Testing my patience

Unlike other days where there were opportunities I missed... today, I took losses and saw absolutely nothing that passed me by. Just a crap day. Shorted JRCC and PKG (twice) for losses. I can't remember the last time I had 3 solid days in a row. Seems like one step forward and two steps back. Another weekend to think things over.

Mixed bag

Tried out some different things today with mixed results. Overall positive with FLS messing things up for me. Traded FLS, DCI, COF and AFL. All off the 10-min chart except for COF with was based on the 30-min chart (wished I skipped that one).

Kinda messing with timeframes right now and determining what OR I want to stick to. Stay tuned for more details :)

No trades

Just reviewing charts plus the kids are on holiday this week so time is an issue. DWA was a nice 'brick wall' setup off the 10-min chart.

Forgettable

Went long HD (11am bar high, :10)... stopped out.

Went long MVL (10:30 bar high, :10)... stopped out.

Went long MRVL (10:35 bar high, :05)... breakeven.

Shorted NVS (10:10 bar low, :05)... stopped out.

A sorry day. Yuck.

Monday's trade

Once again... not much going on for me today. Lots of action but not finding the setups I want. Did find a good 'hangin' out' setup in WLP. Shorted off a break of the 10:50 bar low. Scaled out at 2R and was then stopped out at BE. Had high hopes because it was such a nice looking setup but it just didn't happen.

 

Friday's trades

Sorry for the late post but it's been a busy weekend so far. Had a decent day yesterday and felt good that all my trades ended green. No time analysis but take a look at the charts. 

One thing to note is that my COP trade took place off the :10 timeframe. I still used the :15 OR as my area of entry.

Thursday's Trade

Shorted XTO (can't remember where right now since my QT is closed) but it dropped 1R and came back to stop me out later for a loss. There were a couple of other trades that ended well but I couldn't find a good entry. This week sucks so far. Just downright boring.

No trades

The market really blew today. Trading has really been a struggle as of late. Pretty damn annoying.

Tuesday's trades

A losing day... but it didn't have to be. I think I was just getting back into a groove and had a natural sense of skepticism with regards to my setups. Got stopped out of MT and AEE. Missed good entries with COP and MS.

Treadmill trading

Today would've been a pretty satisfying day were it not for 2 mistakes. My first mistake was going long PRU off a break of the 10:45 bar high. The entry wasn't the mistake... it's that it was technically a gap down candidate and I should've been looking to go short, not long. However, it totally looked like a gap up stock and that's why I entered. And it failed. 

I also shorted JPM on a quasi 'hangin' out' setup but I entered on an inverted hammer (12pm bar low) after it followed a shooting star-type candle. So, still a 'hangin' out' setup but I prefer to enter on a candle that closes below its open. Long story short... stopped out.

The one trade I should've only had today was RIMM. It was a keeper. I have to say there's nothing like a stock that trades perfectly. I've been fortunate to have that happen two days in a row with KO yesterday as well.

Anyway, shorted RIMM off a break of the 10:40 bar low on a 'FU' style setup. Exited a portion at 1R and the rest just above the fib. ext. A no-worry trade. I'll take it. 

In the end... it was an absolute BE day. Very similar to my week. It was good exercise.

Standing 8 count

The results of my first two trades certainly didn't set a good tone for the day. First I shorted NYX off a break of the 10am bar low. I usually don't get to the computer this early but it was there and I took it. Started off well, hit 1R but bounced back up, sold 1/2 at BE and was stopped out of the rest at the original stop. Then, went long CMG off a break of the 10:15 bar high and was stopped out later on (violently, I might add). 

I was down and contemplated whether to just call it a day but then I spotted KO. It surged above the ORH for the first time and then retraced back down near the ORH. Went long off a break of the 11:05 bar high. I usually like my entry bars to touch the ORH but I felt the close was very strong and the risk was relatively small. Worked out beautifully and I scaled out during the orderly rise to the fib. ext. which is where I exited the rest of my shares to get back in black. 

This has been a tough week and pretty damn choppy. Just got to stick with it and have confidence that the setups will follow through. 

Short day

Couldn't trade past 11:15 or so but I did get into one trade. A losing one. MMC. Went long off a break of the 10:55 bar high and was stopped out about a 1/2 hour later. Got within .02 of 1R but then just dropped. The other trade I wish I hadn't wussed out on was IPI. I actually had an order in to short the break of the 10:45 bar low but nothing triggered, I canceled the order with about :05 left in the 10:50 bar. As soon as I canceled... price drop to the trigger area. I thought for a second I was too late with canceling the order, but I wasn't. 

