Weekly Review

Weeks profit +£160

Okay so it's miniscule but nevertheless positive. It's profit!

One of my goals for the week was to post consecutive profitable days. I traded 4 days and if you take each day on it's own merits I was profitable but my swing trade from Friday night close to Sunday night opening cost me £500. As I wrote earlier this week that will NOT happen again.

My scalping performance produced the following:

Monday +£270
Tuesday +£80
Wednesday +£150
Friday +£200

My week's performance

I traded very lightly and thoroughly enjoyed not constantly being 'in' the markets. Watching the price action without holding a position is educational, I make mental calls and watch how it plays and learn.

I called for a high of 16200 and we came within 25 points but my low was hopelessly wrong as we didn't even see 16050. That is evidence of the strength right now and any pullbacks this coming week will be viewed as buying opportunities. Pullbacks are a natural process as markets go on to make new highs, the only question for me next week concerns trader's patience as to how low they let prices drop before they prove too irresistible.

I'm developing as a trader every week. Last week (although not underlined in terms of profits) showed me I can trade lightly which I believe is a key component to me making money. One thing that concerns me is I post after a successful afternoon that I have finished for the day only to come in again before the close. Okay so I've been successful so far and I have written that my premium time for trading is the opening and closing 30 minutes, nonetheless if I make a decision then I have to stick to it, after all discipline is crucial to successful trading.

'till tomorrow when I shall post my weekly preview

Friday as it happened (+£200)

Close of play trading position -£3900 read on for a report on my 5 minute day :)

Welcome to black Friday, let's hope that doesn't apply to my mood after todays session.

2.25pm

We've 5 minutes before DOW opens, I'm looking to make one good scalp on opening and to call it a day as quickly as possible. More very shortly.......

2.35pm

Okay I'm done for the day and the week! I've scalped £130 and I'm really happy to call it a day on that note. My reasoning behind such a brief sojourn is I've spent 8 hours in the past in front of my screen to lose thousands so I'm thrilled to spend 5 minutes making money.

6pm

Okay so I turned on my platform to observe the price action for the closing 30 minutes (Black Friday is half day trading) and watched in the background whilst I've been doing other things when I see a big drop of 60+ points into the close. My RSI is showing totally oversold so I had to take another small scalp for £70, nothing too ambitious just enough to top and tail the day nicely. In the past I would have come in much earlier and watched in dismay as the candles keep plunging, this time however I'm a much more experienced animal and picked the bottom nicely. I could have ridden it up for another 15 points (and £450) but I'm trading cautiously and want to take the feel-good factor into and over the weekend.

I'm improving!

My mood

Again the key is my relaxed approach to trading. I've spent an hour on my day job this morning, I popped out to a café for a late breakfast and returned chilled 20 minutes before market opened.

Enjoy the rest of your trading day, I'm learning less IS more.

A day off!

Good morning,

No trading for me today. A discipline I need to develop is the ability to trade lightly. If I can restrict my trading to scalping around DOW opening and occasionally the close I'll be very successful.

If you're trading today I wish you success and let's catch up tomorrow.

'til tomorrow

Wednesday as it happened (+£150)

Close of play trading position -£4070 read on for a relaxed view of the days events

11.45am

Morning all!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in US and the markets will be closed so I'm not sure how that will effect today's trading if at all. Will there be a little profit taken off the table at the close tonight to reduce risk? We don't have too long to wait for the answer.

Yesterday's range was tighter than a nun's twat (does that gag lose me any readers?) with a low of 16064, we didn't even hit 16050. That shows how strong this currently is and I see this as the DOW's pausing for breath before it's next move. A dip towards 16'000 would bring in buyers and would be lovely scalping territory, not sure that will happen though.

I'm cautious for today but if the trading range continues to remain so narrow it does offer a few points with a short at the top and a long at the bottom. More later........

2.50pm

Only scalped £80 so far. I just missed a spectacular long trade. I was long at £30 point from 16080 but have to rush out and closed for a point....it's just risen 25 points :)

Have to go view a house so back in an hour.....

3.45pm

Hmm, decent house! We have to move in a few months so food for thought.

I made a lightening quick £66 scalp on the way out so today's profit stands at £146 so far. Now back in front of my screens for an hour, let's see if there's another opportunity...

5pm

I've had enough for today. The trading range is tight, there's no volatility and little movement. I've more money than when I started with today and follow that every day and I'll be just fine and dandy!

My mood

Really relaxed is all I can say. I haven't viewed trading as the be all and end all and I haven't chased my overall loss.

Scalping works for me.

I may not trade tomorrow as DOW will be closed. I know IG will make a market on the index but I don't want to trade that way. If the FTSE has some movement I may dip my toes, let's see. Either way I'll post.

'Till tomorrow

Tuesday as it happened (+£80)

Close of play trading position -£4220 read on for day's (non) events

Good morning Traders!

Firstly I want to say a BIG thank you to Andy for his positive comment yesterday. Andy, thank you for your support and advice (which is to take my own advice!), I agree, I'm a scalper. I'm glad you enjoy the blog and I really want you to know how much I appreciate you taking the time to post, thank you.

7.55am

I'm not trading until DOW open but I'm expecting a small dip today towards 16'050 and maybe 16'000. We've had such a stellar rise that a period of consolidation is inevitable. Of course as I shall not be swing trading and simply scalping it really doesn't make a difference to me but for the first time in a few days I shall not be scalping in simply one direction, I'll wait for the price action to dictate. More later.

