I have one new arrival in my trading library. Timothy Sykes‘s An American Hedge Fund. I was surprised to see a ‘Uncorrected Proof’ copy of the book lying in my mailbox. It is my pleasure to have a chance to read Tim’s upcoming book. I will try to finish the book as soon as possible and write a review here.
I received an email from CME group.
July 13, 2007
To Our Valued Customers:
We are very pleased to announce that today CME and CBOT have completed the merger of our two great institutions. The new entity – CME Group Inc., a CME/Chicago Board of Trade Company – is now the world’s largest and most diverse exchange.
Customers around the world will now have access to a wide array of benchmark exchange-traded derivatives products based on the entire U.S. interest rate yield curve, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, metals and alternative investment products such as weather and real estate. Supported by leading trading technology and world-class clearing, these products ultimately will be available for trade around the clock, around the world from a single electronic platform as well as via open outcry and privately negotiated trading. As one company, we will be able to provide more diverse and innovative products, increased operational efficiencies and a more streamlined business environment.
CME and CBOT are two of the most recognized brands in global financial markets. As we integrate our two companies, we will leverage our combined strengths to create an even more powerful brand. Our brand value will reflect our commitment to serving our customers first – through inventiveness, superior service, transparency, liquidity, industry leading technology, efficient clearing and global reach. Our new company, CME Group, is committed to these values as we continue to strive to improve the way markets work for your benefit.
Our customers are the foundation for our success, and we will work hard to keep you well-informed of our progress and will seek your feedback along the way. For more information, including a fact sheet and answers to many of your integration-specific questions, please be sure to visit our new Web site at www.cmegroup.com.
We deeply value our relationship with you and look forward to continuing to provide the innovative products, technology and customer service expected from us.
It is nice to hear about the merger. We have a stronger exchange. But….does it mean we have less down time for electronic market?uhm…..
I was thinking how to keep my trading journal online, but I do not intend to post all my trades here. So the solution is ..to use blogspot as my trade log while I will just post couple of charts which I feel is notable (for myself though) here.
I shorted USDCAD, and closed the trade with 1-R gain.
[photopress:usdcad_short_07may2007.gif,full,alignleft]
Nothing here! I was too busy with other business throughout the week. I only managed to make a couple of FX trades and have yet to compile the result. Hopefully I can do it next week. Anyway, I guess I am down a little this week.
I close the week in profit again with pathetic +0.3% (vs last week) , it was a disappointing ending. I just can’t get rid of the Friday jinx. The week’s performance was destroyed by this stupid Friday market. Anyway, I am not really satisfied with my performance this week. Firstly, I found myself watching the trading screen too frequent and have the tendency to exit a trade early even though profit target has been set. Well, some people say “You won’t go broke by taking profit”, I don’t buy this. It is important to hold on your winners to bag bigger profit, you need them to balance out your draw down period. I have no problem exiting a losing trade, since I really hate loser. The real work for me now is to hold on my winners and derive a better way to manage my profitable trades.
Well, I thought I can finish the week strong. But, hey, you don’t know what’s gonna happen next, that’s trading. Anyway, it is still a profitable week. Accept it, fool.
[photopress:Week4result.gif,full,alignleft]
Month in review April 2007
I was feeling a little bit pissed when compiling this monthly review. However, after reading through my trades again, I guess, I should not bother too much. This is just the first month of my live Forex trading, and I ended the month flat (well, up +38 pips, or +0.96 R), the most important to me is, I manage to recoup all losses incurred in the early of the month. The first two weeks was a total trial-and-error period. I finished my trading plan after 2 weeks, understood and found a way to deal with my bastard broker’s widened 20-pip spread during news time, and started trading the new plan since 3rd week. Despite my Friday jinx, I was actually up 189.5 pips , or +4.74 R for the last 2 weeks of April. I should not push myself too hard over this result. I do not plan to tweak my system again for the time being, I shall execute it through out next couple of months. The only possible change might be stop trading on Friday until I find a priest to get rid of my Friday jinx, uhm…LOL
All in all, I finished the month with a whopping +38.5 pips, +0.96 R. System accuracy was just 43.10%. I might not be trading next Monday. If I do, I will update it later.
In case any auditor wants to view my trading log, I have uploaded here.
[photopress:April07Forexresult.gif,full,alignleft]
“The real man trades Futures, his son trades Forex, I am trading both, for my wife” 🙂
After the “kinda frustrated..” day, I am having a “kinda happy” day. I have finally achieved my 100-pips day. In fact, I am up 200 pips today.
It is time for me to get my MP3 player, it was the reward I set for myself when I achieve a 100 pips day.(still IPod or Creative Zen?..)
A hit or miss game
I was surprised by the sell off of GBP crosses. I mean, I was surprised by the speed of sell off. I woke up in the morning with full of confidence to short GBP/JPY, and of course, my darling GBP/USD. I was trying to Long EUR/JPY as well. There were some buying during Sydney hours , but tone changed when Japanese was greeting Ohiyo(Good morning in Japanese, in case you are confused) to the Forex market.
I found myself exiting position prematurely yesterday due to some fears in me. I knew it was a mistake and a problem. Today I decided to close my trading screen after putting in profit target and stop loss orders. Long EUR/JPY was stopped out, and I went short at the same time.
Market was in selling mood, so all short positions were covered by take profit orders.
More works need to be done.
I am not sure if I can close the week with positive note, but I am pretty comfortable now, I have figured out a lot of problems and refining my trading plan along the way. It takes tons of effort to study and refining strategy. It is really a different game to me. What works for me in futures market , hurts me in Forex market. Anyways, I am enjoying the learning process, and of course, the pips.
May the pips be with you.
Oh I forgot to mention ” The real man trades Futures, his son trades Forex, I am trading both, for my wife” 🙂
