E7 & 6B Trades 10/19 (Mon)

PnL (Net): + USD 183.85

6B trade was a scratch. Just didn't feel that price was ready to reverse. It's been a pretty slow day. Many charts were plain ugly. A rather typical Monday. Will be watching mostly index futures and ETFs later today.

6B 200-Ticks

D had Oanda re-installed and I'm going to be spending some time getting re-acquainted with the platform (the last time I touched it was a year ago if I remember correctly - and was pleasantly surprised to see INTEREST paid to me!) while arranging for additional funds to be wired to Oanda (I hardly used leverage back then, but was trading micro lots, so the account had always been pretty darn small).

I'm sure it's going to be confusion all over again over pip values.

Will be trading mini lot size of $10K, and trading off the 4-hourly or hourly chart. These are timeframes I hardly use for entries, and it's going to be a real test of my patience (how do you do it, Gav?? And Lonely?? 8-hourly is such a pain to watch...). Again, won't be using any leverage. Will trade one pair at a time.

I wonder if I ever mentioned that Forex was the first instrument I traded...

De'Trader reminded me some time back that when I was still part of their community, I used to share how I traded FX: LET LOSSES RUN, take profit whenever I feel like it.

It worked for me, seriously. There was really no skills involved/needed. And I would trade multiple pairs simultaneously. It was actually rather fun. Those were the days...

E7 Trade 10/19 (Mon)

E7: Emini-EUR Futures
Follows the 6E almost exactly. Volume's really NOT fantastic. Trades like the TF during globex (forget min-charts). Smooth movement. Tick value's half that of 6E's. Commission is significantly lower than 6E's.

E7 89-Tick

Trading Instruments, Trading Plan (Skeleton) & Brokers

A comprehensive list (for now) of instruments and tickers that I'll be scanning for trading opportunities on a daily basis:

Futures

Spot Forex

ETFs

TRADING PLAN (OUTLINE)

I'll be trading purely "W" and "U"/Round bottom reversals either at end of a downtrend, or whenever they are seen around key support zones in a correction in an uptrend. Simply put, I'll only BUY.

All entries will be limit or stop-limit orders.

Hard stops and profit targets will be determined before orders are placed.

Stop-loss will be placed at previous lows with level 1 bullish patterns, or at the floor of a consolidation zone below entry.

Profit targets will be either Fib Ext levels or overhead resistances.

I'll go in with FULL size and scale-out for all DAYTRADES (applies to all FUTURES trading). No scaling in for daytrades.

I'll scale-in only when I see another "W" or "U" setup as price moves higher up. This applies only to SPOT FOREX (where I'll be using a maximum leverage of 1:2) and ETFs trading, which I will hold indefinitely whenever I'm confident that a trend will last for a while.

I'll daytrade both spots forex and ETFs mainly, and hold for a swing only when my profit target is not hit by end of the trading session.

BROKERS

Futures: IB (Main Broker), Rosenthal (considering), TT (considering)

Forex: Oanda

ETFs: IB

6B Trade 10/16 (Fri)

Today's a good day. We brought Al to the vet for a half-yearly review. The good doctor needed some blood from him. He bit her, and is still angry with us now. Everyone that met him at the clinic couldn't stop admiring him. "SO CUTE!!!" Right.

Got home early enough to get a quick bite. TF looked rather hopeless (I was looking for a place to go long). Low of hammer-like candle (first bar of the 10min chart) wasn't low enough (not even close to the levels (613.7 and 611.3) I had my eyes on). So I started looking at other charts.

6B caught my attention:

6B 10min

Total: 2.4 Points

Net PnL: + USD 144.30

1 6B trade, and I'm wrapping up. Am starting to look at ETFs. Really pretty charts. Shortlisted QQQQ, UWM, UCO, DIG and AGQ. These are the only non-leveraged instruments that I'll be trading from now on. Still not interested in daytrading stocks.

Forex and index futures are still my favorite.

This Business Of Trading

I'm NOT going to be trading today and tomorrow.

Something else has caught my interest - something I believe is knowledge that I have to have as a serious trader.

