April Trading Summary

Net breakdown:
ZS $3558, GCL $1511

RESULTS FOR APRIL
Contracts:	280
Net $P/L:	5069
Wins:	23
Losses:	28
Win%:	45
Avg$Win:	839
Avg$Loss:	-508

Fri.

12:00pm CDT - Happy with a positive end to the month.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $688(12), GCL -$332(5)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	17
Net $P/L:	356
Wins:	1
Losses:	2
Win%:	33
Avg$Win:	1169
Avg$Loss:	-406

For the week:

Visualizing a contract

1:30pm CDT - So many of us futures traders (me anyways) don't really know, in real physical terms, what we are trading. So I did some research and found out something to help me visualize a contract better.

1 ZS = 5000 bushels = 46546 gallons = 6222 cu.ft.
Value ~$10/bushel
1 CL = 1000 barrels = 42000 gallons = 5615 cu.ft.
Value ~$85/barrel

If you own a 1600 sq.ft. house (close to the American norm), 1 contract would fill up every room of your house with either crude oil or soybeans nearly up to your chest! And you'd have $85000 worth of crude or $50000 worth of beans making your house much more valuable, neglecting the clean up costs of course!

------------------------------
No crude trades today and should have had only 1 ZS trade. I also overrode my targeted exit and got out 2 ticks sooner only to watch it trade a tick through my target seconds later. Oh well. The near fatal mistake occurred later when I heard a cha-ching (luckily I was at my computer). I didn't cancel all my earlier orders which I normally do and got filled on a bean short. But I flattened right away for a tick profit. :)

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1063(12)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	12
Net $P/L:	1063
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	532
Avg$Loss:	0

Wed.

2:00pm CDT - 3 morning losers. Didn't trade after FOMC non-event. I've been noticing many days like today, if I had taken the next ZS signal, it would have been a winner. I've been limiting myself to a max of 2 ZS trades per day. I need to dust off my backtesting and checkout results if I take more trades. I'm also backtesting another CL system idea. The work never ends...

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$962(12), GCL -$522(5)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	17
Net $P/L:	-1484
Wins:	0
Losses:	3
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-495

Tues.

12:30pm CDT - My crude system had a long that got the morning blood flowing in the morning chop as it neared target, then neared stop, then neared target again causing me to bail, then neared stop, then shot through the original target. Typical day in beans with 1 winner and 1 loser.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $688(12), GCL $1038(5)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	17
Net $P/L:	1726
Wins:	2
Losses:	1
Win%:	33
Avg$Win:	1104
Avg$Loss:	-481

Mon.

12:45pm CDT - No crude trades and a short winner and long loser bean trade. Good start to the week.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $688(12)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	12
Net $P/L:	688
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	1169
Avg$Loss:	-481

Fri.

12:00pm CDT - Guess I was due for a day like today, no luck involved.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$887(12), GCL -$672(5)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	17
Net $P/L:	-1559
Wins:	0
Losses:	3
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-520

For the week:

Thurs.

12:30pm CDT - Another good day in beans and another day I was filled at the low of the day 10.0175, this time the full lot. I feel lucky for sure! No crude trades today but system was 1 tick away from signaling an entry this morning but then price reversed.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1169(6)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	6
Net $P/L:	1169
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	1169
Avg$Loss:	0

Dear Blog, Happy Birthday!

12:00pm CDT - HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLOG!!!! Hard to believe it's been a year already (First Post 4/21/09) since I started this daily transparent log of every dollar I've made and lost. I don't see it ending anytime in the next year or more as it's become a habit and takes very little time. Plus I'm not very wordy and never feel compelled to provide witty commentary or a detailed play-by-play on the day. And I'm proud I'm not wasting anyone's time! As you will note below, most of you regular readers spend less than 10 sec. reading my blog entries. This blog is what it is, real results. I do wish more bloggers would join in and post daily actual net profits/losses but very few do for a variety of reasons. I feel real strongly about this for those that sell any type of service.

So continuing with my full transparency, here's a peek behind the curtain. Frankly I don't care at all how many visits or unique visitors I get but I am a numbers geek so find this stuff interesting. Hard to believe over 4000 have peeked in my windows!

As for today, it was good but anxious. I wasn't paying attention to the time when "cha-ching" alerted me to a fill in crude when the inventory report came out. Orders were in long before and entry and exit complete in 3 minutes, 15 seconds! Beans came within a tick of my 4 cent target but I ended up settling for less than 2 on the long side. I passed on the next trade which would have netted another $200 but I am content with the day/week so far.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $482(6), GCL $1517(3)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	9
Net $P/L:	1998
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	999
Avg$Loss:	0

Tues.

11:30am CDT - My 6 lot short on beans only 4 got filled on the exit at 9.8850 so I had to bail on the last two 1.5 cents higher! First time that's happened in ages (actually getting a low print, even if it was only a partial fill)! I was correct on the move in crude to the upside, but I was an hour early. :(

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $969(6), GCL -$472(5)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	11
Net $P/L:	497
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	969
Avg$Loss:	-472

Mon.

