End of day Review 2-22-11 Tuesday

At first my expectation was for ES to trade back up to the value area high at 1342 area with the bullish action in the first 60 mins. ES traded up to 61.8% retrace of the bigger move down and sold off and never looked back. Then when ES reversed and started to trade lower I was looking for shorts below 1319-1321 area which we got at lunch time. After that there wasn’t any good opps for me to take except a long at 1314-1316 level after it chopped around there for a little bit and put in a 30 min reversal candle. It was good for a few points only as ES wanted to trade lower. The 1310.25-1308.25 level shut off the selling as expected. Now that we have continuation and we are away from the highs of the year area maybe we will get some good trade opps going. I will monitor globex tomorrow morning to get an idea of what we can expect tomorrow. Buyers will want to see this above 1306-1309 to stay in control of the bigger picture. If we take out this level then a move down to 1282 is likely.

Trades: See 3 min trades chart for details

End of day review Tuesday 2-8-11

So ES traded within a balanced area as expected. We just didn't get the rotations i thought we would get. I tried a short at the globex highs and this was good for 2 points and the long this morning i took was good for at least 4 points and i should have held this with a runner for the 4 point target. I described in 2nd trade i will only leave runners if the wind is at my back and will take both lots off for 2 points when the market doesn't support a runner. Just things i need to do to adapt to becoming a more efficient trader.

1St Trade: The context is bullish and first support was globex lows at 1314 area. We also had a neutral macro structure. So i was waiting for a move to get long into and when we tested globex lows the order flow shifted to the buy side and the book firmed up on the bid giving me the confidence to get long at 14.25. I felt good about this trade. I did take a point of heat. I don't think i jumped in to early we just had one more flush of the sellers before buyers took control. I took one off for 2 points and let the other run for 3 but i took second off for 2 when i saw the sellers keeping price at bay. In hind sight it wasn't a good idea to move my second target. But i want to keep with my plan of taking my position off at +2 so i can build up my size quicker. Once i am trading a 3 lot i will take 2 off for + 2 points and let other ride for extended targets.

2nd Trade: I took this trade after the rejection of globex highs. It was a counter trend trade but everything lined up for me so i pulled the trigger. I only took 1 tick of heat but it took forever to follow through. I had 1 target at 2 points and other at 3 and I'm starting to realize that is not such a good idea. The reason is the risk to reward for the runner. If i take one off for 2 points and let the other run for 3 points my risk to reward is 2:1 on the runner. So i would be risking the 2 points i already have to make 1 more point. That doesn't make too much sense to me especially on a counter trend trade when trying to get 2 points is hard enough. So what i will do for now on is take 2 points on both lots and will take full position off at 2 points in the future unless I'm going with the trend and context. In other words i need the wind at my back to leave a runner on for at least 4 points or more. Then i will have at least a 2:2 risk to reward for the runner.

End of day Review 1-25-11 Tuesday

     So today the market confirmed the 1278 level as key support. Really dont like when the market trades around the CVPOC. So my levels played out pretty well today but for some reason i didnt make any good trades that resulted in being up on the day. I ended me day pretty much flat (see trades chart). I think its because we are not trading at an extrem and i found it difficult to have a bias on the day. Es opened today and tested the 78 support area offering a good long opp back into resistance above. It was ahead of the figure so i would have exited a little early but still a good trade. We traded back down 1282.50 then bounced from there back into resistance area at 1285.50-1287.00 which gave an opp to sell short but i didn't take it cause i wasn't sure. Then some momentum kicked in and ES sold off to test the 78 level below. I took a short on the break and retrace of globex level at 1281.75 . I jumped the gun a little on that one so need to be more patient but it was good for 1.5 points and i jumped out early as well. I tried to buy the bounce off of 1278 area and market traded at my price but i didn't fill so tough luck on that one. Then eS put in a nice bounce back above globex level and i took a long on the retrace back to it and got out for 1.5 then ES tanked and retested 1278 area once again where i got long and it looked good at first but stopped my for BE then took off. Perhaps i should have looked to get long again there. Over all todays action is bullish and i should expect a move higher tomorrow.

1st Trade: I took this trade on the back of the consumer confidence figure. It came out way better than expected and popped up then retraced back down where i tried to get long off of A session high. The market ended going a few ticks past my stop and i was taken out. In hind sight what i should have done was waited to see the buyers show there hand a little more and this would have given me a better trade location and could have scratched if i need to. Also could have stayed out of the way of the momentum push down. Over all should have waited and been more patient.

2nd Trade: I took a short off the break of the globex lows area on the back of that momentum that kicked in before lunch. The only problem i can point out is i got in a tad too early and sat through a few ticks of heat. I was short at 80.75 and should have waited for a bit more of a retrace up to globex lows. Also i exited for only 1 point because i saw a lot of buyers coming into the market. My original target was hit so i shouldn't have thought too much into it and waited for my target price.

3rd Trade: I missed this fill but wanted to high light it any way. I tried getting long at 79.50 and market traded down to my price but it didn't fill. Just a little unlucky there i guess. It ended up being a great trade.

4th Trade: Es traded down to 1278 key support (and i missed my long there) then bounced up during lunch hour. we broke back above globex lows which was a low volume area on the profile at the time. So i got long at globex lows and was looking for 2 points but the market shut off and started seeing sellers enter the market so i bailed on 1 lot for 1.5 points and left the other to run in case we went higher. Ended up getting stopped for BE on the second.

5th Trade: Market came back down to 78 support which is a key level for the ES. buyers stepped in at 1278 and i bought right in front of them i was up 2 points and went to break even cause i was expecting higher prices (1282ish) After topping out at 1280.50 ES whipped right around and stopped me out for BE... On to the next one. update this trade went on to hit my original target at 1282.25 for 4 points...