K to charity than to people who ran away without paying their employees!

A brief description of the case I found on the net:
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/cna/20091109/tap-097-has-wellness-village-spa-left-cu-231650b.html

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.

USDJPY Trades 11/27 (Fri)

USDJPY 1min

USDJPY 15min

Total: +43 pips

The last trade was tormenting. I had a hunch the pair would make it to my trendline target, so I decided to put up with that extremely long sideway move. When the smallest candles were forming, I literally felt like throwing up and couldn't get out of my chair coz I was fainting. I lost sensation in my fingers, and kept asking D for water that I didn't really need (coz I was really wanting to puke). Once the market started moving again an hour later, I totally recovered from what felt almost like morning sickness. I have no idea still what that was about.

I haven't the time to wait for price to hit trendline (who knows what route it's going to take to get there!) and covered when bull candles started to weaken again at the peak.

I finally figured out where that hunch came from. It was from a 600 bucks lesson (lost 1k in 1 trade, took back 400 in several scalps) from months ago. 6J just kept going up regardless of all the bearish candles that formed along the way. Lower lows and lower highs formed within what I understood later to be corrective waves - all part of a healthy uptrend.

Time to visit Little one.

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.