Saturday, January 21, 2012

1-20-2012

Managing my swing positions. Grains are still under some pressure until last half a hour of closing.
Sugar started to pay off.

My day trade is still not in a good shape. I made two impulsive trades of 6E. Took couple try with Vader's calls and it finally paid off. A 1 to 3 RR with patience. A scary edge is actually safer in terms of RR.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

1-18-2012

2nd winning day in SIM. It's an emotional issue. I do better in SIM trading than real money trading.

Had a full stop on 6B from 2 day's ago. I didn't stick to my risk percentage. I noticed the trend had changed and Fib D 62 is breached. Failed to take action yesterday.

Had 2 good entries of SB No11 and LE on a reverse stop out. Will practice more on daily swing set ups. I need to have an alert set up and scan tool for multiple instruments.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

1-17-2012

Tuesday after Martin Luther King's long weekend. I decided to trade in Sim for ES and NQ. I want to get my discipline and confidence back. Had a couple of good entry for ES, but exited too early. Didn't stick to RR theory. I identified couple of turning points, short and long, but did not executed them for lack of confidence. Executed 2 vader's NQ call and one of mine. None worked. Resulting a net loss of $207.5. Need more practice in NQ and void impulsive trading.

Today's ES range was 13.75.

Existed some stock swing positions since the market appeared some what over bought. All are profitable.

Friday, January 13, 2012

1-13-2012

Had a win of HE at my target of BBD and TL. The developer had a higher target and filled. Glad I am doing something in my trading style. ZW is still under water. It may have to test some lows before it bounces back.

ES is still my problem, or emotion is my problem. It's a losing week for me. I should use SIM to trade next week for scalping setups.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

1-12-2012

A good day went wrong. All grains dropped big time after a government report came out this morning.
My protective stop on ZW didn't get executed. The WSG gave back 4/3 of gain and my stop order went to a market order. My target order was a little too aggressive last night for WSG. I need to find a good news release service for commodities.

My ES BB5 setup is not working lately. It's mainly an emotional problem. Taking some and letting some go. I am on a three day losing streak now. I need to look at bigger pictures and be willing to trade with an edge.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

1-11-2012

Missed 2 good calls of ES from Vader before 10:30 am. I was distracted emotionally by my swing positions, especially QM at a loss. Dave didn't get fill for QM, I failed to look at 4h chart, bit too aggressive in entry. I have been stay out of oil.

No conviction to take a good setup or on edge. Being chopped in the mid. Need to step back and re-tool in SIM trade. Be willing to trade with edge. The key is still emotion control and risk/money management. It's a job you like, do your best and do it well.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

1-10-2012

Utra sound in AM. Had 2 winners 1 loser before late lunch. After 3pm trades became irrational. I turned a winning day into a Small losing day again. I broke my rules and over traded. My plan was not to trade after 3:30.

Swing trades didn't do well. QM triggered and dropped.

01-09-2012

Monday, possible of new trend or still in a range.
ZW, ZS and GH were triggered in AM, Didn't get refile for ZW. May miss the trade again. I didn't manage GH intra day well. It's now up side down.

WSG almost got stopped out. It's now higher low in hourly bars.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

1-6-2012

Doctor visit in AM. I realized that I couldn't focus right after coming back.
Friday. able to hold the urge to trade during the choppy time.
Not a good week for me. I tend to over thinking. Need to focus on right set up and execution, not winning or losing.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

1-5-2012

O/N dropped. Jobless report came out better than expected and pre mkt recovered.
A thought crossed my mind that the mkt may want to test over night low at some point during RTH.

I  closed my ZC short with tgt hit. Looking at ZW and HE reached full targets without me proved that my fear is limiting my results. I was in both of them but exit out with a very small gain.

I did avoided two potential losers by looking at price patterns on 6B and GH.

