Overview of My Trades this week

[SSI]

Have been paper trading the markets this week... 1/8 thru today... 1/11

I want to take a look at them..... they are posted completely throughout the various threads here..... any ???????? feel free to ask..

1. Short 1 march sugar 11.05, stoploss still at 11.33

market is currently at 11.02, so we are slightly ahead at the moment.. nothing for me to do..... please add todays figures to your hand charts..

open 10.98, high 11.18, low 10.95, settle 11.02

i am really pleased with how ive worked this trade so far, been in it for 3 days now and still in........

please notice the high today of 11.18, that was a new high but it had no carry thru...... they probably ran stops on some people, who had stops just over the previous 2 days highs of 11.14 and 11.15...... nasty floor traders will do that at times........

here is the plan for tomorrow (friday)......... one of 2 things....... leave stoploss at 11.33........ now look at todays low 10.95, if that comes out tomorrow, we will immediately stoploss to 11.19, just over todays high..

other than that, i have nothing left to say about this trade, there is a good chance that we will be moving stoploss and lowering risk tomorrow..

any ??????? at all about this trade....... just ask.......

 

[SSI]

2. short 1 emini 1417, stoploss at 1429

this is where i screwed up and i am thankful it was only paper trading.. loss was $600 on trade...... not a disaster but not good either....

i mentioned this was a highly agressive trade and probably shouldnt be done.. it bucked the overall uptrend of market and i shouldnt have done that.. broke a basic rule there........

i mentioned in emini thread that this was more or less to see how i was progressing..... and i sentenced myself to 30 days of paper trades... so im looking at mid feb for my real start..

3. long 1 mar emini 1420.75, took profits at 1422.75,,,,,, this is wrote up, in thread for momentum trades in the emini.......... didnt do this trade but it would have worked in minutes for a $100 profit per unit......

have one of the momentum trades in market for today but not filled yet..

the emini is not for everyone but it is the ultimate for daytrading, not wanting to do that but will look for setups in market......... and take what if offers.....

this has left me realizing that i have more work left to do before trading the emini........

 

[SSI]

4. Long april hog 63.80, stoploss at 62.50

i screwed this one up as well, sort of.......... we got a little weakness in market today, as i was looking for but i rushed the trade and got in too quickly, then i got out too quickly...... this showed me that i have more work to do as well......

my assumption of putting the trade on was correct and this trade taught me about using the retracement for re-entry....... todays low was almost a textbook retrace and could have been used for entry..........

i want to look at this trade in 2 parts...........

a) i took a small $160 loss, by jumping out at 63.50..........

b). lets put todays numbers in and continue on the trade as originally set up........

this is for learning, mine for the most part........

open 63.95, high 64.35, low 63.38, last 64.10

so in part b, we are still in with a 30pt profit ($120).. now for tomororw, please raise stoploss from 62.50 to 63.35.... this is just under todays low...... i want to reduce some risk on this trade but remain in......

again for learning purposes only.............. any ?????

 

[SSI]

5. long mar soybean 6.71, stoploss at 6.56

really pleased with the setup and my thought process on this one..

im with the overall up trend of market..... i knew the gap from 670 to 674 would be filled..........

entry was nice at 671........ risk is a little high but we cant raise it now...

for tomorrow leave it at 656, if we break todays high of 678. please raise the stoploss to 667.75,,,,,, just under todays low of 668.......

market currently at 674.... so we are up 3 cents, ($150) and staying in..

 

[SSI]

overall, i give myself a C average..... not bad for first 4 days........... alot of things have come back really quick this week....

very pleased with sugar trade, even if it loses...... i was in control and made correct calls...

very pleased with soybean trade, i waited on it and am with overall trend.. other than risk being a little high, im pleased with this one..

not pleased at all with first emini trade, i bucked the trend, rushed the trade and got an F on this trade.........

very pleased with the idea and concept of momentum trading the emini.. should produce long term profits for me........ but cant be counted on as a daily trade..... you simply set it up and wait for the entry...

mixed feelings on the hog trade......... i did a poor job on the entry and the exit in part A........... i did a good job on reading this market...... this trade brought back the Retrace Concept for entry........ it was almost a perfect retrace from the 62.52 low on wednesday to the 64.20 high on wed,,,,, todays low of 63.38 was an almost perfect 50% retrace of that move....... i know that you dont understand that but using that measurement, is a very powerful tool and im thankful for getting to recall this.......... in years past, i would have measured my entry perfectly and could have called it the night before........ perfect entry would have been 63.40....... todays low 63.375........... Namanth do you see that.... it was a perfect entry.........

overall grade a C...........

questions....

 

[namathfan]

Retracements...

.382
.500
.618

Can't beat 'em

:toast:

 

[SSI]

Namanth fan........ please help me out with the new guys....

feel free to answer any question that you can......

perfect in hogs today.............. i almost shed a tear.......

 

[namathfan]

That is a beautiful thing...two tics off 50% retracement. :thumbsup:

Who do you use for a data feed/charting service? Do you do it all by hand?

