July 31, 2010

Trades And Orders (End of 7/30/10 session)


One trade:

Bought YMU10 @10,321, stopped out @ 10,292; P&L: -29 points.
(entry and stop orders were both triggered within a second of the 8:30 am ET GDP number, thus the monstrous 17 point slippage)

July P&L: 7 points.
(23 trades)

New orders:

Buy YMU10 @10,302 with 10,284 stop and 10,338 take-profit.
(Daily S1 pivot point is 10,315; weekly S1 is 10,289)
[order cancelled 8/2 @4:00 am ET, market moved away]

Buy YMU10 @10,402 with 10,384 stop and 10,438 take-profit.
(Daily PP pivot point is 10,388; weekly PP is 10,414)
[order entered 8/2 @4:00 am ET]

Sell YMU10 @10,548 with 10,566 stop and 10,512 take-profit.
(Daily R2 pivot point is 10,562; weekly R1 is 10541)

[ For some background and a disclaimer, please read this post and especially this post. ]

July 29, 2010

Trades/Orders (End of 7/29/10 session)


Two trades:

Bought YMU10 @10,402, stopped out @ 10,387; P&L: -15 points.

Bought YMU10 @10,352, stopped out @ 10,338; P&L: -14 points.
(low of the day was 10,336)

New orders:

Buy YMU10 @10,321 with 10,309 stop and 10,348 take-profit.
(Daily S1 pivot point is 10,317)

Sell YMU10 @10,514 with 10,526 stop and 10,482 take-profit.
(Daily R1 pivot point is 10,519)

[ For some background and a disclaimer, please read this post and especially this post. ]

July 28, 2010

Trades and Orders (End of 7/28/10 session)


One trade:

Bought YMU10 @10,446, stopped out @ 10,432; P&L: -14 points.

New orders:

Buy YMU10 @10,402 with 10,389 stop and 10,438 take-profit.
(Daily S1 pivot point is 10,399)

Buy YMU10 @10,352 with 10,339 stop and 10,388 take-profit.
(Daily S2 pivot point is 10,348)

[ For some background and a disclaimer, please read this post and especially this post. ]

July 27, 2010

Trades/Orders (End of 7/27/10 session)


One trade:

Sold YMU10 @10,494, stopped out @ 10,512; P&L: -18 points.

New orders:

Buy YMU10 @10,446 with 10,434 stop and 10,473 take-profit.
(Daily S1 pivot point is 10,443, which is also the regular session low)

Sell YMU10 @10,538 with 10,556 stop and 10,506 take-profit.
(Daily R1 pivot point is 10,539; weekly R1 is 10,537 )

[ For some background and a disclaimer, please read this post and especially this post. ]

July 26, 2010

Trades/Orders (End of 7/26/10 session)


One trade:

Sold YMU10 @10,444, covered @ 10,412; P&L: 32 points.

New orders:

Sell YMU10 @10,494 with 10,511 stop and 10,462 take-profit.
(Daily R1 pivot point is 10,504; 10,500 possible psychological resistance)

Sell YMU10 @10,544 with 10,561 stop and 10,512 take-profit.
(Daily R2 pivot point is 10,551; weekly R1 is 10,537 )

[ For some background and a disclaimer, please read this post and especially this post. ]

July 24, 2010

Trades/Orders (End of 7/23/10 session)


One trade:

Sold YMU10 @10,373, stopped out @ 10,386; P&L: -13 points.

New orders:

Buy YMU10 @10,332 with 10,318 stop and 10,373 take-profit.
(Daily PP pivot point is 10,338)

Sell YMU10 @10,444 with 10,461 stop and 10,412 take-profit.
(Daily R1 pivot point is 10,441)

Buy YMU10 @10,286 with 10,273 stop and 10,323 take-profit.
(Daily S1 pivot point is 10,283; order added 7/26 @9:50 am ET)

Sell YMU10 @10,494 with 10,511 stop and 10,456 take-profit.
(Daily R2 pivot point is 10,496, 10,500 possible psychological resistance; order added 7/26 @9:50 am ET)

