WED 8 DEC
9:59 ENTER long at 10466 (ema-10462 sl-10442). Entered on PB to ema.
10:39 EXIT at 10483 for a gain of 17 pts. I had previously marked 10484 as a resistance area. There is always a conflict in my mind between the phrases - ‘cut your losses and let your profits run’ and ‘a profit is not a profit until you’ve banked it”.
It’s hard to exit when things are going my way. But taking the profits while they are there seems to be paying off with day-trading. I comfort myself by saying I can always re-enter later.
10:57 It has fallen back down to 10461, so looks like taking the points on the last trade has paid off again.
12:03 ENTER long at 10479 (ema-10474, sl-10454). I missed a good run up to 10495, but here is a chance to enter on a PB.
13:21 EXIT at 10500 for a gain of 21 pts. I am wondering if 500 will provide resistance. Once again I decide to take the pts as I can always re-enter if it breaks 10500 decisively.
13:51 I am very tempted to get back in at 10493. I don’t want to miss any big run up thru the 500 level. But I remind myself that 500 might still provide resistance....so I decide to be patient.
Two trades +17+21=38 pts (excl costs).
If I had been using my SB account, I would have only made 4 pts profit on the first trade. What a huge difference that would make to the results, it would hardly be worth the risk of entering the trade. I would have to let the profits run if I was spread-betting. But the longer I stay in the trade, the more risk of things going against me. Hmm......
If I had entered the first trade at 9:59 and stuck with the “exit on ema +/- 20 rule”, despite all the oscillations around the ema, this would have kept me in the trade all day. I would have exited 10mins before the close of day at 10494, giving a gain of 28 pts (excl costs).
Debs