2.45pm

I have a £30 short scalp in progress from 16087. I spurned a £100 scalp profit and the 5 minute candles look bloody suspiciously like a bull flag, my bearish sentiment holds today though so I'm letting the trade ride for a while, still hope to see 8-10 points profit from it.

My reasoning behind letting it ride is 10 of the 30 DOW companies are in red so far today and I'm also watching a descending wedge form and we're in the upper area now. More later.

3pm

Okay so I've closed my scalp for a £36 profit. I fancy it to drop but I'm not feeling that confident so best to come out of the arena until I have more conviction. Funnily enough I can see the drop is due to consumer confidence dropping, hey I'm a consumer!

3.06pm

Damn, wish I had more faith in my predictions, had I waited a couple of minutes more I'd have had my 15 points and £450 for the day. Now I'm watching it drop but without a position.

I do think there will be a buy the dip opportunity this afternoon, if it gets to 16050 that's the first strong one.

3.20pm

13 companies in negative territory today and no real conviction to the market in any direction. Quote a benign day which doesn't suit scalpers.

3.40pm

3 times it's tried to break the upper descending line on the wedge and other than poke it's nose across it's failed. I think today's a ranging day between 16070 and around 16100, very tight!

My trading Desk

 

My Laptop has my trading platform plus DOW 30 in real time

The left monitor has 5 minute candles, right 30 minute candles

I trade through the charts, single click execution for speed

5.20pm

DOW threatening to break the descending resistance line once again, I fancy it to go this time and if so we should see another 20 points or so higher to 16124

5.40pm

Okay that's enough for me today, finished +£80 as I took a couple of scalps at £5 point. Only a 34 point range today which is almost unheard of on DOW.

My mood

Despite my prolific posting today I've been running around for most of the day (I didn't get back in front of my laptop until 2.20pm). I felt patient today and was quite prepared not to trade if no opportunity due to little movement.

'till tomorrow

Monday as it happened (lost £230)

Close of play trading position -£4300 read on for the day's events

5pm

A very late hello and welcome to Monday!

I've had problems accessing my blogger account so apologies for the late delay. So far I've scalped £230 on DOW open, the rest of my time has been spent on my day job. More later...

9pm close of play

I've had a decent day's scalping +£270.

HOWEVER I forgot about a silly little punt I had Friday after market close. I saw a spike up on DOW so had a little short at £10 point and completely forgot about it! When I checked in late last night I saw it was 50 points higher and so closed for a £500 loss. Of course with a little clearer head I could have waited (like all gap traders) for it to 'close the gap' as it did Monday afternoon before rising again.  Not to worry, it's a price worth paying as I absolutely WILL NOT do anything like that again.

My mood

I felt supremely confident of scalping on the open and I did so successfully. This is a marathon not a sprint and I absolutely know I can make positive scalps every day. I mentally prepared myself for a 30 minute trading session and although I made a couple of small scalps in the run up to the close at £10 point the bulk of my scalping was on open.

'til tomorrow

Trading thoughts for the week ahead

My week ahead

Firstly an overview of the bigger picture

I'm not an investor and I don't have the financial education traders half my age have had. There are a bewildering array of instruments to trade: Forex, bonds, shares, commodities, funds, the options (ooh options too) are limitless. I would have to train for years to educate myself to the standard required to truly understand how the whole market is inter related.

The way I see it I only need to be good at one or two. I like Indexes as they represent the fortunes of 30 companies (FTSE 102) and are therefore a barometer of general sentiment and are not reliant on a single sector or an individual companies report/health on a given day. I know support and resistance on various time frames and through the reading of candles I can see when demand is close to saturation and when oversupply will mean prices have to drop to become attractive to create more demand. This is true on all timeframes but by scalping daily I reduce my exposure to the market, therefore my risk. If I don't have money in the market overnight I can't lose money.

I have a good background in running small businesses (at my peak I employed over 20 people) and I have 35 years experience managing cash flow, selling, producing and delivering. I've been responsible for generating my own income since 1987. I have a business that gives me a modest living income now so I have to have confidence and belief in my ability to succeed.

I recently found notes in a scrap book I kept from the year 2000 where I wrote about the possibility of trading CFD's so my interest is not just a relatively recent affair. Here I am 18 months after beginning trading and I've found the manner in which I wish to trade (spread betting) and the instruments I want to trade (DOW, FTSE, very occasional FX) and the timescale I wish to trade (scalping in minutes).

I'm a simple man with very basic needs and £10'000 net a month would see me just fine thank you and allow me to help my family live a good life. I don't want to drive a Bentley or Ferrari but I do want to be able to contribute more financially to my children's education, to their daily living and to make my Mum's autumn years joyous. I've had one holiday in 7 years and I'd like to take one a year. As the narrative in the header of my blog says, 10 points a day at £50 point is £500. I have a flair for scalping, I can collect 10 points a day but to do that my account needs to be funded adequately and I need to be ruthless in jettisoning losing scalps quickly. This is not about sitting in front of my screen for hours hoping to pick up 100 points at £5 point. I can achieve the same £500 target in 10 minutes at £50 point.

