Shorty Wednesday

Day of 'no surprise' and no excuses
As I have thought the markets were sliding on the Chinese lard all the way down. No new watchlist addition - no surprise here neither, nor trade candidates found.

Time to experiment and mind the open position
I decided to experiment with RSI trading systems (that I have found to be useful with securities trading in ranges). Only I won't have enough time to try to put together my own Wealth-Lab script for my RSI Swinger system. Maybe tomorrow!
With my open position I will have to be not worried to much first because of having almost 2 months to run, second it still did not breach its support at around $127,5 and the decline was on lower volume.

Trading session
Found a few trade candidates through various RSI WL script scans. These were AXE, CCJ, ESRX, LM, TRN, TXU. All were falling on a pretty impressive volume. Now is the time to experiment with the RSI Swinger trade setup I have figured through the weekend.
Did not play as markets were going up, while I did not have the right information to try on.

Open positions at market close 27 February 2007:

.ACLEG

ACL MAY 135 Call

$2.65

($310.00)

Is Tuesday the black one?

Already in the morning I have felt it is going to be a strange day, when I heard the Shanghai exchange slid 10% in brisk trade!
Thus it was not so interesting that the Put / Call ratio on Optionsxpress.com at .4 to .62. This would mean a quite extreme sentiment shift to the bear. Will see later!
Finally, there it was my VIP Call stopped out at $2.60 (read a $450 realized loss), due to the 50% trailing stop. The learning points here are that I shall not use a trailing stop this wide, unless there is a good reason behind it + if I trade with MACD then I shall liquidate my position as soon as MACD is doing a counter cross (up for short, or down for long). The trailing stop was set due to the rule that an option price down 50% is a looser and shall be closed out immediately. Why trailing stop? Good question! I was wrong, no excuses!

Trade candidates and new watchlist entries
No new watchlist addition today.
TTC-A: AZN
GAPH: COP
MACDV: (none)

During the trading session
I am still play on a rather conservative schedule, till I get better at it and get a pretty cash pile together and can afford to be aggressive.
ACL - my only open position now - was doing fine as its support (gap up at $127,5) has clearly popped it back, plus it was trading at considerably lower volume. Thus, I did not touch it at all.

Open positions at market close 27 February 2007

.ACLEG

ACL MAY 135 Call

2

$3.400

($160.000)

Monday the balck-out day, 26 Feb 2007

No new watchlist entries, neither internet connection all throughout the afternoon.

Trade candidates found through...
TTC-A: UPL
GAPH: PCU
MACDV: ESV, HAL, ISE

Open positions at market close 23-February 2007:

.ACLEG	ACL MAY 135 Call				$3.50		($140.0)
.VIQDR	VIP APR 90 Call				$3.00		($340.0)

Moon in Taurus, Friday of Venus!

All should be for a positive day - although I should check how Moon relates to Venus and how Venus and the 2nd House is :)...

New watchlist entries
Volvo (VOLV)

New trade candidates
TTC-A: (none where found, albeit the automatic scan found 5 all of them where trending down)
MACD: AAPL, CHL
GAPH: ALB

Trading session
LM Call was closed out with a 50% profit, by the 5% trailing stop. Still I would like to know more about how trailing stops work, as it was closed out at $4.8 per option, while the last and only deal was at $5.1. Strange, but this is only virtual trade and still I made more than 400 bucks in just about a week time.
Otherwise markets where still tumbling, no clear direction, thus I preferred to stay on the sideline.

Open positions at market close 22 February 2007:

.ACLEG	ACL MAY 135 Call				$3.50		($140.0)
.LMEB	LM MAY 110 Call				$5.50		$690.0
.VIQDR	VIP APR 90 Call				$3.00		($340.0)

Enjoy the weekend folks!

Rain on me Zeus!

Rainy day, like a Springtime morning...

New watchlist addition
MTW, FRK - Florida Rock, that is tried to be taken over by VMC Vulcan Materials.

Trade candidates filtered
TTC-A: (no new issues)
MACDV: (no new issues)
GAPHV: FLR

Market session
Firstly, I put a 10% trailing stop on the LM Call, as it was hitting 30% profit. (To do: figure out a good way to set reasonable profit targets and how to use it).

Open positions at 21-Feb 2007 market close

.ACLEG	ACL MAY 135 Call				$3.60		($120.0)
.LMEB	LM MAY 110 Call				$3.70		$150.0
.VIQDR	VIP APR 90 Call				$3.40		($260.0)

Back in the swing!

General thoughts
Got to revisit an article that I have found yesterday while browsing for FX articles and resources, on indicators to be used for trending and (sideways) trading markets. MACD and RSI where mentioned for a trading market. Now, it would be interesting to see if this can be used in a trending broad market for a trading issue. Also, it gives me a push to get together or seek an RSI trading set-up / template on Wealth-Lab.
With regards MACD I have also figured that it cannot be saved for an after the next day use at all, as it is very perishable.