Ever heard of Linda Raschke? She's got a website, she's been a pretty prominent trader for the past 15-20 years.

I'll be happy to help answer anything I can to help you out. This could get fun...and hopefully profitable.

 

[SSI]

yes i know who Linda R -- is.....

i hand chart......... i believe in my numbers........ i also look at daily, weekly, monthly charts............

but believe me, i know the pivot points....

please help in any way......

im trying to get Heart222 down here......

he has worked for ag edwardss many years........ he has a vast amount of knowledge from the brokers side....

btw, i used to have Esignal and still consider them the best source for everything..........

 

[regularguy]

I've read a few of your threads today, and I'm intrigued. I can't see myself getting into this just yet, but then again, I didn't see myself playing poker or betting on sports a few years ago. So, any postings you can keep doing, I'll probably keep reading. As an accountant who loves numbers, this may be right up my alley after all. Thanks for sharing, SSI.

 

[SSI]

no problem, im very busy today........... im in the process of setting up things and ive got errands to do today......

ill talk alot on saturday and if anyone wants to discuss anything about trading,,,,,,, that will be a good time.....

markets are close monday......

im about at a C level, no trading for me, until i reach A status....

who knows when that is,,,,,,,,, maybe 2-3 more weeks......

 

[SSI]

update of our sugar trade and im only doing this because the market broke lower.....

we are now below yesterdays low of 10.95 and wed low of 10.90..... please move stoploss in the trade to 11.19..

trade now looks like this..

short 1 march sugar 11.05, stoploss moved to 11.19

win or lose, im pleased with how ive worked this trade.........

ill update this trade later, ill be out for a while today.....

still long beans from 671, stoploss at 656.......

 

[SSI]

boys, you have seen me, make the money today......

sugar trade,,,,,,, still short from 11.05, stoploss still at 11.19............

market is at 10.92........... were still in and ahead 13pts or $146 per contract (we have only one).........

market is now closed........ ill update this one before tuesdays open...

if todays low of 10.82 is taken out, we will immediatly lower our stoplos from 11.19 to 10.99....... just over todays high.......

this trade has been great, ive been in control, plan has been in place and we are now making money......

NOW LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT the freaking killing that i just made in the bean market.........

boys im long from 671.............. market opened at 7.00......... currently at 717 per bushel......... we are up 46 cents ($50 per cent), so were up $2300 in about 24 hours per contract (we have one)...........

this is the ones you dream about............. please raise stoploss from 656 to 680............ this will leave me in and the worse case is, i will make 9 cents or $450............... we also may possibly go limit up today...........

awesome situation here boys......

these are the moves that make you famous......

 

[SSI]

boys, im moving my grade from a C to a B.....

ive been spot on in the sugar trade and the bean trade...

that bean trade, listed above, could be a once in a lifetime move, or at least one of the bigger trades this year....... i said could be..... dont hold me to that........ we are already free trading it, so let the thing run.....

i was also spot on the Hog trade, listed above........ except for the knee jerk reaction that i had........

LET ME TELL YOU ONE VERY IMPORTANT THING...

trading this stuff is dangerous but there is a lot of money in it..... if you can learn what your doing.......... until you know what your doing, dont jump in.................... ive spent countless hours in the past, going over markets, reading charts, mapping out trades.........

here is what i want to tell you, once you become a trader.....

each day, go into the day, with your plan written down, in detailed form.. stick with it............ dont let the swings in price sway you....... you have done the work, follow the plan.............

im preaching to myself here boys but i can tell you....... im really getting there now..........

save for the rush job in the emini and the knee jerk reaction in hogs, ive been spot on.........

 

[SSI]

Lets now take this time, to look at our markets in review this week and start to get ready for next tuesdays openings......

Now take out your notebook paper.......... write at the top of page.....

March sugar

write the dates to the extreme left........ then write across the top: open, high, low, last......... and separate the columns......

March sugar

1/5: open 11.25, high 11.41, low 11.00, last 11.09

1/8: open 11.20, high 11.32, low 11.09, last 11.16

1/9: open 10.98, high 11.15, low 10.83, last 11.10

1/10: open 11.02, high 11.14, low 10.90, last 11.12

1/11: open 10.98, high 11.18, low 10.95, last 11.02

1/12: open 10.82, high 10.98, low 10.82, last 10.93

this gives you 6 days worth of numbers.......... this is how you should keep up with the highs and lows and opens and closes each day..... you can easily see things......

we entered a paper trade, short mar sugar on 1/9 at 11.05....... placing our intital stoploss at 11.42................. we were then able to lower it to 11.33 and now it has been moved to 11.19............

market is at 10.93.......... our risk is only 14pts now or $157.....

we will stick with this for tuesday and we will watch the 10.82 low... if it comes out we will lower our stoploss from 11.19 to 10.99........

any ????????? at all about this sugar trade........ or the sugar market in general.......

out of the entire chart, the only thing that sticks out to me, is the trade of 11.18 on thursday........... it slightly broke the highs of 11.14 and 11.15 and probably was simply a little stop running.........

