Mon. 2/28

11:05am CST - Nothing going anywhere for me today so I'm packing it in for the day and month.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$2540(32), ZW -$88(5), ZC -$26(5)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	42
Net $P/L:	-2654
Wins:	1
Losses:	6
Win%:	14
Avg$Win:	145
Avg$Loss:	-467

Fri. 2/25

1:30pm CST - Since the grain outlook report came out 9 min. before the open, I’m not sure what caused the huge surge ~50 min. after the open. Beans rocketed up 44 cents in less than 5 min. Wheat up 15 cents in less than 3 min. and corn touched limit up. At times the pace was more than 10c in just 30 sec. Trading 5 lots, which I often do, that's nearly $100 per second. I don’t care who you are (assuming you’re human), it is nearly impossible to be able to read and react to violent moves like that. I got lucky and caught some of the wheat move back down which I exited way too early but recovered earlier soybean losses. So ends the day at par. For the week, net gain of $1619.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$1641(10), ZW $1636(10), CL $39(7)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	37
Net $P/L:	34
Wins:	4
Losses:	7
Win%:	36
Avg$Win:	511
Avg$Loss:	-287

Thurs. 2/24

10:25am CST - UNCLE! That's all I have to say to crude this morning after 11 attempts and just 2 wins. Condensing trades into a 5 min. chart below makes it look just like the mess it was! Meanwhile, had a good day in beans so content to close up shop early.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1763(12), CL -$963(12)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	24
Net $P/L:	800
Wins:	3
Losses:	10
Win%:	23
Avg$Win:	730
Avg$Loss:	-139

Wed. 2/23

1:30pm CST - Abysmal again and this time the red result appropriately shows it. Finished at lows of the day after being down early, then up $700 late morning only to give it all back. Crude oil was a wild child again trading 5 cents shy of $100. Too many tight stops and not letting good trades run are to blame there. Always room for improvement!

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$294(40), ZW, -$413(5), ZC, $349(5), CL -$360(9)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	59
Net $P/L:	-718
Wins:	5
Losses:	12
Win%:	29
Avg$Win:	503
Avg$Loss:	-269

Tues. 2/22 Grains Rollover

1:45pm CST - Crazy day in the grains today. Not only was it contract rollover but all the prices rolled over and died as well and closed limit down thanks to anticipation over the USDA crop report! The moves were huge and I traded abysmally. I was up nearly $2k, lost all that, then rallied back most of loss. Lesson of day: tight stops don't work so well when volatility is high. I switched to May contract in Corn today and will do so for Wheat and Soybeans tomorrow.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1897(20), ZW -$791(20), ZC $84(20), CL $312(4)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	64
Net $P/L:	1503
Wins:	7
Losses:	8
Win%:	47
Avg$Win:	568
Avg$Loss:	-309

Fri. 2/18

1:45pm CST - ZS and ZW look like stellar trading on the charts but I could not catch a break. Several times I stopped out by a tick or two and the train went without me. Oh well. Still an okay week in the end. Results for the week, net gain of $1829. Look forward to a 3-day weekend!

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$1883(50), ZW, $235(15), CL $201(2)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	67
Net $P/L:	-1447
Wins:	5
Losses:	7
Win%:	42
Avg$Win:	357
Avg$Loss:	-462

Thurs. 2/17

11:25am CST - Choppy crude but recovered most of early loss on final trade exiting on morning high tick (that never happens to me). ZS paid on long side and made the day. Happy to finally break out of a 6-month drawdown today exceeding last year's August equity high by a smidgen. Hopefully onward and upward from here. Currently up 10.8% YTD. :)

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1948(10), CL -$98(4)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	14
Net $P/L:	1851
Wins:	2
Losses:	3
Win%:	40
Avg$Win:	1082
Avg$Loss:	-104

Wed. 2/16

11:15am CST - Back in the green for the week on a ZS trade and some CL scalps. CL is nearing rollover and was very wild after today's inventory report.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1936(10), CL $192(4)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	14
Net $P/L:	2128
Wins:	4
Losses:	1
Win%:	80
Avg$Win:	563
Avg$Loss:	-124

Tues. 2/15

1:50pm CST - Soybeans and wheat both down over 30 cents today. It's almost embarrassing that I only caught 4 cents. But I'll laugh all the way to the bank and get over it. AND I had a tick POSITIVE slippage today too. That rarely happens.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $2073(10), CL $101(2)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	12
Net $P/L:	2174
Wins:	2
Losses:	1
Win%:	67
Avg$Win:	1089
Avg$Loss:	-4

Mon. 2/14 - Red for Valentine's Day

1:30pm CST - Began digging a new hole for the week but at least it's on last week's higher plateau. Grains were very opposed to my signals today and tough for me to trade. I should have quit after my first trade of the day, +$200 on CL. Hindsight...