No new watchlist entries

New trade candidates
TTC-A: FMCN
MACDV: GS, SEIC, USG, WCG
GAPHV: BWLD, FMCN

Market session notes
As far as my open positions are faring, I hope to have a positive open that would let me have a room for a tight (5%) trailing stop at least on the VIP Apr Call. Also, I believe the ACL Call will do better as it was raising on good volume the day before.
Market was going down, so I scrapped my plan and have called it a day.

Open positions at market close 20 February 2007:

.ACLEG	ACL MAY 135 Call				$3.70		($100.0)
.LMEB	LM MAY 110 Call				$3.30		$30.0
.VIQDR	VIP APR 90 Call				$5.40		$140.0

When I am President!

President Monday has passed.

Watchlist and trade candidates
No new watchlist additions through the eIBD Timesaver table.
TTC-A: FMC
MACDV: JOYG, PVH
GAPHV: (no new ones)

Market Trading session
Markets opened lower, along with my open positions :(... I had to leave earlier, thus I left it where it was.

Open positions @ market close 16-February-2007

.ACLEG	ACL MAY 135 Call				$3.90		($60.0)
.LMEB	LM MAY 110 Call				$3.00		($60.0)
.VIQDR	VIP APR 90 Call				$3.40		($260.0)

FX Loony Monday

I made a few important decisions last week, especially in the weekend with regards my Forex education and activities.

Decided
That I will trade Forex:

• virtually until I have $5k from options trading ($15k total - $10k minimum account size for options).
• only on days when I can't trade options until I have 20 closed options trade under my belt!

I have read the 100 pages ebook (printed out of course). And has found many interesting facts that has brought Forex trading closer to my understanding level.

Learning points and open questions

1. It is quite possible to trade Forex in a fashion similar to options trading but
1. risk has to be managed more rigorously, max 2% account drawdown is bearable,
2. there is no per trade related charge in Forex trading, but instead there are spreads - the lower figure the better, as it makes trading cheaper.
2. Pips values for different pairs are different (GBP is one of the highest) that is obvious based on the definition of 'pip' which is "the smallest measure regardless of the fractional representation of the currency exchange rate".
3. How can I make Forex trading simple and relatively risk free? To answer this probably I will have to try it for a while eventually.
4. How can I manage a relatively easy going and rather passive style with automated trade exits and entry signaling?

I was simply not in shape though to try any of the strategies learnt over the weekend.

Friday and my eIBD is back!

The day started good, albeit I missed the Sziget jogging lap, or a tour in the gym. But more importantly I started my eIBD subscription :)...

New watchlist additions
VMC - Vulcan Materials. MICC - Millicom. MT - Arcelor Mittal. DE - Deer&Co.

Watchlist scan results
TTC-A: JOYG, MBT, PHI, UNH
MACDV: GES, PD, RS, UNH
GAPHV: BUCY, ENR, JWN, DE, MICC
Double or triple scores: UNH

Trading session
Should the market allow. I will try to play on either UNH or DE, RS and GES standing by with a bit overvalued options. All are in the same options cycle thus the earliest available options for me are all June ones. I take it as a sign. Something good will happen in June '07.
Finally, at around 13:00 hrs I had to go, thus I called it a day without any chance to open a position.

Open positions @ market close 15-Feb-2007

.ACLEG	ACL MAY 135 Call				$4.20		$0.0
.LMEB	LM MAY 110 Call				$3.10		($30.0)
.VIQDR	VIP APR 90 Call				$3.50		($240.0)

Thursday burn the way!

Trade candidates found through trading templates
TTC-A: LM, MBT, MER, PHI, RTP
MACDV: BNI, JWN, GLDN, HXM, MSTR, QQQQ
GAPV: ACLI, AL, PCU

Trading session
Had 4 trade candidates for the session - BNI, JWN, LM and PCU. But the first two were moving South (against the market) while PCU's option was less affordable. Thus I went for the LMEB (MAY 110 CALL). I vacillated some with the bid - it just had dropped from 3.2 to 3.1 while the ask stood 3.3 - finally I went in at 3.2 for 3 contracts.

Open positions @ market close 14 Feb 2007
VIP was faring lower but still in safe territory. No action was needed.

.ACLEG	ACL MAY 135 Call	2			$4.00		($40.0)
.VIQDR	VIP APR 90 Call	2			$4.50		($40.0)

FX - Starting the learning process

As I was browsing through my Inbox I have found a mail from ChartAdvisor's where they have advertised Investopedia.com's Forex Advisor. The whole FX thing was already on my tick list, thus I gave it a read - having some time during the day - and then I felt I am getting ready to try it. Thus I have started a 30 days trial with Boris and Kathy, to get some insight in the FX trading.

