End of day review 5-19-11 Thursday

Trade plan and Price action review: (Price action) The market opened above value giving us an OAOR open type. The day traded back into the upper part of yesterday's session and found support at the globex lows 1334 area which was a key level from yesterday. The new release came out and was bearish with all reports worse than expected. We sold down to support at 1338 and bounced there for a small rotation up into the previous day's highs which was a great area to get short and look for follow through to the down side. The market went lower down to the 1334 GL area and bounced a few points and then went into a chop. During lunch buyers came in and pushed ES back above the previous day's highs where we ranged for a bit offering a few good trades there. We broke down below the 1339.75 intraday level and had a nice retrace back to it and then a move lower bouncing off the 1337 mcvpoc back up into the close of the day. Value shifted higher vpoc also moved higher.

(Trade plan) So for the most part my plan played out as i expected. I was caught a little off guard this morning when the selling came in and i was looking to play longs. I was looking to buy support and was looking for higher prices and value to shift higher which it did.

Trades review: (Hypothetical) See 5 min chart with black circles.

(Actual)

1^st trade: See the trades chart. It's a mess lol.

Conclusion of the day and thoughts going forward: Not exactly sure what happened today. I think it started with the people coming into my office and asking me all kinds of questions taking me away from my market concentration. I was in some good trades that i kept second guessing myself on. I would get in and the scratch and the go opposite direction then scratch. No clue. Any way i was able to pick up the pieces and end the day up which was emotionally important to me. I need this week to be good for me because well, its about time lol. I have put in a lot of time and i need to start to see it pay off which i believe it finally is.

  Im starting to see what people mean by you trade yourself in the market. Trading is 90% emotional and 10% technical. And the results show in you PnL. My PnL is a direct reflection of the way i feel when im trading. If your PnL is in a down trend and you don't know why it's because you haven't identified the emotional causes of the reason for the down trending PnL. Take a step back and ask yourself some serious questions. And try and find the reasons that your are consistently losing. Then take steps to change the issues that are causing you to fail.

Grades:

Following my plans: D

Following my rules: C

Trade execution: D

Pre market analysis 5-19-11 Thursday

News: jobless claims @ 8:30AM, Philly fed survey @ 10AM, Existing home sales @ 10AM, Leading indicators @ 10AM.

Trade plan and Price action analysis: (Price action) Yesterday we trended higher back into the balance area from the past few weeks. So the recent push lower is a range extension of the same balance area. Buyers were in full control yesterday and are still in control in the globex session. ES traded down to the 1334-1335 level last night where buyers were active and they pushed up into the 1343-1345 area where we are currently pulling back from. We do have another bullish macro set up where globex value is established higher on the previous days value area. There are a few econ release today that could give a catalyst for a move in either direction.

(Trade plan) Being that we are back in the bigger balance area and bulls are in control my expectation is for higher prices. But it depends on the market's reaction to the news releases out at 8:30 and 10AM. Im expecting support to be bought today and i will be cautious on selling resistance areas. I will only be looking to take shorts for smaller rotations because the rend short term is up but we can still get rotation down. Im not expecting another trend day today but we should move higher and value should establish higher as well. Key areas are the globex highs and the 1348-1350 level above it. I will wait for the open to see who is in control.