ES trades for 10/2/13

Market opened deep in the red today, due to the government shutdown issue again. It opened down 14 pt. It was in a trading range early on, before spending the rest of the day in an uptrend. Again, I did 3 trades today. Of course, again, I was within 1 tick of my initial scalp target. Very frustrating, since all 3 trades were winners, but the net money was not a lot.

Trade #1 - Market broke out of the early range to the downside very bearishly. Even though it was a countertrend trade, I went ahead because 1) prices made a double bottom and 2) prices had just completed a measured move. Thought a market reversal was in order. I was right, but didn't stick around to get rewarded. As mentioned before, my 1st contract was stopped out for 1 tick. I was shook out of my 2nd contract, due to congestion (overlapping bars) and formation of a Doji. 0.25 + 0.25 = +0.50 pt.

• buy 2 @1674.25 at 10:12
• sell 1 @1674.50 at 10:15
• sell 1 @1674.50 at 10:17

Trade #2 - At the time when I took this trade, I didn't think it was countertrend trading, as I thought range rules were still in order. In hindsight, the market was in an uptrend from about 10:30 forward. Anyway, I took a 2nd entry short, as prices were meeting resistance from both the resistance line and upper-sloping trend line. Should have manually exited my runner when prices bounced off of the trend line, though. 1.00 + 0.50 = +1.50 pt.

• sell 2 @1681.25 at 11:38
• buy 1 @1680.25 at 11:41
• buy 1 @1680.75 at 11:47

Trade #3 - Didn't have the right trend lines in place when the trade was taken. Later on, with the correct lines in place, I realized that I'd entered too early (in no man's land). Plus, I should have waited for a 2nd entry, instead. As it were, I manually exited both contracts, due to the double Dojis that had formed. 0.50 + 0.50 = +1.00 pt.

• buy 2 @1684.50 at 12:52
• sell 2 @1685.00 at 13:10

ES chart 10/2/13