October Trading Summary

Net breakdown:
ZS $3355, ZW $691, ZC -$60, GCL $196, ES -$3

RESULTS FOR OCTOBER
Contracts:	539
Net $P/L:	4179
Wins:	54
Losses:	59
Win%:	48
Avg$Win:	475
Avg$Loss:	-364

Fri. 10/29

2:00pm CDT - I may have to start taking Fridays off. They've been terrible for a long time now. I dug a $1700 hole early on and climbed most of way back out but still!

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$811(24), ZW $532(6)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	30
Net $P/L:	-279
Wins:	3
Losses:	3
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	342
Avg$Loss:	-435

For the week, net was $269 in beans, $95 in corn, and $650 in wheat.

Thurs. 10/28

1:30pm CDT - Slow midday market in grains today. Passed on a few signals that would have worked out for small gains. Biggest regret is not holding a short ZS trade into the final minute of trading. In the final 3 minutes ZS fell 3 cents from my exit ($900 on my 6-lot).

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $252(24), ZW $119(6)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	30
Net $P/L:	371
Wins:	4
Losses:	2
Win%:	67
Avg$Win:	446
Avg$Loss:	-706

Wed. 10/27

12:40pm CDT - Some nice swings in ZS today that went somewhere. Only needed one. First day Jan. contract volume exceeded Nov. so now trading ZS F1 contract.

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

Tues. 10/26

1:25pm CDT - It should have been a once and done day today but instead I go and take the 1st trade off too earlier, ignoring my plan and costing me ~$500 in profits. Then I churn the next 3 trades for no net gain/loss. The grains have been very sleepy this week, which has lulled me to sleep thinking there is no more movement left and tricking me to exit early. Patience is a virtue.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $652(24)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	24
Net $P/L:	652
Wins:	3
Losses:	1
Win%:	75
Avg$Win:	532
Avg$Loss:	-943

Mon. 10/25

1:20pm CDT - Nice move up Sunday evening in grains but I just watched. Today, nothing got any traction although my unrealized gain was over $500 earlier. Executed per plan so can't complain really.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$993(18), ZC $95(1)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	19
Net $P/L:	-898
Wins:	2
Losses:	2
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	107
Avg$Loss:	-556

Fri. 10/22

1:35pm CDT - Tough day at the office and started with 2 losers and -$1600 in the red. Next 3 trades got me back to break even luckily. A much needed good week concludes. Now to piece together something similar for last week of Oct. and I'll be a happy trader.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $8(30)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	30
Net $P/L:	8
Wins:	3
Losses:	2
Win%:	60
Avg$Win:	548
Avg$Loss:	-818

For the week, net was $3723 in beans.

Thurs. 10/21

11:00am CDT - Tuesday repeated today. Caught a nice short ZS trade. I wish I would have caught the big drop in CL. I may have to start nibbling at that market again (once I have a firm trade plan established).

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

Wed. 10/20

1:20pm CDT - Corn touched the limit up price very briefly late in the day. I'm tempted to add corn or to my trading mix but am a bit hesitant since it is so correlated with beans.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $838(12)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	12
Net $P/L:	838
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	1169
Avg$Loss:	-331

Tues. 10/19

1:20pm CDT - A few big moves in ZS today. I only needed to catch one.

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

Mon. 10/18

1:25pm CDT - I'm still backtesting new tweaks but suffice it to say for now that I'm no longer using a fixed initial stop and will be taking less trades per day than last week's experiment that ended not so great on Friday.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $538(12)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	12
Net $P/L:	538
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	869
Avg$Loss:	-331

Fri. 10/15

1:40pm CDT - No excuse for today - the tiresome midday price action in ZS wore me down and spit me out. I've been taking every signal this week in ZS but that is not working. I need more ways to filter trades or perhaps incorporate a time stop (exit after x minutes if I'm stuck in a trade going nowhere). Or get back to a $x circuit breaker (+ and -) to stop trading for the day. Lots of ideas as always...

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$2936(63)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	63
Net $P/L:	-2936
Wins:	2
Losses:	7
Win%:	22
Avg$Win:	850
Avg$Loss:	-662

For the week, net was -$1995 in beans and -$155 in corn.

