ES 1/31/14 +4.75

Didn't trade the morning session and most of the afternoon one. Lately, I've been playing around with my chart settings a little. Switching from the original 2000 tick to 1500 and 1800. The original setting might be too "slow" for me.

Also, I've been drifting away a bit from my original trading plan. After hitting my daily points goal, I should just stop trading. For today, that would mean after the 5th trade. Need to be more discipline and stick to my trading plan. Greed kills. Actually, on many occasions, was thinking to stop, after having 2 straight winners (1.25 + 1.25 pt, which is below my daily goal). I rarely hit 3 in a roll, so the odds of my 3rd trade being a loser are high. Maybe I should lower my daily goal to 2.50 pt? Something to think about.

Anyway, did the same number of trades as yesterday: 6.

1. Short = +1.25
2. Short = +1.25
3. Short = -1.50
4. Long = +1.25
5. Short = +1.25
6. Short = +1.25

BTW, Happy Lunar New Year!

ES chart 1/31/14

ES 1/30/14 +3.25

Using 3 contracts per trade. Found out I was not very comfortable with this. Each time I was in a trade, my heart felt like it was going to bust out of my chest. Still not emotionally ready. Will revert to being a 1 lot piker again.

Anyway, I over-traded a bit, as I only average about 3 trades daily. Took 6 trades today for a total of 9.75 pt total or 3.25 pt per lot.

1. Short = +1.25, +1.25, +1.25
2. Short = +0.50, +0.50, +0.50
3. Long = +1.25, +1.25, +1.25
4. Long = -1.25, -1.25, -1.25
5. Long = +0.25, +0.25, +0.25
6. Long = +1.25, +1.25, +1.25

ES chart 1/30/14

ES 1/29/14 +3.50

It's FOMC day, so ending the day early. 

ES chart 1/29/14

ES 1/28/14 +2.50

Second thoughts, hesitations and greed = left a lot of $ on the table today. Missed/skipped a total of 4 trades. All would have been winners. Basically, spent the whole afternoon just watching and lamenting over those missed opportunities. The 2 trades that I did managed to take were all done in the morning session. Positive for the day, but still below the 3 points (per contract) daily target.

ES chart 1/28/14

ES 1/24/14 +3.50

Was running errands the past few days, so didn't trade at all. It's noon here now, need to go finish a few more tasks, so I'm done trading today. Did 3 short trades and skipped out on 2 more. Was tempted to enter on a few long setups, but didn't give in to the countertrend trading temptations.

ES chart 1/24/14

ES 1/21/14 +1.25

Started off on the wrong foot. Again, I jumped into a setup without thinking things through first. Paid for it by being stopped out for a total loss of 3.50 pt on the trade. Dug myself a hole early on. But, I still could have had a great day, had I not missed two awesome trade setups. It was quite unfortunate, as prices moved very rapidly and steadily in those.

Anyway, I had previously reminded myself to not take any setups in the first 30 minutes or so. Reason is because it's kind of difficult to gauge the direction of the market (trend or range day) that early on in the trading day. Another example of me breaking my rules again!

ES chart 1/21/14

ES 1/17/14 +2.00

Got shaken out of a couple of trades for small gains. Also, skipped out on two more setups - one would have been a loser, while the other would have been a very good winner. Overall, except for a few big price movements, I find it was a choppy day.

ES chart 1/17/14

ES 1/16/14 +6.50

After all this time, still struggling with my emotions. Decided to just jump in on the next available setup, after missing and skipping some good ones the entire day. Broke a bunch of rules in doing so. It was a stupid entry, based mainly on emotions, greed and hope. I would have been toast had this trade went against me. Had on 6 contracts (3Xs the normal size) for this trade. Granted, the entry reason(s) for the 2nd and 3rd sets were valid, but the initial entry was flawed. A better choice would've been to just sit tight and ended the day with no trades. Better safe than sorry.

Rules broken:

• No real valid reason for entering
• Added 2nd set of positions to existing set
• Added 3rd set of positions to existing sets

ES chart 1/16/14

ES 1/15/14 +5.75

A bunch of trading opportunities today. Too bad I missed out on 3 and skipped out on 2 of them. Part of the reason for the 3 morning misses was due to me checking up on the NQ. Still seeing if I can trade the NQ, instead of the ES, as I find it difficult to stomach the latter's full 2 point stop loss. Anyway, I did managed to take 2 short trades, though.

