Diary of a swing spread better

[Vaco]

'Na zou zisi'

Thats my way (actually greek way not just mine) of saying happy birthday roughly tranlated it means for him to have a good life

 

[Slapshot]

Hi Chris, El,

What a crazy couple of weeks at work!!

Anyhow, managed to get in on the action tonight, short when the martket was 10958 (-20 of the 100ema) and out a few mins before the close for +21 taking the spread in account.

I've been doing some testing of the 5 & 10 mins charts Chris and although the entries are less frequent the winners seem to be more consistent. With the distractions I was finding it hard to concentrate on the 1min timeframe.

I've also knocked the Dax on the head for a while until I can dedicate more time.

hope you're both keeping well and I hope Hung is enjoying himself.

Chart for today attached..

 

[chindl]

Thanks El.
Slaps - good to have you back. Interesting on the 5 min charts, I've been looking more at 2 min charts this week. Will delve into the world of 5 and ten min charts next week. I still find it interesting that you wait for a break of the 100 EMA by 20 before entry. The first pullback would have been a great opportunity. It was forming a 1-2-3 then the high down candle showed this to fail (not sure yet if this is a Ross Hook, not studied enough to be confident of that). It seemed to then form a series of what I think are Ross Hooks (Again, only an I think, but someone will correct me if I am wrong) all the way into the close.
Which way today then, I feel that the investors will be taking the M1 route out today, to The North from Staples Corner. I think it will be small as people cover into the weekend so as to be a light as possible in the current climate. Likewise in Crude, it has a tendency to rise on Friday's anyway and given the current geo political situation this should see it heading oop north also. If Crude fails to rise today then expect a sell off next week.

 

[chindl]

Here we go, today's chart. No more for me, job done and target met. May paper trade. 48 points on the early pullback. See attached.
Overall for the week, 181 points to the positive from 27 trades at an average of 6.75 trades per day, taking out Thursday as I did not trade. 7 trades in negative territory totalling -57, 15 positive trades totalling 238 points and 4 BE trades. Wish each week could be like that. Happy with the way I have managed to grab hold of and reduce the impulsiveness I had. I was completely overtrading last week and really tried to take too much from the market. I have now taken an objective look at myself and reduced the number of trades made and I am trying to trade to my plan more. I have set myself strict daily targets now and if they are met then I close up shop.
So far we are wrong about the Dow moving north, but crude is on track to close higher today. Good pattern in Crude on Fridays for anyone interested. It always seems to have a positive day on Friday as no one wants to hold it over the weekend due to its' current volatility. We do hjave a lot of trading to do today, and it has just pulled back a touch from just over $75. Hopefully we are on track, however to close in positive territory, not least because I went long this morning at $74.07.
With the attached chart I am hoping one of the chaps will look to see whether I have correctly defined the 1-2-3's and the RH. That kast one took off and is still rising up to and beyond 900. I do not trade these at the moment, I am only marking them out so that I can get a better understanding of these patterns. I'm hoping to eventually use the 1-2-3's and RH's on a currency pair on the open of the European session first thing in the morning. I'm also lookg at Phil Newton's brekout strategy atthe moment using an Oanda Demo, as the timeframe for that would fit in with my early morning schedule.
Anyways, have a good weekend everyone.
Chris

 

[Vaco]

Got stopped out on that long trade for a 50 pt loss,

next trade will be long at 10911 or 10786, depending which way it goes.

 

[Slapshot]

Thanks El.
Slaps - good to have you back. Interesting on the 5 min charts, I've been looking more at 2 min charts this week. Will delve into the world of 5 and ten min charts next week. I still find it interesting that you wait for a break of the 100 EMA by 20 before entry. The first pullback would have been a great opportunity. It was forming a 1-2-3 then the high down candle showed this to fail (not sure yet if this is a Ross Hook, not studied enough to be confident of that). It seemed to then form a series of what I think are Ross Hooks (Again, only an I think, but someone will correct me if I am wrong) all the way into the close.
Which way today then, I feel that the investors will be taking the M1 route out today, to The North from Staples Corner. I think it will be small as people cover into the weekend so as to be a light as possible in the current climate. Likewise in Crude, it has a tendency to rise on Friday's anyway and given the current geo political situation this should see it heading oop north also. If Crude fails to rise today then expect a sell off next week.

Hi Chris,

Great results this week, well done.

I've been studying the charts on 5 min for a while now and feel comfortable with the rules that were originally devised (as per chartmans article). I've found that +/- 20 still works quite well. It is true that I'm possibly missing a lot of what's on offer but until I can dedicate more time I'm happy it's a fairly robust system offering regular returns. I've been printing off daily charts and studying them whilst travelling to/from work and based on strict entry and stop loss movement there are good gains to be had. The only issues I'm facing are on gaps on the open and how to trade them, today for instance the Dow (cash) was up (according to IG) through the open and then dived, now, although I have avoided the 1st hour in the past a lot of the time the open can dictate the rest of the session. So I guess the question is do I jump on board in the direction of the market even if it is well outside the +/-20 of the 100ema, it's something I'm working on though.

Have a great w/e all.