Thurs. 10/14

1:35pm CDT - Could have stopped after my 3rd trade and had the same net result. Churned rest of day with 12 more trades.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $652(58)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	58
Net $P/L:	652
Wins:	7
Losses:	8
Win%:	47
Avg$Win:	390
Avg$Loss:	-260

Wed. 10/13

1:00pm CDT - Stops weren't big enough today or I was going for too many cents. It would have been a good day had I not moved stops to breakeven so soon or if my targets were only 1 or 1.5 cents. But that's not my system and there's always tomorrow...

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$786(63)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	63
Net $P/L:	-786
Wins:	4
Losses:	7
Win%:	36
Avg$Win:	364
Avg$Loss:	-320

Tues. 10/12

1:25pm CDT - 1 ZS long was the only real winner on day. Chopped out on others and a poorly executed 1-lot dip into the corn waters cost me 3 cents.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $660(15), ZC -$155(1)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	16
Net $P/L:	505
Wins:	3
Losses:	3
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	357
Avg$Loss:	-189

The Speed Traders

In case you missed "60 Minutes" last night, check out The Speed Traders. Good coverage of high frequency trading, the liquidity providers we all rely on for fills and then curse when they slam the tapes up or down in milliseconds!

Mon. 10/11

1:20pm CDT - Beans were choppier than expected today after Friday's limit up day perhaps due to Columbus Day holiday and Thanksgiving in Canada. Who knows? Made a few trades last night after the 6pm open but 3/4 of today's take is from today.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $415(53)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	53
Net $P/L:	415
Wins:	7
Losses:	8
Win%:	47
Avg$Win:	255
Avg$Loss:	-171

Fri. 10/08

2:00pm CDT - USDA reported corn yields down which had all grain markets locked limit up most of day. ZS never took 1 tick below the up limit and the DOM was like watching grass grow:

ZW came off limit for part of day and I tried scalping long twice figuring it would get back to limit up (since corn and beans stayed there all day). Stopped out on first one and right on second but only held for 2 cents instead of 5...

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZW $41(6), ES -$3(1)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	7
Net $P/L:	38
Wins:	1
Losses:	2
Win%:	33
Avg$Win:	285
Avg$Loss:	-124

For the week, net was $728 in beans, $41 in wheat, $196 in crude oil, -$3 in the ES.

Thurs. 10/07

1:20pm CDT - Quit while I was ahead today after learning yesterday that trying to force trades to go some distance in a dead market just doesn't work!

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $899(10)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	10
Net $P/L:	899
Wins:	3
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	299
Avg$Loss:	0

Wed. 10/06

1:50pm CDT - Had 1 winner to start the day then the losers piled up. ZS was due for a choppy day after its recent trends but I did not figure this into my day until it was too late. Many of my trades would have worked had my stops been wider. The old "catch-22"...

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$2209(48)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	48
Net $P/L:	-2209
Wins:	1
Losses:	7
Win%:	13
Avg$Win:	344
Avg$Loss:	-365

Tues. 10/05

1:20pm CDT - Caught a long in beans and scaled out.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1057(6)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	6
Net $P/L:	1057
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	1057
Avg$Loss:	0

Mon. 10/04

1:25pm CDT - A nice start to week, however, it was partly luck. Apparently, I accidentally clicked the sell area in my DOM on CL when I shut my platform down last Friday around 3:15pm CDT. So I was short 1 CL at 81.60 all weekend and didn't even know it. I guess I should review my nightly broker statements more closely huh? When I logged in this morning and saw I had a position, I covered it at 81.40. Only other trade today was a long in ZS.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $982(6), GCL $195(1)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	7
Net $P/L:	1177
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	589
Avg$Loss:	0

Fri. 10/01

1:55pm CDT - The opportunities were nearly limitless in ZS today, to the downside. Corn ended down lock limit, -30cents and beans were down 4.5%. Of course being the first day of the Oct. and my new focus on only beans, I missed most of the action and skipped many signals that would have each netted 4-20 cents. I thought, "It's too risky to sell at those prices - it'll bounce up and take out my stop." NOT! 1 contract sold at open and bought at close would have been $2150 profit. Makes my 33 contracts traded for $630 look not so great.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $630(33)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	33
Net $P/L:	630
Wins:	3
Losses:	5
Win%:	38
Avg$Win:	453
Avg$Loss:	-146

For the week, net was $2970 in beans, -$1210 in crude oil, $180 in the euro, and -$950 in the TF.