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Gav

Postmortem 29-August-2006

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This is the business we have chosen ~ The GodFather, the movie

Dear diary,

I am pretty selective on dummy setup. I do not want to get whipsawed during this pre holiday trading week. (Excuse to take a day off).
Ok, Maybe I was being a coward. I exited the trade early. There were few reasons that prompted me to cover short position of mini-sized Dow early.

  • It failed to reach my 1-R break even point gain, and the worst , it was just 2 ticks away. Market was slow and reluctant to sell further.
  • After the initial break down, it gave me a doji immediately at the next candle. That disgusted me further.
  • The position was opened for around 1.5 hours and going nowhere. FOMC meeting was scheduled at NY time 2pm. People were waiting..
  • “Bro, it is pre holiday trading week. In fact ,you are not supposed to trade!”

Well, am I writing something to cover myself from breaking the rules? Maybe I am.(Anyway, this decision was right for this particular trade, market rallied back in the later session).

These are not rules of trade, but some judgement calls under certain conditions.

Dummy day trading #22 29-August-2006: mini-sized Dow: Short trade closed

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Another lousy day. Short position of mini-sized Dow was established below 10am(chicago time) candle. Dow mini did move in my favour and it was 2-ticks away from my 1-R break even point. AGAIN?!?!?! So near, yet so far….
I am especially cautious this week. After seeing position stalled for an hour and FOMC meeting is scheduled at 2pm, I decided to cover the position with tiny 0.15-R gain.

I am pretty good in making my broker happy huh?

Time for me to catch some sleep. Postmortem will be done later.

[photopress:mini_dow_30_min_trade_closed.JPG,full,centered]

Postmortem 28-August-2006

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This is the business we have chosen ~ The GodFather, the movie

Dear diary,

This is gonna be a short one. Basically, I did not make any trade today. Monday blue? Definitely no. I was basically too tired with some symptoms of getting flu. The weather in Singapore is killing me.

Ok, Looking back the chart retrospectively, There were dummy setups in mini-Dow and E-mini Nasdaq at 1030am (chicago time). Though E-mini Nasdaq trade would most probably end up with break even. Mini-sized Dow would give a minimum 1-R gain.

I will be kinda inactive this week, due to some personal commitments. Some traders are taking a week off as well, Trader Mike is doing that. However, I will make sure myself come back with full strength in September.

One of these days,we will get them

Weekly Economic Calendar: 28-August-2006 to 01-September-2006

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Looking at next week’s economic calendar , we have a number of events coming up. However, I would be very cautious over the current thin volume situation of stock market.

Weekly
Economic Calendar

Date

ET

Release

For

Consensus

Prior


Aug 29


10:00


Consumer Confidence


Aug


103.7


106.5


Aug 29


14:00


FOMC Minutes


Aug 8



–



–


Aug 30


08:30


Chain Deflator-Prel.


Q2


3.3%


3.3%


Aug 30


08:30


GDP-Prel.


Q2


3.0%


2.5%


Aug 30


10:30


Crude Inventories


08/25


NA


-643K


Aug 31


08:30


Initial Claims


08/26


NA


313K


Aug 31


08:30


Personal Income


Jul


0.5%


0.6%


Aug 31


08:30


Personal Spending


Jul


0.8%


0.4%


Aug 31


10:00


Chicago PMI


Aug


57.0


57.9


Aug 31


10:00


Factory Orders


Jul


0.5%


1.2%


Aug 31


10:00


Help-Wanted Index


Jul


33


33


Sep 01


00:00


Auto Sales


Aug


5.4M


5.6M


Sep 01


00:00


Truck Sales


Aug


7.3M


7.6M


Sep 01


08:30


Average Workweek


Aug


33.9


33.9


Sep 01


08:30


Hourly Earnings


Aug


0.3%


0.4%


Sep 01


08:30


Nonfarm Payrolls


Aug


125K


113K


Sep 01


08:30


Unemployment Rate


Aug


4.7%


4.8%


Sep 01


09:50


Mich Sentiment-Rev.


Aug


79.5


78.7


Sep 01


10:00


Construction Spending


Jul


0.0%


0.3%


Sep 01


10:00


ISM Index


Aug


55.0


54.7

August 2006: Week 4 review

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Time to review result of this week. Beautiful.. This is the first ever negative week for me. My performance curve started the week down and drifting down with no turning back until Thursday. Nice downtrend huh?

[photopress:Augustweek4.JPG,full,centered]

This is a tough week for me.

Overall, I am still in positive territory for August, but this week’s bloody performance has dramatically dragged down my performance.Anyway,
Another week to go.

One of these days,we will get them

[photopress:Augustweek1to4.JPG,full,centered]

This is the business we have chosen ~ The GodFather, the movie

Read: The four-day week challege

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This is an interesting article about working only 4 days a week by Ryan Carson. It is kinda mental game. Here is the snippet of it.

So why is it important to work less? What?s the big deal?

The reason is that when you work less, it gives you more time to experience life and think; you can use the extra time to not only spend with people you love, take up hobbies, or invest in causes you believe in, but also to have ideas. Some of our best ideas have come while driving, gardening, reading, or painting on the weekend.

But what if your job is something you enjoy? What?s the harm in working hard and long at it? Well, I can fully identify with this. I absolutely love running Carson Systems. It?s fun, challenging, rewarding and profitable. I often find it hard to work less because I love what I do.

Here?s the problem though: When I?m old, I won?t wish that
I spent more time building web apps or organizing events. Spending time with people I loved or helping people is what will really have mattered to me. Working less gives you the time to do it and also rejuvenates the brain cells so that you can come back to your work with a fresh outlook. Variety is key.

You can find the full article here