ES June Trading Summary

RESULTS FOR JUNE
Contracts:	58
Net $P/L:	-38
Wins:	35
Losses:	21
Win%:	63
Avg$Win:	76
Avg$Loss:	-128

No Baby Steps Yet

3:15pm CDT - No signals today but I made a few trades outside my system which were break even except for one which lost $230 trying to catch the falling knife in the morning. Needless to say, this month was a scratch and I will be doing some thinking tonight and rest of week as to what trading to do going forward. But I WILL be trading - that is for sure. Although this month was a wheel spinner, I do feel good about sticking to my system (for most part) and being patient to wait for my signals. I am in no hurry to make it in this business but some baby steps forward would be nice...

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	6
Net $P/L:	-228
Wins:	2
Losses:	2
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	46
Avg$Loss:	-160

Yawn

3:00pm CDT - 1 signal today for a loss trying to short the 1st hour move up. Then tried to scalp the tight chop after that and gave up. This feels more like middle of the night trading before Europe opens! [yawn]

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	-93
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	10
Avg$Loss:	-103

Boring

2:55pm CDT - No trades today but did have 1 signal I missed that would have netted 1.75 pts. Very dead market today with a narrow range. It is Friday in the middle of summer so no surprise...

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	0

Is it Friday yet?

3:00pm CDT - 4 trades today and a net loss. I'm starting to wonder if I'm just spinning my wheels with no real edge. Partly I'm to blame as I'm taking some of my winners off earlier than my system calls for. I'm still up on month but barely with 3 days to go. After June is over I will revisit my system to see if it is worth further trading or if I should trade it in for a new model - perhaps a yet-to-be-developed hybrid?

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	4
Net $P/L:	-136
Wins:	2
Losses:	2
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	110
Avg$Loss:	-178

FOMC Day

2:45pm CDT - 3 signals today but only traded 1 as the other 2 occurred just after FOMC announcement and I was chicken. They would have both been nice winners. I did make a few discretionary trades in the half hour after FOMC news for a whopping $18 total. One was a nice 1 pt. scalp (buy 896 double bottom, sell 897) that I was in/out in under 8 seconds! That's always a sweet feeling.

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	4
Net $P/L:	102
Wins:	3
Losses:	1
Win%:	75
Avg$Win:	60
Avg$Loss:	-78

Losers

3:00pm CDT - 3 losing trades today. The last one long, stopped me out for -2 points only to turn around and go up 4 pts and hit my target without me on board. Such is trading, frustrating...

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	3
Net $P/L:	-170
Wins:	0
Losses:	3
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-57

Monday Selloff

2:50pm CDT - 1 win, 1 loss today, both on short side. Didn't get any signals during the morning selloff as all the retracements were pretty shallow. A slow but okay start to the week.

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	44
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	110
Avg$Loss:	-66

Fri. Doldrums

3:10pm CDT - 2 trades this afternoon, both short. I would have gotten back to positive if I had held past 3:00pm but that's always an unpredictable pattern, particularly on expiration day. Had a slightly down week so hope things turn around next week. Lots of storms in Chicago today so glad I didn't have any power glitches.

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	-43
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	85
Avg$Loss:	-128

Historical Data

3:00pm CDT - Slow day today but got 1 signal which led to a gain. Spent most of day scrolling through old charts and backtesting. eSignal FINALLY decided to add more than 120 days of intraday data to their charts/data feed. Now instead of charts only going back 5 months or so, they go back 27 months (for eminis)!! This is for 1-min. or greater periods. Not surprised they are charging an extra $10/month for this. I guess they are adding more tick data too but not until later this year. More info here.

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	1
Net $P/L:	84
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	84
Avg$Loss:	0

No Fill Limit Orders

3:00pm CDT - Frustrating Day - had 3 trades (2 winners, 1 loser) but had 5 signals (4 winners, 1 loser). The 2 signals I didn't trade both ended up being winners (5.75 pts. total) but my limit orders did not get filled as my price was traded but didn't go through by at least a tick to guarantee a fill. I know this happens all the time and is a risk you take with limit orders but still!! My last trade short in the final 10 mins. I took off a point earlier than my target which then hit of course. So all in all I feel like I missed out on over $300 today...

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	3
Net $P/L:	29
Wins:	2
Losses:	1
Win%:	67
Avg$Win:	85
Avg$Loss:	-141

Tues. Blues

3:10pm CDT - 2 trades today and both losers. Bascially got caught in the p.m. chop. A small execution error exiting last trade (I hit the exit button too soon) cost me 5 ticks too so not happy with that. But at least I resisted the urge to put the trade back on.

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	-268
Wins:	0
Losses:	2
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-134

Nothing

3:00pm CDT - No signals today so no trades. Pretty dead market after the first hour fall. Hope we get more action rest of week.

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	0

TGIF

3:00pm CDT - Slow day but got 2 signals, a loser and a winner. Almost passed on the winner since it was in the final half hour (buying on the pullback) but held firm and traded it. Glad to end positive on day and week.

