Commodity Trades

[SSI]

Just implemented my current trading format on friday Feb 9th..

since then ive been in 3 trades.......

they were:

1. Long 2 march wheat 459.5........... took profits 90 min later at 462.5
(+$300) In and Out on Feb 9th..

2. Long 2 march corn 406.25........ took profits 2 trading days later at 409.25.... (+$300)....... In on Feb 9th, out on Feb 13th...

3. Long 2 may wheat 473.25/short 2 may corn 424.25......... into this spread at 49 cents difference on Feb 14th...... Took profits on Feb 16th at 53 cents..... (+$400)........

Currently flat and looking for next trade........

Im exclusively trading the Grains/Meats/Emini SP....... about 6 markets to follow and wait for the setup......

Going with the format of one trade at a time............. if successful will simply add more contracts............. No hurry......

 

[SSI]

still watching........... we have pullbacks in all my markets......

currently watching an April LC/April LH spread......... looking to put on under 28 cents......... currently working around 28.20..........

grains are now nearing first support......

preferred trade would be........ long wheat/short corn under 47 cents...... currently working near 50.......

will keep watching and looking for trade 4.........

also would consider going outright long LC (april) on a buystop at 9665....

 

[Hitman26]

SSI:


I'm not sure if you know this, but if you are going to mess with the mini S&P's, why not just play the QQQQ's? They move pretty much hand in hand. Look at the bid/ask spreads on those QQQQ options! They are very fair (like Pinnacle), and I can only imagine that it would save you money over the long haul if you were trading those instead of the mini S&P's.

 

[SSI]

could be Hitman,,,,, guess you "trade what you know"

no trades for me today..............

messed around with the cattle/hog spread but never got in, under 28........ currently at 28.50

tried to catch a corn/wheat spread at around 46 cents, never got close, currently around 51 cents.....

tried to buy corn very late in the day at a limit order of 425.25 and no fill here either....

didnt chase today but didnt trade either......... regroup for tomorrow.....

 

[SSI]

trade 4, was perhaps my best yet............... pure technical trade that tells me, im on the right path......

may corn, opened at 427 today........ then proceded to break yesterdays low of 426.75...........

then we rallied immediately thru yesterdays high of 430.00

i was filled long on 2 may corn at 430.25................ then 30 minutes later i sold them back at 433.25 for a quick $300 profit......

trade worked to perfection.......

moving on to trade 5 now........

this strategy is now 18-1 since ive been following it and im currently 4-0 using it.......

good start to the day.........

 

[TheCooler]

seems like you haven't missed a beat...keep up the good work

 

[TOK]

any books for beginners trying to get a basic picture SSI? thanks

 

[SSI]

plenty of books....... just google commodity trading and you should find a wealth of information.........

trade 4 turned out to be a really good one but it could have been so much better........ i bought corn at 430 and sold at 433, it finished the day at 439, cost myself another $600 in profit but hindisight is 20/20........

moving on to trade 5 that i entered today............ its fairly complicated as im looking at 2 spreads as one trade........

Long april hogs 6670/short april cattle 9600........ into the spread at 2930

Long may wheat 488/short may corn 438...... into the spread at 50 cents..

looking for meat spread to narrow (difference in price) and for the grain spread to widen.......

still using the same strategy as far as the money goes...... looking for a $300 profit on the 2 combined spreads or $150 each........

i put them on very late in the day and am looking at this as one trade....

anybody wanting to learn, might just overlook trade 5......

meat spread settled at 2943, so down 13pts or (-$42)......
grain spread settled at 51.50, so up 1.5 cents or (+$75)......

basically a wash and will pick them up tomorrow...

 

[WorldNumberOne]

how much money would a person need on account at a brokerage firm to do the trades you have done the last 2 days ?

 

[SSI]

corn trade....... trade 4.......

bought 2 may corn at 430, sold 30 minutes later at 433..... profit of $300..

to do this trade you would have needed initial margin money and cost of 2 commissions.......... margin for corm is $1013, so you would have needed $2026 as i had 2 corn contracts,,,,, plus another $50 for comm as i pay $25rt and i had 2.....

so you would have needed $2076 to do trade 4............. and then more than that if it went against you........... i was trading 2 of them so every cent was $100 --- either made or lost...........

of course this trade only lasted 30 minutes, the margin must be in account if you go overnight or you will go on margin call.......

then trade 5.......... which is actually 2 spreads,,,,,,,,,, as ive only got one of each of the things listed......

cattle/hog spread, margin is $1033
wheat/corn spread, margin is $1154

to simplify things WNO.............. im basically making one trade at a time, risking around $1000 to make $300...........

this can be done easily with a $5000 account........ if you know what your doing......

i plan on using this same concept for a long time, hopefully forever..... all i am planning on changing is, to keep adding contracts........ instead of doing 1 or 2, ill be doing 4 or 5, then 7 or 8..........

i like just having one trade working at a time, no more than 2 ever...... and constantly monitoring about 6 markets.........