[ For some background and a disclaimer, please read this post and especially this post. ]

July 23, 2010

Inception


Just saw the movie Inception. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around it and I don't think I'll be done anytime soon. Some people have been calling it "the greatest movie of all time", probably the same people who called Avatar the GMOAT; I wonder if they still feel that way. But it's definitely a mind-bending, brain-teasing masterpiece of a movie, inspired and informed by The Matrix but many orders of magnitude more complex. It is also the only movie I know of in which it takes an hour and a half for a van jumping off a bridge to reach the water below, in real time, or I should say dream time or more precisely dream-within-a-dream-within-a-dream time...or maybe movie time, I'll have to think about that.

P.S. This and this clarify (demystify?) the plot a little.

July 22, 2010

Trades/Orders (End of 7/22/10 session)


One trade:

Sold YMU10 @10,098, stopped out @ 10,113; P&L: -15 points.
(unfavorable slippage is not a rare occurrence either)

New orders:

Buy YMU10 @10,202 with 10,189 stop and 10,238 take-profit.
(Daily PP pivot point is 10,204)

Sell YMU10 @10,373 with 10,386 stop and 10,332 take-profit.
(Daily R1 pivot point is 10,374; )

[ For some background and a disclaimer, please read this post and especially this post. ]

July 21, 2010

Trades/Orders (End of 7/21/10 session)


One trade:

Bought YMU10 @10,106, stopped out @ 10,090; P&L: -16 points.
(it seems favorable slippage is not a rare occurrence)

New orders:

Buy YMU10 @9,976 with 9,964 stop and 9,998 take-profit.
(Daily S1 pivot point is 9,971)

Sell YMU10 @10,098 with 10,111 stop and 10,062 take-profit.
(Daily PP pivot point is 10,101, could act as resistance; so does the 50-day simple moving average sitting now also at 10,101)

[ For some background and a disclaimer, please read this post and especially this post. ]

July 20, 2010

Trades/Orders (End of 7/20/10 session)


Two trades (in chronological order):

Bought YMU10 @10,006, sold @ 10,044; P&L: 38 points.
(order filled in the overnight session; 10,000 indeed acted as psychological barrier since 10,000 was the exact overnight low; with the U.S. and European markets closed, there isn't any other frame of reference besides the purely technical picture of YMU10, therefore pivot points, natural support and resistance levels seem to be respected a little more during the overnight session)

Sold YMU10 @10,144, stopped out @10,161; P&L: -17 points.
(this one was close enough but just didn't work out)

New orders:

Buy YMU10 @10,106 with 10,089 stop and 10,144 take-profit.
(Daily PP pivot point is 10,104)

Sell YMU10 @10,258 with 10,276 stop and 10,212 take-profit.
(Daily R1 pivot point is 10,261; weekly R1 is 10,275; 200-day simple moving average is now sitting at 10,256)

[ For some background and a disclaimer, please read this post and especially this post. ]

July 19, 2010

Latest Trades And Orders (End of 7/19/10 session)


No trades today.

New orders:

Buy YMU10 @10,006 with 9,989 stop and 10,044 take-profit.
(Daily S1 pivot point is 10,009; 10,000 natural support; 20-day simple moving average is at 10,009 today)

Sell YMU10 @10,144 with 10,161 stop and 10,106 take-profit.
(Daily R1 pivot point is 10,124; weekly PP pivot point is 10,151; 50-day SMA is at 10,138 today)

[ For some background and a disclaimer, please read this post and especially this post. ]

July 17, 2010

Latest Trades And Orders (End of 7/16/10 session)


One trade:

Bought YMU10 @10,196, stopped out @10,182; P&L: -14 points.
(Another freak favorable slippage)

New orders:

Buy YMU10 @9,952 with 9,934 stop and 9,988 take-profit.
(Daily S1 pivot point is 9,952)

Sell YMU10 @10,144 with 10,161 stop and 10,106 take-profit.
(Daily PP pivot point is 10,136; weekly PP is 10,151)

[ For some background and a disclaimer, please read this post and especially this post. ]

July 15, 2010

Latest Trades And Orders (End of 7/15/10 session)


Three trades (in chronological order):

Sold YMU10 @10,359, covered @ 10,327; P&L: 32 points.