I forget what blog I found this on but it's worth listening to this 1.5 hour long presentation by Mark Cook who was featured in Jack Schwager's "Stock Market Wizards." I think it's from 2000 but the material is ageless and is good listening on a slow trading day!

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	44
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	97
Avg$Loss:	-53

Doh!

3:00pm CDT - Off to a bad, undisciplined start, and tried to buy the 7:30am CDT morning news release (which looked bullish and initially reacted bullish). Long at 936.25 (U contract) and stopped out 2 pts. lower. This was not an official signal in my system and is a trade I should not have made. So what do I do later in day? I make another trade (not in my system) and scalp back a point! Still down 1 pt. + commissions, I decide to show a wee bit of discipline and wait for an official signal and trade a 2 lot taking 1 off after 1.25 point and following my system on the other. That worked but all in all, I should have made 1 trade today with 1 contract and gotten 2.25 pts. That was the end net result but not happy how I got there.

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	4
Net $P/L:	114
Wins:	2
Losses:	1
Win%:	67
Avg$Win:	108
Avg$Loss:	-103

Tough Hump Day

3:00pm CDT - Tough day for me despite the sell-off. Had no signals until late morning. Had 1 win, 1 loss, and another win to finish up 50 bucks. The loser I nearly exited at par after it was up 2.25 pts. but ended up eating -1.75 on it. But I followed by rules so can't complain. Paper trades today were +1.5, +1 = 2.5 pts. total. I don't normally mark up charts but decided to do so today showing the 3 real$ trades.

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	3
Net $P/L:	54
Wins:	2
Losses:	1
Win%:	67
Avg$Win:	72
Avg$Loss:	-90

Summertime

2:45pm CDT - Slow, slow day. I do hope it's not like this all summer but that may be the case. 2 morning shorts and 1 afternoon long signal today made for an okay day. Glad the market didn't lull me into sleep so I'd miss these scalps! Paper trades today were: -2, +2.25, +1 = 1.25 pts. total.

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	3
Net $P/L:	179
Wins:	3
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	60
Avg$Loss:	0

That's how you fill a Gap

3:00pm CDT - I sat out the last hour spike on higher volume caused by who knows what. Gap was unfilled all day until then. Bloomberg reported Paul Krugman thinks the recession may end in Sept. now or some such. With as slow of day as we had before then, it doesn't take much to move things. I only had 1 signal today so 1 trade. Paper trades today yielded: +2, +1, -0.25, +1, 0, +2 = 5.75 pts.

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	1
Net $P/L:	47
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	47
Avg$Loss:	0

Perfect Storm

2:30pm CDT - My 1st signal today tried to catch a falling knife just after the open. And because my stops/targets adjust to length of recent bars, I didn't get stopped out until 10 pts. later! I may need to tweak things there but this was about the worst case scenario (aka: A Perfect Storm) for a trade on my system. This very wide trade stop is really an outlier. Rest of the day was up/down with a relatively quiet afternoon. At least I have a positive week booked to start June. Have a good weekend all - summer is finally here!

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	7
Net $P/L:	-406
Wins:	4
Losses:	3
Win%:	57
Avg$Win:	88
Avg$Loss:	-252

Inside Day

2:55pm CDT - 3 long signals today but only took the first 2 and got out 4 ticks early on the one. I'm having a little trouble being patient and letting my target get hit. Of course I'm avoiding the times when things reverse and take me out for a loss before target is hit. But that hasn't happened in most setups this week so I'm seeing missed opportunities (profit) by not holding. The 3rd signal, which I skipped, was in the last hour and would have been a 3 point winner [kicking myself.] No paper trades today.

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	244
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	122
Avg$Loss:	0

Slow Grind

2:45pm CDT - Slow grind down today and traded a couple signals on the short side. The 2nd one I actually got filled at the high of the late day pull back at 927.50 but exited at 926 before the drop to new low of day. Shoulda, woulda, coulda...

Paper trades today: none.

This story made the yahoo news today and reminds us all to live well within our means and plan for the worse!

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	157
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	78
Avg$Loss:	0

Green Shoots

2:30pm CDT - Nice day for a change. Had 4 signals but only took 3 and turned 1 of the eventual losers into a winner by bailing early. However I bailed early on two of the winners too which cost me 3 ticks or so on each trade from my target which later hit. All evens out in the end... My exit strategy does allow some discretion so as long as I don't deviate too often I should be okay.

Today 6 paper trades were -0.25, -2, -2.5, +2.5, +0.25, 0 = -2

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	3
Net $P/L:	217
Wins:	3
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	72
Avg$Loss:	0

June Start

3:00pm CDT - No damage done today but no gain either. Got 2 signals and traded both, 1 win, 1 loss.

I also started doing some 100% discretionary paper trading today and will report those results going forward simply as the gross ES pt. gain for each trade. Today 6 paper trades were 0, +1.75, +0.5, -1.25, +1, +2 = +4. If I see some potential positive consistency with my results after doing this for some period of time, I will evaluate how best to incorporate this into my real trading (i.e. - mix in with my current setups, trade from another account, etc.)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	-19
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	47
Avg$Loss:	-66