August Trading Summary

Net breakdown:
ZS $3030, GCL -$5720

RESULTS FOR AUGUST
Contracts:	416
Net $P/L:	-2690
Wins:	29
Losses:	43
Win%:	40
Avg$Win:	762
Avg$Loss:	-577

Tues. 8/31

2:20pm CDT - Good to end the month on a positive note at least. I really need more hours in the day to test more trading ideas. The afternoon 20 cent free fall in ZS I totally missed.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $918(16), GCL $251(2)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	18
Net $P/L:	1169
Wins:	4
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	292
Avg$Loss:	0

Mon. 8/30

1:25pm CDT - Summer Monday...

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$1482(16), GCL -$174(1)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	17
Net $P/L:	-1657
Wins:	0
Losses:	3
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-552

Fri. 8/27

1:45pm CDT - Thanks beans for moving somewhere today and to OEC for 2 hiccup free days in a row and counting! :)

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $918(16)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	16
Net $P/L:	918
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	1559
Avg$Loss:	-641

For the week, net was $1320 in beans. Should have been over $2200 if not for Wed.... OK, I'll stop complaining now.

Thurs. 8/26

2:10pm CDT - Of course the OEC platform worked fine today so I could lock in 2 system losers. I need to make $3120 over the next 4 days to breakeven on August. It's possible but I'm not holding my breath...

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$1332(16)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	16
Net $P/L:	-1332
Wins:	0
Losses:	2
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-666

OEC Down

10:25am CDT - OEC platform was down briefly but charts took over a half hour to fully load so I had no soybean charts. Once they came back up, I see I missed a losing trade and a winning trade for a woulda, shoulda, coulda, net-gain on the day of ~$900. But actual gain/loss was ZERO. Thanks OEC!

Tues. 8/24

1:15pm CDT - Busy backtesting but took my ZS system trades as usual.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $818(16)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	16
Net $P/L:	818
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	1559
Avg$Loss:	-741

Mon. 8/23

1:25pm CDT - Short on words, long on soybeans was the winner.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $918(16)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	16
Net $P/L:	918
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	1259
Avg$Loss:	-341

Fri. 8/20

1:40pm CDT - Repeat of yesterday. This week kinda sucked.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$1382(16)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	16
Net $P/L:	-1382
Wins:	0
Losses:	2
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-691

For the week, net was -$1410 in crude and -$4115 in beans.

Thurs. 8/19

11:20am CDT - Took 2 bean system trades, both losers. Too bad I didn't get a signal to short that opening 15 cent selloff in the first 11 minutes! And my main CL system I've stopped trading (for now) would have had a nice $1000 winner today.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$1382(16)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	16
Net $P/L:	-1382
Wins:	0
Losses:	2
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-691

Wed. 8/18

2:25pm CDT - Ugly day with zero winners in all systems. 1 bean trade came within 2 ticks of target, my main CL trade and 1 of my discretionary trades went 0 ticks in my favor, and another discretionary trade stopped at BE before going to target. This was a perfect storm kind of day.

Below is my main CL system which I am going to stop trading as of now. I will continue to track it for awhile but I am just not happy with it's performance. I will be trading only ZS for the near term until I get things revamped in other areas/symbols. I've been working on a few ideas for new systems but have been lazy, with summer and all, about backtesting them thoroughly. I can't afford to be lazy (insert sound of whip cracking)!

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$1507(16), GCL -$1719(11)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	27
Net $P/L:	-3226
Wins:	0
Losses:	6
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-538

Tues. 8/17

2:00pm CDT - I guess soybeans read my post yesterday and decided to teach me who is really the boss! At least crude pulled some weight today for a change.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$1382(16), GCL $971(11)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	27
Net $P/L:	-411
Wins:	2
Losses:	4
Win%:	33
Avg$Win:	735
Avg$Loss:	-470

Mon. 8/16

1:55pm CDT - My main crude system trade was 1 tick from target but then it reversed and stopped. It has been in a drawdown now since 6/21 and shows little sign of coming out anytime soon. I may be stopping trading in that system soon if things don't change. At least soybeans are behaving as I've trained them to do. :)

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1538(12), GCL -$662(5)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	17
Net $P/L:	876
Wins:	2
Losses:	1
Win%:	67
Avg$Win:	769
Avg$Loss:	-662

Fri. 8/13

12:00pm CDT - Friday the 13th struck my systems today. Losers all around. I am starting the weekend early and will see the Blue Angels practicing this afternoon from the beach for the annual Air Show in Chicago!

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$1307(16), GCL -$622(5)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	21
Net $P/L:	-1929
Wins:	0
Losses:	3
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-643

For the week, net was -$510 in crude and $2940 in beans. Who knew I could have quit after trade #2 and taken most of week off?!

