February Trading Summary

RESULTS FOR FEBRUARY
ZS Contracts:	90
Net $P/L:	3061
Wins:	16
Losses:	20
Win%:	44
$Commissions:	464
Avg$Win:	530
Avg$Loss:	-271

Body Destruction

No trades today and likely none until next week for me.  In the meantime, enjoy this article about how we are all going to die prematurely!!  Or perhaps I will live forever as really only 4 or 5 of the 18 factors apply to me.  For sure 1, 2, and 9 (sitting all day, slouching, endless computer staring).  But 11 (boredom) only sometimes and 12 (dirty keyboard) doesn't really count if they are all my germs does it?

Tues. 2/26

2:15pm CST - ZS remains very spurty with periods of no tape movement and zero volume then surges of orders spiking things around for a bit.  But both systems eeked out wins with 2 ZS2 trades and 1 ZS1.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	6
Net $P/L:	769
Wins:	2
Losses:	1
Win%:	67
Avg$Win:	515
Avg$Loss:	-260

Mon. 2/25

2:45pm CST - ZS2 draws down today. The first trade was the only good one on the day, then chop...

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	8
Net $P/L:	-327
Wins:	1
Losses:	4
Win%:	20
Avg$Win:	365
Avg$Loss:	-173

Fri. 2/22

2:00pm CST - I guess ZS1 system is taking a long weekend.  No signals there again today.  ZS2 did marginally okay with my poor execution of exits but had potential to do amazing.  There is some discretion involved with this new system, mostly on the exits, so I am bound to be critical of my performance going forward.  For the week, net gain +$1691.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	8
Net $P/L:	209
Wins:	2
Losses:	2
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	227
Avg$Loss:	-123

This news of a trader tax from Europe is concerning. I don't know if it will really happen but if it does, I can't imagine it not affecting USA traders because there will be less volume and liquidity in the markets. "A trade of a derivative would face a tax of one-hundredth of 1 percent. But that tax would be applied to the notional value, which can be very large relative to the cost of the derivative." This means a trade of 1 contract of ES would have a tax of $7.50 (per side or round-trip I'm not sure?). NQ would be $5.40, ZS $7.30! It's hard enough to cover commissions. This tax would change the game entirely.

Thurs. 2/21

2:00pm CST - Spurty jerky rollover day in beans. Traded new ZS system today, we'll call it ZS2, that I have been working on.  No signals in original ZS system, we'll call that ZS1 going forward.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	4
Net $P/L:	204
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	215
Avg$Loss:	-10

Wed. 2/20

2:45pm CST -

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	8
Net $P/L:	509
Wins:	2
Losses:	1
Win%:	67
Avg$Win:	397
Avg$Loss:	-285

Tues. 2/19

2:05pm CST - 30 cent move up in pit session ($1500/contract) in ZS today thanks to Argentina drought reports and news they are delaying export sales because of expectations the peso will further depreciate against the dollar.  The world is all interconnected isn't it?

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	6
Net $P/L:	769
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	1029
Avg$Loss:	-260

In more Debbie Downer news on our occupation, "If you look around the poker table and you don’t know who the sucker is, you’re the sucker. Wall Street knows who the suckers are: naïve, at-home day traders."  I don't know about you, but these "news reports" just motivate me more!

Next

No trades today but finished backtesting a new ZS system.  I was very optimistic (the curse of being an optimist) initially.  But then, not so much.  The chart on left is past 1.5 months and on right is about 6 months.  For anyone who thinks 100 trades is plenty enough to look at to determine if a strategy is worthy of trading, think again.  This happens all the time...

On to the next system!

Is Daytrading going mainstream?  There's a board game in development apparently. It doesn't have much to do with actual trading it seems to me but the name caught my eye.

Thurs. 2/14

2:15pm CST - As close as I can get to turning a +$400 day into a loser.  Happy Valentine's Day Mr. Market - love you too!

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	6
Net $P/L:	-556
Wins:	0
Losses:	2
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-278

Wed. 2/13

2:00pm CST -

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	6
Net $P/L:	769
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	1229
Avg$Loss:	-460

Tues. 2/12

2:00pm CST -

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	6
Net $P/L:	519
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	779
Avg$Loss:	-260

FCMs face tough times?  Until FCMs share all of their financial details (income statements, balance sheets, etc.), I have a hard time sympathizing.  And I'm talking a lot more than what's available at CFTC.

Mon. 2/11

2:00pm CST -

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	390
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	390
Avg$Loss:	0

So easy a 16 year old Desperate Housewives can day trade!

Fri. 2/08

2:15pm CST - Took an early exit on last trade today just after crop report.  System exit later hit but I can't say I would have been able to stomach sitting on my hands on this one.  Sure, if I was a robot maybe but I am not!  For the week, net loss -$194.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	6
Net $P/L:	519
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	1229
Avg$Loss:	-710

Thurs. 2/07

2:00pm CST - 1 signal today.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	390
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	390
Avg$Loss:	0

In random earth-shattering news on the Internet:

Don't spend a single day in day-trading
February 01, 2013

DAY-TRADING may seem like a good way to make money, but it's really gambling, not investing - and often just as effective as buying an armload of Powerball tickets.

Successful long-term investors study businesses, carefully select stocks and aim to hold on for years. They consider themselves, rightly, as part-owners of real businesses. Day-traders, meanwhile, tend to spend hours glued to monitors, watching stock-price graphs and placing orders. They'll typically place scores of orders each day and hold each stock for a few minutes or hours. Many ignore company fundamentals and may not even know what various companies do.