Until recently, I've never really given much thoughts to issues such as data feeds, robustness of trading platforms, and how my orders are processed (the routes they take to get to the Exchanges, the intermediaries involved, the clearing process etc, etc), coz they are hardly topics you'll find in your Trading 101 syllabus.

For some, the above might NEVER be an issue. But for me, having a thorough understanding of the workings within the industry and the order flow process is instrumental in guiding my decision making in the various aspects of my trading career.

As I've said before, I have no intention of changing my trading style just to get around a problem that I can readily fix by simply eliminating certain undesirable variables. The way I trade is the outward manifestation of my core beliefs and assumptions- about the market and the mobs that trade them, and about myself - as well as my personal values. I can't trade any other way except that which comes as 2nd nature to me , especially if it's one that gives me an edge.

It makes sense for me to look for alternatives that accommodate me, allow me to exploit my edge, and keep me in business.

If I were a farmer running a LARGE farming operation today, I'm not going to be using horses (inefficient, and could trample me to death), coz it simply doesn't make sense when my competitors are using tractors.

6E & 6B Trades 10/14 (Wed)

6B 377-Tick

6E 200-Tick

Net PnL: + USD 120.40

Pretty crazy day, but I still get my fills each time.

For my 2nd 6B trade, price was going back and forth and I placed a limit order to cover my long when 6B started turning back down after nearly hitting the HOD. When market was trading at 5 ticks below where I had placed my order to exit, my order was matched by bids at the price I had wanted to get out at.

Since going back to IB on Monday, I've had no surprises, getting in and out at my desired price levels. I've even started using stop orders to get in (something I stopped doing on AT coz after my stop is hit, I almost always get filled at a price that's ticks away from stop!) and have had no issue with slippage/spread.

Today's definitely not the best day to trade (lots of news on Europe's side, and FOMC later today) - price movement's erratic. I'll likely stay on the sideline for the rest of the day, unless some really decent setups turn up on 10min charts (index futures).

SPREAD Is The Issue In Question

Following the discussion on my frustration with trade execution, this is what I want to say to wrap up the issue:

The problem I'm having is with SPREAD. Not connection, not speed, not the specs of my PC, not with feeds, not with charts. It's plainly the ridiculous SPREAD of 3 to 4, and on some occasions, 5 ticks (even during active US trading session on non-volatile days!)!

And of course, the covering of an additional contract that I wasn't aware of (no confirmation that order went through, and with DOM confirming there was just 1 contract trading) which DOUBLED my loss.

I have none of the above problem when trading on IB's platform.

I am looking for a video software to capture a live trade on the AT platform. Once installation is done, I will trade the NQ (since it has the smallest tick value among the instruments I trade) live.

TransAct's "Technical Analysis"

TransAct came back with a reply. What they are suggesting is that the problem originates from my end (connection problem).

D wants to do a video capture of both IB and AT platforms to show that we have no connection problem.

I told him to forget it. In the first place, connection problem was NOT what I was complaining about!

But just for argument's sake:

On IB, I have 30 tickers and on TOS I have also 30 tickers and both are streaming in on second by second basis.

My used bandwidth is less than 90kbps (with IB, TOS and TransAct running). Then I turned off IB and TOS, leaving just TransAct on.

With ONLY TransACT on, I'm looking at a pathetic used up bandwidth of less than 10kbps.

When I download videos or files from certain servers in the US, the consumed bandwidth can easily go up to 5Mbps - that is 500 times more than what is required for TransAct.

So, my question is: how could my internet connection be a problem??

D (being a techie himself) challenges his colleagues in other tech departments FOR A LIVING. he knows when someone is pulling a fast one on him.

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

6B Trade 10/13 (Tues)

Long 1 6B contract

6B 377-Ticks

Just one trade for now. Missed my 6E long coz D wanted to go out for a smoke! Came back and saw that 6E had hit my targeted exit. Didn't want to chase and took a look at 6B instead. Saw exactly what I have been waiting for (piercing of support and then turning strongly back up, failing an "M" pattern). I was a little late still, but it's better than chasing what's already at the peak (6E).

