TraderGav.com

Gav's trading blog - Perseverance, Consistency, Confidence

Gav

Postmortem 12-Oct-2006

by Leave a Comment

Dear diary,
After getting stopped out in YM trade, I stopped trading for the day since it was around lunch time. I continued drafting my business plan.

Market ran way without me in the afternoon. I have just posted charts in “Trades that Got away“. You know , there were 5 of them, and I didn’t get any of them! oh well. What do I learn from this? There is no problem with dummy trading, one should not complain about a trading style, instead, the problem is with THE trader himself. Ok, market condition might affect my performance, but that’s not the main cause.

My recent trading performance stalled, and it is longer than I expected. It is a psychological challenge rather than financial damage. I should pat on my back for controlling my losses to minimum. Instead of sinking into deep thinking all the days, I am spending my time to really write down my trading business plan in details. Yup, in great details. I know, as long as I can get through this bad period, I will be stronger when good days come.

I just need to continue my dummy trading, strictly follow the rules and setup that I have written down. The rest, I will leave it to market.

Alrite, it is time for me to pop in multi-vitamins again.

Trades that Got away 12-Oct-2006

by Leave a Comment

I have couple of trades that got away today. The market ran away without me. Dummy setups appeared in both 15-min and 30-min charts. So, I think it does not make sense to complain about trading time frame. A setup is a setup. Dummy is still dummy.

NQ 15s’

[photopress:got_away_NQ.jpg,full,pp_image]
  • Is the trend up or down? Would you be looking to get long or short this futures contract? Trend is up. Looking to get Long
  • Where would you get long/short this futures contract ? 2 spots were found. Above high of 18th bar or above high of 22nd bar which both are above Opening Range.
  • Where would you put the initial protective stop? Below the low of entry bar
  • Where would you exit the position? Fib extension 38.2% and 61.8%

NQ 30s’

[photopress:got_away_NQ_30s.jpg,full,pp_image]
  • Is the trend up or down? Would you be looking to get long or short this futures contract? Trend is up. Looking to get Long
  • Where would you get long/short this futures contract ? Above high of 9th bar which is above Opening Range
  • Where would you put the initial protective stop? Below the low of entry bar
  • Where would you exit the position? Fib extension 38.2% and 61.8%

YM 15s’

[photopress:got_away_YM.jpg,full,pp_image]
  • Is the trend up or down? Would you be looking to get long or short this futures contract? Trend is up. Looking to get Long
  • Where would you get long/short this futures contract ? Above 7th bar high, which is above Opening Range and supported by moving average
  • Where would you put the initial protective stop? Below the low of entry bar
  • Where would you exit the position? Fib extension 38.2% and 61.8%

YM 30s’

[photopress:got_way_YM_30s.jpg,full,pp_image]
  • Is the trend up or down? Would you be looking to get long or short this futures contract? Trend is up. Looking to get Long
  • Where would you get long/short this futures contract ? Above 9th bar high, which is above Opening Range and moving average
  • Where would you put the initial protective stop? Below the low of entry bar
  • Where would you exit the position? Fib extension 38.2% and 61.8%

ER2 15s’

[photopress:got_away_ER2_15s.jpg,full,pp_image]
  • Is the trend up or down? Would you be looking to get long or short this futures contract? Trend is up. Looking to get Long
  • Where would you get long/short this futures contract ? Two possible spots. Above 18th bar high or above 22nd bar high. Both are above Opening Range and supported by moving average
  • Where would you put the initial protective stop? below the low of entry bar
  • Where would you exit the position? Fib extension 61.8%

Dummy day trading #33 12-Oct-2006: YM Long trade closed

by 2 Comments

Dear diary,

Long position of YM was established above high of 4th bar. However, I was stopped out. One trade closed with 1-R loss.

I will stop trading for the day and continue writing my business plan.

[photopress:YMZ06_15_trade_closed_1.jpg,full,pp_image]

  • Is the trend up or down? Would you be looking to get long or short this futures contract? Trend is up. Looking to get Long
  • Where would you get long/short this futures contract ? Above the high of 4th bar which is above Opening Range (OR) as well.
  • Where would you put the initial protective stop? Below the low of 4th bar which is below 5-MA as well
  • When would you stop trading for the day? After position is established
  • Where would you exit the position? Fib extension 38.2% and 61.8%

Trade that Got away 11-Oct-2006

by Leave a Comment

I saw an opportunity for quick scalp. That was not a dummy trade, and that was why I left it out. After opened with a gap down, NQ gathered strength again. I was watching it closely when It closed above OR(opening range) and Fib extension. This shows some positive signs to me. Possible entry would be above the high of 8th narrow range candle.

  • Long above high of 8th candle
  • Exit at Fib extension 161.8%
[photopress:NQ_got_away_15_fib.jpg,full,pp_image]
  • Is the trend up or down? Would you be looking to get long or short this futures contract? Trend is up. Looking to get Long
  • Where would you get long/short this futures contract ? Above high of 8th bar which is a narrow range bar and above Fib extension
  • Where would you put the initial protective stop? Below 8th bar low
  • When would you stop trading for the day? After position is established or 1pm NY time
  • Where would you exit the position? Fib extension level 161.8%

Postmortem 11-Oct-2006

by Leave a Comment

Dear diary,

It was an interesting day. All indices in my watchlist were having opening gap down. And….you know, I thought they might be a couple of short trades. It went up and filled the gap.

The only potential candidate was NQ. I was watching it closely when it moved above OR(opening range) and above Fib extension., but, you know, no dummy setup. There was another type of entry, but I left it out. I will post the chart in the ‘Trade that got away’ later.

Arh…another plane crashed into building again…but it was not related to terrorism (hopefully) according to reports.

Time to pop in some multi-vitamins again.
Thanks to the illegal fire in Indonesia, I am getting more and more health conscious now.

Postmortem 10-Oct-2006

by

Dear diary,
It was another choppy day. The market failed to con me for another trade as I was being strict on my entry now.
Looking back at the chart, I would have jumped into the YM trade again. Well, the setup was formed, and I did not know what was going to happen at the right side of the chart, so I placed my stop and …that’s it.

To be frank with you, I was not worrying about the trade went against me. My worry was “Will eCBOT exchange down again?” Seriously, I am kinda lost confidence of this “well known” exchange in the world. Small account trader like me, I have limited ability to hedge my position at CME. In 2006, I still need to worry about computer system down? That’s a shame. Well, forget it, just a random thought, there is nothing I can do if I still wanna trade YM.

I always have a thought that my fiancee will be a better trader. She is a lady with courage and patience. A lot of times in life, she is the one who holds me from making impulsive decision. I will be giving her a headstart in spot FX trading now, and some simple TA (well, after all, I am not a pro). Who knows, I can quit trading and write a book ” My wife, the trader” later. 🙂

Another day with full of random thoughts. The market keeps hitting me with small snow balls recently. My snow-wall is still strong enough to handle these for now, and I will get a chance to return a big smash back.