I'm really most comfortable scalping, I've written that time and time again and it really does represent my core personality in it's most comfortable and truest light. My ideal timescale is a trade for less than 5 minutes, Friday's scalps were measured in units of seconds. The best time for me to trade is market opening as the volatility and volume is at it's highest. I seem to have a flair for picking the right moments and direction and so I will make that my premium trading time. I'm trading at £30 point and right now that's the maximum I'm comfortable with. So if my target is 10 points a day I should be satisfied with £300 a day right now and £1500 a week.

I don't mind supplementing my scalping with the occasional trade for a few hours (on a smaller stake, max £10) if I see a resistance or support on the 30 minute candles and I have a strong conviction but I really identify with the mentality of a scalper and that's what I am.

Trading that way means I'll miss out on big swings but also potentially big losses too (as long as I learn to cut losing scalps quickly). It's so important to know what makes you as an individual tick. Scalping floats my boat, turns me on, rings my bell, tops and tails me and that's how I'm going to trade this week.

The week ahead

My target is simply to post 5 consecutive profitable days. My minimum figure is £300 each day but if I'm in a good scalp and can pick up £500 for the day I'll do that. If and when I hit £500 profit for the day I'll stop trading. That's a mistake I've made in the recent past that I shall not make again.

DOW trading range

I don't have the same conviction for my forecast this week but I'll put my neck on the block and say a high of 16200 with a low of 15850. I see the floor in this right now at 15750, if you're short lower than that good luck.

Weekly review

Weeks Profit £1500

I wrote before the markets opened last week that I thought we'd see DOW low of 15850 and high 16120. The actual low was 15863 (13 points out) and high 16067 (53 points out). It turned out to be a pretty accurate forecast.

Weekly 'open to close' DOW performance:

Last week: +111
Previous week: +208
Previous Week: +140
Previous Week: -2
Previous week: +217
Previous Week: +279
Previous Week: +106

As you can see we've had a pretty stellar rise since the US shutdown. The 'panic' drop to 15877 was on the minutes of the Fed meeting but rather than be the beginning of a catastrophic plunge (as I heard one irresponsible analyst say on Bloomberg at 8am that day) it turned out to be yet another 'buy the dip' opportunity and we sit at a record high and a record close. It will be a very brave person who shorts this market or someone with very deep pockets and limitless patience.

My week's performance

I'm £1500 better off than when the markets opened so I've had a good week. If I trade every week that way I'll be a happy bunny. I made a stupid mistake the previous week that has put my balance back a few weeks but in the grand scheme of things that's fine as long as I take something positive from it. That has to be that I restrict my biggest loss to £1000.

Friday as it happened (recovered £390)

Close of play trading position - £4060 read on for day's events.


Happy Friday to one and all.

2.40pm

I've scalped £290 on DOW open (a couple of £30 point longs) and promptly closed my platform!

I do fancy this to climb and challenge 16030 today but I don't have the appetite to trade any more today. Also I have a tradesman servicing the boiler here at home which is in my office and I can't deal with the disruption.

I may change my mind later when he's finished up. Stay tuned.

6pm

I'm done for the day.

The DOW has made record highs at 16038 but I'm happy with my day's results and have no desire to sit here waiting for an entry point. I'm pretty sure there will be a few points to be had on the drop and that we'll see 16'000 or near enough but that's enough this week for me.

I'm going to my Mum's for dinner.

9pm

Had a quick check after dinner at Mum's around 8.30 and say a sharp move higher so rode a retrace for another £100.

My mood

I was feeling relaxed, confident and really quite chilled about whether or not to trade. Some days I wake and I can't wait to start scalping, not sure how that effects my trading as I need more data to determine that, hence this new approach to my blogging.

I'll post tomorrow with a review of my week.

Thursday as it happened (£1450 recovered today)

Close of play Trading Position - £4450 read on for the day's events

Morning all,

8.15am and overnight movement sees me currently £8500 down, ouch.....

I wrote as recently as last Sunday that I thought we'd hear the word 'tapering' this week and boy did it bite me in the arse, I mean talk about the market throwing it's toys out of the pram, really was there anything new in the Fed minutes released yesterday? Bollocks was there!

Only last week we heard all we need to know on this subject, they need to see the economy make sustained progress before they take their accommodative policies off the table, certainly that doesn't change inside a few weeks and if you think Ben Bernanke would start to reduce QE on his watch think again. I think it we'll see it in March next year and to start reducing (or even to announce it) just before Xmas would be unthinkable,

This I believe is just the market taking a natural breather before it continues higher and traders will use this as an opportunity to buy the dips.

Today

I'm good at forecasting moves and I scalp really well but I'm crap with money management and I need to work on this. There's no point in me trading at £30 point with a £300 stop loss, that's just ridiculous. A more realistic figure would be £1000. If I limit my biggest loss to that figure I'll be just fine.

I've scalped the FTSE this morning for £100 and I'll continue to scalp around my DOW long during the course of the day. I'll post again around midday.

11am Update

I've ridden the DOW rise up 50 points (£60 point) and have closed one of my £30 longs (cautious approach) so am now £30 long. I'm £3500 better off than when I woke this morning, I'm happy with that.

I was £5500 down when I started this week and currently that's at £4900. More later.

2.25pm (5 minutes before DOW opens)

I've closed my trades, currently down £4450. That figure represents a £1500 improvement on opening the week. I'll watch carefully this afternoon and if I see a scalp I'll come in. I fancy DOW to hit 16'000 and even though I closed my long at 15960 it could easily go the other way, this way I have peace of mind. More later.

