Pasted

There's good news and bad news for me. The good news is that I ditched the tweaks I was working on and reverted back to the way I was trading a few weeks ago. Found some nice entries in what seemed like familiar territory. I shorted KLAC, DELL and went long PETM.
 
The bad news. I lost money... hence the one word post title. KLAC worked perfectly (10:30 bar low, :15) but it wasn't a big gainer and I had to enter a market order because I literally turned away from the computer and my trigger price had been exceeded. So there was some slippage. DELL looked good off a break of the 12pm bar low (:15) but it just didn't move. Stayed in it for an hour to see if things would change but I was stopped out.
 
PETM looked really promising as price was consolidating along the ORH and I entered on a break of the 12:45 bar high. Price immediately moved nicely but then just completely stalled.
 
As for my tweaks... well, I was looking at the 3-min timeframe and how price interacted with the 20ema. I was looking for a retrace into the 20ema and a bounce. My conclusion is that while there are times when looking for this entry can be very profitable there can also be a lot of busted moves. Psychologically, it's not the best system to trade if you can't handle multiple losses.
 
 

Hosed

Unfortunately for me, I have a whole bunch of one word options to use on down days. Kept putzing around with some changes and the changes keep letting me down. Missed PCL on a b&b that I would definitely have had before. I still think the tweaks I'm making has it's place in my trading... the key is figuring out where.

Drilled

Hopefully today will be the last day this week I need to find a one-word description that clearly implies I got my ass kicked. I'm tired and QT is closed out but I think I flubbed MDR, ABK and one other I'm forgetting. Can't guarantee I can turn this week positive with the remaining two days... but I'm sure as hell gonna try.

Down day

But really not that much. Still trying out some new things and BRCM (11:03 bar low, 3-min) was a nice winner today (again) and broke even with CAKE. However, I got screwed by CHK and KWK. I'm still figuring some stuff out and hope to shake out these losers in the future. In the meantime I'm just thankful to find one good winner a day to balance out the kinks.

Mixed results

Tried some new things out today and traded quite a bit to end up with a slight loss. CSIQ was my biggest loser as I entered off a break of the 10:18 bar high. Started off well and then went south quickly. The way it set up... I thought it would run a bit. My biggest winner was BRCM. Tried something new off the 3-min chart and shorted off a break of the 10:48 bar low. Price moved nicely but then stalled around the ORL. Other stocks I traded included WERN, CVC and AIG. If I hadn't entered CVC a second time off a break of the 12:15 bar low I would've ended the day red.

XTO - Short

Trading on Fridays over here is sometimes tricky. My wife often makes dinner plans and seems to forget that I don't have ordinary work hours. Yesterday I shorted XTO off a break of the 12pm bar low (:15). After a small pullback, price dropped but since I knew I wouldn't be around before the close I scaled out a bit on the pullback. I had to leave at around 1:25 EST and reluctantly exited my full position at 48.11 or so. Left a lot of profit on the table but that's just how things go. It's a very nice setup, though and I would've absolutely floored if this trade wouldn't have worked out.
My IB workstation is down so no screenshot today.

A lot of work

And nothing to show... well, a loss. Between trading SU, KGC, RDC and PBR one time around I was up, but not by much. Then I entered SU again later in the day and I ended up red. I was up a good amount today at one point but price just couldn't sustain itself. I remember last year at this time there were a lack of candidates... but I'm being pretty active recently. The movement is just very choppy.

Lackluster

Shorted DISH off a break of the 12:15 bar low and it proceeded to go nowhere. Got stopped out at around 1:30 or so.

Hammered

Not a good way to come back from a short break and certainly not a way to celebrate my birthday. Everything I shorted today turned on my. DB, AIG, WYNN and DRI... all losers. Some were decent winners before unleashing their ugliness on me.

Oh well, I've had a nice run and, mentally, I'm good with down days.

Solid day

While I'm not going to post charts of my ECA and HAR trades (just don't think they're very nice) I can say that both at least provided a good day's pay. Shorted ECA off a break of the 10:12 bar low (3-min) and exited as it bounced at the $66 area. I was a little greedy and thought it would touch the fib. ext. Instead, it bounced right above it.

 
Shorted HAR on a break of the 12:27 bar low (3-min) and ended up scaling out to reduce risk as the trade started going against me. Managed to take 'dinner for two' profit out of this trade.

 
This has been a very nice couple of weeks and I'm encouraged by my results. I just hope to keep it going. I'll be off on Monday and possibly Tuesday so I'm glad this week counted.
 
 

Choppy

Entered DRYS off the 3-min chart and made some nice change but ended up giving it all back with CSX. A breakeven day (slight) which is sad considering I had some good profit at one point.

A surprise

AMAT and UYG were my losers today. I shorted BAC off a break of the 10:36 bar low (3-min). I decided to scale out for some profit then held on and managed the exit off the :15 which didn't work out as I was stopped after the 12:30 bar high was exceeded.
 