Along with the trial period came 2 nice e-book, one about the FX market movers to give a broad and basic image. The other book is a real treasure as it seems. Has gone through the intro part with the 10 'commandments' of successful FX trading. Now, will come the real 'trading template' part that will make or break the whole.

In the same time I have opened a practice account (called FX Game) at Oanda.com. And swiftly placed a trade. The trade was as follows:

Long EUR/USD 10,000 units (bought) @ 1.31284, stop loss @ 1.30898 and profit target @ 1.3175.

All this is not telling me too much yet, but looking back after I delved through the booklets will help I am sure.

Wednesday, my Valentine!

Love the day, as I started in the gym and had a good sauna too.

No watchlist entries
Has to arrange my eIBD subscription later in the day, as my trial has expired. Will get it back this week.

Trade candidates to various trading templates
TTC-A: RTP
MACDV: RTP, TS
GAPHV: (none)

RTP is quite has a fairly choppy chart, thus I would avoid it for now, plus it is trading and not trending (30 & 50 d SMA). Also, TS is still trading under its 30 d SMA. Nope! Now there is only one potential trade candidate - ACL from yesterday! May it shine and raise in the trading session.

Trading session
Markets were doing ok, thus I gave order for the following trade:

.ACLEG

ACL MAY 135 Call

4.1

4.4

BTO

2

Limit 4.20

GTC

02/14/2007 12:09:02PM

Open trades at market close 13 Feb 2007

.VIQDR

VIP APR 90 Call

$3.60

($220.0)

Shaky Tuesday, 13 Feb 2007

No new watchlist additions

Possible trades found
AAPL and ACLI but Apple is trading under its 30 and 50 day SMAs, while ACLI is making higher highs on lower volumes. Thus I eventually have to use yesterdays findings - Alcon and F5 Networks.

Trading session
Installed a 5% trailing stop on .QUKCL starting point at 4.4 (actual bid) before market open to make a winning exit sure. I felt a bit too cautious but time will show.
Both trailing stops went twang during the trading closing out two winning trade 30,56% in 33 days for DECK, and 70% in 14 days for ALB. Good!
Had no luck with yesterday's potential trades as they were both trading South till around 11.30 A.M.!

Open positions at market close 12 Feb 2007:

.ALBCP	ALB MAR 80 Call				$3.50		$750
.QUKCL	DECK MAR 60 Call				$4.40		$160
.VIQDR	VIP APR 90 Call				$3.20		($300)

Back from a week of sickness leave

Had no internet connection so I was quite worried about my open positions but I have trusted the universal energies. With good reasons (see at the end of the post)

New watchlist entries through the last week
HXM
KCI
PCP

Trade candidates found
TTC-A long: FFIV
MACDV: GRMN, TEF
GAPV: ACL, KCI

Ruled out all but ACL and FFIV that might be possible trades, should markets move upward tomorrow.

Trading session
The pre-open market sentiment is not so great. (Most futures are either south - Hang Seng, DAX, FTSE - or vacillate in the mud - S&P, NASDAQ).
Most probably the closing game for both my Northern calls. Thus I was concentrating on these two exits.
ALBCP put on a 5% trailing stop order (default).
QUKCL could not sneak in a good trailing stop before it went to far down - close to break even.


Open positions at market close on 9-Feb

.ALBCP	ALB MAR 80 Call					$3.40		$700.0
.QUKCL	DECK MAR 60 Call					$4.70		$220.0
.VIQDR	VIP APR 90 Call					$3.70		($200.0)

The other Friday (come Venus, come)!

No new watchlist entries found on the Timesaver table. Should I give a try to the full list?

Trade candidates
Found a few but could not play as I got sick.

Open positions at market close 1-Feb
.ALBCP, ALB MAR 80 Call, $2.4 $200 .QUKCL, DECK MAR 60 Call, $2.5 (-$220)
.VIQDR, VIP APR 90 Call, $4.6, (-$20)

Short Thursday

Today's watchlist and trade candidate findings
No new watchlist addition. No new candidates found through neither screening templates (mostly due to the fact that they were trending against the market (30 SMA in different direction). Thus I will have to use yesterday's trade candidate sheet to have a look at possible trade opportunities.

Trading session
Had only RYAAY that was going up but the spread extended to bid $3 / ask $7,2 for the Mar 85 Call (just in the money). Thus, I opted out from venturing in it. (Also, I felt a bit sick thus I could not fully concentrate!)

Open Positions standing at market close 31-Jan
.ALBCP,ALB MAR 80 Call, $1.75 (-$125)
.QUKCL,DECK MAR 60 Call, $3.6 (-$200)
.VIQDR,VIP APR 90 Call, $4.7 (-$100)