5pm.

No more trading for me today.

I've had a good day but it should have been spectacular. I was long £60 point (2 x £30 positions) from as low as 15877. With all the bad news on Bloomberg (8am talk of spectacular crashes) I could have panicked. I rode with my trades until I got close to the entry level of one at 15930 and closed out for a small loss. I wanted to reduce my exposure to the market even though I fancied it to rise a little more. My next long was at 15972 and pre market I watched it flirt close but never reach. I decided to be cautious as I now had enough capital to scalp a decent size and was £4000 better off than when I had my first coffee of the day. I closed out for a £500 loss on the trade 10 minutes before markets opened as I feared a big drop on open (just like FTSE this morning).

Where I'm angry with myself and where I need to do a lot better is in letting a trade that's going my way run. Had I had the balls to let both trades run on to 15990 (peak today so far is 16000) I would be a further £2800 better off. That's the paper thin difference between making a whole lot of money and actually losing.

It's still so early in my trading career but I can feel I'm making progress. I made the right call (long) and I traded within my account size (as I weathered the drop) but I lost confidence and faith when I got close to my entry points. That will come, I will develop.

My mood

Obviously I could afford to drop £10'000 otherwise I wouldn't be playing but I feel I'm so close to cracking this right now and I don't want to blow my trading pot. I went to bed late but slept decently and woke early to keep an eye on things. Yesterday's bullishness remained with everything else I achieved (or didn't) 24 hours ago and my mood was one of containment, 'I've made a mistake and I need to get out of it as best I can'. I did that and so I'm out for the rest of the day and maybe the week.

It will be interesting to see if today has been a last hurrah and to see if we get a sell off before close. I predicted we'd be in a tight range this week, top 16120, bottom 15850, so far we've oscillated between the two but the fact that the market doesn't seem to be able to break 16028 I think is quite telling (unless it does so after this post). I think a breather is well due and wouldn't be surprised to see us close to 15800 very shortly. We saw how quickly buyers stepped in at 15860 yesterday, this time I think they'll want a slightly more attractive entry point.

'till tomorrow

Wednesday as it happened (£1500 down today)

Trading Position at close -£5900 read on for the day's blow by blow account

Welcome to another wonderful day of opportunity!

I think that opening line bears testament to my 'bullish' mood today (I mean that in purely positive emotive terms not market direction). It's almost 1pm, I've had a couple of scalps on FTSE this morning -£60 but I'm really waiting for DOW to open.

Another update at 3pm

3pm Update

Okay so I've made a couple of long scalps on DOW for +£400 so currently =£350 for the day. I've closed the screen as I want to enjoy the feeling for a few minutes before coming back in. Even if I don't make another trade it's been a good day. More later.

9pm Close of play

I didn't enter the markets again until 7pm when the FED released minutes of their last meeting. I scalped another £150 which took me to +£500 for the day. That should have been a perfect end to a great days trading.

I felt good and thought I'd continue to scalp. I've written about this before but once I make my days profit total I have to quit. I wrote about how bullish I felt today and so I decided to add to my profit. So I end the day £1500 down from where I opened and with an open long at £60 point. If you feel like commenting and it's a negative one please do me the courtesy of not pressing the submit button.

My Mood

I'm here to trade, I'm here to make money and I'll always have a go. That's my greatest strength and the greatest threat to my profitably. I felt bullish all day, I'll have a go and after picking up a £500 profit my emotions ran away with me. Primarily greed but also a touch of reasoning that I'm having a good day and should continue in the groove.

I did feel the markets were due a breather and this provided traders with a chance to take some profit off the table. Shame my shorts were closed with my lack of 'force open' dexterity as I could have taken them off the table today for a small loss.

'til tomorrow

Tuesday as it happened (recovered £200)

Trading Position - £4400

Welcome to Tuesday!

3pm

The DOW has been open 30 minutes and after yesterdays sell off at the close the index has stabilised at around 15970 so it looks as though buy the dips is still the order of the day.

I've scalped £180 so far and I'm inclined to keep my trading to a minimum today. More later....

4pm

My scalp from earlier was a long from 18979 which I closed at 15986 at £25 a point for £180. That's a decent day's return on it's own but should have been so much better.  My target was 16'000 but I've been hurt from my losses over the last few days and fear of losing a positive return made me close early. Sure enough it climbed to my target and peaked at yesterday's high of 16028.

Had I let it ride to my target I would have closed for a £525 profit. Had I had the balls to let it ride to my 2nd target of 16028 I would have made £1225. That's how I should be trading, having the balls to let a winning trade retrace a few points before hitting my target. Losing out on a winning trade I call feels almost as frustrating as a loss.

I'm now waiting for a retracement towards 16'000 before scalping long again, in fact my point of entry is 15990

6pm

I'm done for the day. I've made a positive return and I've had enough. There are news releases tomorrow (minutes from FED meeting) that I think will have traders adjusting their positions in readiness so best to take my leave for now. I'd be happy to scalp long on a retrace as we've had a strong rise lately.

My Mood

I had a late night and woke up late & relaxed about my trading. I had a good day yesterday and knew how important trading cautiously was today in building on the feel-good factor. +£200 isn't a bad day and I have to forget about chasing lost money and focus on today. I've done that and now look forward.

'til tomorrow

Monday as it happened (Recovered £950)

Trading Position - £4600 read on for the day's events as they happened



I'm writing this opening sentence a few minutes after the DOW has closed. Below you'll see my trading day as it happened.

