green +186

WHAT?  THE MARKETS ARE CLOSED MONDAY?  3 day weekend....I would rather be trading! 
45 points on the YM today.  Sometimes I think how easy it seems if I could just hit the YM for 10 points 4 times a day, but throw in a losing trade or 2 and it just messes up that plan.
I stopped trading when I had beat my daily goal on the YM (about 2), however my stock holdings brought my days total to back below my daily goal.

Robot:  18 winners, 20 losers, -202
Most of the morning he spent his day with a 200, 300 plus gain, but he kept going long after Spain's credit lowering.  The tick chart gives signals earlier than his 1 minute chart...either way..he is only capable of trading on his crossover signals...which cause him to keep trying to trade a small bounce for a longer term.

green +155

1 YM trade today for 4 points.  Kinda had a profit from the up day and was almost satisfied with that.  Really, Always want more though.
Out GS +1.05  still holding 1/4 position
Dow up around 200

Robot:  13 winners, 165 losers, -296

Other Stuff:  I'm really tired, had only 4 hours sleep, and my throat hurts from 4 hours of talking.

red -27

Two guess my stops in one!  This started a bad trend for me, and now I've lost 4 trades in a row.  Maybe gonna shut myself down....but I really want my money back.  Right now from down over 300 to down 176...don't know if I can trade more...now down 74...ten minutes to go...think I'm done....I think a buy into close...

Minus 15 points on the YM today 

Robot:  20 winners, 17 losers, +57
Took him off the 2 hour/3 minute chart and added the tick chart/30 ticks mid day.  He now takes signals from the 30 tick and the 2hr/1 minute chart.

green +138

Guess my stop game...
I got suckered out of my short....placed another short 2 points higher and the total of these 2 trades netted me 7 dollars.
16 YM points today...either I played or I was too scared to trade again.  Same story...the account is so small that any loser hurts.

stopped out PRGS -3.91   I forgot to take off my stop loss on the gap down..right now I call it a mistake not to do this...but if the market continues to tank, then it's okay.
Wow, it either goes up or down...50, 50 chance.

Robot:  10 winners, 15 losers, -475
glad I aint him

Other Stuff:  Pop tarts for dinner....wish you were here.........don't ya?

Green +88

That drop at the close...ouch....just 3 minutes to stay in the green

41 YM points, only 6 round trips today.  Tried to stay away from just trading everything I could, and the market was a bit slower today.  Want to make more....and I tell myself "if" I say "If  you traded your way out of 400 down ...why can't you make 400 a day?"     Only 2 bad trades, ha, my first one was bad, and my 3rd trade.

Guess my stop game on the right...a hint I was short the YM....


Robot:  5 winners, 2 losers, +192

Other stuff:  I get to start working nights and days now.  It's gonna be a while before my time becomes mine again.

green +79

I can't believe it....I meant to go long hit the wrong button and was short and lost a hundred bucks.  And in just 3 or 4 more trades I was down over 400.  It reminded me of yesterday.
     I traded my way all the way back to even...(yes 0 on the nose!)  Then I lost another 250.  Looking at myself in the mirror I could see the reflection of someone who had been beaten.
     I settled back in and depressed as I was I traded my way back to plus 18 dollars....my first time in the green all day.  Now I'm just typing this .... cause I don't want to lose my profit.
     As of now (about an hour till close) I've made 23 round trips in the YM just to get back to green....almost 10 trades an hour.
              A guess my stop game
              (as always no prizes will be awarded)
out 50 MDAS still holding 20 shares (cause I didn't update my stop when I added shares)

Robot:  19 winners, 15 losers, +54

Other Stuff:  Moved the desk into the trading room tonight...it's still kinda covered in paperwork....but hey, that's what my chore lists are for.  Brought up some bean bag chairs from the basement to  add some seating in the now empty front room.  It's got books in there...maybe I'll call it the library, or the entry room.  Maybe I'll just think up some names for all the rooms in the house......

red down over 1300

minus 210 YM points.  What a terrible day! Trades would move 40 points on me and I was stupid most of the day.  I finally shut myself down just before the last hour.....but too late...the damage had been done.
Out AKS -3.12

Robot:  20 winners, 12 losers, +72
changed his target to 7 with a stop loss of 20 since the market was moving so much.  Don't think it worked.  Changed him back and he went from down 131 to up 72 in an hour.

green +32

2 YM trades today for 7 points.  Both were shorts.  My first trade I put in my usual 5 point trail and just when I hit the button the YM spiked about 10 points and took me out flat and left me with brokers fees.  Things are moving pretty fast now a days.
Added UTL
Didn't really trade today...I was happy at the open when everything was green and then the slam down came and everything turned red, and finally some buying came into the close and helped things out.