Two down

Three more days to go. Actually, I may not trade tomorrow. Anyways... another crappy day as far as seizing opportunity as there was only one that fit my plan. AFG (brick wall) did well at first and I thought I might be able to pull out around 4R but then it just fell flat. I managed to scale out at 2R and make this a profitable day. That was the only trade... on the long side too. Go figure.

Ho Hum

Not a lot going on. Tried shorting WHR only to be stopped out completely. I think I bought very near the low of the day (break of 10:15 bar low, :05). I then went long FCX - you read that correctly - and made back all my losses plus some change.  Normally, I would be happy but when I looked at my chart I realized I drew my fib. lines from the PDL to very near the :30 bar high instead of the :15. So, when I entered on a break of the 10:35 bar high my price target was the fib. ext. at 31.28. I was able to get out completely at 31.25. 

A bit of luck never hurts. Although X recently blogged about using the :30 OR. I'm happy today is over but would really like to get back to solid trading days filled with opportunities.

Friday's trades

Nothing worked today as there was absolutely no follow through. Traded JPM, POT, MT and NUE. Had a minor loss between JPM and POT combined and was BE with MT and NUE. All the trades moved at least 1R - which is a good sign - but completely stalled.

This was still a good week for me and was just short of reaching my pre-determined goal. Looking forward to having the same success next week.

Have a great weekend.

Tricky day

In the end profitable but a lot left on the table. Took 4 trades all-in-all and V proved to be the breadwinner today. Now, when I entered V, the candle I entered on had closed positive and much closer to the high than what is shown on the chart. There were some weird spikes going on late in the day and I cleared the chart and then backfilled it again. After backfilling, I noticed my entry bar was negative and, if it's indeed correct, I would not have entered there. Even so, my entry bar was not the strongest and as I was waiting for the setup, I noticed the wild swings in price. So, I set my high/low entry spread to be the low of the 12:05 bar and the high of the entry bar. This helped tremendously as I would've been stopped out of the trade had I used the low of the entry bar.

I know this is long-winded but the bottomline is that sometimes making slight changes can help put the odds more in your favor. Luck also helps.

FU trade: AKAM

Brickwall trades: BBT, DLB

Hangin' out trade: V

Digg it

Dinosaur Trader is on a mission. Get as high on Digg as he possibly can with another great post. Read it then Digg it. 

Heck, even Trader X is promoting it.

I'm out

This was one boring day. Although I did get in a couple of decent setups that went to 1R and then I decided to bail for one reason or another. With SNH, I liked the setup (FU, :15, 7th bar low) but didn't like that it was inside yesterday's range. Once there was resistance at yesterday's low... I set my stop to BE.

With DIS, decent setup (hangin' out, :05, 12:50 bar) but my entry bar was a bit wide. Price moved down but then I just didn't like the action around the $19 level and set my stop to BE. 

I'll try to post charts when the market ends.

Tuesday's trades

As far as I can tell, I'm not writing this post during a dream. I actually did have another profitable day. Let's get right to it. Went long TYC off a break of 10:25 bar high. This was kinda like a long version of yesterday's MMM short trade. A brickwall setup as the entry bar found the ORH as strong support. Exited half of my position at BE after price rose close to 1R and fell back down. Kept the rest and decided to exit on a break of the 11:20 bar low as $24 was showing strong resistance. A decent gainer.

My bread winner today was PRGO. Entered short off a break of the 10:40 bar low (hangin' out setup). Well, I actually was a little late to this and had to alter my share size to get in as price moved down. I was pretty convinced of this setup that as price rose back up on the following bar, I decided to buy more shares at what would have been my original entry price. Man, that makes no sense... just look at the chart. I exited my final shares just above the fib. ext.

MMM....

Nothing tasty about the post title, but my trade in MMM today did produce a nice result. My entry candle was a short of the 10:20 bar low. But price kinda skipped down and I hadn't placed my order yet. I liked the entry so I reduced my share size and got in about .10 below what I wanted. That kinda changes things as my BE point is now different. So... I screwed up again and went to scale out a few shares at 1R but ended up buying more shares. Unlike other trades, everything worked in my favor and I ended my position at around 51.79 after a pretty considerable move up from 51.25. Had I kept my order in place, price would have proceeded to rise up to my BE point and stop me out. Even though price moved back down and hit the fib. ext. (and beyond) I still feel good with the trade.