ES chart 1/15/14

ES 1/14/14 +6.50

Had no water yesterday for about over 5.5 hours, due to a broken water main in the building. Was not able to drink, wash or flush. Was initially told it would possibly take the whole day for repairs to be done. Good thing that was not the case.

I must have been dreaming last week with all those crazy talks of 3 points per contract daily target. Who was I kidding? Making a single point is difficult enough. Too much undue pressure. Reverting to my original 2 points per contract daily goal. This way, I can afford to be more selective in my trade choices.

Anyway, did 4 trades today using 2 contracts. All were to the long side - 3 winners and 1 loser. Had some trouble early on drawing the right trend channel. Was not able to find one with the correct fit. Missed a few trade setups, as a result. Finally, around noon time, settled on a narrow/tight one that seemed to hold prices together more.

ES chart 1/14/14

ES 1/10/14 +6.25

Trading 2 contracts, so daily target is 6 points. Could have gotten more, but was shaken out of a couple of trades. Played it safe and bailed a bit earlier than I wanted on those. Hate those Dojis. Get nervous every time I see them when I have an open position. Anyway, did a total of 3 trades and missed out on 2 others.

ES chart 1/10/14

ES 1/9/14 +4.00

Didn't make my target today, as I netted only 4 points. Based on 2 contracts per trade, that comes out to 2 points per contract. As previously stated, my revised daily goal is 3 points per contract. If trading 2 contracts, then my daily target would be 6 points. If 3 contracts, then 9 points...etc. Yeah, maybe a bit lofty, but might as well shoot for the stars. If it's too easily attainable, then what's the point?

ES chart 1/9/14

ES 1/7/14 +2.25

It was an okay day. Market was divided in two halves - uptrend in the morning and downtrend in the afternoon. Would have had a better day, had I been more aggressive. Instead, I played it safe and ended up skipping on two trades.

I know my stated daily target was 2 points, but ideally, I would like it to be 3. If trading 3 contracts, that would mean a difference between making $450 vs $300, before commissions. Going forward, I'm going to aim for 3 points (per contract) as my daily target. This would mean making at least three trades per day, as my scalp target for each trade is 1.25 points.

My original scalp target was 1.00, but I added the extra tick starting 2014. Two main reasons why I did this.

1. The extra tick would cover for the commission cost. 
2. I notice that for my winning trades, prices would often blow past my original 1.00 scalp target. Makes sense to tack on a measly single tick. 

ES chart 1/7/14

ES 1/6/14 +0.50

Not a good day. Made a few mistakes, due to not thinking clearly and keeping my emotions in check. Sometimes I tend to do tunnel vision trading - jumping in on a trade, just because the setup looks good without looking at the bigger picture (e.g. short trade @13:37). Also, I tend to revenge trade, after getting stopped out on a prior trade. Instead of waiting for prices to pullback, I have the tendency to just reverse immediately. This almost always lead to very bad fills (e.g. short @15:35). Anyway, after factoring in commissions, I netted $4.90. Enough for a cup of coffee and a donut at Dunkin' Donuts.

ES chart 1/6/14

ES 1/3/14 +1.75

It was a range day today. Took two trades and missed one good one. Still need to work on my patience. Got anxious and bailed early on the first long trade...only too see prices reached my target shortly after. Entered too early on the second short trade. It worked out this time, as a failed 2nd entry long setup did appeared. But, should only enter into a trade after a setup shows up, not before. Too risky. The missed trade was due to my limit order not getting filled. I've noticed that for trades that I miss, prices reach my target fairly quickly. However, for trades that I do get in on, prices seem to crawl there. Strange. Anyway, I didn't get my 2 points target today.

ES chart 1/3/14

ES 1/2/14 +2.50

Happy New Year! The market opened the new year on a downtrend. Took two afternoon trades, as I was actually looking at the NQ the entire morning. For the past couple of weeks, it has more movement than the ES. The ES was practically dead. Things seemed to be back to normal today, though.

ES chart 1/2/14