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$2707(45), ZC -$376(5), CL $206(1)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	51
Net $P/L:	-2877
Wins:	2
Losses:	7
Win%:	22
Avg$Win:	309
Avg$Loss:	-499

Fri. 2/11

12:45pm CST - A couple stabs in crude chopped me out, I'll blame Egypt which added significantly to volatility there. Congrats to Egyptians though, way to stick it out! A short in beans for +4 cents was enough for me to call it a day/week. Results for the week, net gain $5524. Good to finally have a nice week.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1948(10), CL -$109(2)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	12
Net $P/L:	1840
Wins:	1
Losses:	2
Win%:	33
Avg$Win:	1948
Avg$Loss:	-54

Thurs. 2/10

1:20pm CST - Long ZS was the day's early pay. Short in the afternoon would have been even sweeter but I was content to just watch.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1698(10)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	10
Net $P/L:	1698
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	1698
Avg$Loss:	0

Wed. 2/09 - eSignal and OEC

1:15pm CST - On the money saving front, eSignal and OpenECry finally got together and allowed OEC trading through the eSignal platform. I will likely not be trading from eSignal but it does now qualify me for the Globex Data Fee-Waiver program. I can now get CME, CBOT, COMEX, NYMEX real-time data for free. ICE is not part of this waiver and I'd have to pay $70/mo. if I wanted that for TF data. (More reasons why the TF is dying a slow, lower volume death!) Before, if I had subscribed to all 4 exchanges, I would be paying $68 x 4 = $272/month! Now I just have the annual eSignal base price of $1380/year + $10/month for extended data with no other subscription fees. eSignal is a great backup data source to have for the rare times when OEC broker feeds go down. Plus I do all my backtesting on eSignal which has years of minute data available or months of tick data.

As for trading, after the grain report release this morning in pre-market, corn, beans, and wheat bids were all indicating a lock limit up potential day. Bids settled down toward open and only corn came close (within 3 cents) to trading at limit up today. Caught an early corn long and bean short and wrapped up day early.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1948(10), ZC $199(5), CL -$104(1)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	16
Net $P/L:	2043
Wins:	2
Losses:	1
Win%:	67
Avg$Win:	1074
Avg$Loss:	-104

Tues. 2/08

1:35pm CST - Another wheel spinning week shaping up. 2 steps forward, 2 steps back. I need to get some traction going. Followed my signals well today except for the last one where I elected to fade the signal because I'm that smart to know when to do that. Yeah right... -$400!

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$2443(35), ZW $261(10), CL $202(4)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	49
Net $P/L:	-1980
Wins:	3
Losses:	7
Win%:	30
Avg$Win:	313
Avg$Loss:	-417

Mon. 2/07

1:25pm CST - Good start. One of these weeks I'll string together 5 days in a row like this. Maybe a superbowl party hangover helped today. I should drink more often.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1698(10), ZW $224(5)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	15
Net $P/L:	1923
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	961
Avg$Loss:	0

Fri. 2/04

1:45pm CST - My roller-coaster ride continues. The only consolation is they don't usually end lower than their starting point. Results for the week, net gain of $239.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$1355(30), CL -$42(5), 6E -$247(2)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	37
Net $P/L:	-1644
Wins:	2
Losses:	8
Win%:	20
Avg$Win:	416
Avg$Loss:	-310

Thurs. 2/03

1:45pm CST - A beans short didn't work but longs in corn and beans was enough for me today.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1147(20), ZC $537(5)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	25
Net $P/L:	1684
Wins:	2
Losses:	1
Win%:	67
Avg$Win:	1243
Avg$Loss:	-802

Wed. 2/02 - Snowed In

1:35pm CST - 21" of snow in Chicago, 3rd biggest snow on record! Not sure if CME pits opened late but I'm sure many traders did not make it in. Check out these pics (not sure if non-Facebook users can access this link or not?)

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1698(10), ZW -$38(5)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	15
Net $P/L:	1660
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	1698
Avg$Loss:	-38

Tues. 2/01

2:05pm CST - One of those days to start the month in the red. I did an excellent job at getting into choppy trades for stop outs.

Up to 20"+ of snow coming to Chicago in next 24 hrs. Glad to be working from home in weather like this!

