Tues. 7/29

2:50pm CDT - Same as yesterday but ZS did the bailing out this time. I really need to give up trading the NQ open and wait for more concrete trades when price is done mercilessly whipping back and forth taking out stops.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $227(2), NQ -$313(7)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	9
Net $P/L:	-87
Wins:	1
Losses:	7
Win%:	13
Avg$Win:	282
Avg$Loss:	-53

Mon. 7/28

2:25pm CDT - Failing marks at following my rules today. NQ bailed out most of hole I had dug.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$354(3), NQ $187(7)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	10
Net $P/L:	-167
Wins:	1
Losses:	6
Win%:	14
Avg$Win:	295
Avg$Loss:	-77

Fri. 7/25

2:45pm CDT - If that last ZS long had not been stopped, it would have been at least a breakeven day. Oh well, live to trade another day. For the week, net gain +$59.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$184(4), NQ $10(19)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	23
Net $P/L:	-174
Wins:	11
Losses:	12
Win%:	48
Avg$Win:	27
Avg$Loss:	-40

Thurs. 7/24

2:00pm CDT -

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $89(2), NQ $104(6)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	8
Net $P/L:	193
Wins:	6
Losses:	2
Win%:	75
Avg$Win:	38
Avg$Loss:	-17

Wed. 7/23

2:15pm CDT - Again, easier time with soybeans.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $107(1), NQ $39(10)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	11
Net $P/L:	146
Wins:	7
Losses:	4
Win%:	64
Avg$Win:	40
Avg$Loss:	-33

For what it's worth (not much), word from "The Fool."

Tues. 7/22

1:10pm CDT - NQ is proving difficult.  Could have locked in 2 or 3 pts. a few times but didn't.  The age old dilemma of going for bigger gains vs. scalping.  ZS, on the other hand, took some time but paid nicely.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $195(1), NQ -$191(8)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	9
Net $P/L:	3
Wins:	2
Losses:	7
Win%:	22
Avg$Win:	99
Avg$Loss:	-28

Mon. 7/21

2:00pm CDT - Couldn't get anything to stick with NQ today.  Should have quit trading it before I did.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $102(2), NQ -$211(23)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	25
Net $P/L:	-109
Wins:	11
Losses:	13
Win%:	46
Avg$Win:	27
Avg$Loss:	-31

Fri. 7/18

11:00am CDT - 2 quick trades today, done early again. For the week, net gain +$278.

RESULTS FOR DAY
NQ Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	100
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	102
Avg$Loss:	-3

Thurs. 7/17

12:25pm CDT - Just 2 trades today was enough. As you can see, the potential today was large.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $70(1), NQ $62(1)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	132
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	66
Avg$Loss:	0

Wed. 7/16

2:25pm CDT -

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $96(3), NQ $84(6)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	9
Net $P/L:	180
Wins:	6
Losses:	3
Win%:	67
Avg$Win:	59
Avg$Loss:	-59

Tues. 7/15

12:45pm CDT - Better day. Quit early. $100 is the daily goal for now. I know I can have some outlier days much greater than this but working on holding winning trades is work-in-progress!

RESULTS FOR DAY
NQ Contracts:	3
Net $P/L:	107
Wins:	2
Losses:	1
Win%:	67
Avg$Win:	75
Avg$Loss:	-43

Mon. 7/14

2:45pm CDT - Good thing I'm trading NQ which limits the damage on days like today. Made a couple mistakes I'm not happy with.

RESULTS FOR DAY
NQ Contracts:	8
Net $P/L:	-241
Wins:	1
Losses:	6
Win%:	14
Avg$Win:	42
Avg$Loss:	-47

Fri. 7/11

2:45pm CDT - Study break is over.  Moving onward with NQ for now and ZS.  Today was as perfect a day as I've had in awhile.  Left a lot on table but I'm okay with that.  Good weekend to all.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $410(5), NQ $102(5)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	10
Net $P/L:	512
Wins:	6
Losses:	4
Win%:	60
Avg$Win:	99
Avg$Loss:	-20

Quarter 2 2014 Trading Results

June Trading Summary

 Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $102(18), 6E -$594(4), TF -$943(28)

RESULTS FOR JUNE
Contracts:	50
Net $P/L:	-1435
Wins:	13
Losses:	33
Win%:	28
$Commissions:	190
Avg$Win:	206
Avg$Loss:	-125

Mon. 6/30

5:15pm CDT - Traded the acreage report today in beans. Very active and should have captured more but good to end the month with a winning day.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	6
Net $P/L:	542
Wins:	3
Losses:	3
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	290
Avg$Loss:	-110

Fri. 6/20

2:30pm CDT - As expected, not the same results live as via sim. For the week, net loss -$1492. As you can see from TF chart for week, there were many opportunities but stops took me out before I could realize any. I will be studying things at least next couple weeks. Perhaps TF is not what I should be trading...