11:00am CDT - Finally a nice Monday and both crude and beans systems had winners, long and short respectively. It's good to flip back to the green side for the month too. I'm now trading June crude oil. I did bail on the ZS trade 2 ticks before target so I'm still questioning things internally it seems. The mental side of trading remains the biggest random variable!

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $944(6), GCL $1622(4)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	10
Net $P/L:	2566
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	1283
Avg$Loss:	0

Fri.

2:30pm CDT - Started trading the July beans today. Today's K and N contract volumes were nearly identical today and as you can see from their DOM's, you could have traded either.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $576(12)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	12
Net $P/L:	576
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	288
Avg$Loss:	0

For the week it would have been positive if not for my brain taking a vacation day Wed. and not telling me:

Thurs.

1:00pm CDT - This would have been more palatable if not for yesterday. But at least I followed my plan today. CL would have been a winner but was stopped out by 1 tick. Beans are stuck in slow motion (until today's spike midday anyways).

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$974(12), GCL -$622(5)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	17
Net $P/L:	-1596
Wins:	0
Losses:	3
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-532

Wed.

1:30pm CDT - $2000 mistake today - my results vs. system results! I just have to shake my head and say WTF am I doing? I basically took 2 trades I shouldn't have (both losers) and the trade I should have taken and did, I took off after 3/4 of a cent profit instead of the 4 cent target which it easily hit 3 min. later...

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$768(18)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	18
Net $P/L:	-768
Wins:	1
Losses:	2
Win%:	33
Avg$Win:	194
Avg$Loss:	-481

Tues.

1:30pm CDT - Nice day but I shortchanged myself $300 by taking my bean trade off 1 cent prior to target which it hit just 8 min. later. My excuse (not a great one) is that my Internet went out just after I entered the trade and when it came back up after a couple minutes, I exited fearing it might go out again. I had my stop and target orders in though so who cares if I was blind for a short spell? My DSL connection does this about once a week.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $869(6), GCL $1078(5)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	11
Net $P/L:	1947
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	974
Avg$Loss:	0

Mon.

1:30pm CDT - Another Monday, another bad start to the week. I may be rethinking my strats if this week ends in the red!

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$962(12), GCL -$523(3)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	15
Net $P/L:	-1485
Wins:	0
Losses:	3
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-495

Fri.

1:00pm CDT - Damn beans - 7 ticks slippage on my entry!! That's $525 it cost me. I can handle a tick now and then, but 7?! Come on! Really? Still trading K contract and will until N contract has more volume, likely later this month.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $644(6), GCL -$922(5)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	11
Net $P/L:	-278
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	644
Avg$Loss:	-922

For the week, pretty much negated most of last week.

Thurs.

1:30pm CDT - Augh on beans today. They went nowhere. Party due, I'm sure, to contract volume being nearly split between May and July so nearly time to rollover to July. Crude came within 12 cents of my target but never got there. I exited as it headed back toward my entry, breaking my trading rules but making money. Price never hit my stop or target so my plan called for exiting at pit close which would have been $690 worse than what I actually made so I don't feel too bad. That's the problem with not following your plan - when it makes you money, it teaches you to not follow it next time too!

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$967(6), GCL $1037(3)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	15
Net $P/L:	75
Wins:	1
Losses:	2
Win%:	33
Avg$Win:	1037
Avg$Loss:	-481

Wed.

1:30pm CDT - Nice quick profit on beans today. Crude on the other hand was another story. I was up 35cents ($1400 on 4 lot) but my target was another 12cents away and never hit and I got stopped out at breakeven. Another quick attempt stopped me out within 10 sec. I really should take another look at scaling out.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1169(6), GCL -$195(8)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	14
Net $P/L:	974
Wins:	1
Losses:	2
Win%:	33
Avg$Win:	1169
Avg$Loss:	-98

Tues.

1:30pm CDT - 2 losers in ZS. The 2nd one was painfully frustrating as I was in it more than 2.5 hours and it came within 2 ticks of my target only to tease me and slowly reverse and ease into my stop. Patience did not pay off today as I was very close to exiting for a 3 cent gain and locking in a +$400 day...

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$962(12)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	12
Net $P/L:	-962
Wins:	0
Losses:	2
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-481

Mon.

11:30am CDT - Slippage everywhere and losers too to start the week. Slipped 1 tick on crude entry and 2 ticks on exit, 1 tick on a bean stop.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$1037(12), GCL -$702(5)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	17
Net $P/L:	-1739
Wins:	1
Losses:	2
Win%:	33
Avg$Win:	119
Avg$Loss:	-929

April Fool's Day

11:00am CDT - Got slipped 3 ticks on my morning crude trade! What can you do? Beans went well and patience paid off.

No trades for me tomorrow. It might be tempting to trade ES with the payrolls report but with the close 45 min. later and holiday volume, I'm passing.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1119(6), GCL $182(4)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	10
Net $P/L:	1301
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	651
Avg$Loss:	0

For the short week:

Finally, on April Fool's Day, an oldie but a goodie: