12-20 to ?

ready for the holidays.  I think I'm at a level of experience now where I don't mind taking time off screen.... thank God.  During family down time I may sit and watch price action but as for as trading goes I'm winding down the year and looking forward to spending time with the family.  I'll make sure to have my YTC book and other material on side for those moments of with-drawls.

12-16 trades

                                                                  Results +80 6B 

Maybe size does matter???

Using this day to work on multi contracts.  Much to improve on but it’s a start.  I think I’m fighting myself on some of these targets.  Just not use to that much action intra-day as trading the YM/ES  etc I’ve dealt with a lot of back and fill type price action.  I’ll work on making the right adjustments for this market. The first trade was normal trading but  2 and 3 reversal trade was a bit different for me.  I had the read on the market and hit the zone that I expected price to reverse at .  the first trade had some slippage and took some heat on.  Yesterday I got ran over doing this and I thought I was going to see a repeat.  Strength built on this level again and the trade shows the zone may hold and I added another trade as  if I cover the first one.  For both trades risk was $240 total risk for 4  contract.  The risk was worth the reward as long as I could manage the exits correctly. I ended up 2:1 reward to risk ratio.  Not a bad but exits need work.  All my targets were made today and I cut them early.

                                                                       Results +19 6B

$*@!&    first time in awhile I got a little frustrated with myself for not having a bigger P&L .  I guess this is because I somewhat believe from past trading on the 6E that these currency markets do run more often than the indices.  On the higher time  chart I can see how much different the ES and the 6B traded today.  I’ve never traded trend days well.  I’m always skeptical about extended price.   So, it’s only been a few days trading on the 6B so  I give myself some more time to adapt before kicking my own A$$.  Now my trading wasn’t all that bad today.    I took some bets based on my analysis and was wrong but that’s trading.  I kept my risk low and manage to come out ahead from when I was right.

12-14 trades

                                                                        Results +40 6B

I had a bias down today but structure was building bullish structure.  I could see the this developing but choose to execute with my bias. I was the first time I’ve traded currency on FOMC and I wasn’t sure exactly how this would affect price.  It was pretty much an non event across the board.  I had no long trades today.  I stuck with my short side today but wasn’t easy to pick these areas. 

12-13

                                                             no trades
big short squeeze in the early morning session.  Didn't get any good setups.  Spent most of the day off screen.

12-9 Trades

                                                                   Results: +40 6B

Worked on currency futures market today.  Need to get some work in on the 6B.  I had a good read on it and used 2 contracts on a short  in the morning.  I forgot how much the 6b/6e can move.   I was able to get some of the morning run although I left a lot of meat on the bone.  I was done after that as I had some things to take care of . I’m going to spend some time in this market for a  few weeks.

12-8 trades

Results +40 YM

Starting to add some contracts today in my positions  when I felt I had a good read on the market.  Backed off in the afternoon when things were not so clear.  Couldn’t hang on some of the big moves today. Had to fight in the afternoon.  Have to review later when I’m refreshed.

12-7 Trades

                                                          Results +53  YM. 

I really don’t know what to say about today.  I’m happy with the results but there is room for improvement.  Intense level of focus at  key areas trading strength and weakness.  There was some noise to fight through today so I picked zones and mentally visualized how price should act around those zones.  Then executed when I saw price met my expectations at those areas.  

12-6 Trades

                                                                              Results: -9ticks YM

12-3

                                                                        Results $0 

 6 trade scratch trades in the morning session.  After 2 days of strong price action I expected some sort of contraction today.  My  plan was to play a tight game.  My first trade I almost got caught being sloppy but was able to fight that feeling of hope and get out of the trade.  Because of the extreme level  I realized the possibilities of a sell off and trades to the long side has more aggressive trade management.

12-2

                                                                      Results: +24 ym

Another strong market today.  I was watching pre market and  was able to notice a probe at support on the ES and YM.  Extended market at the highs I’m sure had a lot of traders trying to short. ….again.  I’ve seen time and time again after a Macro correction this market takes off strong from support.   This gave me enough information to look at the long side for a short squeeze and catch the spring up.   Entry  was good but the exit looked good for about  5minutes and then the market continued to climb higher.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard a trader say they are happy with their exits so I won’t even start that drama and ill just say I’m trying to work on trailing my exits a little better.  I won’t get too caught up with worrying about missing this abnormal price action but I do feel I need to improve on my exits.

I’ll call it an early  day since the market is at extremes.  I not really in the mood today to scalp my brains out so it might be best to cash in my chips.  I may hit some practice later with some limit order techniques.

Only after the fact will I know how much steam the market has before pulling back.   My guess would be some sort of congestion before Fridays employment report, factory orders and ISM index numbers. Either way ill trade what the charts say.

12-1

                                                                   no trades today
about midnight CST the market blasted and never looked back.  Extreme energy from support.  Very little edge on the day i felt.  After review i noticed complex correction worked with bias.  My guess it would have been hard to engage at that extended level  BUT Ive seen it work in these market situations. This produced a large spike as shorts got caught on the wrong side pushing price up to the next level.

11-30

                                                                      Results:+14
 Today was my daughters 5th Bday so the day was busy for me and spent most of the time off screen.  I did find some screen time in the early afternoon.  Took 2 bullets to make this trade work.  first attempt i didn't give it much room and was was clipped for a loss.  I re-entered and was able to revive the trade.

11-29

                                                          Results: +23ticks

today i held the bad trades longer than the good trades.  My exits were off today, but my read was good.  Market opened a little stretched to the down side so my plan was to go for quick targets if I felt flow was not in my favor.  Im still working on  my exit style and adjusting from the TF market where momentum is stronger.  The YM I have to learn to be a bit more patient with.
Ok enough of that broken record.  Lets talk structure. After the market move down expect price to slow down and consolidate.  Picking bottoms is too hard for me so I look so see how these lower levels react when price approaches them again.  The focus is on where late shorts (in this case afternoon session) end up
 in trouble. The morning session i felt the market had a little more room to go and expected a attack of a lower level (10970 YM). Once that level was hit I start to look for signs of a bias change which happened in the afternoon session.
 My worst trade for the day was the second to last trade. What bonehead idea.  The area was too early to hit and i knew that going into it.  The issue i have with this trade is i held it too long knowing that if i didn't get the surge i need to get out fast and wait for it to reset which it did later. My last trade was a good trade because I could see the bias changing from failed action moves to the down side and shorts were beginning to get in trouble. Of course the entry was great but the exit was bad as I over managed the exit.
Taking the day off tomorrow to hang with the family.

11-23

                                                             Results: +48 ticks YM

11-22

 Results: +23 ticks YM

the pace of the markets today tested my patience. I missed the bottom

support trade in the afternoon.  Nice wash out trade.  I looked for a way to get in

but didn't like the entires offered for a continuation set up as stop placement was a concern

11-19

Results: +42 ticks YM

Much better on trade count getting that number lower and being patient with the set ups.  Entries where much better today  but the exits were a bit random as the price action stalled a lot. The 2nd trade of the day was the trickiest and I bailed on the trade which ended up working.  For this blog  im still working on the layout.  I usually don't add  to many lines on my smaller charts, but at the end of the day it helps me understand more my thought process. The past few days trade were hard to post due to how sloppy the charts were.  Too much time to clean them up.  They were profitable, but the trade execution was too many as I getting a rhythm back.

11-18

Results: +30ticks YM

Good read at the open but once again just a bit too aggressive to get in during the whole session.  I need to slow it down and execute when the patterns confirm my direction.   Need to also focus more on the trading time frame.  I will slow down and execute clear set ups  in areas I expect the market to produce results.  This is important for my discipline when I go live.  Still working on the calming down part.

11-12

Starting to get a rhythm back but need to clam down a bit on the executions.  Like a new toy I feel the urge to tinker with possible set ups which leads to forcing setups.