After I covered my 6B trade, D apologized profusely over my missed 6E trade. I had wanted to exit at Fib Ext 161.8 (see chart below) and the trade would have yielded a very nice 1.9 point. D's sorry coz I would have had 2 winning trades, according to him. I was amused. Truth is, had I gotten 19 ticks from 6E, I would've had taken a break rather than take another trade immediately after.

6E 200-Tick

D traded the TF instead. Brave (globex hours, there isn't much to see on the chart). Unlike me when I traded the TF during globex hours, he couldn't sit on a retracement and got out at + 2 ticks. D asked how I managed to get my 1, 2, 3 and 4 points on TF during such odd hours. I said coz I sat on 1, 2, 3 and 4 point paper loss first (TF seldom break out pre-market, trading in a range for hours). On a few of those occasions, I had glanced at the PnL column from time to time, and would close my trade once I saw a decent profit. I'm still wondering if being that relaxed is good.

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

6E & 6B Trades 10/12 (Mon) - On IB

These are live trades on IB's booktrader. No problem with fills at all. For my 6E trades, I had scratched the first trade by hitting offer to cover a long, and I got out in a second. For the 2nd trade, I decided to cover at 2 ticks above market price (I was selling to cover long). There was already a queue of 67 contracts. I got out in under a minute.

I'm still clumsy on the platform given that I've not used it for months, and I'm seeing unfamiliar features but I'll get around that.

The 6E trades were definitely not managed properly. I ought to have used a 2-point stop, but I was in no mood to hold my trades. Just wanted to give the platform a try-out. There's no point testing on SIM. What I want to find out is how the live-platform performs in terms of fills and such.

Trade logs should be read bottom-up.

All longs today. I might trade tonight (US session) if I see what I want to see.

6E 200-ticks

6B 377-ticks

AT Platform & TransAct Issues - Last Straw

I was at my workstation at 8am local time and started watching forex futures. For 3 hours I sat just watching, and finally I see what I want on both 6E and 6J.

I clicked on "Join Bid" after price has taken out the high of the previous candle (I was long the 6E).

No fill.

So I clicked on AT's DOM 3 times - at a place that's 1 tick above market - 3 times coz each time, my orders didn't get through.

Still nothing happened. It seemed. But I knew all too well what was going on, and I clicked "Cancel All" to make sure that I have indeed no orders pending. The DOM IMMEDIATELY showed "Cancel All Complete":

For some strange reasons, I was only allowed to trade 1 contract today. Given what I saw last Friday, where 6E was completely GONE from my list, this was an improvement. At least I could still trade today!

Anyway, just to see if my order was indeed completely cancelled, I clicked bid way below market price (just so that I will definitely NOT get filled), and I wasn't surprised to see "Position Limit Exceeded" on my DOM and on my trade service log:


That was a confirmation that my previous order was still pending (coz I could trade just ONE contract). It was a good 2 minutes after my last execution and my order was not filled, but not cancelled either, and during this time, price has gone way above where I wanted to enter a long on both the 6E and 6J.

I've had a really nasty experience last Friday, where I entered a TF trade at market at around 1:30pm ET, and my order wasn't filled. So I clicked again, and this time, my order got through, and the AT DOM reflected a "+1". I got a really lousy fill (expected, since I was forced to enter at market after I've experienced too many no fills when I clicked on the DOM - even at 1 tick above where price was trading), and when price turned back down 4 ticks, invalidating my entry, I covered. And I was very surprised to see a "-2" on my DOM, meaning that I had lost 8 ticks on the trade (I was up 6 ticks for the day before this trade). I checked my trade log, and saw that I was actually trading TWO contracts, coz my first entry had actually gone through without my knowledge. The DOM showed a "+1" the whole time.

I wrote to Anthony, and he advised that I install the newest Beta version of AT. I did. And this morning, I was using the newest AT version. And it seemed that my problem got worse. First the contract size limit error (I have near $10k with IF - I know that even if I trade globex hours, I can trade MORE than 1 contract), then the fill problem, and then the misleading "cancel all complete" status.

