"An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field."

- Niels Henrik David Bohr

Monday, April 12, 2010

End of Day Journal (4-12-2010)


TWS Charts... they seem to inconsistently apply the trades. Restarting and making new charts seemed to help. I don't know why they are being so obstinate, but here they are in all their glory (feel free to point out your interpretations):

SWN:




MTW:



ABX:


If you look very closely, you can see little red and green lines for the entry and exits. Perfectly horrible display.

The market was dead today, and it was awfully hard to stay focused. Incredibly boring. By the time I got to ABX, I was waiting for some definite market movement prior to entry - and I waited too long to enter; there was some definite hesitation. Very difficult to trade knowing I hit the limit after only three trades.

Other than that, I think I did ok. I felt like I should get out of ABX a little sooner than I did, there was a (15-minute doji), but the screeners were implying some downward momentum still. MTW missed on the market exit, so I lost a few more points on the exit there as well.

Expecting and maintaining small losses are in order, and I consider the day a success. I won't be able to afford many successful days like this though. The last trade was not entered as quickly as I would have on paper, which was not good.

It didn't help matters that I felt like I needed to stay in front of the comp the entire slow day. I spotted a couple of good entires in AIG, but with the lack of market momentum, I kept track of the plays in my head.
New high, after new high - after new high failed today. As well as new lows. They would flash on the screener, and I would be itching to click an entry, only to see them fail. I would venture to say that it would not have been a good paper day, just not enough direction.

So - paper trades the rest of the week, which will be some great practice. I should get one IRA trade. Overall, today's lesson? Walk away from the slow market after lunch, relieve the tedium - I do this everyday while paper trading, but with money on the table, I wanted to be ready for the action today.

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