Welcome to Monday and a new trading week, time now is 1pm GMT.

I watched attentively as pre-market opened at 11pm last night and decided to take action. At £50 a point short I could margin out with an overnight rise of just 30 points so couldn't risk leaving it. I waited for a small retrace and 'force opened' a £25 a point long.

This morning by 9pm I saw the price had faded to 15933 so I waited a few minutes to see if it looked likely to drop further, it didn't. At that moment I decided to close the second £25 short I had opened for a loss of a few hundred pounds, I'm pleased I did.

Currently I'm £25 long and £25 short. I've bought myself some time and it's a good thing I acted decisively as the DOW rocketed through 16'000 to a premarket high of 16015 at midday. Had I not acted I would have margined out.

I'm now in a position to watch the markets and scalp. I have to view my outstanding trades in a longer time frame and I'm expecting to run them for the majority if not all of this week. There's the minutes from the last Fed meeting released Wednesday and no doubt analysts will read and draw conclusions which they'll share with traders and there's a possibility it could move the markets. If so I may be able to close out but we'll see.

Currently my losing position stands at £5700 so a little improvement from Friday's close.

Mid session update this afternoon.

3pm Update

Dow has a high so far today of 16028 although it's faded slightly to 15990 as I write. I've been scalping around my positions, so far £130 better off, let's see what opportunities the afternoon brings.

Amusing 5pm Update

I've forgotten to click the force open button when making a long trade so have lost £800 from my funds, I haven't made that mistake for a long time and hope to never make it again.

Close of play Update

Funny I should mention about forgetting to click force open, I did it again 30 minutes before close! I've lost my entire £4000 short position. I was just about to pick up the phone to their dealing desk to explain my error (in the past they've reinstated my position on hearing it was an error, 1st class people!) when I a wave of relief swept over me. Rather than hold onto a losing position and let it cloud my trading I'm happy to have kissed it goodbye. Go on, off with you...you lousy losing position you.

As it happens by not having anything other than my open trade I managed to recover more. I was long from 16'000 £22 a point and thanks to comments made by someone appearing on CNBC (I think it was Carl Ichan) the Dow dropped 60 points in a few minutes. After making my faux pas I rode the slow retrace higher for 20 odd points before closing out for a loss.

My mood today

I felt good today, thanks to catching up with my day job over the weekend I was ready to trade. I knew I'd made a mistake last week that could prove costly but I felt confident enough to trade my account back and beyond what it was. I'm getting used to playing with £20 a point, your position moves fast, especially in a volatile market like the DOW and it's possible to win (and of course lose) quickly.

I end the day £950 better than when I started and really that's all that matters. I fucked up by not clicking 'force open' but it's actually liberated me from a losing position. Tomorrow I can scalp and each trade will have a maximum £300 stop loss.

'till tomorrow

Trading thoughts for this week

I must have a special talent, I mean how else can you explain my actions? We're in a rising market where everyone is in 'buy the dip' mode, it's a winning formula and it should be as easy as taking candy from a baby yet I'm in a losing position. That's some talent I possess, what a twat!

I'm currently short in a bullish market, low to high it's risen 300 points in 3 days. Naturally it will pause for breath as it consolidates a new level, the question I have to find the answer to is what is that level likely to be and when will we see it? Once I arrive at that I can formulate a plan.

Firstly let's look at my account balance target for the week. I'm currently £5500 down so what should I consider a successful week? Getting all of that back? Making £6000 on top of that?

NO! I'm in this position because I was too ambitious (let's call that plain greedy eh?)

Best to set a reasonable target. Although this £6000 loss was 'achieved' in 48 hours it's unreasonable to expect to get that back the same way. I'll only trade desperately and make further rash decisions. Quite simply I would be satisfied to steady the ship and finish the week by reducing this figure to a £4000 loss. I'd be thrilled to get this to a £2500 loss at which point I'd give serious consideration to closing my position and start scalping again (after taking some time out to refresh).

So, my target for the week is to improve my current position by as little as £2000 and as much as £3500. At £50 a point short the first target equates to a retrace of just 40 points. The opening bell Monday is going to be crucial and I've been working on my day job all weekend in order to have a clear head so I can trade exclusively.

The week ahead

Unless we hear some news that spooks traders I believe the Dow will trade between a high of 16120 and a low of 15850 this week a range of 270 points.

My open position

If I leave my £50 short to touch 15850 I'll feel like I've won money! However that's not realistic and there's also a chance it rises before retracing. In that case I'll have to fund the account a further £7000 and I'm not going to become so firmly married to a position that I make things impossible for myself.

Given full consideration to what I've written I'd like to reduce my exposure to the market to £25 a point. My best case scenario would be to see a drop on open which allows me to close my second £25 short (30 points away) and then review the price action with the option of letting it fall further or 'force opening' a long position.

Taking the trade as a whole: if I close my short completely I have no chance of recovering any of it so by leaving it and 'force opening' long the worst that can happen is I buy some time, pay a little overnight interest on my position and see how things pan out.  I have a strong feeling we'll hear the 'tapering' word this week which may spark a debate and spook the market enough to see a decent retrace.

