Discipline and Patience

Today I watched a few trades set up, but I stood behind my personal rules and did not trade. I was almost positive that FB was calling my name at about 11:10 on a Put- today, but I did not enter for a few reasons.

-The direction of the trade was going against the market.
-The price did not break the previous day's low
-It did not set up in my sweet spot (9:50-10:30). I saw a clear trade at around 11:01, but that was too late for me to enter, so I refrained. As you can see FB continued to go down, but I am ok with that. My approach and style is very unique, but I have learned to not take chances.

I take small profits almost everyday, but I am only in and out 1 time a day. I do not consider myself a daytrader. I have a 9-5 and do not have time to be in the market all day. My 9-5 is demanding, but I make sure my staff know that my office/administrative time is from 9-12. They are asked to take messages-unless there is an emergency. I am in the office by 7 and leave in the evenings by 6. I feel I deserve the 9-12 window of time to do whatever I want. I am a manager and have responsibilities. When I started trading, I knew I had to find an approach that would forward me an opportunity to trade, and also perform on the highest level in my day job. I have found a sweet spot as mentioned earlier, and I pin-point trades within that window of time. If there is no trade in my window, I do not force. I just want to give some of you who have full time jobs inspiration and confidence that you can do this and work. Last week I made a little over $1300 which is about normal for me. I do not set out to make a specific amount. I take what the market gives me. A couple of months ago, I was making about $6-700 a week. I only mention money because I want you to know that you start off making crumbs, but eventually, you make bricks. I am not making bricks yet, but I am working to get there. Keep working.

I will encourage again. Please backtest and hit a high percentage of "being right" in practice before using real money. When you step in the real game, you are confident that you can hit the big shots.

I just got a pinch off AMZN! Fat PItch on the 55 and signaling Put from previous day, below 8 MA, "E" on MA Chart off 13-(5,10,20), Broad heading down at the time, and MACD spreading. A ton of indications for a short trade. I bought puts at about 9:45 and sold at about 10:25, picking up a little over $2 on the move. I had no reason to leave the trade, but as I mentioned earlier, I have a full time job. I know I will be out of the office for a large part of the day, so I was a "gunslinger" this morning. Also, I was not confident on a big move because my Money Flow did not look right for my satisfaction. My trade was off the 13 chart.

As always, my golden rule is, when I sell a position, win or lose, I am finished for today. I have packed away my laptop and have taken it to my car. I will live to trade another day.

Have a great day!
Rookie

Way to go Rookie.

Not trading today.I hate mixed markets.

So I am researchung using RTT...thank you RTT for the hard work. Setting up my trades for the rest of this week.

You are awesome rookie. Thanks for emphasizing "don't trade against the market." I recently got hammered by not following that rule. V on Feb.25 233 chart. I'm still licking my wounds.

Thanks Darcy. I am watching CF like a hawk watches a rabbit! RTT is showing that it is trending down this week.

Irsmart, Believe me, I have the battle scars to prove I have made those mistakes time and time again! As soon as the the DOW turned green and started to show a little push up, I was out! Welcome on board! This forum has attracted some really good additions. I am still learning alot from you guys. I am happy with Strategy Desk, but there are so many good things being said about Tradestation! Unfortunately, I am old school. If it aint broke, dont fix it! When I was with Qcharts, I WAS BROKE-SO I HAD TO FIX IT.

Again, I just want everyone to know that a person can still make money in the market and have a job. Just find YOUR nitch and stick with YOUR process. The hard work is done at home. Applying the process is as simple as seeing the trade form, and once it hits your mark, enter the trade. AGAIN, THE WORK IS DONE AT HOME!

I exited a profitable trade today on ETN. I was tied up this morning and I had a GTC in and it was triggered. Looking at charts now it looks to continue up but I'm HIS. Entered on May 3 off the 55 and 13 TAD chart.

1 trade for me one for S/O...

Me: 20 contracts @ $1.87 on FSLR. Was in the trade 11 minutes and made $1,024.00. It was as clear as water. Used the 10 and 21 moving average chart which formed the perfect set up for "E". Confirmation was right at the open with the gap down. I set alert to sound off when stock reached $43.00 and exited immediately when it did. I was done for the day.

S/O in CMG at 11:47 and out @ 2:45 5 contracts purchased @ $6.00 profit $1,099.56. Was tied up with other business until 11:00. Saw gap down on 55 with HRFP at open. Saw the moving average charts with strong "E" looked at option with only a .20 spread when generally CMG has .50 or more. S/O watched candles forming on 1 chart and entered at his signal line he draws on 1 chart.

