ES August Trading Summary

RESULTS FOR AUGUST
Contracts:	181
Net $P/L:	892
Wins:	84
Losses:	56
Win%:	60
Avg$Win:	47
Avg$Loss:	-55

Broker Down!

3:10pm CDT - Missed a couple winning trades in the first hour due to my broker platform being down. It was a mandatory upgrade to a new version over the weekend and you'd think they would have tested every thing before launching it! Things finally returned to normal by 11am or so which of course was in the middle of the dead market.

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	5
Net $P/L:	12
Wins:	2
Losses:	2
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	13
Avg$Loss:	-7

Averaging Down

In a way I'm glad it's Saturday and the markets are closed. It was 2 years ago today that I was at my all-time equity high in the morning, and $130k off that high in the afternoon. So 8/29/07 will always be a day that is etched in my memory banks and the subsequent lessons it taught me.

I posted regularly that summer in EliteTrader's 2007 P/L thread. I had a profitable streak going and increased my trading frequency and my results followed along. In the 4 weeks prior to 8/29/07, I had made $250k in profits from my trading so was trading "with the house's money" and felt I had enough capital to increase my starting position size from 2 contracts to 3. So that's what I did the morning of 8/29/07. I was up nearly $6k by 12:55pm, when I began shorting the market and averaging in until the "uncle" point nearly an hour and forty minutes later. It took me just ten minutes to buy back my 400 contract short position and realize a $137k loss.
See 8/29/07 post in P/L thread

I remember feeling shocked at the time but didn't expect it to happen again for a long time. I rationalized it in my head that I would gladly give back 100k every time I make 300k in the time span of 6 weeks!

I had a couple other "smaller" drawdowns before throwing in the towel.

See 10/14/07 post w/ equity curve

That pretty much sums it up and is why I will always remember August 29th each year! We are all products of our experiences and that summer I experienced a few years all at once.

TGIF

2:30pm CDT - TGIF! :) Look for a weekend post tomorrow on the 2-year anniversary of a day I will never forget.

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	9
Net $P/L:	227
Wins:	7
Losses:	1
Win%:	88
Avg$Win:	33
Avg$Loss:	-6

Finally less chop

3:00pm CDT - It's nice to have a day with less chop for a change. The market still didn't go anywhere and the daily ES chart now looks like 4 dojis in a row! But at least we only had a couple changes in direction today. A couple of trades from this morning on the chart:

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	8
Net $P/L:	217
Wins:	5
Losses:	2
Win%:	71
Avg$Win:	45
Avg$Loss:	-4

Spinning Wheels

3:00pm CDT - I spun my wheels again today and barely escaped the red and finished at my high of the day after digging a couple hundred dollar hole earlier. The market the past few days has been very tough for me with little but chop and the day's open nearly equal to it's close. As usual, I need to do some more homework to devise a better way to trade this (or just sit out)...

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	14
Net $P/L:	14
Wins:	2
Losses:	6
Win%:	25
Avg$Win:	118
Avg$Loss:	-37

Ben Tuesday

3:10pm CDT - I should have quit after my first trade which was good for 7 ticks... But I didn't lose today which is a win in my book. Lots of changes in direction today which kept me scrambling. Here's a few morning trades:

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	12
Net $P/L:	6
Wins:	3
Losses:	5
Win%:	38
Avg$Win:	96
Avg$Loss:	-57

Monday

3:00pm CDT - More moves today which was nice to see. Too bad I gave some back toward end of day. A couple winners and a 3-tick loser on the chart today:

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	5
Net $P/L:	112
Wins:	3
Losses:	2
Win%:	60
Avg$Win:	68
Avg$Loss:	-46

Friday

2:55pm CDT - As usual, no action except for first hour. Good to see a breakout to upside! 2 long trades today.

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	194
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	97
Avg$Loss:	0

Crawling

3:00pm CDT - Slowly crawling out of Tuesday's hole and flipped back to the plus side today on the month-to-date tally. Another slow summer day except for first hour as usual.

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	4
Net $P/L:	114
Wins:	3
Losses:	1
Win%:	75
Avg$Win:	52
Avg$Loss:	-40

Better

3:10pm CDT - Much better today...

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	3
Net $P/L:	192
Wins:	3
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	64
Avg$Loss:	0

Down Tues.

3:00pm CDT - Shut things down after 11am. Shorting the morning move around 980.5 and stopping out at 984 resulted in most of the negative take. Just didn't have my head in the game after that to attempt a recovery so will save it for another day. And with a tight 4 pt. afternoon trading range, I'm glad I sat out!

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	10
Net $P/L:	-476
Wins:	3
Losses:	3
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	18
Avg$Loss:	-177

Another Monday

3:10pm CDT - A big move down overnight but not much action during the regular market hours. I did manage a few good scalps and another Monday is in the books.

