Thursday 02/05/09 - Nice up move

Woke up late this morning, and was busy in meetings most of the day. I got a chance to look at the charts around 2 PM central time; and my plan was to short any spikes up past the upper value area; which would have worked out pretty nice. I liquidated the IB account today, so the broker switch is still in progress. Hopefully, my account will be up and running with Infinity by next week. On to the charts...

Gap Filled at 9:55 AM (central)


ES/TICK (3-min)


ES Market Balance (5-min Continuous Contract)


ES Market Balance (5-min Day Session Only)


TF Market Balance (5-min Day Session Only)


TF/TICK (3-min)

Wed. 02/04/09 - Tick Divergence Setup

I didn't watch the market in the morning, but was talking to Matt on Yahoo later in the afternoon so pulled up the charts. I spotted a TICK divergence setup with a negative TICK extreme bar firing off right before the spike up from the 828 area. Very nice setup that was good for at least 3-4 points, even with a delayed entry. I started taking screen shots of the 1-minute ES/TICK chart to document the trade setup. Here they are, in sequence:

ES/TICK (1-min) 1:30 PM (central time)


ES/TICK (1-min) 1:33 PM (central time)


ES/TICK (1-min) 1:39 PM (central time)


ES/TICK (1-min) 1:58 PM (central time)


ES/TICK (1-min) 2:41 PM (central time)


I think the charts speak for themselves. The TICK divergence is pretty obvious, and worked out great in the afternoon. We also got a gap fill before 1 PM (central).

Gap Filled at 12:55 PM (central)


ES/TICK (3-min)


ES Market Balance (5-min Continuous Contract)


ES Market Balance (5-min Day Session Only)


TF Market Balance (5-min Day Session Only)


TF/TICK (3-min)

Tuesday 02/03/09 - Switching Brokers

No trades today for two reasons:
1. Too frustrated at work, and I try to stay away from my trading platform when I'm ticked off
2. I'm in the process of moving my account to Infinity Futures, and submitted all the paperwork this morning. Hopefully, account will be funded by end of week. I'm also opening a small account at Trade Station to save some cash on the monthly Trade Station platform fee (currently over $300).

I think my market reads are improving. Matt and I were on Yahoo messenger in the afternoon and both of us saw the same setups (and he nailed the execution). Matt even quizzed me by asking if I would consider putting on a Short position when ES broke out and shot up to 832.75, to which I said NO (much to his surprise). I spotted negative divergence on the ES/TICK chart later when price pulled back from the 839 area, down to the 835 area, and a short in that range would have worked out for a nice +4 pts or so, but woulda, coulda, shoulda's don't count. On to the charts...

Gap Filled at the Open


TF/TICK (3-min)


ES/TICK (3-min)


ES Market Balance (5-min Continuous Contract)


ES Market Balance (5-min Day Session Only)


TF Market Balance (5-min Day Session Only)

Monday 02/02/09 - It's the Exits That Pay You

Mondays are filled with too many meetings so only Sim trades today. I nailed some terrific entries, but was too quick to move my stop to break-even, so did not realize any gains. Here's a chart of my entries/exits from today:



Those entries are Golden! Now I just need to figure out how I can pull profits from the entries. Both of these trades were mean-reversion setups, with the Long being a combo of mean-reversion and double-bottom. In both cases, price was extended beyond the value areas. I'm thinking in these scenarios, perhaps I should leave the initial 2-point stop in place until price moves 2R in my direction (4-points), at which point, I would move the stop to break-even. Once price moves 3R (6-points) in my direction, move stop to +2 points, and continue the process until price action stalls, and signals a possible reversal. Of course this rule works like a charm if I just look at today's trades, but I don't have sufficient data to know how it will work over time, so I'm still undecided on this. You guys have any feedback/thoughts on this topic?

Gap Filled


TF/TICK (3-min)


ES/TICK (3-min)


ES Market Balance (5-min Continuous Contract)


ES Market Balance (5-min Day Session Only)


TF Market Balance (5-min Day Session Only)


Looking over today's charts, the TF "looks" like an easier instrument to trade. It bounced off it's mid-point pretty nicely in the afternoon.

Friday 01/30/09 - Dow Closes at 8,000

I was pretty busy over the weekend, and am just now getting around to posting the charts from Friday. The Dow managed to close at the critical 8,000 mark on Friday, and that's about what I expected. I traded the TF again on Sim and managed a nice gain with some 2-3 pt scalps ($200-300 per contract on TF). A lot of traders are anticipating a test of the November lows, but the market often proves the majority wrong, so we'll see what happens. Depending on my schedule, I might try some real $ trades on the Russel this week.

On to the charts...

TF/TICK (3-min)


ES/TICK (3-min)


ES Market Balance (5-min Continuous Contract)


ES Market Balance (5-min Day Session Only)


TF Market Balance (5-min Day Session Only)