Robot:  13 winners, 19 losers,-398

Other stuff:  sort of....still working on the trading room.  Today after picking up paper work I bought some cable extenders for the internet, monitor, usb.  Moved a couple of boxes and then decided it was dinner time and had left over chicken fingers and a cheeseburger, while I listened to an interview with a trader.

red -110

1 YM trade for 12 points.  It took me this long to restore my backup computer, then I had time to make a trade.  Bought at the first line...quickly had 16 points (second line) and while I was deciding to place either a 10 or 5  point trailing stop on my short....it all reversed and I was down over 25 points.  And for the next 9 minutes I had to decide how much loss would be too much.  9 minutes are a long time when the dollars are racking up.  Then it broke and my short was profitable again.  I did not hesitate as long this time (third lined) and went with a 5 point trail.
     Moving the trading room was not as easy as I thought, and I still have one more desk to move along with longer cables, primary internet in the same room instead of the cord just hanging through the basement.  And the usual personal touches that make it more than just normal.
Added GS

Robot:  14 winners, 19 losers, -492

Other stuff:  It's funny how I can't wait till it warms up and at the same time I take pictures of the latest snowfall just to keep it alive.  My dad loaned me the movie Avatar to watch, It was fun,  cause, you know the fantasy calls list is defunct which really cuts into the seeing a movie stuff.  I hate it when they forget me.

red -62

    Had no trades today...really glad the market rebounded.  All the time I was working on the trading room I kept thinking how I needed to start trading to cover these losses.
     Moved the trading room to another room.  Worked on it till 2 am last night, then I got up 4 hours later and continued working on it.  My desk hardly survived the move.  If the duct tape wasn't being used for my window in my car, it would have been all over my fake wood desk.  Adding a little metallic flake to the wood  oooo ya.  But I settled for the shelf holders to brace the desk all back together.  The desk kinda squeeks and moans    but  o well.
     This spell checker tells you the word is spelled wrong but won't give you the correct spelling...sheesh.
     Had to do a complete system recovery on the back up computer...and the whole time the internet would not stay connected.   Over 50 downloads to get it back up.  I still have a screen setting on the floor and am reloading quote tracker now.  All my alerts even went into hiding.
     Besides that I set it up to view my screens to the right with my desk on the left. 
I soon realized I'm not left handed and had to change it all up.  But I did fix a problem with my desktop background that was always messed up and finally got all my screens on the same resolution.  It's great not to have the head cut off on my desktop picture any more....and no feet stuck on her head either.

Green +40

I realized today that showing a chart of what took place in the markets would help.  Not that it will explain my madness in trading....But a couple of days ago when I was down 190 it was because I kept going short on an up day.  (hmmm the chart wouldn't show that)
     I think the chart will be more for "hey the market went down 200 and you still eeked out a win"  Kinda an atta boy thing, or just realizing that bad day you had was a thousand point drop and that's why you were stopped out of everything.
Two I don't suck things in a row, my mind has finally decided not to pick on me all the time....wow.

26 YM points.....futures trading saved me from being in the red today.
Added MDAS @23.83, 23.75
Added GS @143.28, 142.84
Those profits I talked about yesterday and not taking them.....I should have took the profits!!!  COULDA, WOULDA, SHOULDA

Robot:  11 winners, 15 losers, -454.
Even though he must take all trades on the signals....his announcing of his short and buy signals helps me a lot to stop and look at the graphs.  It is a learning time for how the markets are going to move.  No matter his losses it does help with my chart reading.  He took 26 trades today and missed out on maybe 30 more trades because he can not trade if he is already  in a position.  But that gives me around 50 or more actual real time learning opportunities.

green +15

It is always tough deciding where to take profits, like I have any :)....Ford with a 55 cent range today...but I want to let it build back to 14 dollars.  In the morning your up 30 cents and in the afternoon down 20 cents....it always makes you want to just grab a small profit and move on.
    And once again, when I look at the gain of 60 cents I know that the professionals will take the profit and consider it a good trade.  My smaller share size always messes up things like 60 cents is good.  At the same time I had a dollar in PRGS today and did not cash in.
   Tis a hard thing this being a trader....even when you learn when to trade....it takes discipline....a lot of it.
Added GS, PRGS, AKS, X
Had 2 futures trades, first one down 15 points, second plus 23 points.



Robot:  10 winners, 4 losers, +399
Good day for him

red -185

Guess my stop game.  My short went bad.  Not when you get the high of day to take you out and then reverse.  Then a revenge trade and I lost that one too.  Crap it's barely been an hour and I'm down 200 on the futures.  MOJO....where did you go?


Tried all day to make up that money...never could.  Thought I was getting close once...but I just made it worse.  As Robot would say   "Better trades down the road!!"

Robot:  7 winners, 11 losers, -361.68

green +110

Stupid trade from today You had an established trend line and you SHORTED it.  It was a BUY POINT.  This bad move cost you 40 points...(oh oooo...gave away the answer to guess my stop).

40 FRICKING POINTS WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?

 Okay, so it's all not about posting the bad trades. (they are supposed to help me learn)
Here is one you did right today, a short, and you made 48 points of profit on this one, nice going!