I was in CMG as well

Wasn't that (CMG) a sweet trade? S/O is still monitering the trade even though he is out. We often do this. Had he remained in the trade he would have been up +$1,400 but he is HIH.

Did you get in with a decent spread?

I dont know the spread. Im still an old fashioned GW student that just pays to play the game and if the spread is within 50 or 60 cent I pay. I entered at 9:50AM @ 12.50 and sold for 14.50 at noon. Bought the June 365 Put.

S/O got in @11:27AM
strike (out of money) 365 May Put for $6.00
Sold @ 2:45PM
for $8.20...5 contracts.

CMG will pull back on its spread after it quiets down some. I try to get my strike price within .10 to .20. If the stock is really moving that is hard to do.

CMG is really bad to have a huge spread right off the open. I like my option to start moving (as Gary said)..."RIGHT NOW!
I have only done that a few times and today was one of those with FSLR.

CMG Did look great today got a WIN alert, But I was already in WHR

Bought the June 115 call (25 contracts) last Wed and Sold them out Today

Bought 7.00 sold for 8.70. I will take $4250.00 for less than four days.


Another WIN Package trade.


Joe



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2013 05:49PM by Trader Joe.

BigChartTrader

CMG was obviously a good trade for you but I was wondering what made you close the trade when you did. Looking at the indicators I would exepct the move to continue, maybe to the 50MA on the 233 before bouncing?

Is it that you don't want to hold overnight, time decay or just HIH?

Taking something overnight doesn't bother me. I would also expect a continuation on the 233 however it is the summertime trading zone and if I can get $2 in a day I take it. I typically dont ever look at my brokerage account intraday because I dont want to close trades based on gains however CMG dropped pretty quick once I entered and I had an idea of how much I was up. In any other trading zone I would hold tight. I also got into FFIV and held overnight.

It is great to see that most of you are still finding good trades in this strange/transitioning market. I have been tied up at work lately, so my ability to focus on placing good trades has not been there. Tomorrow will be a better day for me. I am still reading and learning from your trades, so as others have stated, I appreciate your willingness to guide.

Whew talk about patience. I exited CRM today, my GTC finally triggered. I was in this longer than I wanted to be. Chart still looks good to go up but today is Drop Dead Friday and I do not wish to stay in as I would be fighting time decay with the option expiring next week. I entered this on 4-23, May 42.50 Call off of 55 chart and then I carried it over to 233 and used that to ride it out on. It was a post split play and the 233 is what kept me in. It went sideways but I stuck with it and it eventually started up, even though stock was gradually going up option was really not following suit. At sometimes the stock would be up for the day and the option would show a loss, but I relied on the chart. Price of the option when I bought it was $1.15 and sold today @ $1.65. The stock price was around $41.20 when I bought it, it was OTM call, stock today is around $44. Almost $3 move in stock with hardly little movement in option. Just glad to be out of it.

@TCB

Yep this has been a rotten week really for trades. I really do not like split markets. They almost drive me nuts!

Darcy,

For your FSLR trade on May 7, you must have been sitting on this trade, and in it as soon as the market opened, is that right? Waiting for either the 10 or 21 candle to close, and you would have missed the put play. Just curious what alerted you to this play. Thanks!

RT

Darcy - why did you set your alert at $43 on the FSLR trade on 5/7?

@gregluther

I have been studying gaps and FSLR was the perfect gap set up on the 10 and 21 movingaverage charts. That was my first alert. The close on 5/6 was 47.69 and the open on 5/7 was 46.62; a dollar move down.

On my 10 moving average chart the "E" was a perfect set up for a trade. The gap is clearly seen on that chart. The 21 moving average chart also had the perfect "E" set up.

How else did I know this would be a great put? I knew the 20 moving average on the daily would be tested because the chart on the daily said so.

@Dash

This may sound funny but I wanted to look at FSLR @ $43.00 to see if I wanted to remain in the trade. I could see on the Daily chart that that area would be tested. When the alarm went off I looked at the charts and got out PDQ. I knew the trade was over.

Rookie30,

Thank you for sharing your experience with a full time job. I needed to hear some objective input that successful trading can be done with people who have full time jobs. The numbers are also helpful as they give you an order of magnitude of what you can reasonably expect. I have been involved in trading activity for years and never quite made it work for me...... which tells me I am doing something wrong.

Thank you for sharing,

Irisarose.

Thanks Irisarose!

If you do not understand something-just ask for clarification. There are so many people who will help. Learning how to trade well is no easy task. I am going back through 1-5 right now. I am so tired of hearing Gary's voice, but I am trying to retrain my brain a little. I have been off the beaten path for a while. I have had some really good success, but I see an avenue to have more success and less stress. Keep pushing!