After hours of patiently waiting for a decent setup, and price had moved enough for me to take my usual scalps, on both instruments I had wanted to trade, and I was TRAPPED OUT BY MY TRADING PLATFORM, I would have raised hell.

But I went to make coffee instead. D wakes up to the smell of homebrewed coffee (D's working from home). Yes, I'm scheming. D jumped out of his bed indeed, and as he was sipping coffee, I told him what happened.

D took a look at the trading log that I never knew how to access. And when he showed me what actually happened, I was NOT PLEASED.

The trading log above showed that my orders were cancelled only 2 sometimes 3 minutes later! Had I not been limited to just 1 contract (thank you, AT???), I would have entered 3 to 4 contracts AT LEAST, without knowing!), thinking that all previous orders were cancelled!

D copied an email that he sent to Anthony last Friday, where he highlighted exactly the same problem he faced. Anthony advised installing the new AT version, And that was when D installed it to see if things would improve. He was able to enter by hitting "Join Bid" on Friday.

As I have mentioned, I have been having problems with the AT platform for weeks. And at different times, it gives me different problems. And the problems have gotten more grievous. I have been getting lousy fills getting in and getting out, and I decided to change the way I trade to get around the problem.

I switched to less noisy charts and wait for a more stable setup and timeframe to trade. And I really don't like it when I see price takes off without me, NOT coz I had place a limit at the wrong place, but coz AT doesn't want my business (unless I enter at market and give away 3 to 4 ticks of slippage!).

I am still cool now. But I am not going to put up with this anymore. Last week was filled with lousy executions on good setups and I ended up having to scratch all my trades at lousy fills (I know I was trading within a 2-point range, but it wasn't something I hadn't done before - and 6E's volume was NORMAL - damn, I'm so done with repeating the story!)

The thing is, I'm frustrated that my business being disrupted. I was telling J I am dead serious with what I'm doing, and I have been VERY patient, given that I have by default a very short temper and a very high expectation of the things I use.

Sierra charts gave me a headache over the weekend after I installed the new version. Even my IT guru couldnt' retrieve the data files that I had on the previous versions. He kept going back to the older versions and installing each one of them until he could finally get one that could retrieve my files. At one point I broke into tears and D was shocked. He said he would always be there to help, and asked me not to cry. I told him that was precisely what I didn't want: HELP. I never wanted to fix anything that wasn't broken, and he kept giving me new versions of something that get worse with each version and this time, I lost all my files!

What I still haven't told him til today was that I had gotten really desperate! I can't keep sitting on my hands and give up trading opportunities, and losing money - and sometimes MORE than what I projected I would lose if I laid a bad bet - coz of bad fills and platform faults (telling me that I'm holding one contract instead of two is a fault!). I am aggressive, impatient, ambitious and extremely controlling all at the same time, and all this software issues are really testing my thresholds!

I am writing not to trash Anthony. He has done his best and always prompt in responding. I know it's a TRANSACT issue, and he never once blamed them. I'm very unhappy with TransAct (particularly, the consistently bad fills at market!), and I just want to find out if I am the only one facing all the problems I have mentioned.

I am not even going to give it another week. I am looking for a new trading software and platform (I'll keep Sierra for now, coz I really like the old version!) that allows me to trade SERIOUSLY.

I have asked Lonely for his recommendation, and he's suggested Mirus that's using Zen-fire feeds. I would really appreciate any sharing of experience with TransACT, Zenfire, AT platform (I have used Ninja and don't like it - my coach uses Ninja and IB feeds and loves it - I gather it's coz we trade very differently - he doesn't scalp).

I am not unreasonable - AT's free. But so is IB. IB at least gives me a fill after SECONDS, or outright reject my fills without misleading me, or just kept me logged out forever on a rather regular basis during US session (globex session was fine). But IT DOESN'T MISLEAD ME nor gives me lousy fills! It's actually within one of my considerations now! I'll simply give them the margin they ask for - which I can more than afford, and simply don't understand my folly of going for a $500 margin. Oh yes, I hated their customer service, if there was any to begin with!