Since the panic of the debt ceiling & US shutdown here's a weekly 'open to close' performance of the DOW

Last week: +208
Previous Week: +140
Previous Week: -2
Previous week: +217
Previous Week: +279
Previous Week: +106

The lessons for me are quite clear; Scalp with a maximum loss I'm prepared to take on each trade (£250) and don't try to guess when the index is too high, it's NEVER too high or too low.

Update tomorrow night, good luck all.

Me!

Weekly review

It's a pity I didn't read my 'thoughts for the week' post from last Sunday before I pressed the 'sell' button Wednesday night. http://ftsedaytrading.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/trading-thoughts-for-this-week.html as I clearly stated I was only going to scalp LONG on pullbacks.

I'd made money Tuesday & Wednesday (no trading Monday) and I was in profit a little over £300. What possessed me to go against my plan and SHORT the DOW I have no idea and by chasing my losing trade and doubling my pound per point I've made things worse. It's so easy to make a catastrophic error of judgement and undo days, weeks even months of good calls. Had I not traded after Wednesday I'd be sitting on a small but positive return and feeling good about myself and my trading. Instead I'm almost £6000 down in the space of 48 hours and feeling crap.

If I'm to be successful I have to trade according to my plan. It was a good plan and would have yielded profit. Now I'm left with a big decision for Monday. The market does look like it wants to break 16000 but it's also going to want to take a breather and I only need a retrace of 100 points to break even. I'm not going to close my trade but I may have to force open a long position

My upward bias on USD/JPY was a good call by the way.

Still Alive

Trading Position - £5500


I planned to scalp the DOW long today as it's still very bullish. I'm sure of a retrace at some point (if only for the index to take a breather) as it's been quite a few days. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) my day job came calling and I couldn't even look at trading until 4.30pm by which time it had climbed from 15880 to 15933. I managed to scalp £140 around my position.

I'm currently £5500 down and £50 point short. I added to my position at 15930 as I'm hoping for a fade premarket. I'm going to chill over the weekend and I look forward to trading Monday. I'll post my thoughts for the week late Sunday.

My mood today

I was feeling frustrated that I was so busy I couldn't trade but my 'day job' gives me the opportunity to trade and learn and it's very important, I plan to make my reliance on it less so in the coming months and years.

Enjoy your weekend

Me!

Many updates today

Trading Position  - £3500

Midday

Long FTSE £40/point
Short DOW £20/point

Today is going to be a day of fire fighting and scalping around my losing positions.

I re-entered the markets last night and shorted the Dow. Of course a leaked speech from Janet Yellen with dovish news regarding tapering meant the Dow took off so I went to bed a couple of thousand down at £20 per point. It's obvious to say I should have been happy with my scalping profit and not traded for the rest of the day but I fell victim to greed. I wanted more and  paying the price, great reminder!

This morning I took a long position on the FTSE @ £20/point just before it tanked 30 points so I'm long again additional £20/point . I've been scalping around these positions but as I write this post I'm £3000 down.

Dow I'm comfortable leaving for a while. I'm sure 16'000 will be hit soon but I'm hopeful of a retrace.

Update around 3pm.

Mid session update

Janet Yellen is speaking as I write, no much different to what we were treated to yesterday. From what she's saying it doesn't appear she's too keen to taper immediately, of course she's no the only decision maker.

The DOW is slightly bullish in response to her comments and I've forced opened a long with a stop at entry level to hedge my position.

FTSE is a 6660, that's 20 points above it's low of today. My position hasn't changed much but I'm expecting movement UPWARDS after she's finished as the market digests her news.

I'd like to get my FTSE to break even so I'm only on DOW.

More later this evening. Currently I'm down £3500.

4.30pm Update

FTSE's closed and so is my FTSE trade. I decided to call time on it and 6670 for a loss of £700. At one stage it was £2000 down so I decided to take my medicine. I'm only comfortable trading one instrument at a time, lesson noted and learned, never again.

Currently £2600 down, have been as low as £3500 today. Now only one trade and one direction: DOW short.

Final update at the close.

Close of play

Dow closed around 15880 which leaves me £3300 down since my foolish decision to enter at 5pm yesterday. Such is he fine line between success and failure. I should have been perfectly content taking another £150 or so from he market but I thought I was worth more and I got what I deserved. I have no doubt I will make good money from this but the key is controlling my emotions, talking of which:

Today's Mood

I felt sick from yesterdays mistake and in an effort to make good I only succeeded in losing more. The pain and loss of money is worth it if I learn to recognise and control my emotions and not belittle a small days profit.

I've popped another £5000 as margin so I can sleep tonight. the trade is underwater and it doesn't look good but we've moved 250 points higher than yesterday and it's conceivable we could take some of that back tomorrow. It's not yet lost and I can decide to close it a any time. If we get back to 15800 tomorrow I'll give serious consideration to closing for a manageable loss.

Once this trade is consigned to history I'll go back to scalping. I've closed a few scalps today that went away from me, if I'd done that yesterday I would have los a few hundred pounds with no damage.

'til tomorrow.

Today's Profit £142

Trading Position + £1046

I had a feeling last night that we were going to see a fade today, pity I didn't trade it.

Dow and FTSE had both been looking to get higher and not really making progress so it needed a step back or two in order to continue upwards.

With a 70 point fall I took a chance on FTSE retracing at 6650 at £5 a point and added it to it at 6640 another £5. At one stage I was £300 adrift on that trade but closed it for a £50 loss. Dow also was down 80 points and I scalped a few points at £20 a point.

