Newbie Trader's Lounge

The market was going down but the long trade (first) came too prematurely. The second was a short but it was the end of the down move already. I lacked concentration today. At least I didn’t let it drag on to further losses.

Took another 5 trades to get the objectives. 2 were scratched (breakeven).

5 trades were needed to meet the objective today.

Two long trades today, 1 apart from another. It was the 2nd trade that went with the early rise up after the news release. The 1st came after the first reaction up.

Two quick trades today to the downside as the market since yesterday has been negative. Both shorts as trend was clearly down.

trade 1: (watch video @ 4 min.)
trade 2: (watch video @ 4 min.)

Today took a little more trades than expected but in the end, the trend finally kicked in long enough to reach daily goal.

Trade 1: (watch video @ 4 min.)
Trades 2 & 3 (watch video @ 2 min.)
Trades 4 & 5 (watch video @ 2 min.)

Today I missed the resistance level that was right in front of my face and let the profit turned into a negative. In the end, the short turn the day into black again. There was no time left to continue trading today.

4 trades: +.5 pts. (watch video @ 13 min.)

Today was fairly straight forward: a gap and a gap fill trade. 1 trade was all to meet the daily goal.

1 trade: +2.3 points. (watch video @ 8 min.)

Took 4 trades today but the market was very erratic due to the Options expiration so there was virtually no trend, no sense of direction where the market goes or stops. I gave up after 2 point loss.

4 trades: -2 points (no video due to recording file was corrupt).

1 trade was all it took. The first pullback from the downtrend and entry on the end of the pullback was sufficient to take 2 points.

1 trade: 2.0 points (watch video @ 2 min.)

I only had 1 trade today since I had to run early. The news from 830 AM pushed the volume into a steady short-term uptrend up until the 10AM report.

1 trade: +1.8 point. (watch video @ 2 min.)

A tough day. The market was very erratic, whipping back and forth. There wasn’t enough juice even to scalp. But it took 12 trades just to get one measly point.

Trades 8-12: (watch video @ 5 min.)

Trades 1, 2, and 3 for +2.0 points (watch video) @ 1.5 min.

Each day, objective is to get 2 points from Russell 2000 e-mini futures.

Four trades for +2.4 points.

Trades 1 and 2
(watch video) – @ 2 min.

Trades 3 and 4 (watch video) -@ 5 mins.

Head-n-Shoulders pattern played out nicely, beginning with a gap down below the neckline. From there, it reached target as planned. Couldn’t go any better.

Prices touching the neckline here with a gap down. Neckline will determine the overall market condition. Watching carefully for more downside, then a pullback before taking a short

Crucial moment here, where the top may be near or just a consolidation for more higher moves. But this Head and Shoulders is shaping quite nicely. Watching to see if the failure at this support here. If support breaks, then HnS may be real. Until then, wait and see.

EMD at resistance level now, at the moment, still no sign of a breakout long until it’s confirmed. Will wait for the resistance to become support before going long. In the meantime, a short is still a higher probability. If it fails and falls back below resistance, will short.

No plans have changed since last week. Still in range and will not trade breakouts, only buy support and sell resistance.

OK. Back from long summer holiday. Back to work.

Plines have been broken to the upside and low failure has been formed. Now it’s become the support area after prices have used it for another support, possibly creating a small double-bottom. Until this last high is broken, sell resistance and buy support. DB not in play just yet.

Lower highs/lows continue, breaking through some important support. Medium term outlook is still bullish, but short term bearish. 890 is now resistance while 883 is support. Looking for rallies to short.

Near support at 896 and 899. A rally to 905 would give a possible short entry. Watching for this setup.

Looks like a low failure is about to be confirmed by the lower high. Will wait for the pivot to finish before placing shorts. Break of 919 would be the pivot finishing.

Inverted Head and Shoulders pattern failed, giving better odds to downside trades. A lower high confirmed the low failure on lower timeframe. Watching a rising channel for support or break for more downside.

Back with a change in trading instrument. Due to the change in the exchanges on the ER2 in September, volume may or may not be affected. In any case, we’ll leave it until it settles down. In the meantime, S&P 400 MidCap emini is the next best substitute due to its similar behavior, volatility, and tick and price size.