 

[chindl]

A couple of articles for you Slaps...
http://www.cbot.com/cbot/pub/cont_detail/0,3206,1070+14719,00.html
http://www.stockcharts.com/education/TradingStrategies/gapStrategies1.html
I don't avoid the first hour. I watch, and if it moves efficiently lower/higher I will jump aboard with a small stop loss, usually look to lose no more than 10 on an opening move. The open can be profitable, just be sure the move is likely to continue, if in doubt stand aside as always. Today I made a BE trade before the 48 were taken, which was also early doors as Big Ron would say. True, there can be big moves in a few seconds, just ensure that you are mechanical in your decision making. You can make the day in that first hour and not have to trade again if you don;t feel like it. Gives you freedom to express yourself to your full capabilities. Just don;t express the last hour to me, I lose too much!!!
Not sure if you checked out those threads that Frugi posted a few weeks back, but most interesting and some good basic foundations on price can be found in those threads that will allow you to work more freely IMO.
All the best.
Chris

 

[hungvir]

Chris et al,

Congrats on a good week! Hope you guys are enjoying the weekend there. I am in the office updating my blog for the bbcvietnamese.com. Work just never ends here so trading can never start.

Thanks for keeping me posted.

Later,

Hung

 

[hungvir]

...

hope you're both keeping well and I hope Hung is enjoying himself.

.

I am trying to, Slaps. Ran into a lot of people from London. They're everywhere, at the Grand Palace, in Chatuchak weekend market (arguably the largest open door in the world) and of course in shopping mall to enjoy cool air.

I quite like it here and it's cheap. 60 bat (less than one pound) buy you a good meal and almost everything on the street is up for bargaining.

Will go back to London by end of September but will probably go back here in a year or two.

Cheers,

Hung

 

[Splitlink]

I am trying to, Slaps. Ran into a lot of people from London. They're everywhere, at the Grand Palace, in Chatuchak weekend market (arguably the largest open door in the world) and of course in shopping mall to enjoy cool air.

I quite like it here and it's cheap. 60 bat (less than one pound) buy you a good meal and almost everything on the street is up for bargaining.

Will go back to London by end of September but will probably go back here in a year or two.

Cheers,

Hung

Hung,

You must be glad to be getting away from the London heat and water shortage! You've missed a good week. When I say that I have done well, that means the rest have made a fortune!

Split

 

[hungvir]

I am happy for you, Split! When the long term trend reasserts itself, I may go back to swing trading again. Having said that, the connection is so slow here that my patience is always tested to the limit. It took me some hours to send 20MB back to London this morning (and I tried yesterday and could not send it).

And no, I am not missing the London heat. I have it here plus lots of humidity and dusts as well.

Cheers,

Hung

 

[chindl]

That's me done for the day - playing football tonight, so no trading. So so day, just 2 points up, made a silly trade and then got out on a bottom instead of having the nerve to hold it through the barrier, the perils of trading early. Short week anyhow for me again, on business in Manchester Thursday so taking Fri off and going out round my old stomping ground before flying back Fri afternoon. May trade the Friday evening session, but prob won't be able to face it after Thurs night!!!!!
Have a good evening all.
Speak tomorrow.

 

[Vaco]

long was triggered @10911 so currently 80 pts up, sl at BE will move it after again after the close.

enjoy manchester Chris

 

[Vaco]

moved my stop to 11025 which would give me 114 pts but what i'm really holding out for is my target of 11125 which would give me 214pts and trigger my short. either way a good days workconsidering i've only ben in front of the screen for 15 mins :cheesy:

 

[Vaco]

getting nervous before i go work so stop moved up to 11040 and target down slightly to 11120.

have a good day all,

 

[chindl]

moved my stop to 11025 which would give me 114 pts but what i'm really holding out for is my target of 11125 which would give me 214pts and trigger my short. either way a good days workconsidering i've only ben in front of the screen for 15 mins :cheesy:

Congratulations on a good days work Elefteros. With the minimal effort it seems as well. Do you just trade off the pivots or do you use other methods to identify entry and exits?

Chris

 

[Vaco]

stopped out at 11040 giving me 125 pts waiting for the next entry now short at 11125 or short at 1090.

Chris,

I use the pivots and nothing but the pivots but i've developed my own way of trading them,

i look for a reversal trade at every other level for example that last trade was off the pivot heading towards R1 My next trade will either be a short on R1 or if we dont get that high a Short at PP

I then wait for the trade to clear my entry point on the 1 hour bars at which point i bring my stop to BE and put in a trade in the opposite direction on the other side of the pivot.

so if i went short at R1 and it went my way i would put in a long order just above R1

If you want i can post charts with every trade just let me know, heres one of the last 2 trades off the pivot point.

 

[chindl]

Cheers Eleft, that would be cool if you could post the charts. You take your pivots from the weekly if I recall don't you, or have you switched back to daily?
Chris
PS - tough market to day trade today, v tough. Down over 50 on the day so far, and thta's after being 25 up within the hour. Will probably call it a day now, protect myself from those urges to rectify matters.

 

[Vaco]

Chris,

yes it is the weeklys, i did try moving to the monthlys to slow things down a bit but i didn't have the paitence for it.

My short triggered in the last hour whilst i was out and has gone my way after hours. sl at be and long trade set just above R1 at 11145 short trade removed form pivot point and if all goes to plan we should c a long drop tommorow or a big gain

As long as it dont do both and end in the middle i'm make good out of it,

Chart attached

 

[Vaco]

stopped out at BE on that one, it may well drop in the evening session but i wont get anything out of it,

Still better to miss an opportunity then to lose your hard earned eh