China's FTSE 100 swing trades

GKN stopped out.

LAND triggered.

Long ARM for tomorrow.

Got a setup on BATS which would require too much risk for my account size so it's a non-starter.
 
Wow that was a nail-biter.

On the subject of spreads, I am with IG who according to their website charge 0.10% for FTSE 100 stocks. I looked at ETX today and they charge 0.08%. I take it they mean for one side of a trade because my FTSE 100 trades with IG are 0.20% by my calculations.

Is it worth it moving brokers for 0.02%?
 
China Diapers said:
Wow that was a nail-biter.

On the subject of spreads, I am with IG who according to their website charge 0.10% for FTSE 100 stocks. I looked at ETX today and they charge 0.08%. I take it they mean for one side of a trade because my FTSE 100 trades with IG are 0.20% by my calculations.

Is it worth it moving brokers for 0.02%?
Click to expand...

The spread can and does make all the difference.

But, many brokers undercut IG (the market leader) but then screw you with slippage and all sorts of hokey pokey.

The choice is yours.
 
D70 said:
The spread can and does make all the difference.

But, many brokers undercut IG (the market leader) but then screw you with slippage and all sorts of hokey pokey.

The choice is yours.
Click to expand...

Thanks that is helpful. I started a thread on the subject http://www.trade2win.com/boards/spread-betting-cfds/168692-etx-spreads-slippage.html#post2094096

That's a good point re slippage, it's a killer I should really start keeping records of the slippage on each trade.

Forgot to say last night TATE moved to BE.
 
TATE stopped out for BE. I was watching this one as it neared it's target, very near it got, but the R:R was just 1.5 and to take less than that and then slippage I thought was pointless....and looked what happened. Chart attached.

ARM is another talking point, triggered today and looks like I have bought into a head and shoulders formation and I expect I will be stopped out Monday. Something to watch out for in future. Chart attached.

Long GSK for Monday.
 

Attachments

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  • TATE 150313.png
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China Diapers said:
I closed the HSBA position before it's target and therefore did not adhere to my trading plan. To be fair to myself my exit strategy is not very advanced and consists of either my target or stop loss being hit. I don't often have time to check my charts at work but today I happened to be watching as HSBA neared it's target. It got very close then started to retreat at the same time as all the major indices and I thought 2:1 was a good place to get out and who knows this may be as high as it goes, and maybe it was the right thing to do. But now what? I can't just go closing positions every time it takes my fancy, how will I ever know when is the right place to close, I could end up closing loads of good trades prematurely for a reduced R:R. Know what I mean?
Click to expand...

This would have hit target yesterday, four days later.
 
How did things go this morning you ask? In a word, bloodbath.

LAND, CNA and ARM all gapped down on the open and closed for losses larger than my predetermined risk. GSK order pulled.

I was on track to make a modest profit this month, not anymore. Win rate is shot to pieces.

I have been thinking about how this situation could be avoided in future. I read about the Cyprus goings on on Friday after the LSE closed (read the FT market report every afternoon), I didn't take much notice as I didn't think anybody really cared about Cyprus but I suppose people were looking for a reason for a correction to happen. Even if I had perceived the danger it was too late to do anything as the market had closed.

So I am thinking maybe I should be taking a peek at the FTSE futures before the open every morning and taking an offsetting position if there is anything crazy going on, presumably there would have been warning signs that the FTSE was going to fall off a cliff this morning. I have not done anything like this before so any thoughts/comments/ideas welcome.
 
If you're heavily committed on one side you can take out a pro-rata ftse hedge as an insurance policy to cover weekends and/or overnights. You'll often find that your shares outperform ftse (eg: if long they go down less than ftse if there's a sell off) so there's a net plus from where you took the hedge. Otherwise it doesn't cost you much - less than today's panicky open anyway!!

That's what first attracted me to ftse/dow pair trading..
 
barjon said:
If you're heavily committed on one side you can take out a pro-rata ftse hedge as an insurance policy to cover weekends and/or overnights. You'll often find that your shares outperform ftse (eg: if long they go down less than ftse if there's a sell off) so there's a net plus from where you took the hedge. Otherwise it doesn't cost you much - less than today's panicky open anyway!!

That's what first attracted me to ftse/dow pair trading..
Click to expand...

I will give this a go.

No trades tomorrow.
 
Re: Stop! Hammer time!

China Diapers said:
Speaking of the weeklies, pulled bsy order as just noticed the mother of all reversals going down on the higher TF.
Click to expand...

This would have hit it's target today :|

Long PRU for tomorrow
 

Attachments

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China Diapers said:
Do you mean simply have an equal number of long and shorts open at the same time?
Click to expand...

It's up to you. You can perfectly match them (or not) or put in a ftse hedge like recommended earlier. Being market neutral is a lovely place to be.
 
D70 said:
It's up to you. You can perfectly match them (or not) or put in a ftse hedge like recommended earlier. Being market neutral is a lovely place to be.
Click to expand...

Yes I realise this is something I need to incorporate now.

Under what circumstances do you hedge? Or are you market neutral at all times? I don't understand how you can make money with such an approach.
 
China Diapers said:
Yes I realise this is something I need to incorporate now.

Under what circumstances do you hedge? Or are you market neutral at all times? I don't understand how you can make money with such an approach.
Click to expand...

The aim is to be long outperforming stocks and short underperforming stocks. If you cant find enough of both, you can fill the gap with ftse index.

Dont worry, it definitely "works". It's the reason hedge funds were born - so that they werent 'long only'.

Couple of examples, you could be long barc (you think will outperform) but short rbs (you think will underperform) [also known as pairs trading].

Or you could be long barc and short the same £ amount in ftse100 index should you not have a view on rbs (for example).

Or you may like to be long the "banks" and short the "utilities".

The combinations are endless.

All I'm suggesting is that you dont have a book of long only trades (or short only trades).
 
D70 said:
The aim is to be long outperforming stocks and short underperforming stocks. If you cant find enough of both, you can fill the gap with ftse index.

Dont worry, it definitely "works". It's the reason hedge funds were born - so that they werent 'long only'.

Couple of examples, you could be long barc (you think will outperform) but short rbs (you think will underperform) [also known as pairs trading].

Or you could be long barc and short the same £ amount in ftse100 index should you not have a view on rbs (for example).

Or you may like to be long the "banks" and short the "utilities".
Click to expand...

Very interesting, thanks.
 
Looking at today's action on the FTSE not everyone was as happy about the 1p off a pint as I am.

PRU long triggered.

Long GFS tomorrow. There is actually a big-ass hammer on the weekly but that didn't seem to stop the BSY swing so I will overlook it.
 
6067 views, who are these sadists who enjoy watching me lose money. To be honest half of those views are probably mine. I don't want to put people off with my waffling posts but I think it's a good idea to write down my thought processes.

PRU stopped out, Been a while since I had a winner. I should not really have been in the market on the day of such a major news announcement as yesterday, but like all things I seem to enjoy learning the hard way. The good thing about being stopped out so often is I am getting so used to it I react with the same emotional response as I do when receiving an email informing me I have won the Nigerian state lottery.

GFS cancelled.

Make or break with six longs for tomorrow. I am a bit nervous having this many orders but I think the fact so many stocks are showing a long signal at the same time is probably a good sign along with the FTSE hitting some support. Saying that, that bozo candle looks ominous.

GFS
IHG
SL
WEIR
MRO
MRW
 

Attachments

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