Diary of a swing spread better

[hungvir]

Now a bit of good news not on the trading front.

I just finished my 4000 word translation project netting me £600. So I earned back virtually all of my losses in spreadbetting over the past three months in one day.

Don't ask me why it's been taking so long for me to go back to BE. I traded £10 per point while I made the loss and now I trade any thing between 50p-£1.

If any newbie here thinking that they can bet £10-50 or more per point to get rich quick, it's time to think again... and again.

I planned to buy a laptop some weeks ago but held back because I did not want to reward a 'loser'

I now have my confidence back, my discipline in place and have made 4 consecutive winning trades on the DOW in the past week. But still it will surely be a 'long and winding road' ahead.

Good trading,

Hung

 

[Splitlink]

I've got to find some time to read all of yesterday's posts.

If I can get BARC up higher, today, I'll be able to position trade it, like Jon does his. It is at the top of a very steep, short term, downtrend though and I may have a job to hang on to my profits. Maybe, I should have called Fins on the telephone, before my trade gets rolled over and close the trade beforehand, if it is closing near the day's high, as I am not near a computer, then.

Split

 

[Vaco]

Split,

I'm not sure you have found a trading style/strategy that fits in with your work life, Its important to accept that your primary source of income is your job and that trading is a hobby that needs to be fitted in around that.

Whichever strategy you use it should not have to compete with your other commitments, You need to have a set time every day that is your trading window that you will always be availabe for. This should then be the only time you trade.

Good Luck

 

[Vaco]

Hung,

Counting money youve made from other sources towards your trading profit is cheating yourself a bit i think,

You should consider yourself as still down until your trading brings you to break even, not your translation work.

Remember its those loses that got you where you are today they were necessary for your developement.

Good Luck

 

[Splitlink]

Split,

I'm not sure you have found a trading style/strategy that fits in with your work life, Its important to accept that your primary source of income is your job and that trading is a hobby that needs to be fitted in around that.

Whichever strategy you use it should not have to compete with your other commitments, You need to have a set time every day that is your trading window that you will always be availabe for. This should then be the only time you trade.

Good Luck

I do shut down before I go to work and my plan is to carry my open trades overnight until the next morning. However, in the case of BARC, yesterday, the profit was very useful, after a period of dull trading , and I was pondering on whether it is worth closing similarly good trades by phone, rather than rolling over to the next morning. As it happens, that thinking has been cancelled by the opening rise of BARC this morning

Split

 

[hungvir]

Hung,

Counting money youve made from other sources towards your trading profit is cheating yourself a bit i think,

You should consider yourself as still down until your trading brings you to break even, not your translation work.

Remember its those loses that got you where you are today they were necessary for your developement.

Good Luck

Thanks, Elefteros. It looks like I've been concentrating too much on losses.

And it's absolutely true that I learnt a lot from those 'wild' trades.

Good trading,

Hung

 

[hungvir]

I do shut down before I go to work and my plan is to carry my open trades overnight until the next morning. However, in the case of BARC, yesterday, the profit was very useful, after a period of dull trading , and I was pondering on whether it is worth closing similarly good trades by phone, rather than rolling over to the next morning. As it happens, that thinking has been cancelled by the opening rise of BARC this morning

Split

Split,

Good to hear that BARC has risen up to the challenge But don't make your RR 1:10 I still think there're many more bears around compared to some three weeks ago and they might see any pull back as a chance to short rather than long.

Good trading,

Hung

 

[hungvir]

Wanted to close my REX short before I go away for two days but it's dropping this morning (well by a point) so I let my stop loss take care of it then.

Good trading to all,

Hung

 

[chindl]

Chris,

How come you can concentrate on so many markets at a time?! I know it's great if you can afford to do that and I hope you don't lose sight of any of them

cheers,

Hung

Hung

I concentrate on the futures for end of day. I trade the dow intraday only when I am able to give it focus, like last night for instance. I will sometimes do the same on GBP and EUR during the day time, as I can access charts for those pairs that allow me to have a strategy and I can watch the charts from a distance, setting stops etc. It's all about finding the entry and being clear a) where you expect the market to go so have achievable targets and b) knowing when you have goofed and placing a stop loss close enough not to hurt you. That way, if you're obliged to go to meetings etc then you are safe in the knowledge that only two things can happen, you win or lose!

