Wed. 10/05

2:45pm CDT - More muted action today which was fine by me after yesterday.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ES Contracts:	76
Net $P/L:	763
Wins:	4
Losses:	4
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	233
Avg$Loss:	-43

Tues. 10/04

3:20pm CDT - My strategy doesn't like days like today. Took 2 full stops on max size which never makes for a good day. But during the late day rocket launch which I missed out on, I did think of another related strategy to test out. Who knows where that will lead me.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ES Contracts:	107
Net $P/L:	-4530
Wins:	8
Losses:	6
Win%:	57
Avg$Win:	263
Avg$Loss:	-1106

Mon. 10/03

2:20pm CDT - As I get up on the day, I want to play more conservatively and circumvent my strategy guidelines (i.e. taking profits early). I need to stay focused on the bigger picture and take the trades as they come. This afternoon I shortchanged myself 4.5 ES points on a 4-lot that was there for the taking.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ES Contracts:	101
Net $P/L:	1810
Wins:	10
Losses:	3
Win%:	77
Avg$Win:	202
Avg$Loss:	-70

Quarter 3 2011 Trading Results

September Trading Summary

Note: No trades the first half of the month

RESULTS FOR SEPTEMBER
ES Contracts:	716
Net $P/L:	7574
Wins:	60
Losses:	33
Win%:	65
$Commissions:	1876
Avg$Win:	269
Avg$Loss:	-260

Fri. 9/30

3:05pm CDT - After I got back yesterday's loss, I played pretty conservatively. Something about end of a week, month, quarter that makes you want to go out on a high note. Net gain for the week, $5497.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ES Contracts:	113
Net $P/L:	2016
Wins:	8
Losses:	4
Win%:	67
Avg$Win:	279
Avg$Loss:	-53

Thurs. 9/29

2:50pm CDT - Very tough day. I should have just quit at lunchtime when I was down 70 bucks because nothing was working. Maybe it's Rosh Hashanah's fault with many traders taking the day off? Action was very spurty/spazzy. Took a full stop out on max size in afternoon and only recovered half of that from there. Bring on tomorrow!

Happy Rosh Hashanah to my Jewish friends!

RESULTS FOR DAY
ES Contracts:	111
Net $P/L:	-1166
Wins:	5
Losses:	5
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	297
Avg$Loss:	-530

Wed. 9/28

2:55pm CDT - Tough day, churned lots of contracts. Then when market action finally started responding as my strategy expects, I cut some winners short figuring we would remain choppy. And while I'm complaining, I really need to hold trades in the final half hour. There's been some monster runs there lately! Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with result but left double that on the table.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ES Contracts:	120
Net $P/L:	1398
Wins:	5
Losses:	6
Win%:	45
Avg$Win:	334
Avg$Loss:	-45

Tues. 9/27

2:45pm CDT - Not bad considering I was in a position and unable to place, move or cancel orders either via Internet or telephone for a half hour. Luckily it was during the late morning doldrums or I could have been down $2500 today. OEC has been rock solid lately for as long as I can remember but this morning was not fun.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ES Contracts:	51
Net $P/L:	1016
Wins:	3
Losses:	3
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	374
Avg$Loss:	-35

Mon. 9/26

1:40pm CDT - Fine tuned my strategy slightly over weekend. Worked well today. When I finish backtesting I'll post the hypothetical P/L curve, hopefully by end of week.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ES Contracts:	45
Net $P/L:	2232
Wins:	5
Losses:	2
Win%:	71
Avg$Win:	463
Avg$Loss:	-42

Fri. 9/23

2:40pm CDT - Good end to my first week back. Got some tweaks to my strategy to test out this weekend. For the week, net gain of $2077.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ES Contracts:	63
Net $P/L:	1910
Wins:	9
Losses:	4
Win%:	69
Avg$Win:	220
Avg$Loss:	-19

Thurs. 9/22

3:25pm CDT - This day came sooner than expected but given the craziness in the markets today, I’m not that surprised. I took 2 max stop losses with full size on (-$2500 each in this case). In backtesting, that typically happens about once a week. The EU was to blame for the 2nd one today as I was short when they announced they would recapitalize the banks or some such crap at ~1:22 CDT. This week so far has been good at giving me some "in the trenches" feedback with my strategy and ideas I need to test on how to reduce the discretionary part of it. I had a $2600 unrealized gain on one long trade, for example, that I was sure was going higher. I stopped out at breakeven. Unacceptable.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ES Contracts:	148
Net $P/L:	-2563
Wins:	10
Losses:	6
Win%:	63
Avg$Win:	255
Avg$Loss:	-852