While investors pay long-term capital-gains rates on stocks held for more than a year, day-traders are stuck paying generally higher short-term rates.

A study by the North American Securities Administrators Association suggested that only about 12 percent of day-traders might trade profitably, and that about 70 percent "will almost certainly lose everything they invest." (Trading "profitably" does not necessarily mean beating the S&P500, available via inexpensive index funds.)

Wed. 2/06

2:20pm CST - 1st trade winner, followed by 2 losers. Was 3 ticks from an $800 day but price stalled and then stopped me out. Perhaps Ask size of 1970 contracts just above my sell limit order scared the buyers away? Bid and ask size on the DOM is normally in the double digits on ZS.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	8
Net $P/L:	34
Wins:	1
Losses:	2
Win%:	33
Avg$Win:	390
Avg$Loss:	-178

Tues. 2/05

2:10pm CST - Final trade of day was only winner which was cut short due to the close.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	12
Net $P/L:	-1137
Wins:	1
Losses:	3
Win%:	25
Avg$Win:	179
Avg$Loss:	-439

No Trades

1:50pm CST - Suffice it to say, in case it's not obvious by now, that any days I don't post results I had no trades. ZS has had some decent ranges lately but I have had no signals 3 days in a row now in my ZS system. This makes for some boring chart watching but it does allow time to research and work on other systems. I need to get more productive in that regard.

January Trading Summary

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
CL -$901(7), NQ -$581(46), ZS $2304(38)

RESULTS FOR JANUARY
Contracts:	91
Net $P/L:	822
Wins:	18
Losses:	28
Win%:	39
$Commissions:	348
Avg$Win:	314
Avg$Loss:	-173

Wed. 1/30

2:00pm CST - As mentioned a few days ago, I thought my NQ method should work well in any market. Well it hasn't worked well at all in NQ the few days tested so I decided to test CL today. Inventory day is usually pretty good ranges.  Not so today (even after FOMC).  Anyways, it's back to the drawing board for that method. I did have a great idea while losing trade after trade today, however, and plan to backtest that soon.  And in case you were wondering, yes, all of my ideas are great!  At least up to the point they become not-so-great.  Unlike my trades, I do not keep statistics on how often that occurs.

RESULTS FOR DAY
CL Contracts:	7
Net $P/L:	-901
Wins:	0
Losses:	7
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-129

Tues. 1/29

2:20pm CST - New NQ method is proving trickier than I expected.  ZS was trying today...

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $515(2), NQ $8(20)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	22
Net $P/L:	522
Wins:	5
Losses:	6
Win%:	45
Avg$Win:	179
Avg$Loss:	-62

Mon. 1/28

3:10pm CST -

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$135(2), NQ -$281(12)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	14
Net $P/L:	-417
Wins:	2
Losses:	5
Win%:	29
Avg$Win:	130
Avg$Loss:	-135

Fri. 1/25

2:05pm CST - Got the live feel of a new method I've been working on with NQ today. It has some discretion involved so of course I didn't execute it very well!  But it has good potential I think and should work in most markets.  I circumvented my ZS system this afternoon by taking profit early on last trade due to the extreme deadness in the tape. Figured it was a Fri. afternoon too. It then drifted painfully up and hit my target in the final 30 sec. of the session.  Lesson learned for opportunity cost of $450.  For the week, net +$1027.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $529(4), NQ -$307(14)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	18
Net $P/L:	223
Wins:	3
Losses:	6
Win%:	44
Avg$Win:	235
Avg$Loss:	-80

Thurs. 1/24

2:30pm CST - Officially no system trades yesterday or today but I accidentally thought there was a signal today and entered a position and was halfway to target when I realized my error.  I ended up tightening my target a bit but got some "free" money today.  Hopefully I remember this when a future error goes the other way!

I saw this in other good news today.  Hopefully they can help put some teeth into the NFA and better protect our funds.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	290
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	290
Avg$Loss:	0

Tues. 1/22

2:10pm CST - Nice to get filled at the low tick of the afternoon.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	515
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	515
Avg$Loss:	0

Fri. 1/18

1:40pm CST - System was out of sync today.  For the week, net loss -$239.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	6
Net $P/L:	-1606
Wins:	0
Losses:	2
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-803

Thurs. 1/17

2:05pm CST - No trades yesterday and 2 winners today.  It's nice when they take virtually no heat.

Ran across this graphic. I agree with 90% of it but disagree with Pros not liking volatility and only Amateurs trade 1 security all year and close out positions at end of day.  WTF?

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	4
Net $P/L:	604
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	302
Avg$Loss:	0

Tues. 1/15

2:00pm CST - Big move up overnight and then a slow dead choppy drift down during the pit session. I am happy to make it out positive after seeing my unrealized at -$1500 at its worst point today.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	6
Net $P/L:	194
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	679
Avg$Loss:	-485

Mon. 1/14

2:00pm CST - Lots of opportunity in ZS today with it up 3.3% on the day.  If I had held my winning long trade to the top, I could have booked $3000 more.  But I don't play the woulda, coulda, shoulda game!

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	6
Net $P/L:	569
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	879
Avg$Loss:	-310

Fri. 1/11

1:20pm CST - Got off the sidelines after my old ZS system gave a couple good signals after the 11am ag reports came out.  Of course I didn't know they were good until after I took profits but good start to 2013!

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	4
Net $P/L:	829
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	415
Avg$Loss:	0