 

[SSI]

March soybeans

1/5: open 675.5, high 682, low 670.5, last 681.5

1/8: open 675, high 681.25, low 674.5, last 677.25

1/9: open 667.00, high 670.00, low 661.75, last 664.5

1/10: open 664.00, high 670.00, low 657.00, last 664.75

1/11: open 669.00, high 678.00, low 668.00, last 674.25

1/12: open 7.00, high 723.75, low 695.00, last 716.50

this is how your soybean numbers should look over the last 6 days..

we entered long on thursday at 6.71 and was rewarded today with a big upmove......

you may ask why?

here is a short answer,,,,,,,,,,,, first you must look at a real chart and determine the trend,,,,, which way is it going (up or down) or (sideways).

i believed beans to be in an uptrend...... however we got a lot of selling earlier in the week............... but the entry sign for me, was the gap from 670 to 674......... notice the low on monday 674 and the high on tuesday of only 670.......... there was a small gap left there...... most of the time, gaps are filled in the first few days or they wont be filled at all.......

then later in the week, we start to turn back around and we fill this gap.. this combined with the long term up trend for beans, issued me a good entry signal for a long term trade.......

we then bought one march bean at 671.00 and placed our initial stoploss at 656................. today we moved extremely higher, due to the sympathy trade with the corn market and the bullish crop report this morning.....

now we sit in a great posistion...... we are up 46 cents or $2300 on each contract in one day.......... we are Long from an outstanding entry in a bullish market.......... we can now also free trade this by moving our stoploss from 656 to 677........ i have looked at the chart and will place my stoploss at 677........... this assures me of no worse than a $300 profit on this trade and leaves me in the market........

now for monday, we will be watching todays high of 723.75........ if we trade higher than that, we will immediately move our stoploss to 694.75 which is just under todays low........

this could be a really good long term posistion trade..... we will ride it, as long as possible..... its good to make $2300 in one day and this trade gave us that.........



Is there any ??????????? on the soybeans or sugar trades...........

Ill go over the hog market and the emini sp later tonight or this weekend, in this thread............... ill also have an introduction to the corn market.. this will become our 5th market to hand chart and follow.........

we have a long way to go....... stick around.............. on a scale of 1-10.. im at about a 2,,,,,,, as for teaching this goes......


one big side note for our advanced students........... when the market passes old highs,,,,,,,, just like today in beans, you had the weekly highs of 678 and 681 --- 682........ once we get over those, they become support on any down move..... thats why i selected 677 for my stoploss,,,,,, it was just under the numbers mentioned above........ hope you follow this, its kind of important to understand this concept......

also when ---- in a down trending market and we go past old lows,,,,,,, they become resistance points, when the market tries to rally.................

if you have any ??????? about those 2 statements just ask and ill try and explain better.......

 

[namathfan]

What did you see on the charts to make you think beans were in an uptrend?

Whether beans or any other commodity....it is extremely important for new traders to be able to identify the prevailing trend.

Mostly traded very short term, I'm very anxious to learn your thoughts on longer term trading.

Do you look at such things as the market making higher highs, for example?

 

[namathfan]

Great points you made on old highs and lows becoming support and resistance points once they have been penetrated

 

[TheFalls]

I understand filling the gap at this point. What would be considered a wide gap in the sugar or soybean mkt? I have read that there are different results after the gap is filled. These are based on the size of the gap and the time in which it is filled.

Couple of questions on the sugar trade.
You got in at 11.05. It is now at $10.93. You moved your stop loss from 11.33 to 11.19, and you will move it to 10.99 if 10.82 is surpassed and you remain short.
-Why would you not have already moved your stop loss to 10.99 or even 11.04 for that matter to ensure that there is a guaranteed profit on this trade? Is this to ensure you have enough wiggle room for the market to go up and down and hopefully further down in this case? It seems that you could just sit on this one trade for weeks and watch the market fluctuate and make no money.
-When do you plan on getting out of this deal if the market continues to dip? I understand that you would continue to lower your stop loss and just ride the train if this were the case, but what is an avg number of days to hold on to a deal like this following the system you are going by (which is not daytrading).
-Also, I don't recall how much you need in your acct to hold your sugar contract overnight.
It is something like $1150. This $1150 is not touched, correct? You could keep this contract for a year or whatever if your stop loss was never touched and you had $1150 in your account?
-And if you have 2 contracts, you would need $3000 to hold the contracts overnight?

 

[heart222]

regarding the margin on sugar of $1150 you would have original margin of $1150 and what they call maintenace margin of say 850. if your open position value dropped below 850 you would have to bring account up to 1150 to stay in. if you have multiple positions in differant commod they addthem all up and he same pplys.

SSI made a nice hit on beans today as there is a bean report around the 10th of each month. many traders tend to avoid being in for the report or
hedge in some manner. as well as beans went up 40 or so they also could open down the same. thus the risk is high for many especailly new trraders or small accounts. regards heart222