As for the depth of markets I review on the futures, I do not focus on the whole of the futures markets. For instance, I never look at any of the meats, period. And at certain times I may disregard others if the technical picutre is some way off a set up. I have attached a link to a decent resource that provides technical information on a daily basis and this obviously helps on the choosing of the markets to look at for set ups on your own trading style eod. It may be useful to look at this if tradingf the US indices for instance. It's on a site called Future Source (e-signal now own the site apparently) and this newsletter is free and delivered at the end of each trading day direct to your mailbox.

http://partners.futuresource.com/marketrecap/marketrecap.jsp

There's also a host of other information available on this site, but mainly geared, obviously to futures, as the site name would suggest. By keeping abreast of futures activity you are able to gauge the potential way in which the market is going to move. It is, of course imperative that you know when a report is due out, as this can impact your bottom line. For instances, there's a weekly crude inventory report each Wed (Thurs this week due to the hols) and this can cause a similar reaction in the energy markets as the FOMC mins and the NFP does for indices and currencies. It's crucial to know these things in order to stay just one step instead of ten steps behind the market.

It's a volatile arena to play is the futures markets, but can be rewarding when you get it right. Unfortunately, sometimes the volatility can bite you on the bum, big time!!

Enjoy your time off.

All the best

Chris

 

[chindl]

Turbulence ahead??

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/01062006/325/iran-rejects-u-s-condition-nuclear-talks.html

 

[Splitlink]

Split,

Good to hear that BARC has risen up to the challenge But don't make your RR 1:10 I still think there're many more bears around compared to some three weeks ago and they might see any pull back as a chance to short rather than long.

Good trading,

Hung

Yes. Looking at the 20 day average, the trend is sharply down for most of the FTSE shares. This, IMO, is still a pullback situation but, to go by my recent pullback skills, it is more profitable to be a breakout trader

I'm keeping an eye on Footsie and, at writing, it is slipping.

Split

 

[Splitlink]

BARC again. I've moved my stop up to yesterday's close. I've taken a liking to having that profit and don't want to lose it, now. Current price is about 622.

Tea and siesta time (but, being house trained, I've, also, passed the vacuum cleaner).

Split

 

[barjon]

BARC again. I've moved my stop up to yesterday's close. I've taken a liking to having that profit and don't want to lose it, now. Current price is about 622.

Tea and siesta time (but, being house trained, I've, also, passed the vacuum cleaner).

Split

nice one, split

...and i've been passed the iron, so we're house-trained together :cheesy:

good trading

jon

 

[JillyB]

My thoughts on todays trading for the Dow are

If the Dow opens at 11,159/63 or above then it will be

Trade 6
BUY up to the high at 11,179 and possibly on to 11,191-201.
Then reversal for a SELL trade down to 11,159 or 50% of total rise since open.

Any higher than 11,170 will give Trade 58 - which would be a stand aside day, but in light of the consensus on the other two trades a possible initial BUY trade may be favoured.

Any lower and than 11,158/62 then it will be Trade 1 which is a BUY trade and reversal SELL trade as Trade 6 but with different tragets. First target is the close at 11,164 and then trail a stop up to the high at 11,179. Reversal Sell then back down to 11,164

 

[Chorlton]

My thoughts on todays trading for the Dow are

If the Dow opens at 11,159/63 or above then it will be

Trade 6
BUY up to the high at 11,179 and possibly on to 11,191-201.
Then reversal for a SELL trade down to 11,159 or 50% of total rise since open.

Any higher than 11,170 will give Trade 58 - which would be a stand aside day, but in light of the consensus on the other two trades a possible initial BUY trade may be favoured.

Any lower and than 11,158/62 then it will be Trade 1 which is a BUY trade and reversal SELL trade as Trade 6 but with different tragets. First target is the close at 11,164 and then trail a stop up to the high at 11,179. Reversal Sell then back down to 11,164

Hello JillyB,

Excuse my ignorance but can I ask what you mean when you're referring to "Trade 6" or "Trade 58".