Bought YMU10 @10,252, stopped out @10,234; P&L: -18 points.

Bought YMU10 @10,202, stopped out @10,188 stop; P&L: -14 points.
(rare favorable slippage; buy order should have been closer to S2 to have a chance)

New orders:

Buy YMU10 @10,196 with 10,179 stop and 10,224 take-profit.
(Daily S1 pivot point is 10,193; today's session low was 10,183)

Sell YMU10 @10,374 with 10,386 stop and 10,352 take-profit.
(Daily R1 pivot point is 10,377; weekly R1 is 10,352)

[ For some background and a disclaimer, please read this post and especially this post. ]

July 14, 2010

Latest Trades And Orders (End of 7/14/10 session)


One trade:

Bought YMU10 @10,261, sold @10,288. P&L: 27 points.

New orders:

Buy YMU10 @10,252 with 10,234 stop and 10,284 take-profit.
(Daily S1 pivot point is 10,249; today's session low was 10,248)

Buy YMU10 @10,202 with 10,184 stop and 10,234 take-profit.
(Daily S2 pivot point is 10,192; order added 7/15/10 @4:30 am ET)

Sell YMU10 @10,359 with 10,371 stop and 10,327 take-profit.
(Daily R1 pivot point is 10,363; weekly R1 is 10,352)

[ For some background and a disclaimer, please read this post and especially this post. ]

July 13, 2010

Latest Trades And Orders (7/13/10)


Both previous orders were triggered overnight, generating 2 trades:

Sold YMU10 @10,223, covered @10,202. P&L: 21 points.

Bought YMU10 @10,152, sold @10,188. P&L: 36 points.

New orders:

Sell YMU10 @10,464 with 10,481 stop and 10,432 take-profit.
(Daily R2 pivot point is 10,468)

Buy YMU10 @10,261 with 10,244 stop and 10,288 take-profit.
(Daily PP pivot point is 10,265)

[ Please read this post and especially this post. ]

July 12, 2010

Latest Trades And Orders (7/12/10)


No trades.

New orders:

Buy YMU10 @10,152 with 10,139 stop and 10,188 take-profit.
(Daily PP pivot point is 10,148)

Sell YMU10 @10,223 with 10,236 stop and 10,202 take-profit.
(Daily R1 pivot point is 10,220; 200-day simple moving average is at 10,232 today and should/could act as resistance)

[ Please read this post and especially this post. ]

July 11, 2010

Evolution of a Blog


For the past month and a half (since this post), this blog has basically morphed into a trading log, my e-mini Dow futures trading log. To those of you who have been following my blog over the years, who now see my almost daily posts pop up at the top of your blogrolls and who are not interested in reading about my trades, I apologize. I did contemplate starting a new blog (which, smart alec that I am, I figured I'd name "Trades of a Muser") just to log my trades on and keeping this blog for the other, more general posts (I still plan on writing those from time to time) and I might still do that at some point.

For now, however, since I don't have all that many readers to begin with and since a blog is almost by definition an evolving space where one is free to write whatever one wants whenever one feels like it, I will keep posting my trades right here. Sometimes, all a trader wants to muse about is...trading.

What I thought I'd add to the dry and terse (objective and detached is what I'm aiming for) inventory of my trades and orders is, when I have some time, if not a detailed explanation of the rationale behind every buy and sell level I come up with, at least a brief overview of the criteria I used to obtain each of those levels.

I believe this will introduce another layer of discipline to my trading, an always desirable outcome and really kind of the whole point of this exercise. Hopefully, by the same token, other traders will find this information useful.