So, I'm paying. I am going to pay for a platform that allows me to scalp (for 8 ticks - which I won't even categorize as a scalp - and I really don't want to give away a slippage of 4 ticks for that!), and provides reasonable customer service (a number to call, and someone's actually there to pick up).

I know about TT's X_Trader but I'm looking for something that's less professional for home trading. I'll be using X_Trader in Jan when I join an arcade to trade the Asian market, but I still want to continue to trade the US market from home.

It's 12:47pm now (midnight N.Y.), and I'm wrapping up, with ZERO trades. I am not going in to give away ticks each time anymore. It simply doesn't make any business sense. I am definitely not going to swing trade to accommodate the platform. I scalp. I like it, and I do it well. It is the way I will continue to trade. I simply have to find the tools that allow me to do what I do best PROFITABLY in the long run.

The New Miss Singapore World 2009

Pilar Carmelita Arlando

Why didn't they pick her the first time???

Lonely, dig this?

Anyway, our people are still complaining.

Nothing makes us happy.

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

Grain Futures

Soybeans and Wheat. Very pure (ie. clean, directional, non-ES like) price movements. USD 287.50 (SIM) in less than 30 mins. And it was lunch time. Tempting.

UF, don't you already know by now? I LOVE CANADA. I might just move there for wheat, oil, bean, HUGH DILLON, and of course, SOLFEST!!! LOL!

Beautiful Grains

Anything that moves gets my attention....

Not my money yet though.

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).

Where's The Elegance? Where's The Grace?

There's not a single day that I can read yahoo news in peace. This saga keeps getting my attention (I'm human!):

(Note our dethroned Ms Singapore's post-graduation plan. ENJOY LIFE FOR 2 YEARS, then be a shining star. We must have run out of DECENT WOMEN WITH NORMAL IQ to represent our country)

Miss Singapore-World first runner-up says 'no' to finals
By Teo Xuanwei, TODAY | Posted: 06 October 2009 0704 hrs

	Miss Claire Lee, 23, first runner-up of Miss Singapore World 2009, will only take part if ERM sues her.

SINGAPORE: She may be the prime candidate to replace dethroned beauty queen Ris Low, but unless she is threatened with a lawsuit by the contest organisers, Ms Claire Lee, the first runner-up in this year's beleaguered Miss Singapore-World contest, will not represent Singapore at the Miss World finals.

This, after the pageant-pals-turned-foes had a public spat over how the media had sniffed out 19-year-old Miss Low's conviction for credit card fraud in May this year.

The latter had claimed that Ms Lee, 23, had told on her, and had faked a back injury to "save face" in case she was not selected as the replacement.

Choking back sobs as she revealed her decision to MediaCorp over the phone yesterday, Ms Lee said: "I'm being accused of things I didn't do. People now think I did it to take the title, but that's not true ... I don't want to be involved anymore."

Asked about her contractual obligations, Ms Lee said: "I don't intend to represent Singapore unless ERM threatens to sue me."

The Nanyang Technological University aerospace engineering graduate said she has not informed pageant organisers ERM World Marketing about her decision.

When contacted yesterday, ERM events director Tracy Lee declined to comment on the status of the selection for Ms Low's replacement or on Ms Lee's decision, and only said that an announcement would be made when the company is "ready".

ERM had earlier said in a press statement that it will hold interviews to determine the new representative - although other pageant organisers say it is industry practice for the first runner-up to assume the title in an event where the winner is unable to represent the country.

MediaCorp understands the finalist has to leave Nov 15 for the finals in South Africa.

With the pageant's top two out of the running, whether Singapore will have a representative this year is anybody's guess given that one month may be too short a period for a contestant to prepare adequately.

As for second runner-up, Ms Pilar Arlando, 19, she did not respond to phone calls yesterday, while the other two women in the Top Five, Ms Sonia Sawlani, 23, and Ms Oxy Ong, 20, confirmed they have not been called up for interviews yet.

