End of day review 2-18-11 Friday

So the market traded as expected by balancing in a range for the session. At the open we grinded higher into the resistance zone at 1342-1344 where i took a short for 3 points. The situation hasn't changed this week we continue to grind higher and higher on low volume making it a very difficult area to trade. Caution really needs to be taken here and a lot of discipline will keep you out of harm's way. Kev always told me cash is a position and you have to know when NOT to trade. And that is the most difficult part of trading. I had a bad week this week and dug myself into a unnecessary hole if i would have just not traded when i was having them issue with work this week i would have been fine. I did some stupid things and i paid for it. I didn't have to trade especially with me knowing there was nothing to trade with ES being so dead. So next week hopefully ES will be tradable and i will be able to get back what i lost and end the month up. I learned an important lesson this week. In trading you have to except that you will not always be up and when your down you can't let it get to you, once you do it begins to deteriorate your confidence and it seems like you will never be ok again and the end of the world is right around the corner. But this is when you have to dig in and really fall back on your discipline and stick to MM rules. If i was to take one more loser i would have gone on SIM this week till i was able to be confident again. I will see how i do next week and i will be careful and only trade when im not upset about work issues and when the market has something to do. All in all im still pretty new at the game and i know i have a lot to learn. So the journey continues...

1St trade: See trades chart.

End of day review 2-17-11 Thursday

ES opened and at first was below pre market resistance which gave me a bearish bias. Then we reversed and trended higher the rest of the day. Not crazy about trading in this area so will be very careful and will wait for something good to set up.

1st trade and only: This trade i took at resistance because i was expecting the market to reverse and rotate lower back to value instead ES decided to go higher and i was stopped for 8 ticks. This is ok for me because i had a plan today and i followed it. This was a case of ES just not rotating and the day turning into a trend type day.

Pre Market Analysis 2-17-11 Thursday

News: Consumer Price Index @ 8:30AM, Jobless claims @8:30AM, Leading indicators @10AM, Philly fed survey @ 10AM

Daily chart Notes: What can i say the picture is still the same. We grind higher on low volume. We are still in thi8s rising wedge pattern and the weeks range is only 12 points. How much worse can it get...

MP Chart Notes: ES closed in value yesterday and at the top of the weekly range. Globex is in a tight balanced area and inside yesterdays value area. giving us a neutral macro and no real bias going into today.

Trade plan: Today's trade plan is to wait for the market to move out of this area for the most part. I fell as if we are going to rotate back to the lows of the weekly range. Today should be the day for the wedge to play out which might give us the rotation back to the lows. So what i see in the context is that buyers are in control (what else is new) and need to stay above 1325-1327 to keep control. A break below 1330.50-1331.50 would be an early sign of weakness. And if we break and hold below 1325-1327 will be a heads up of the sellers possibly taking control. We have a few reports out today at 10AM so we could balance leading up to the release and i will decide what i want to do after seeing the market reaction. Over all im still a buyer of support and i will concentrate on the long side around 1321-1323 a break below that and i will look at 1314-1316

End of Day Review 2-16-11 Wednesday

Today is a carbon copy of yesterday. I was tied up with work and got to my seat late again and rushed to find something to trade... Big mistake and i promise myself i will not do it again. The market balanced all day and we are still in this big daily wedge. The ranges are getting tighter and a break out is very likely. So more than likely i will not be trading this week till we get out of this area. I had 3 losers today and hit my daily stop  so i was done for the day. Im a little pissed off with myself but i have no one to blame but me. Im not happy with the way the market grinds higher on the daily chart but hey it is what it is for now. Maybe when uncle Ben is done with the POMO shit the markets will turn back to normal again or at least some volatility will come back.

Pre Market Analysis 2-16-11 Wednesday

News:Housing starts @ 8:30AM, Producer price index @ 8:30AM, Industrial production @ 9:15AM, FOMC Minutes @ 2:00PM

Daily Chart notes: Daily is still in an uptrend, nothing changed there. We are still in this big rising wedge that may play out over the next few days. Volume is really light up here so caution needs to be taken on long setups.

MP Chart Notes: ES has been balancing in a range all this week so far. Globex has formed value higher up on a p shaped structure making new highs on the year again. The buyers are still in control and he trend remains up until something changes that. We also have a neutral weekly IB structure.

Trade plan: So ES has been going sideways this week after last Fridays break of daily value. We are in the apex of the wedge on the daily chart and i am beginning to not trust these support levels. But the trend is still up so i need to focus on the long side at support until it doesn't work anymore. Don't anticipate a move out of here just let the market show me when it wants to break. Globex has formed a bullish macro on a p shape profile showing me that the market wants to trade higher. We have a few reports due out today along with FOMC minutes at 2PM. The FOMC news is the only catalyst out while the market is open. So after the release before the cash open hit the market im expecting a mostly balanced session today leading up to FOMC at 2PM. Im still bullish and looking to buy support into my levels on my 30 min chart. We have a p shape on globex and support at 1329.50 a break below will be an early sign of weakness and could see ES trade back down to test the POC at 1325-1326 level and then the lows of yesterday.

Pre Market Analysis 2-15-11 Tuesday

News: Retail sales @ 8:30 AM, Empire state Mfg Survey@ 8:30AM, Business Inventories @ 10:00AM

Daily chart notes: We are still moving higher on the daily making new highs again on the year. The big rising wedge is still in play and hasn't broken the trend line yet. Yesterdays vol was really light and we still made new highs so caution up here is needed.

MP Notes: Sunday and Monday were perfectly balanced sessions and globex is in value with the past two session leaving us with a neutral macro structure. Friday broke out of the balance area making new highs on the year so the bigger picture remains bullish with buyers in control. This picture can change pretty quickly tho so cation needs to be taken on the long side.

Trade Plan: ES had a balanced session yesterday as expected. We are consolidating above the previous balance area which is good for the bullish context. We have a rising wedge that may play out on the daily so i will be cautious on the long side as support areas might break on the way down to find more buyers. Im still looking for the first test of the previous balance area high and will look for long opps there. If we break the 1320-1322 level with momentum i will look for a small pullback to get short off of for a quick trade. If we get back below 1320 we could see lower prices down to around 1316-1314 then possible 1310-1308 this would be an extreme and i expect selling to shut off by then. I am only going to concentrate on the long side at the previous balance area highs around 1320-1322 area. If we break the highs i will wait for value to build before playing the long side above the yearly highs. To have a heads up of the first signs of weakness we need to break globex low and see how price trades at 1320-1322 area. A break below 1320-1322 is a red flag for buyers.