Just too spooked to continue, just going to watch the last 20 minutes, just don't want to risk my profit for the day. (Just how many times are you going to use that word just in this paragraph?)  AGAIN...no prizes will be awarded in the contests.....some people.
Added F
Added SNV
Thought about burning a day trade on both of these, had about a 20 dollar profit.

I need better discipline on that 40 point loss.  I think 20 points should be the max stop, hoping for the turn around for 40 points was way too expensive.

Robot:  14 winners, 11 losers, +93.50

Beat my daily goal

Guess my stop game above.  Since a few have felt the game is too hard...I've started putting up the white circles to help.  This trade was my one bad trade of the day, a short at 10676.  I did not follow the trend line.  I thought I could just short the market early, that bad thinking cost me 25 points on that trade....it was a really bad mistake.  SO PAY ATTENTION AND DO IT RIGHT....START MAKING YOUR DAILY GOAL EVERY DAY!  I stopped trading early because I got back that bad trade to beat my daily goal again and did not want to push things.
               Because you were given the answer in the guess my stop game...no prizes will be awarded!  But what else is new!

    My trading..I gained 68 Ym points  5 winning trades with one losing trade (25 points).  Kinda of funny how in March I told myself not to trade the futures and since the 3rd week in April I have been trading the futures again.
     Stocks have been crazy lately.  Today's gap open was almost 400 points.  Last night when I was working on my chart work I looked at the ES futures up 20 points and realized no chart work could be done with a market like this.
     I only traded the futures today.

Robot:  14 winners, 9 losers, +402.02
I changed his stop and target to 15 about mid  day.  With the wild swings I thought he could do better with a wider range in his trades.

green +46.60

out TXN -2.86
out S -.23
out WMT -1.90
out SJR -2.84
out MR -5.34
out DPL -2.09
3 YM futures trades....all shorts... 29 points
Thinking about trading the futures a lot more now.

Robot:  14 winners, 12 losers, +84.24

red -676

max pain kicking in
out SY -2.80
out 200 F -1.90
out 200 F -1.59
out TTI -3.03
fuck it ...  I can't keep up

Robot: 15  winners, 19 losers, -254.84

red -178

out ATK +.74
Just trying to hang on through this horrible downtrend.
The rockstar was right on his exit on ATK, he is really good at this stuff.  And yes, yesterday I was left holding the bag.  But ATK earnings come out tomorrow and my new rule was not to hold into earnings.  The run up before the earnings helped me to pull  a profit on this one.
     The only thing I have left in the green is WMT.   I guess I could be considered an investor now (it's what people with losing positions call their portfolio...an investment)  The timing on getting big share lots when the market crashes....what a run....sheessh.  And F at the open .....bleccch.....my biggest holding down a buck....aaaaagggggghhhhhh.

Robot:  5 winners, 5 losers, -45.
I started him late, at one point he had 5 winners in a row, then he lost the next 5.

Other stuff:  Cut down two trees today, it kinda looks open and airy out there now.  They were a couple of suckers around 20 feet tall.  And since  I missed my workout because I was at work, I cut these trees down with a hand saw, and gained a couple of days worth of firewood.  The sprinkler system is officially  fixed...but I have not checked it yet.  It turns out my two days worth of work was not a bad valve but just a screw that needed tightening.  I just get dumber and dumber....but in the end it just gives me something to laugh about.  which always makes me smile.

red -416

What was it that I was doing?
out TM -4.22
how about a bounce
added F @ 13.04 and 12.84

Robot:  11 winners, 20 losers, -472.06

Other stuff:  Squirt guns filled with beer at 5 paces.

Green, made my daily goal

Wow, I don't think this has happened since I withdrew almost all my funds to pay for the store remodel. Way back when I was a real day trader.  I've saved that notice from IB which said you don't have 25 K ya aint a trading no more sucker...I'm gonna frame it.  It will still take over a year for those funds to be repaid to my account, but this making my daily goal on my extra small account is really a good thing.
Yep, I've been taking on more risk.  My 20 share positions are now hanging out with 200 share positions.  I can't say that's the reason why, but I know being down 500 on small shares on Friday was nuts (and depressing).

Trading stuff....the Rockstar bailed on ATK at plus almost 2 dollars...I was shadowing him on this trade....The super smart pro took his profits and ran....sure hope I'm not left holding the bag.

Robot:  5 winners, 13 losers, minus 331.68
He really needs to go through another brain transfusion.  I've been changing up his time frame on the chart to change when he signals a trade, for now.

Other stuff:  I bought cookies a couple of days ago, kinda violates that workout, eat right, lose the kegger plan that I'm on.
     Saw someone I knew years ago yesterday.  I was at the grocery store standing in line and I kept thinking somebody you know is here.   I was like 3 or 4 people behind her in line at the grocery store and staring at her (ah, whoops!) .  And when she grabbed her bag she turned her head for a half a second and I saw her face, and I knew I knew her.  But before I could scream out her name ( you know the subtle attention grabber always works) she was gone.  And I was stuck in line saying Bob .... you knew her. Sooooo   errrr call me.....