Which brings me to the following point, one I'm compelled to add because I know most people don't read disclaimers (you'll find mine on the bottom right hand side of this blog): the orders and trades I'm posting here are my orders and my trades, they are in no way advice on how to trade or encouragement to trade, for that matter. Like I've said before, I'm a beginner when it comes to trading futures and one way for me to improve my trading is to commit my orders and the thinking behind those orders to this blog and also to write down which orders were filled and how much each trade made per contract. I also think this information could be useful to other beginning futures traders, the same way I've learned a lot reading other traders' blogs, one of which (Don Miller's) is unfortunately closing shop. To belabor the point: do you own due diligence before you trade and be very careful: trading can be deadly.

Latest Orders (7/11/10)


New orders:

Buy YMU10 @10,012 with 9,984 stop and 10,044 take-profit.
(daily R2 pivot point is 10,013; 10,000 psychological support level)

Sell YMU10 @10,198 with 10,216 stop and 10,162 take-profit.
(daily S2 pivot is 10,209; 50-day moving average - 10,200 - as resistance)

[ For some background, check out this post and this post. ]

July 9, 2010

Latest Trades And Orders (7/09/10)


One trade:

Sold YMU10 @10,098, covered @10,062. P&L: 36 points.

New orders:

Buy YMU10 @10,002 with 9989 stop and 10,034 take-profit.

Sell YMU10 @10,194 with 10,211 stop and 10,162 take-profit.

[ For some background, check out this post. ]

July 7, 2010

Latest Trades And Orders (7/07/10)


One trade:

Sold YMU10 @9798, stopped out @9818. P&L: -20 points.

New orders:

Buy YMU10 @9856 with 9839 stop and 9888 take-profit.

Sell YMU10 @10,098 with 10,116 stop and 10,062 take-profit.

[ For some background, check out this post. ]

New Orders (7/7/2010)


Buy YMU10 @9506 with 9489 stop and 9538 take-profit.

Sell YMU10 @9798 with 9816 stop and 9762 take-profit.

July 6, 2010

DOW 1,000


I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the Market Technicians Association (of which I'm a proud member), all in all a fairly obscure organization, mentioned in the New York Times (the New York Times!).

Unfortunately, it is mentioned in relation to Robert Prechter's call (which he made in 2001 and several times since, usually after a serious bout of market weakness) for the Dow Jones Industrial Average to drop an eye-popping 90% in the near future, a forecast he arrives at using his special brand of Elliott Wave analysis. As a result, the overall credibility of both the MTA and technical analysis in general is unlikely to be much enhanced.

As Ralph Acampora, an illustrious technical analyst and a founder of the MTA, who was thankfully consulted for the New York Times article, muses:
I don’t want to agree with [Prechter], because if he’s right, we’ve basically got to go to the mountains with a gun and some soup cans, because it’s all over.

Trades and Orders (7/6/2010)


One trade:

Sold YMU10 @9648, stopped out @9661. P&L: -13 points.

The other order was a very close call. My buy limit level (9506) was actually the overnight low. 4 contracts traded there but my order did not get filled, so no cigar. It happens.

New order:

Buy YMU10 @9602 with 9584 stop and 9634 take-profit.

July 5, 2010

Latest Trades And Orders (7/05/10)


New orders:

Buy YMU10 @9506 with 9489 stop and 9538 take-profit.

Sell YMU10 @9648 with 9661 stop and 9612 take-profit.

[ For some background, check out this post. ]

July 2, 2010

Latest Trades And Orders (7/02/10)


One trade:

Sold YMU10 @9744, covered @9712. P&L: 32 points.

Sadly, thinking YM had missed my level, I canceled the other order (buy @9556, stop @9539, sell @9588) before it could be triggered (and make another 32 points). Which is exactly why I try never to cancel orders and one reason I commit my orders to this blog. Oh well, never mind.

July 1, 2010

Latest Trades And Orders (7/01/10)


One trade:

Bought YMU10 @9650, stopped out @9633. P&L: -17 points.

New orders:

Buy YMU10 @9556 with 9539 stop and 9588 take-profit.

Sell YMU10 @9744 with 9761 stop and 9712 take-profit.

[ For some background, check out this post. ]

June P&L: -3 points.