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	9
Net $P/L:	114
Wins:	4
Losses:	3
Win%:	57
Avg$Win:	43
Avg$Loss:	-20

Friday

3:20pm CDT - Despite my winning 2 pt. trade overnight for $200 (filled at 1:33am), I proceeded to scratch the day with abysmal scalping giving back my overnight gain. Considering there was NO action except for first 45 mins. and last 30 mins., I'm not surprised. I did trade mostly 2 lots and don't think that attributed to the performance issue other making it twice as big as 1 lots would have been.

So the week was a scratch too which is better than a loss I guess. But I still tend to kick myself for weeks like this thinking that I should have gone on vacation and enjoyed myself! Not that I don't find trading enjoyable, I do! I'm just sayin'...

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	26
Net $P/L:	32
Wins:	8
Losses:	6
Win%:	57
Avg$Win:	64
Avg$Loss:	-81

No good today

4:00pm CDT - Ending with technical difficulties in getting a macro to run just now, the day has not gone well. 3 losing trades in a row trading 2 lots did not go as planned and I seemed to never get in sync with the slow afternoon action, if you can call it that. I did short 2 contracts at 1013.25 at the close, target 11.25.

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	17
Net $P/L:	-169
Wins:	5
Losses:	7
Win%:	42
vg$Win:	66
Avg$Loss:	-71

FOMC Chopped

3:00pm CDT - Tough day with nothing much to show for it! Was up a tad more than my final tally early but overtraded and got chopped after FOMC news and went negative. So I fought my way back. Not pretty but today proves you're average loser can be double your average winner as long as you have enough win%!

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	19
Net $P/L:	64
Wins:	12
Losses:	5
Win%:	71
Avg$Win:	27
Avg$Loss:	-52

Another Slow Day

2:00pm CDT - Shutting down a bit early today to enjoy the great outdoors. Plus I'm not going to give back my gain, tiny though it is, like I did yesterday!

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	8
Net $P/L:	104
Wins:	6
Losses:	2
Win%:	75
Avg$Win:	31
Avg$Loss:	-40

Summertime

3:10pm CDT - Slow summertime day... I was up $70 after first 2 trades, then slowly gave it back rest of day on next 5 trades. It seemed like every time I entered a position, it just sat there and stared at me for hours (well minutes I guess is the reality) until I gave in and took a tick or two loss.

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	8
Net $P/L:	4
Wins:	4
Losses:	3
Win%:	57
Avg$Win:	25
Avg$Loss:	-32

TGIF

3:15pm CDT - I knew today wasn't my day when I was down $300 by 10am mostly due to trying to play the short side. Not the brightest move considering the strength of the employment numbers and the strong market move up! Later I did something I NEVER do and accidently pressed the mouse button while grabbing it to move to Excel window. The cursor happened to be right over the BUY area on my DOM and the "ka-ching" sound told me instantly what happened. It turned out to be one of my better trades of the day as I exited for a tick profit! LOL

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	13
Net $P/L:	-246
Wins:	6
Losses:	5
Win%:	55
vg$Win:	16
Avg$Loss:	-68

Did more backtesting of a strategy that I was optimistic about yesterday but not so much now. It's just another case of being fooled by randomness! Back to drawing board...

Parking Meter Change

3:00pm CDT - Enough today to pay a parking meter in Chicago for 2 hours (depending on the hood). Didn't focus on action too much today as was busy backtesting. My latest system creation has an acceptable equity curve over past 9 months but I need to go back further. I'll post a chart tomorrow and see what you think...

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	4
Net $P/L:	2
Wins:	2
Losses:	2
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	28
Avg$Loss:	-27

Hump Day

3:00pm CDT - Another short at the close yesterday, my limit order filled after midnight for 3 pts. Otherwise just a few scalps today. I see I left off a digit on yesterday's posted P/L - I'll have to go edit that from 97 to 197! Not a bad start to the month but I may have to call myself an overnight trader instead of a daytrader if I keep this up.

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	4
Net $P/L:	177
Wins:	3
Losses:	1
Win%:	75
Avg$Win:	64
Avg$Loss:	-15

Midnight hour

2:45pm CDT - Trade at close yesterday worked out nicely and filled my limit just after midnight as I slept! Not a bad way to trade. No other trades today as I worked on other things.

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	1
Net $P/L:	197
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	197
Avg$Loss:	0

3:15pm UPDATE - I couldn't resist and shorted another contract at close at 1004.75

Short at Close

3:25pm CDT - No trades today -good to see the S&P 500 back to quadruple digits! I did short 1 contract right at the close, 1001.00. I'll report on that tomorrow. Target 997 (unless I change it).