End of Day Journal (4-30-2010)

Another paper trading day today.

This morning still saw some NT 7 data feed problems, missed some great moves. But... I think I finally figured it out. NT has a bad tick data filter that you can set as some percentage of current market data to filter data spikes. I realized that NT was hanging on the spikes. Shutting that off gave me a problem free afternoon.

I took a different approach this afternoon. I sorted the MA list by day's high - day's low, and tried to make it a point to stick with the top few stocks listed. This is a change up from breaking new high/low which had me in and out of several stocks. After thinking about yesterday's charts I realized there were some big moves that I was missing, presumably because I was attending to another trade. This afternoon I focused on a few, watched for consolidation and potential breakouts, and jumped in. The stop limit was defaulted to $0.12 and I moved it as the stock moved (primarily in terms of time). The new stop was always based on the previous 1-5 bars and dependent on the vertical movement in the bar and the bar timer. On an exit I usually tried to wait for definite direction prior to re-entering.

I also dropped the 2 minute HA and reverted back to the 1 minute. The HA is an averaging indicator - thus the 'real' price action is not reflected in the HA candles. I thought the 2 minute may hide too much of the real price action. And - I like to know what is going on.

I also went back to 500 shares. This time I have the commissions pretty close to IB's at $0.005 per share.

Here is the summary (last two hours of the market):

Heh - a little over $500/hour!! =)

The coolest thing about it - it felt like the most natural thing to do.

Here are the charts:

First up is CAM. Breaking new high with volume. I just followed it the rest of the day. The 12:49 pm exit was a tight stop with same bar re-entry, as with the 12:34 pm (note the times - 1 minute off of the 5 minute bar close - interesting huh? Almost like a fake out...) (+$536):

MEE on a new low. A reverse on 12:43 would have been in order for another $0.40 up and down (minus maybe a few commissions) (+$284):

RCC on a breaking high. The first stop was probably not tight enough. Reversed on the little hiccup, then quit watching when it stopped. Caught a little bit of movement later (+$223):

ESV had some consolidation from 10:00 to 11:00, after a volatile morning. It looked like it wanted to do something, so I kept watching. I entered on the long red coinciding with some downward market momentum. Again, should have kept watching this one as well - but I was busy on something else (+$45) (5 minute first, with consolidation highlighted, and 1 minute HA second):

CE on a new low. It faltered and the position stopped out. I didn't reverse this one, but should have kept watching (how many good moves can a guy keep track of - whoot!!) (-$30):

UIS breaks a new low. And I only stayed for a small part of it. I exited this one - when I should have let it stop out - which it would not have done till maybe 12:50 . Oh well. (+$53):

ANF was gettting close to a new low at 12:03, coinciding with some market down, so I jumped in. Almost shook out at 12:05 (I would have moved the stop down after the long bar, which mostly retraced). I think this was a pretty good call - with the lack of immediate upward movement I didn't reverse. If I would have been watching I could have captured a little more later in the day, ~$0.20 at the most (+$38):

Well - a good couple of hours. Who would have thought there would be that much opportunity in two hours? Not me.

I like the change in game plan. Watching just a few big movers seems like a good idea - they have moved already, and they are perhaps more likely to move big again? And then waiting till the odds are favorable for market movement, i.e., FNG's clock watch. I like the chances.

The one minute HA is a pretty cool tool. On the big moves, the respective top or bottom of the candles are flush (i.e., no wick). Using these for new stop points and keeping them fairly tight seems to offer a good read on the stock, capturing close to the top and bottom. As time progresses, and the candles don't lend themselves to a direction, tightening the stop helps to catch a change in direction. Interestingly enough, it seems like some of the fakes were on the last minute of the 5 minute bar - maybe delay the tighten on the 5 minute mark?

Seems right. But what do I know? This re-cap is a great personal exercise.

More money in the bank on Monday, but I will be waiting to trade live. If there are no problems with NT on monday and I pull off a paper profit - and if it feels right... I may start next week sometime. Cool beans.