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$341(3), TF $5(2)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	5
Net $P/L:	-337
Wins:	1
Losses:	3
Win%:	25
Avg$Win:	7
Avg$Loss:	-115

Thurs. 6/19

2:05pm CDT -
Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $52(2), TF -$493(5)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	7
Net $P/L:	-441
Wins:	1
Losses:	6
Win%:	14
Avg$Win:	157
Avg$Loss:	-100

Wed. 6/18

2:45pm CDT - I guess this is a tiny victory.  FOMC action bailed me out of the hole I dug earlier in day.  OEC's platform isn't showing fills properly for some reason so no charts to show.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$211(2), TF $236(9)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	11
Net $P/L:	26
Wins:	3
Losses:	8
Win%:	27
Avg$Win:	181
Avg$Loss:	-65

Tues. 6/17

11:20am CDT - Overtraded a bit on TF which is not good. And scaled into one position with another contract for no good reason other than to make up losses quicker.  This is not in my current plan. Volatility stopped out all trades before they could go anywhere.
Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $45(1), TF -$514(9)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	10
Net $P/L:	-469
Wins:	2
Losses:	7
Win%:	22
Avg$Win:	71
Avg$Loss:	-87

Mon. 6/16

3:25pm CDT - 1 breakeven and 3 losers to start the week.
Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$93(1), TF -$178(3)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	4
Net $P/L:	-271
Wins:	1
Losses:	3
Win%:	25
Avg$Win:	7
Avg$Loss:	-93

SIM Fri. 6/13

3:00pm CDT - I will likely trade live next week as this 2 week SIM'ing trial mostly just showed that I still dislike SIM trading. I'd like to think my live results will be positively correlated with the past 2 weeks of SIM trades but I'm just not sure. Having real money on the line makes all the difference in the world I think.  And some SIM fills are very suspect!

   Mon. -2.75 pts ES, +4 ticks ZS
   Tues. +2.50 pts ES, +11 ticks ZS
   Wed. -3.00 pts ES
   Thur. +2.50 pts ES, +21 ticks ZS
   Fri.  +0 pts ES, +2.0 pts TF, -8 ticks ZS

For week, -0.75 pts ES, +2.0 pts TF, +28 ticks ZS = $512 gross SIM profit

Wed. 6/11

4:20pm CDT - Traded monthly crop report.  Didn't do too well but positive at least.  The real move came half hour after report.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	3
Net $P/L:	109
Wins:	1
Losses:	2
Win%:	33
Avg$Win:	307
Avg$Loss:	-99

In SIM action, not a great week so far. Too many premature entries on ES. Need to be more patient. At least I'm reading ZS better.
   Mon. -2.75 pts ES, +4 ticks ZS
   Tues. +2.50 pts ES, +11 ticks ZS
   Wed. -3.00 pts ES

SIM Fri. 6/06

9:45am CDT - More SIM'ing and nearly met goal of 5 ES pts. for week. Only met daily goal once, today.  It's a start...

Fri.  +2.50 pts ES, +4 ticks ZS
For week, +4.75 pts ES, +12 ticks ZS = $387 gross SIM profit

Thurs. 6/05

9:00pm CDT - 2 system trades today on Euro.  This system is so dead this year with very few trades.

RESULTS FOR DAY
6E Contracts:	4
Net $P/L:	-594
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	641
Avg$Loss:	-1234

In my alternate SIM universe:
Wed. -3.00 pts ES
Thurs. +2.75 pts ES, +8 ticks ZS

The Plan

1:45pm CDT - Well enough time off! It's time to get back to the journey to consistent profitability. The plan for now is this:

Using a mostly discretionary method,
SIM trade ES and target 2.5 pts per day and minimum of 5 pts per week.
Quit trading each day if I hit daily target or -3.0 pts.
Trade SIM for first 2 weeks of June minimum and switch to live whenever 2 consecutive positive SIM weeks occur.
Trade 1 lots.
May do similar with CL, ZS, or TF...

First 2 days this week below.  All results SIM.
Mon. +1.25 ES pts
Tues. +1.25 ES pts

May Trading Summary

 Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $407(1), 6E -$1259(2)

RESULTS FOR MAY
Contracts:	3
Net $P/L:	-852
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
$Commissions:	15
Avg$Win:	407
Avg$Loss:	-1259

Fri. 5/09

11:20am CDT - Still on break but decided to trade crop report.  Pure discretion.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ZS Contracts:	1
Net $P/L:	407
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	407
Avg$Loss:	0

Analysts

Not surprised by this chart, click for story. But it's only over 2 months. I recall reading of similar results over the long term for analyst picks but don't have any source.

Fri. 5/02

1:00pm CDT - Still taking a break but got a Euro system trade today so took it.  It got to within 1 tick of target and then price reversed and stopped me out hours later. This was only the 6th trade this year in this system and the first loser. 1 tick!!!! I know the market doesn't care about me but it sure feels that way on trades like this.

For grain traders, you should be aware of the new limit prices which will be adjusted twice a year.

RESULTS FOR DAY
6E Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	-1259
Wins:	0
Losses:	1
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-1259