Inverted Head and Shoulder breakout in play, confirmed overnight with a pullback to become support at neckline. Buy here with target at 965.

Possible consolidation and reversal in play. The low failure is played out here? If yes, then with the lower high and lower low to follow, a confirmation of the downtrend is done. We’ll watch a short setup. If not, we’ll wait for the next breakout to appear.

Strong trend yesterday without a single moment of pause or pullback. Resistance is 850 and support is 840. Watching the upper part of the falling pline here for possible consolidation or reversal. FOMC speaking this afternoon so may be a dull day ahead.

50% retrace near 840 here. Watching for a failed rally near this area for more downside. A possible double-bottom is forming. Also looking for lower high lower low on 600-tick to confirm. On daily, the trendline channel is falling confirming the possible further downtrend.

Double-bottom pattern still in play, reaching near target. Bullish higher highs/lows but reaching top of the falling plines. Hold off here to see if there is resistance in this area. Support is 849 and resistance 863

gaps up ahead here between 860 and 853. Also, double-bottom has been confirmed, moving off from the peak in the middle. Will watch for pullbacks for buys. Target 862. Gap here. Gap fill?

Top of the falling trendline and still confirming the break of the bigger rising trendline. Will short this rally if 842 fails at top of trendline. A possible double-bottom still at work. Immediate support and resistance is 830 and 845 respectively.

Possibly a price move up to confirm the trendline break and downtrend. Will look to 600-tick price action for lower high/lower low to go short. If not, will wait. There is also a possible Double-bottom and Head-and-Shoulders pattern setting up.

Last Friday’s rally may be a possible confirmation of a breakdown of a downtrend? In daily, rising trendlines still intact. We’ll have to see how things work in the openings hours today.

Looks like another gap down today. The forward contract has changed to the September(U) contract today in TS for @ER2 (continuous). Have to watch both current and forward contracts for resistance/support areas. The current channel needs a little more down before reaching the bottom channel line. This gap might do it. Will look for either further downtrend or possibly reversal to upside to go long. If not, short when breakdown is clearly shown.

Unfilled gap will above 853, could be intraday resistance for now. Market currently going another downside correction. 840 is strong support. Look to continue to short rallies on this move down the rising channel.

Market very bullish now. Breaking old high at 840, there is little resistance above. Support is 840 with unfilled gap just above it. Will buy pullbacks

Low failure and now a higher low, will buy on pullbacks. 820 is support.

Strong selloff yesterday after hit new all time high previous day. Bears are cautious now since the move might be done, support are close. Bulls are caught by the sudden selling. The new high 2 days ago were made in a very choppy market, a possible clue to smart money selling disguising as buyers?

Heads and Shoulders pattern have reached target. No new pattern has emerged, but the trendline support are near. Support is 819-820, it’s also 21.4% level. After that, 917 (monthly support). Resistance at 830-832 area.

New all time high, just breaking out but still needs to confirmed. It moved only 2 points from the bullish breakout level, a bit shallow. 840 is support. Let’s how this play out. Market was choppy yesterday, not sure if smart money was scrambling while trying to look like it’s buying. We’ll see how they play out next couple of days. It looks like a rising wedge forming.

840 is all time high. Was rejected but a cup-and-handle pattern gives it a more bullish look to go higher. If 840 fails, then short rallies down. Will wait for the breakout to be clean and clear before going long.

Friday was a strong breakout trend day. Double-bottom formed before the up trend. Target is 833.

Possible support here at 815, monthly support, also broadening pattern trendline touched. Wedge on daily still in play. 819 is nearest resistance.

Near at lower trendline channel. Watching for possible reversal or continuation here. Wedge still in play.

Broadening pattern still in play, so is wedge. The gap opened on the 5/9/07 was filled pre-market. Is this a valid fill??? The trendline channel at play. 835 still resistance and 830 support.

Gap fill play video (18MB)

Market is not in a trend, that’s for sure. One moment, traders are shorting like there’s no tomorrow, and next moment, bulls are looking to take out the old highs. 825-835 range here, buy support and short resistance. The daily wedge is being watched but may take a while and may die.

840 is the major resistance now, anything above it bullish, but 830 is support, below is signal that the daily wedge might be ripe to short. But in meantime, the small trendline channel is making, it’s tradable but volume is reducing while the prices are moving up so have to be careful here.