Just curious...........

Thanks,

Chorlton

 

[Chorlton]

Heres a one min chart to show that last opportunity that was missed at about half eight. See how the 100 EMA is also on the turn as it passes back through on the pull back following the breach of the 100 EMA a short while earlier. Easy in hindsight hey. it also shows the divergence for my entry at about 7pm, I closed losing patience just before the dart south that lost me about fifteen points. Oh well, we live to fight another day.

Will turn my attentions to the futures market now and debate whether to hold crude or not on the back of that solid close from the daily low at $70. Probably close it for no profit, which is gutting when I had 140 pips yesterday. I did the very same thing with Gold last week, made 200+ and gave it back. What it is, before Xmas it used to take me a while for the trend to be identified and would go in early sometimes resulting in either a loss or a long drawn out hard worked trade for little profit. Since Xmas something clicked and I seem to be finding the market timing right, but not my exits cos I'm used to working them hard so am expecting them to move higher. Must improve that aspect and make more moola.

Good night all...

Hello Chindl,

After looking at your attached chart, I wonder whether you could briefly explain why you use a Exponential MA for the 22 & 100 time periods but only a standard MA for the 49 time period.


Kind Regards,

Chorlton

 

[JillyB]

Hello JillyB,

Excuse my ignorance but can I ask what you mean when you're referring to "Trade 6" or "Trade 58".

Just curious...........

Thanks,

Chorlton

Hi Chorlton,

That's the trade number within my Trading Plan. I've numbered them for my easy reference, that's all.

 

[Chorlton]

Hi Chorlton,

That's the trade number within my Trading Plan. I've numbered them for my easy reference, that's all.

Ok Thanks

Must be quite an involved plan if you have trades numbered up (and probably past) 58 !!!

Happy Trading

 

[chindl]

Hello Chindl,

After looking at your attached chart, I wonder whether you could briefly explain why you use a Exponential MA for the 22 & 100 time periods but only a standard MA for the 49 time period.


Kind Regards,

Chorlton

No probs - I use the 49 MA for the longer time frames. As a rule, when day trading the Dow I use only the 100 EMA and sometimes the support that can be garnered from the 22 EMA, However, occasionally I like to zoom out and get rid of the noise so that I can view where it is likely to go in the long. I use the 49 MA as the line to tell me the overall daily and hourly trend. I use it more frequently for EOD and link it into the 3-10-16 MACD. Basically, when all three move in the same direction and the faster MACD is not oversold then I will look for an entry point for a longer time frame trade.

Hope this explains.

Boy it's quiet over lunchtime, lets hope we have more movement after lunch!!!

Chris

 

[Chorlton]

No probs - I use the 49 MA for the longer time frames. As a rule, when day trading the Dow I use only the 100 EMA and sometimes the support that can be garnered from the 22 EMA, However, occasionally I like to zoom out and get rid of the noise so that I can view where it is likely to go in the long. I use the 49 MA as the line to tell me the overall daily and hourly trend. I use it more frequently for EOD and link it into the 3-10-16 MACD. Basically, when all three move in the same direction and the faster MACD is not oversold then I will look for an entry point for a longer time frame trade.

Hope this explains.

Boy it's quiet over lunchtime, lets hope we have more movement after lunch!!!

Chris

Hey Chris,

Thanks for the reply.

One final question (if you don't mind) - With regard to entry & exit of trades, how much emphasis do you place on the indicators you use (ie. MA's & MACD) and how much on actual price action (such as price making lower lows, etc)? Would you say its about a 50/50 split or do you place more emphasis on one element?

The reason I ask, is that up to recently I have traded stocks, so I've also been able to take into account fundamentals (at least on a basic level) when I trade. However, as I now want to move into trading indices (especially the DOW) I now need to change my strategy as I can only rely on price action & indicators.

Consequently, I'm just trying to get a feel as to what other traders use.

Kind Regards,

Chorlton