The surprise of the day was AEM. I spotted a nice base and break entry off a break of the 11:27 bar high. However, when entering my order, price had kinda shot up a bit so I didn't think it was going to be triggered. After 3 minutes - and not noticing if the order was triggered - I went ahead and canceled/deleted the order. I was a bit in a rush and really didn't notice much. Anyway, later in the day I noticed that AEM was doing well (not thinking I was in the position) and was hitting myself for not being able to get in and thinking I should've placed a market order instead of a limit order. I think you know where this is going. Turns out my order was triggered and I was up and above the fib. ext. but the time I realized it. I exited all my shared just below the $53 level for a nice gain on the day. Nice when things go your way like that. However, I really should be more careful as price could've just as easily tanked without me realizing it.
 
 

 
 

 
 

Good day

Started the day off with MS short (3-min, 10:18 bar) for a quick gain. Scaled out because the price was choppy. Sold all shares when price closed above the red line (last pivot high on the 1-min chart). Gave all my gains going long CSIQ (won't go into detail).
Ended the day well with shorting CHL off a break of the 12:15 bar low (:15 chart). Exited all my shares after a 1 point gain.
 

 
 

 
 

No trades

Came very close to entering short AU on a break of the 11:39 bar low but the R:R was what I'd like it to be. Although, I did say I would take a slightly lower than 2R r:r but it just didn't happen. Would've been a nice gain.

LPNT - Long

Didn't really find a whole lot of setups early on. There were some late day moves but by that time I was already done. I entered LPNT off the 3-min chart on a break of the 11:06 bar high. Exited just short of the fib. ext. which, for the first time this week proved to be the right call (even though price reversed later in the day and went beyond my exit). I also entered FDX on a break of the 10:12 bar high... took partial profits after 1R before price turned on me and I ended up with a small loss.
 
Closed out my TWS platform so I can't do a screenshot of my trades but I'll try to have something up tomorrow when it's emailed to me. Have a good weekend... this was a nice week.
 
 

Down day

Shorted AIG and was stopped out then tried going long CNQ twice... both for losses. Here's to tomorrow.

FIS - Long

Not a whole lot to report as I had to stop trading by 12:30pm for a dinner date. Entered FIS long on a B&B setup off a break of the 11:21 bar high. Gave me some nice returns quickly but then just stopped dead in it's tracks at around the 22.70 area. I scaled out to lock in some profit and then sold the rest just above breakeven.
 
 

 
 

Happy... disappointed again

When you see the word 'disappointed' in my post title just know that it means "missed big profit".
 
Only took one trade today but it was a nice one. Unfortunately, I didn't see how nice it would have been. Let's move on. I entered PFG on a break of the 11:15 bar high on the :15 chart. It was a little further away from the 5ema for my liking so I placed my stop below the previous bar's low. As soon as I entered PFG I also saw a nice entry off a mini-base and break pattern on the 3-min chart. So I added to my position and entered long off a break of the 11:30 bar high (3-min). Priced moved quickly above any danger zone and I was in profit immediately. Once again I chose the fib. ext. as my price target and exited all my shares just below it. Usually exiting at the fib. ext. is fine for me but lately I've been missing a lot of profit. In today's case... I let an entire point slip by. I think it's mostly due to the fact that I've been in a mini-slump over the last couple of months (throw in vacation) and I just want to make the sensible choice right now and not be too aggressive.
 
I made good money... but I could've made bank. Although I really liked how I integrated the 3-min and 15-min trades off the same stock.
 
 

 
 

 
 

Good day... still disappointed

Let me just say that I'll take today's results and be the happiest man on the planet. With that said... I still flubbed my exit and missed a great B&B entry with FRO.
 
So... starting off with FRO I short off a break of the 10:30 bar low (:15). I was stopped out 4 bars later after a strong move up. Later in the day, I missed a great B&B entry off the 3-min chart on a break of the 12:21 bar low which broke through the pivot/low of the day. This would've been a nice gain and more than redeemed the stop out earlier.
 
Next I entered AKS on a break of the 10:45 bar low. Pretty wide candle but it was a strong move below the low of the day. Wacky action on this trade and I was stopped out on a break of the 12:45 bar high... but still a nice gain.
 
My real missed opportunity of the day was FCX. I entered on a break of the 11am bar low which close strong and had room to run to the fib. ext. Problem is... I exited above the fib. ext. after a decent gain but the stock continued to drop 3.5 more points. I flubbed this because my exit are off of a candle that closes above the 5ema and this stock coasted to the bottom. Still and nice day but I really have to start trading smarter. Making good money is one thing but making a lot of money to cover for the days when there aren't a lot of opportunity is another. Always room for improvement.
 
 

 
 

 
 

3G iPhone

My wife just came back from a trip to the states and surprised me with a 3G iPhone. Now, it doesn't work over here until it's unlocked but I can't find the program to unlock. I don't think it's out yet. However, I figured I'd throw it out to you guys to see if you can help.

EDIT: Thanks to Trader Eyal who forwarded me this article. I then searched Google and found this article stating that I can go to Orange (or any French carrier), sign a contract, pay a fee and they will be legally required to unlock my phone. If I don't want to pay the fee upfront then they will unlock it after 6 months.

So... seems to me that I should just go to a local carrier with the best monthly price and ask them the details. I'll take the free option since I know I'll be here longer than 6 months.

Frustrating day

I had to interrupt my trading between 11:45 and 12:15 or so and that really threw me off. Missed a nice setup in MFE. Entered NYX short and got chopped up. Not a good way to end the week but at least I have an excuse. All traders need a good excuse. Have a good weekend.