Thurs. 8/12

1:45pm CDT - Crude loser in my main system but if my stop had been 2 ticks lower I would have had a nice winner on the long side. Once again, it's a game of a ticks.

To answer De'Trader's question yesterday regarding overtrading or revenge trading, I have pretty much kicked that curse by limiting my number of trades per day. This varies for each of my systems which I trade (or try to trade) independently of one another.
-ZS system: 2 trades max/day
-CL main system: 1 trade max/day
-CL discretionary system: 3 trades max/day

In general, I risk no more than 2% of my account on any single trade. I don't really have a daily $ or % stop limit where I shut things down. The above limits pretty much take care of any major damage. That's what works for me anyways....

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $818(16), GCL -$672(5)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	21
Net $P/L:	146
Wins:	1
Losses:	2
Win%:	33
Avg$Win:	1559
Avg$Loss:	-707

Wed. 8/11

1:15pm CDT - As usual, nothing working in crude for me. But beans saved the day again.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1018(16), GCL -$581(7)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	23
Net $P/L:	437
Wins:	3
Losses:	1
Win%:	75
Avg$Win:	350
Avg$Loss:	-612

Tues. 8/10

1:50pm CDT - First CL discretionary signal I was all over and got stopped for -13 cents. So what do I do? I skip the next signal that would have been a nice 30+ cent winner on that nice move to down side. But I flirted with disaster and took a couple trades shown below just after FOMC rate move which got CL back in the black.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $918(16), GCL $273(6)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	22
Net $P/L:	1191
Wins:	4
Losses:	1
Win%:	80
Avg$Win:	365
Avg$Loss:	-269

Mon. 8/09

2:00pm CDT - Winners today on my main systems which always makes for a nice day. And the swings on CL were perfect for my discretionary system except that I only took the first breakeven trade and passed on the next two (which would have been +$600 each) for fear of giving back my profits on the day. I guess crude burned me too much last week so I am gun shy.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1496(8), GCL $1093(6)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	14
Net $P/L:	2590
Wins:	2
Losses:	1
Win%:	67
Avg$Win:	1299
Avg$Loss:	-9

Fri. 8/06

1:50pm CDT - This was the most frustrating week in recent memory. Today if crude had moved 5 cents higher, I would have a $2500+ day instead of $128. I don't move or trail stops so after having a paper profit on CL long trade of ~$1400, it double topped and never went higher eventually hitting my stop loss and I booked -$1273. I need to do more homework to see if using trailing stops reaps more over time. Last time I studied this, it did not.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1402(24), GCL -$1273(3)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	27
Net $P/L:	128
Wins:	2
Losses:	2
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	1021
Avg$Loss:	-957

For the week, net was -$3880 in crude and $3450 in beans.

Thurs. 8/05

1:30pm CDT - Too much volatility/chop for me in ZS today as it's cousin ZW was locked limit up most of the day. Another loser in my primary CL system rounded out the bad day.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$1282(16), GCL -$572(5)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	21
Net $P/L:	-1854
Wins:	0
Losses:	3
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-618

Wed. 8/04

2:00pm CDT - I prematurely entered a ZS trade before the signal confirmed so I exited fairly quickly for a tick or two gain. The signal ended up not confirming so that was the right thing to do, right? Of course it was. But if I had left it on, it would have been a nice $1500 trade. The market screws with our minds in every possible way it can think of, often times negatively reinforcing good smart decisions! At least the 2nd of the next two ZS trades worked out. And it is nice to break out of my drawdown I had been in since 7/23. Bottoms up!

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1014(24), GCL -$622(5)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	29
Net $P/L:	392
Wins:	2
Losses:	2
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	828
Avg$Loss:	-632

Tues. 8/03

2:00pm CDT - Nice short winner in ZS made the day. CL trading sucked as I duplicated my error made last Thurs. The previous day I had a bunch of losers so I took a trade off early that day. Did the same today (after yesterday's losers) and only got 10 cents instead of the 30 cent target which later hit. Someday I hope to learn from my mistakes.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1509(8), GCL $222(4)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	12
Net $P/L:	1731
Wins:	3
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	577
Avg$Loss:	0

Mon. 8/02

11:30am CDT - Crappy start to the week and month. Came within 2 ticks of a $1500 day in ZS but it wasn't meant to be. And then my 4 discretionary crude trades were all losers. Still in my drawdown but hope to pop out sometime this week.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $805(16), GCL -$1635(8)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	24
Net $P/L:	-830
Wins:	1
Losses:	5
Win%:	17
Avg$Win:	1459
Avg$Loss:	-458