When told of Ms Lee's pulling out yesterday, her erstwhile friend Ms Low said: "I don't care and I have nothing to say."

"I'll be graduating in January, then I'll take some time to enjoy life ... Two years later, hopefully Singapore will forget all this and I can step on the stage again. I like to be a shining star, the centre of attraction."

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:

Jules Is A Mule (Part 2?)

Oct 5, Monday

I sat and watch the 6E trade within a 2-point range from 3am - 8am EDT. Didn't get an entry.

Switched to TF at 9:40am EDT, and sat and watch it print 5-points up in 5 minutes. Something told me that it wasn't the typical trending day where price hardly retraces 30% before resuming its way up/down. I kept chasing price up nonetheless. Got used to buying high I guess. Anyway, I was right for a while in the beginning, and very wrong after that.

For the life of me, I couldn't understand at first why a day without news (except for that one miserable release at 10am EDT) could get so erratic. Then I realized that a day without news means no edge for the big guys who like to fade crowd sentiments these days, and without them taking the lead, price's just all over the place. To put it simply, don't expect a chart to be normal when the day's not normal (after almost 2 news-packed weeks with different gods talking almost everyday, a quiet day is definitely ABNORMAL).

Took a look at 6E this morning (9pm EDT), and saw that had I waited til 11:30am EDT yesterday, I would have gotten the entry I was waiting for (a fake breakout on the downside, strong reversal up, finishing high at Fib Ext 161.8). Plenty of news from Europe's side yesterday from 4am EDT on, and the 6E chart was anything but erratic. But I had to trade the TF instead and give away 3.9 points.

Am extremely out of sync with market rhythm and spending every minute of my waking hours and using every ounce of whatever remaining energy I have looking for ways to get back in sync.

Don't tell me to step away, take a break, or read Dr Brett.

I'm moving heaven and earth, breaking my neck, and reading Secrets of Professional Turf Betting.

I am aware that I'll probably not stop losing money, and am totally prepared for a losing streak.

Doesn't mean that I'm going to let that happen.

But it's really not up to me, is it?

I'm not going to stop this time coz breaks are simply not constructive.

Really, how does one learn by staying out?

@ LORD TEDDERS (YOU'RE ALIVE!!!), TST, Scalpwiz, Albert C and UF:

Thanks for the notes you dropped. I've run out of things to say in response. Or maybe it's just coz that it's starting to dawn on me that as far as trading is concerned, there's really not that much to talk about. It's all in the "doing". And we can be doing all the wrong things at one point or another and it's so tiring and meaningless to justify each "wrong" move we make. I'm probably going to be doing a thousand things wrong , a thousand times each - and I'm probably going to be jumping from 1 min to 1 hour timeframe within the same day - imagine the explanation I have to do...Just thinking about it makes me feel like I want to puke.

That said, I'm going to continue recording everything that I do. What I won't do is EXPLAIN & JUSTIFY. I'm NOT going to turn comments off. If anyone tells me I'm a moron (why can't I get that out of my mind???), I'm ready with a standard boring "you're an ass-hole" response.

@Sean:

I'm not using TOS. D is the one using it. I use Sierra charts and trade on AT platform. If you're looking for good rates and superb service, send an email to Anthony (Infinity Futures) .
His email address: a.giacomin@infinityfutures.com

Stops

During the period that I stopped posting, I had made a number of trades that had wiped out all that I've made since Aug 1st.

My losing trades were entered based on more or less the same premises as those of the profitable trades that I had made in the first 2 weeks of Aug. The only thing that I had done differently was the way I managed my trades. I had cut my losses early and let my profits run, which wasn't exactly ideal in what was primarily a choppy/ranging market. I had also taken more trades per day - but had I not done that, I wouldn't have found out about my limitation.

What I learned about me after that exercise was that I am not as good as I thought I was. That short winning streak was not sustainable simply because I am not yet a proficient trader. Many of my winnings from the past were a result of my having sat on substantial paper loss. Because I was rewarded for not cutting my losses, I was hardly motivated to do a proper assessment of my trades. I was aware of this the whole time of course, which was the reason why I simply couldn't feel good about my results.

It was when I was doing what was right for me that I started to accumulate losses. It was when I went on a trading spree that I learned that I can only enter a specific number of trades a day beyond which I start having difficulty managing my emotions.

So my MO for winning has always been to stay convicted to my view of where price is going. On most days, it works beautifully. But it was extremely stressful trading, and on the days that I was wrong, I would take a loss that would affect me for days and weeks.

I personally do not believe that trading is easy. But it shouldn't have to feel like I'm walking on thin ice everytime I put on a trade. The discomfort of trading starts the moment you execute a trade, simply coz there's a likelihood you'll lose money on that trade. This type of discomfort is not the same as the mental strain that's caused by an unplanned event (trade going awry and you don't have an idea how far price is going to move against you, coz you have been profit-focused and have not prepared adequately for contingencies). The latter should happen as infrequently as you can help it.

I am now starting to use hard stops. It is not to eliminate discomfort. As a matter of fact, stop-losses make me feel so uncomfortable I'm now reluctant to trade. But I know for a fact that I need the protection of a stop-loss while I'm still learning the ropes. Stop losses are there to make the lessons I can't avoid less expensive. More importantly, losing trades make me review them over and over to find out what I have overlooked before I execute them.

Since my trades are based on very precise setups and signals, a stop-loss is necessary to get me out of a trade that's no longer valid as soon as it's invalidated. If I keep getting stopped out, it simply means that more work is needed to improve my reading of the market. If skill has nothing to do with my being stopped out, and it's the market that's doing something I've never seen before or have had very little experience with, then being stopped out would give me a chance to pause to do an objective assessment, which is something that's difficult to do when I'm still in trade.

There are many conventional wisdoms about trading that I dismiss as pure lies and myths, and there are just as many unorthodox concepts and philosophies on trading that I turn a deaf ear to (Just coz something is unorthodox doesn't give it more credit).

I have always stuck with whatever makes sense to me.

At this stage, tight hard stops make perfect sense to me.

Starting over.

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:

Data Feed Issue

Not posting my trades today. Was testing my platform and did 99 round turns in under an hour. Had they been real trades, Anthony (my darling broker) would be a happy man today.

I'm having problems with my trading platform. No, it isn't the quake. It's just that once I start scalping, I become picky and what didn't use to bother me bothers me big time now.

The issue I'm facing is that the AT DOM is lagging. I rely both on my chart and my tape for entry and exit. They are both equally important to me. I can't trade without either one. Once the DOM is out of sync with my chart, I'm seriously handicapped. Yesterday wasn't too much of a problem coz price was just plunging and you can click anywhere and - if you're not greedy - you'll get out with something. Today's the real test.

I have written to Anthony and know that I'll hear from him like... about... NOW. He's the solution man. There hasn't been a time that I had asked a question and he wasn't able to answer.

But I did pose a difficult question. So we'll see.

Won't go live until I'm able to get extremely reliable data feed.

Update:
I'm not sure if it's just a problem with the demo account. D's DOM wasn't as bad although it still lags a little. But then again we trade differently. Yes, he got his 1.2 points again.

Apathy

I learned about Sumatra's powerful earthquake when D came home last night telling me about it. His office building had shaken quite badly.

I checked out the news this morning and saw the report (in italic below) that had me shaking my head in disbelief. Singaporeans "screaming and shouting"??? I hardly felt a thing! And I live right in the heart of the business district.

Ok, actually, I did sense something - when I was taking a break from my screen to transport my dry laundry from the machine to my walk-in wardrobe. As I was about to step back out into my bedroom, I heard strange sounds coming from the upper shelf of the wardrobe (my home is so quiet I can hear a pin drop).

I looked up and saw the wooden clothes hangers on both D's and my side knocking into one another, as if someone was playing with them. At first I thought it was Keish that was playing and shaking the structure (which is highly unlikely coz it's a really sturdy structure!).

But Keish was out in the living room, and Alberto was standing right next to me, staring at exactly the same thing/ phenomenon that I was staring at.