I'm eager to trade on but it's more important I post successive positive days than it is to make more and risk losing. Dow has only been open an hour and I'm done for the day (unless of course I see an opportunity in the run up to the close.

My Mood

I've been watching a series called 'Wall street warriors' on YouTube and it's put me in the mood to trade. I've been excited to make trades today but I'm pleased I'm able to reign my enthusiasm in with a decent day's return.

There is always the temptation to push for my £500 daily target but at this early stage of my trading career I'm happy posting daily profit.

'til tomorrow.

Today's Profit £174

Trading Position + £904

I only traded the Dow today, micro scalping.

Having hit record highs it's natural the index will pause for breath before deciding it's next move. Actually that reads stupidly, it's traders NOT the index that decide the move, I just decided to invest life into it.

Very little movement on opening and a narrow trading range prevents me on entering at my ideal levels so I simply scalped using 5 minute candles.

It's been open only 2 1/2 hours but I've had my fill for the day. I don't feel that confident or have any real conviction on my trades so it's best I stop for the day as I have no desire to sit here in front of my screen for the next 4 hours. ***(See footnote)***

Today's Mood

I didn't feel great before trading, I awoke late for me and was feeling a bit flat. This wasn't helped when 30 minutes before market opening I had a shouting match with my wife which in itself is not unusual although it didn't leave me in the best mental state for trading!

I was aware of this on the opening bell and I'm pleased I controlled myself. I scalped £60 and revised down my daily target to £100 which is the minimum I can draw from my trading account. I waited until we got a sharp 30 point fall on a 5 minute candle which was in stark contrast to the 30 minutes it had taken to get those 30 points. I took the small retracement, got my £100 and withdrew the funds and closed my trading window for the day.

'til tomorrow.


***I was visiting my mum and 30 minutes before closing tuned into my account. I saw the index was steady (I had anticipated a slow decline this afternoon) so scalped a few more points for a further £74. That's what I mean about my moods!

No trading today

I didn't realise the NYSE was open today despite the public holiday. I left at midday and returned home around 7pm and although I kept an eye on things I didn't trade.

I'm feeling really good about that. A short while ago I'd have had to make a trade regardless but if there's nothing doing I'm not playing.

I fancy some movement on Dow open tomorrow so will look to score a few points in the first 30 minutes if I get the chance.

'til tomorrow.

Trading thoughts for this week

I'm always reviewing my posts, it's helpful to my trading to see the mistakes I've made, why I went into trades (technical, emotional, other reasons) and how I'm developing by cutting out silly mistakes.

One area I want to strongly focus on is the mood I'm in when trading.

I'm aware how my mood swings according to external forces (marriage, business, family, football (ouch) and so I'm going to keep a record of the mood I was in when trading each day. I'll hopefully be able to find a correlation with my performance. This should ultimately lead me to trade more successfully as I'll know which days were profitable and what mood I was in when I made the trades.

I want to make £10'000 a month trading and therefore I need to put everything into place to support my goal. I've studied thousands of hours so devoting just 5 minutes to a daily will be no big effort but will reward me enormously. Whether I trade or not I'm now committing to daily posts.

My blog has been lacking structure, I think of myself as a trader so daily updates and a Sunday evening 'thoughts for the week ahead' are positive steps to redress this imbalance.

The week ahead

It's 11.30pm and I'm feeling quite relaxed about next week. My overriding feeling is to spend as little time trading as possible and to limit my exposure to the market with incisive scalps of lengths anywhere between 30 seconds and two minutes.

I'm looking to trade mainly Dow with perhaps a little FTSE thrown in for good measure. I have an upward bias for USD/JPY but I'm not trading FX next week. I like the volatility of the Dow at the moment, it moves 10, 20 points very quickly and that's really in tune with my personality. I'm hungry? I'm going to eat now regardless of what the clock says. I feel like I could do with some air? I stop what I'm doing and a minute later I've left my computer and I'm walking around fields where I live. I want to take some money from the markets? I'm going in at that point and coming out there as quickly as possible.

My plan in only to scalp long on pullbacks and I'm going to bide my time until I see a candle that supports my idea around an entry level I have previously identified. Even though I'm planning to micro scalp I'll be using 5 minute and 30 minute charts. My Dow trades will have a maximum daily target of 25 points, at £10 a point I'm targeting £250 profit daily and plan to end this weekly £1000 better off (tomorrow is a public holiday in US so only a 4 day week)and it's unlikely I'll scalp Dow even though IG have their market open).

If a FTSE opportunity comes along I'll take it, in any event I'll post tomorrow.

I wish you a successful week's trading.

Today's profit £150

Trading Position + £730

NFP came out way above expectations which means the US economy is in better shape than many thought which means bad news in trading terms!

The Dow dropped 70 points premarket to 15545 so I played a couple of scalps long, one at 1/4 stake another 1/2 stake (normal stake £20pp). I checked the charts and called a long to at least 15660 but declined to trade it. Retrospectively that was a mistake as I could have lifted £2000 from the markets but my time will come.

I'm happy trading lightly today, evidenced by the fact I'm writing this post at 3.30pm with another 5 1/2 hours trading to go. The best piece of trading advice I've heard in my year and a half in the markets is 'There's always another entry point, always another trade'.

Nice weekend all, looking forward to trading Monday.

Oh and thanks Arsenal for Wednesday night, fingers crossed for the big game Sunday.