ES and NQ trades were terrible today. Missed couple winning calls but got all losers. Still need 2 cars to make it workable. What's the fear of instant result and swing result? I seem to fear small but instant loss than bigger but longer time result. Why?

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

1-4-2012

A.M. being busy working on Daily Batch's order I didn't pay enough attention to ES and NQ market. No focus, no trade. Missed couple of Vader's winning calls.

Choppy ES price actions. Voud is nueture. Without 2 cars I couldn't scale into winners. Broke my rule and traded into 3:30.

ES ranged 10 Ps, closed at 1273.25.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

1-3-2012

ES gapped up 20 points on the 1st trading day. In a small range after open. The range of today is about 10 point with low volume. There are couple evil swings. ES cash closed at 1271.5 near low of the day.

The RR theory is working. One winner recovered two lossors. Still need to work on sizing and panic exit on pull back.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Maintain Your Mindset by Linda Bradford Raschke

http://www.lbrgroup.com/images/SFO_July04.pdf

Like others, I have had to stretch and
grow as markets and products have changed over the years. The markets
continually cause me to reaffirm rm my values and reflect on my own self identity,
and even after all these years, I keep vigil against fear and doubt.
Thankfully, I am blessed with the knowledge of how powerful a tool positive
thinking can be and with the ability to implement this tool on a daily
basis.

I wish I could say there was a point where I felt like I had “arrived.”
More often than not, however, I feel as though I am not even close to
reaching that point. I have come to accept the fact that this business is
nothing more then a continual process to be taken one day at a time like
so many other endeavors in life. For me, the term “trader” has become
synonymous with “lifestyle.”

Positive BrainwashingOK, knowing my game is helpful, but just because I know my game
does not mean that I will be successful at it. There are numerous steps
that must be taken outside of market hours in order to do well during
the trading day. I can go through the motions of preparation, organization
and outside research. But, I still do not think these are the things
that guarantee success. The great equalizer for me is that I believe I will
succeed. I have brainwashed myself on a daily basis into believing I will
succeed, especially during periods when inevitable doubts have crept
in. A positive mental attitude is a form of religion to me.

Self-talk is the way that we speak to ourselves, and sometimes negative
thoughts are very subtle. For example, if a trader says to him or
herself, “I have to do well” or “I need to make X amount of dollars this
month,” this type of thinking automatically creates stress and anxiety.
Anxiety causes emotional decision making during the trading day.
Emotions invariably lead to losing trades.

The Three R’sLet me leave you with the three “R’s” I use as a way of maintaining a
mindset and keeping focused: record keeping, rituals and research.





Sunday, January 1, 2012

My Trading Business Goals of 2012

2012 is a do or die year for my trading. I must do everything I can to insure success.

1. I shall work hard to become a consistently profitable trader. My trade method has a positive expectancy. The key is to control my emotions, especially the fear of losing, which causes not to take a proper entry, exit out early on pull backs.

2. My gross profit target is $60K. It equals to an average of $5K per month, $250 per work day. This is not a high target. The key to reach it is manage my Risk and Reward properly. I can have a profitable result if I can achieve 1:1.5 RR at least, ideally 1:2 RR or better. Risk and reward assessment should be employed in futures, stock and option trade.

3. Deduce my time spent in front of trading screens. Walk away before a news release and lunch time. It's OK to miss some trades during such time. Do not trade in the last 30 minutes of closing time. Use the down time to work on other tasks, such as read a blog, pay bills, file paper work, ...

4. I shall review my trading plan once a month at least. Update it to reflect my progress or new knowledge.

5. I must read four trading books in addition to attending webinars, reading related articles and blogs.

I failed to control risk on the 2nd half of 2011 during the high volatile moving period. I lost all of my profit from the first half of the year and lost $17k. I took 40 days off from Oct to Nov which probably helped to avoid further losses. A lot of pros lost money in 2011. This is a lessons to be remembered. Stay out of swing trade during such time is a key to preserve my capital.