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$1817(30), ZW -$154(25), ZC -$577(15), CL $159(7)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	77
Net $P/L:	-2390
Wins:	4
Losses:	10
Win%:	29
Avg$Win:	285
Avg$Loss:	-353

January Trading Summary

Net breakdown:
ZS -$1394, ZW $1247, ZC $1886, RLM -$46, GCL -$1320

RESULTS FOR JANUARY
Contracts:	682
Net $P/L:	373
Wins:	43
Losses:	79
Win%:	35
$Commissions:	3472
Avg$Win:	786
Avg$Loss:	-423

Mon. 1/31

2:20pm CST - Good to end the day and the month in the green. Wished I had traded CL today too after seeing that behemoth swing more than $4 up today.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1047(20), ZW -$117(30)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	50
Net $P/L:	929
Wins:	2
Losses:	5
Win%:	29
Avg$Win:	1517
Avg$Loss:	-421

Fri. 1/28

1:25pm CST - I'm back online, recharged and relaxed. In looking at my bean charts for the days I was gone, my main system would have netted $4000+. So that was the opportunity cost in taking some time off. Of course I may have mucked that up with other trades so who really knows what might have been? And since you can't live in the past, who cares!

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $959(20)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	20
Net $P/L:	959
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	1886
Avg$Loss:	-927

Fri. 1/21

9:30am CST - No trades for me today or for the next few. Going off the grid for a short break. Don't miss me. Results for the week, net loss of -$382. MTD: -$1516

Thurs. 1/20

2:00pm CST - More wide moves in grains again today. After the opening 1 min. ZS bar fell more than 11 cents, long was the way to go. Too bad one of my system trades missed target on short side by 2 ticks and I ended up taking a loss. P/L swung between +/- $1000 and settled in the middle. Better than a hot stick in the eye...

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$290(32), CL $396(1)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	33
Net $P/L:	105
Wins:	3
Losses:	2
Win%:	60
Avg$Win:	590
Avg$Loss:	-832

Wed. 1/19

1:00pm CST - After 3 red days, I was due for this one. Early shorts in both ZS and CL. Closed up shop early.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $1823(10), CL $281(2)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	12
Net $P/L:	2104
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	1052
Avg$Loss:	0

Tues. 1/18

1:50pm CST - So much for feeling out a new system with 1 and 2 lots today. It was chopped to pieces. Not much more to say - the numbers speak volumes.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$625(34), ZW -$731(6), RLM -$445(2), CL -$18(4)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	46
Net $P/L:	-1819
Wins:	5
Losses:	13
Win%:	28
Avg$Win:	467
Avg$Loss:	-320

Fri. 1/14

2:15pm CST - Another choppy day. Stopped out by 1 tick on a ZS trade, $800 loser instead of a $1900 winner. I hate the thought of any "edge" I may or may not have only being a tick here or there. But that is often the case. For the week net loss of -$1076.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$1192(25), ZW $423(15), RLM -$86(2), CL $82(4)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	46
Net $P/L:	-773
Wins:	4
Losses:	5
Win%:	44
Avg$Win:	382
Avg$Loss:	-460

Thurs. 1/13

2:30pm CST - Not my day today. This time due to mistakes. Moved a stop at wrong time and got stopped out. Was suppose to wait until close of candle. Lost $800 instead of making $1800. Then I forget to cancel an order that I heard "ding" for the fill after lunch. Got out at par but still!

For you Forex traders out there, this article likely is nothing you didn't already know.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$1756(35), ZC $474(5)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	40
Net $P/L:	-1281
Wins:	2
Losses:	4
Win%:	33
Avg$Win:	380
Avg$Loss:	-511

Wed. 1/12 -Grain Limit Up

1:00pm CST - Crazy grain day today. 2 early winners had me up $2k, then lost all that in next 3 trades, then made it back on last trade. Corn and beans are flirting with closing limit up today (not shown below). But that's still 15 min. away and I'm posting now!

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $669(40), ZC $1412(5)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	45
Net $P/L:	2080
Wins:	3
Losses:	3
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	1424
Avg$Loss:	-730

Tues. 1/11

2:00pm CST - Abysmal results today. I need to revamp my plan. You see I stop trading when I get up $1000-2000, but my fuzzy stop point isn't until around -$3000. On days like this when my "edge" is non-existent or negative, it makes no sense to keep trading as the red gets redder.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$1831(40), CL -$1094(10)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	50
Net $P/L:	-2926
Wins:	1
Losses:	7
Win%:	13
Avg$Win:	474
Avg$Loss:	-486