Wed. 9/21

2:30pm CDT - Did a great job sitting on my hands during the half hour before and after the FOMC news. Couple trades after that ended the day nicely although I just now am seeing a final short I could have made but there are always going to be missed trades. Hopefully I mostly miss the losing ones.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ES Contracts:	18
Net $P/L:	1078
Wins:	6
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	180
Avg$Loss:	0

Tues. 9/20

2:25pm CDT - Slow day since I missed the morning run-up (and by "missed" I mean I had no signals). And then I nearly got filled on a short signal at end of day but I was a tick to slow. Otherwise a good day considering it's only Day 2 of my comeback.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ES Contracts:	23
Net $P/L:	502
Wins:	3
Losses:	2
Win%:	60
Avg$Win:	182
Avg$Loss:	-22

Mon. 9/19

2:05pm CDT - Enough of a break. I'll never come up with the perfect system and need to put some real money on the line to feel out how I will react to parts of my strategy that I have not been able to mechanically define exactly what I should do. Yes, gasp, there are parts of my strategy that rely on some discretion.

RESULTS FOR DAY
ES Contracts:	24
Net $P/L:	1150
Wins:	6
Losses:	1
Win%:	86
Avg$Win:	195
Avg$Loss:	-21

ES Trading

Has it been over a month since my last trade? Hard to believe but it has. I'd hoped to be back at it by now but I have not yet been satisfied with any exit strategy I have backtested on my ES system. Likely my expectations are too high but I hope to come up with something that works for me soon. Until then, continue enjoying the crickets chirping on this blog!

August Trading Results

Note: No trades the last 2.5 weeks of the month
Net breakdown:
ES -$235, GCL -$584, ZS -$3749

RESULTS FOR AUGUST
Contracts:	180
Net $P/L:	-4528
Wins:	33
Losses:	59
Win%:	36
$Commissions:	850
Avg$Win:	190
Avg$Loss:	-183

ES Trading

Likely beginning soon, I will start trading a new ES system and will no longer trade anything else for the time being. ES had been in my arsenal many years ago but I guess I needed a long break before really thinking about it again. 2007 was the last time I really traded it with full focus. And that ended a bit badly as some of you may recall.

This time around, things should, no they will be better. I have revamped what I was doing back in 2007 and instead of “averaging down” with an absurdly huge/no stop point, the holy mother of all trading sins some would argue, I will be “scaling into full-size positions.” I have developed 2 Ninja indicators that tell me when to start looking for a trade, what direction that trade will be in, and at what points I will scale in. Basically I begin to enter on a retrace of an established trend. The deeper the retrace, the more committed until I reach a full size position or take profits (all out, no scaling), or am stopped out.

The exiting part of plan is still being tweaked and backtested but will involve R:R of at least 1. Some SIM trades from today: Total 26 ES contracts, 5 trades, $1950 in SIM profit. Of course this means nothing on a simulator, which I rarely use, but wanted to get my ES sea legs back under me.

Clock with Seconds

1:30pm CDT - I'm still here.... Toiling away on systems work. I haven't made a single trade all week but admit I've been watching to see how my ZSRO system would have performed. 8 losers in a row this week and zero winners. So I've "saved" myself $2000 so far by not trading. Haha - take THAT Mr. Market!

If you're like me and hate the system tray clock on Windows down on the lower right of your monitor, I found an answer. Why on earth Windows doesn't allow you to display seconds is beyond me. Even if you don't trade minute charts, it's nice to know how many seconds are left before the market opens, closes, news is released, etc. This simple software works great: http://stoicjoker.com/TClock.