 

[SSI]

Lets move on now and look at a paper trade (not real)........ something that ive been looking over.....

one of my 6 markets is the emini sp 500.......... every pt that it moves is $50........ the market trades almost around the clock but most of the action and very heavy volume is between the hours of 8:30 am cst and 3:00pm cst (this is when the big board trades daily)............. now the emini sp 500 closes at 3:15 pm cst each trading day.......... at this time the trading day ends.............. then they re-open trading a few minutes later.............. but the re-open is considered part of the next days trades and is not subject to overnight margin requirements.............. this is a trick that can be used for smaller accounts............. essentially you could trade from 3:30 pm cst ------------ all the way to 3:15 pm cst the following day (and this is a long time in the emini sp 500 market)....... and avoid any margin calls............

im a chart reader technician,,,,,,,,,,,,, i use bollinger bands alot........ i like to look at the daily bands............. dont want to go into what they are but they are very good at giving targets of where the market is going......

we are in an uptrend in the sp market..............

Lets buy an emini (right now) 5:55 pm cst,,,,,,,,,,,, ok we buy and are filled at 1460.25.................... now lets place a profit target (sell order) in the market -------- this order will work all the way to 3:15 tomorrow afternoon............. lets place this order at 1462.75....... if we hit this target, it will be a profit of 2.5pts or $125............

Lets just see if we can make this money (paper trade) sometime overnight or tomorrow.......

 

[SSI]

out of the emini paper trade, early this morning, with a 2.5pt profit or +$125.......

grains trade overnight in very light volume.............. wheat moved to 494.75 and corn is at 441.00.......... so my spread is (+3.75 cents)...........

may take profits on this half of trade 5 this morning........ at +3.75 cents, i have a $187.50 profit.......

will post later today............. then again i could be in both these spreads for a few days........... with spreads, you never know......

 

[desrat]

dont want to go into what they are but they are very good at giving targets of where the market is going......

Can you elaborate a little? I use them on my equity charting but can't seem to find the way I should use them in commodities.

When you say "daily bands" do you mean your interval on the chart is day or do you look at a single day chart? If single day what time frame do you use for an interval, 5 min, 15 min? Also what settings do you use in your bands for period and standard deviation/band width? On equities I use a daily chart with my bands set at 15 for period and 2 on deviation. Doesn't seem to work here, nor does the default of 20,2.

Thanks for the help.

 

[SSI]

desrat, i dont have live quotes or charts at the moment............

not sure if i recommend them or not, the way im trading....... thats a whole other argument though........

my broker (friend of mine) has all the info, we discuss strategy alot during the day............. im not day trading so i look at the big picture on the bands, the daily numbers................. for daytrading he likes the 15 minute bands.......

as an example,,,,,,,,,,,,, the emini sp 500...................... right now the bottom of daily bollinger band is 1437, the middle is 1454 and the top is 1471............ coincidentally we hit the middle band yesterday at 1454.25 (the low) and bounced off....... now we should target the top band again at 1471........

the numbers tend to follow these bands.......... when we break the middle band, the bottom will be the target once again.......

Look for a 1471 trade sometime soon.........

 

[WorldNumberOne]

good info .. thanks.

i still havent decided what type of market i want to concentrate on.

i think what i'm going to do is pick 5 stocks and try and learn all i can about them and see if i can predict their daily , weekly and monthly movement during march .

i'm intersted in options , i need to read a good book about commodities , the emini seems fun, and i cant understand the forex at all .

all i know is that " the market " is very interesting to me .

all of them that is...

 

[SSI]

your going to need a lot more money in stocks.......

the commodites move many times faster than stocks......

its all chart reading (at least for me).....

 

[WorldNumberOne]

your going to need a lot more money in stocks.......

the commodites move many times faster than stocks......

its all chart reading (at least for me).....

true..

playing option spreads are another way i'm looking into things.

 

[SSI]

WNO, good luck with your learning......

if you ever need any real solid advice, poster heart222 should be able to provide you with it.....

as for me, i wish there was at least one person on this forum that traded commodities.............

sad to say but trading commodities is like speaking chinese......

im still in my 2 spread trades (this is trade 5)......... looking for a combined $400 profit off the 2.......

 

[WorldNumberOne]

WNO, good luck with your learning......

if you ever need any real solid advice, poster heart222 should be able to provide you with it.....

as for me, i wish there was at least one person on this forum that traded commodities.............

sad to say but trading commodities is like speaking chinese......

im still in my 2 spread trades (this is trade 5)......... looking for a combined $400 profit off the 2.......

maybe i'll head to the library or bookstore and see what book i can find on commodities. maybe i'll be that guy one day .

 

[SSI]

update on trade 5..

out of the grain spread.......... in at 50 cents and out at 54.75 for a $237.50 profit (-2 comm)........ quick little $187 profit in about 30 minutes of trading time........

currently still have the meat spread, listed in part a of this trade........

as soon as this one ends, ill look for trade 6.........

one at a time, and for now a $300 profit on each............... almost 5 for 5 with this strategy..........

no need to change anything, simply add more contracts.......