The next thought that crossed my mind: " Is 7th month over (it's what the chinese call the "hungry ghost month" where your ancestors come back to visit you for a month...well, something along that line)? Well it's gotta be since the burning (of incense, paper money, paper houses, paper handphones, paper limousines, paper DOMESTIC HELPERS, etc etc) has stopped..."

And then I thought maybe it was the strong wind.

But my home is sealed 24 hours a day (internal ventilation system) and there's never wind.

I stood there thinking for about 5, maybe 10 mins (I really don't know, it seems like a pretty long time, coz I was just standing there, doing nothing).

I looked at Al, Al looked at me curiously (Al's always interested in whatever I'm doing - PERFECT LOVER)...

And then I decided.

What the heck, if I can't explain it, it's not worth my time.

I went back to my charts, and got so fixated I never felt the building move (I live on the 27th floor - according to D, I should have at least felt a little nauseous, which I didn't. But that was when I figured out what had moved my heavy wooden hangers!).

Anyway, D got home and told me about the tremors they felt in the office. D always downplays things, so I suppose there must have been some kind of commotion.

Then, we got down to talking about how terrible life has been for the people of Sumatra.

That evolved into a discussion on the hundreds of millions of landmines that are buried across the world - Vietnam, Cambodia, Angola, Afghanistan, and I asked why people choose to live in areas with landmines beneath them.

"Honey, they didn't choose to live there. They have no choice coz they are poor."

Such a heavy after-dinner topic.

10 minutes later, I was back at my workstation waiting for market to open in 5 minutes. In a matter of minutes, I was back in my sheltered world.

Ok, as I'm writing, I can feel the building I live in moving from side to side. I'm hearing sirens from fire engines. My breakfast's hardly touched and my blueberry juice's placed right next to my laptop and I was concerned it was going to spill....

Yes, that's the only thought that crossed my mind. Then I realize that I've become "singaporeanized" without my knowing.

HORRORS.

Sumatra's just been hit really badly again (if I can feel it, it's bad) and all I could think about was blueberry juice spilling over at my workstation.

News article on the quake, which I extracted from yahoo news this morning:

SINGAPORE: Singaporeans island—wide literally felt the earth move under their feet as tremors shook the island in areas as diverse as Redhill in central Singapore to the northeast of the country like Pasir Ris.

This, after a powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.6 hit Indonesia.

Singapore’s Meteorological Services confirmed that the earthquake hit at about 6.15 pm this evening in the waters off Southern Sumatra about 530 kilometres from Singapore.

Minutes later, MediaCorp’s news hotlines started ringing as Singaporeans reported feeling tremors that lasted anywhere between 30 seconds and a few minutes.

Police and SCDF said they received more than 150 calls about the quake.

Videos sent in by viewers showed chandeliers swaying, as were other objects.

The calls came from across the island — Ang Mo Kio in the central , Marine Parade in the east, Punggol in the northeast and Raffles Place, in the central business district.

Callers said that some workers in the Suntec area and Changi Business Park were evacuated.

One man said: "There were a lot of office people on the roadside. We felt it for about five to ten minutes."

Others said their neighbours were screaming and shouting.

Rajakumar Choppa who works at Expo Changi Business Park, said: “Around 6 pm, we felt some kind of a building shake. I felt it three times actually and then we all stood up and rushed downstairs because there was some fire alarm in the building.

“When we got downstairs, there was a crowd. We were all watching and not knowing what was happening. I was able to see the building literally shaking.”

Callers also reported jams in the Causeway area as the bridge was shaking.

Experts MediaCorp spoke to said the situation was bad.

Professor Kerry Sieh, professor of Geology, Earth Observatory of Singapore, NTU, said: "It’s definitely getting worse. The earthquake sequence began in 2000 with a 7.9 about 800 km away from the south of Singapore. You haven’t felt this big of a sequence of earthquakes that is many large earthquakes for at least 175 years."

A tsunami warning was initially issued after the quake but later withdrawn. — CNA/vm