Fri. 8/12

1:45pm CDT - ZSRO had 2 losers again today. I'm getting more serious next week about Mon.'s post about less trading and blogging and more strategy reassessment/development. Net loss for the week of -$717.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):

ZS -$518(6)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	6
Net $P/L:	-518
Wins:	0
Losses:	2
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-259

Thurs. 8/11

2:05pm CDT - ZSRO had 2 losers today but I caught 4 ES points testing out a new method I've been working on this week. Still need a better exit plan and then lots of backtesting.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):

ZS -$481(6), ES $210(1)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	7
Net $P/L:	-271
Wins:	1
Losses:	2
Win%:	33
Avg$Win:	210
Avg$Loss:	-240

Wed. 8/10

1:15pm CDT - 2 ZSRO system trades today.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):

ZS $344(6)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	6
Net $P/L:	344
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	585
Avg$Loss:	-240

Tues. 8/09

3:00pm CDT - Hung on overnight on my ES 1150 long and exited today for 3.25 pts with 11 min. left in the session, thanks to trailing my stop too close after price finally popped over my entry. Could have had 20 pts. if I had held to the close. How's THAT for risk:reward. Risked 73 pts. (overnight low), to make 3!! I'm sure it will hit my target of 1200 sooner rather than later but I decided I didn't want to endure the overnight gyrations. After all, I'm a trader, not an investor...

Just made 1 ZSRO system trade today.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):

ZS $435(3), ES $158(1)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	4
Net $P/L:	593
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	297
Avg$Loss:	0

E-Trade Baby Loses Everything

For all the investors out there, this seems appropriate after the last few days!

Mon. 8/08

3:45pm CDT - I’m back and systems are still sucking wind although I feel recharged. That said, you should expect my trading and posts to be sporadic for the next week or so. I’m going to spend some time rethinking my systems and strategies. Not sure where this will lead me but thoughts of larger timeframes, bigger targets and stops, less breakout and more retrace entries will be at the forefront.

In the meantime, my thought of buying ES at 1236 last week returned. This market is very oversold and so I bought 1 ES at 1150 as a position trade/investment. I plan to hold until 1200 or higher but will not let things get too much lower on the downside since I am now sitting on -$1900 unrealized.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):

ZS -$924(12)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	12
Net $P/L:	-924
Wins:	0
Losses:	4
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-231

Fri. 8/05

1:30pm CDT - No time to write... Net loss for the week -$3811.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):

ZS -$635(14), ES $290(6)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	20
Net $P/L:	-345
Wins:	3
Losses:	4
Win%:	43
Avg$Win:	238
Avg$Loss:	-265

Thurs. 8/04

1:35pm CDT - Felt less gloomy today. Although I did nearly have a brain fart when I saw ES open so low and had the thought of buying ~1236 and holding a contract! Glad that thought was fleeting as it's now trading 1210... Winner and loser in ZSRO for $300, 4 MAG trades which scratched in total, and a $200 winner in DOE system.

Looking forward to going off the technology grid this weekend and become one with nature. Buddha would be proud. I'm sure I won't escape the thoughts of charts dancing in my head though.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):

ZS $477(19)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	19
Net $P/L:	477
Wins:	5
Losses:	3
Win%:	63
Avg$Win:	223
Avg$Loss:	-212

Wed. 8/03

1:35pm CDT - Well, once again, I am ending my short "experiment" in discretionary trading. I was up $200 in CL and $60 in ES before giving it all back and then some. I just didn’t have it in me today to fight back (which may be a good thing). I feel like my trading is again at a crossroads as new lows on the year creep into my accounts. ZSMAG had a couple winners but DOE and RO both had losers. Maybe I need new systems too!?

Net breakdown (contracts traded):

ZS -$625(17), ES -$286(3), CL -$255(26)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	46
Net $P/L:	-1167
Wins:	11
Losses:	17
Win%:	39
Avg$Win:	147
Avg$Loss:	-164

Tues. 8/02

2:25pm CDT - Was up $500+ in ZS until a couple DOE trades sucked that under water. Discretionary trades in CL and ES didn't help either but I am optimistic my "still under development" approach will add value, eventually, to the bottom line.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):

ZS -$220(16), ES -$276(4), CL -$329(20)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	40
Net $P/L:	-825
Wins:	10
Losses:	18
Win%:	36
Avg$Win:	142
Avg$Loss:	-125

Mon. 8/01

1:35pm CDT - This had to be one of my most unluckiest days ever. Traded my system signals just fine but could not get a winner for anything. 3 trades came within a tick of target but I ended up stopped on all. You may notice I took a couple ES trades too. Haven't traded that in ages but will be dabbling this month on the discretionary side with ES and perhaps CL and 6E.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):

ZS -$1600(17), ES -$349(3)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	20
Net $P/L:	-1949
Wins:	0
Losses:	8
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-244