Todays profit £80

Trading Position + £580

After yesterday's success I awoke to find myself ambivalent to trading today, much to my own surprise.

I opened the charts and checked my various twitter feeds aware of the ECB meeting today and like everyone was amazed to see the interest rate cut. At the time I was out and I had my trading app open so watched the Dow rocket to 15830. Although I had an urge to play short at that point I just didn't fancy trading on my phone. My workstation has 3 screens and I also have Bloomberg live on the TV and without the comfort of being in full control I spurned the obvious shorting opportunity.

Of course that looks a bit silly with the Dow sitting at 15600 (230 points lower) by the close yet I take much positivity from being able to resist jumping into a trade.

I also fancied an overreaction on currency relating to the euro but again as I was out of my comfort zone and had done no research on support/resistance levels lately on EUR/USD I opted not to trade.

On my return home I opened my trading platform and played sparingly at £5 a point. I tried to withdraw money but I'm limited to multiples of £100 so my £80 sits in my trading account overnight, hopefully I'm able to add to it considerably come tomorrow.

It's NFP day, announcement at 1.30 pm GMT and I'll be ready to trade one way or the other. It's ridiculous that bad news will be good news as tapering fears will be put aside for another month. What a world where good news is bad news!

More tomorrow.

Today's Profit £500

Trading Position + £500

I've held long and short open positions on Dow this week (a forced open short to lock in breakeven yesterday) which I have now closed. I think the only reason for the use of 'force open' trading should be to lock in profit or as a last ditch attempt to buy time whilst looking for additional funding to hold open a position.

At open today the Dow took off like an Olympic sprinter, this after finding good support yesterday at around 15520. After a frenetic opening 30 minutes the index peaked at 15730, I'd already closed my long position for a small profit so was exposed £23 a point short. I added £7 so I'm now playing £30 a point. I had the RSI showing overbought on both 5 min and 30 min candles and price had also punctured my next level of resistance at 15720 so I felt comfortable that such a strong upward move would be followed by a fade as people cashed in early profit. I think also some short stop losses would have been triggered which would have added further fuel to the sharp rise.

I decided not to watch my screen and go for a walk around my local nature reserve. I popped my wellies on, pulled on my coat and walked 50 yards to the top of my road. I checked my positions on my phone app and was thrilled to see a loss of £200 was now a profit of £500, a swing of £700 inside 5 minutes.

Discipline is crucial to trading success and my daily profit target is £500 so I happily closed my short position even though it was showing £1500 down. I mean who cares what happens to the bloody index when my daily target is achieved? It could move 1000 points either way, it's simply not my concern. I'm not wedded to any long term position, I'm neither a bull nor bear. I can make money long or short, that's it.

My daily profit target is £500, I achieved that so why would I leave a position open? I know I'm most comfortable as a day trader so tonight I can relax, have a curry with my son and watch The Arsenal hopefully achieve a result in Germany.

Will I trade tomorrow? I'll certainly watch the charts......I have entry levels and unless they're hit AND I feel right I won't make the trade.

I've taken today's trading profit from my account and it feels so good.

Another £500 recovered, hello breakeven

I'm now at breakeven with a £5000 trading pot, palpable relief.

Trading involves so much psychology, I love it and it helps that I've always held a fascination for the subject. I use support and resistance for entry points but I also apportion sentiment to my decisions, not mine but the media's.

I'm also learning from previous mistakes, I know what I can live with and what frustrates me too. For example I was in a losing position that came back to break even recently. I let it run as I thought momentum would reward me with a profit at which point it reversed horribly. I now know that when the opportunity to close out at breakeven presents itself again to me I will take it AND I know my reasoning behind that decision.

I can live with the loss of potential profit more than I can if I spurn the breakeven opportunity and it goes horribly wrong. It feels wretched to go to bed a couple of grand down when I could sleep soundly at breakeven so that's my modus operandi. It worked well today and I shall sleep beautifully.

I'm in a perfect position to trade my way. I have a £5000 trading pot that I don't need to draw from and I am going to trade only when the price hits my entry level otherwise it will be a blank day. Profit will be drawn daily defined as any amount over £5000.

Bring it on.

Recovered £1200

Trading isn't for everyone but I love it.

My equity balance was as low as £3000 today, I finally closed trading (by force opening a position) with it sitting at £4500.

At one point it was stood at slightly over £5000 and with the index looking madly bullish it left me with a dilemma; I'm here to trade and make money yet only yesterday I turned my nose up at the opportunity to lock in at that same position after being as low as £2500. I chose to go with the flow, at which point everything changed and it plunged even faster AND further than yesterday!

I could only manage a wry smile so I resolved that should I get close again I would take it even if the index was climbing like mercury in a thermometer plunged into a mug of hot tea. The daily candles look as though there could be a pullback and so I was left watching support I had pencilled in desperately to see if it held. Thankfully there was a demand again, slowly at first but I rode it all the way until I felt it could turn. Around 90 minutes before closing I forced open and simply sat back and watched the action unfold. In the meantime I managed to scalp £1000 onto my funds position.

I now go into the weekend with any shift in momentum unable to hurt me and although I feel foolish having spurned the chance to take £1600 profit Wednesday I'm only £500 short on my equity when it could have been a few thousand. I shall now enjoy the weekend knowing I have learned another lesson and look forward to next week.

My trading pot is £5000 and I shall trade with the intention of withdrawing daily any amount over that.

Nice weekend all.