was up 500 ducks on my excellent bottom of the day close of my overnight GS puts. then tinkered around all day playing the YM, as i was thinking right until the close, masterfully. up 1K, that's right, for the day on the YM, self congratulating and patting my back. entered for one last scalp, market spiked hard and then spiked like i have very rarely seen. over 100 points in the YM in over 5 minutes. it was so fast, before i thought of a level it was broached never to be reached again. i was short at 8400 and briefly i could have closed at 8425, but then 8440, 8460, 8480 and finally i just hit sell at 8490. it peaked at 8530 and settled at 8415. had i held on, i would have lost even more money. total loss on this one trade alone 1.8K, demolishing all hard earned profits for the day and putting me in the hole by 200 ducks.
i had a similar experience with a YM runup at close once before. but, as i recall that one wasn't as bad. i need more experience with the YM. things to consider, change number of contracts. not all trades need maximum leverage. don't trade the last 20 minutes as they seem to be the most volatile. start adding stops to YM trades, something i don't do with my option trades.
btw, the best reason i can think of for the runup, was end of the month book balancing. closing bad positions or looking in gains for the month by big funds. something to remember in the future.
on the plus side, i scalped the YM for over a K on a very dead day. but, at the same time i managed to lose it all in one trade. i still can't conclusively say that trading the YM is a good idea. today's experience was productive, but it hurt like hell.
i could use a drink right about now.
Friday, May 29, 2009
god damn
Thursday, May 28, 2009
same damn pattern
the start of the day was horrible. i got up early and checked the futures and they were nicely up. MON was up to around 81 dollars in premarket and i'm thinking ka-ching. So the market opens and the spread is 11 on a 11.5. i'm thinking small spike and i might be able to hit 11.7...i enter that in and click transmit and my fucking computer just freezes. it's making all this electrical noise. 2 mins go by. i am fucking freaking out. i'm clicking on all the windows nothing's happening. then it's back. MON has gone down to 80.3...70 cents in 1.5 minutes from the open exactly. i quickly enter 10.5 and get faded instantly. that minute and a half delay cost me $500 dollars. i would have changed my 11.7 to 11.5 and then to 11 and i would have got it. MON spiked again to about 10.7/10.8 and then for the rest of the day it went down hard. i wanted to throw my computer out of the window. i think i definitely need another just for trading laptop.
i was in a bad mood about that for a while.
i thought the index was gonna die, so sold some YM, made some nice coin on it, but GS looked even juicier. i got some puts and it crashed, sold them too early, but the severity of the crash was unanticipated by me. but, get this, the entire move down was very rapidly covered again. very fast spike down and a pretty quick recovery. very treacherous market.
i had a bad hangover, so i went to the coffee shop. but, i mostly fucked around. i didn't feel like trading. and then i made the same damn mistake i have been making each and every day. i re-shorted GS around 12pm and then it spiked up a dollar and traded in a 1-1.5+ range for the rest of the day. no smushage at the end either. every fucking day i short too early. sigh.
went and got some pho. it was delicious. the guy got my number wrong and gave me pho with chunks of fat or cartilage in it. it was fucking delicious. usually i only get no. 11 or 12, like clockwork, but i think i have a new no. now. years of eating pho at PHO 75 and now i eat fat, cartilage, stomach, u name it. the pho place is right next to the coffee shop.
got home and remembered i had more funds in my account now, because i have been making some coin and found i could trade 1 YM. so i short it stupidly and watch it go 20 points up, but it's only a loss of 100 dollars, so i resolutely plan to hold till close. when out of nowhere, there is a crazy spike down and i sell right at the bottom of it, making 60 ducks. very nice scalp. i wouldn't have held like that if i had my normal 3 contracts.
overall good day trading. just finished watching "mifunes sidste sang", a danish dogma movie and am gonna watch "la habitacion de fermat" spanish next. it's supposed to be very good. it's nice when your day ends by 4pm and ur already home and you can watch movies or go outside and cool yourself under the pouring rain.
all i need now is a woman, a dog and a place in the countryside.
| Underlying | Quantity | Action | Price | Description | Time | Date | Exch. | Commission |
| MON | 10 | SLD | 10.50 | JUN09 70.0 CALL Option MONFN | 09:37:00 | 20090528 | NASDAQOM | 7.00 |
| YM | 3 | SLD | 8345.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 09:53:01 | 20090528 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| YM | 3 | BOT | 8325.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 10:00:16 | 20090528 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| GS | 10 | BOT | 10.70 | JUN09 150.0 PUT Option GPYRJ | 10:05:16 | 20090528 | ISE | 7.00 |
| GS | 10 | SLD | 11.80 | JUN09 150.0 PUT Option GPYRJ | 10:10:11 | 20090528 | NASDAQOM | 4.5 |
| GS | 10 | BOT | 9.90 | JUN09 150.0 PUT Option GPYRJ | 12:19:57 | 20090528 | ISE | 7.00 |
| YM | 1 | SLD | 8378.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 15:32:39 | 20090528 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| YM | 1 | BOT | 8365.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 15:54:36 | 20090528 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
good day
i woke up with a badly upset stomach. i could barely sit at the computer, so even though the market was fluctuating i set a sell level of 12 (breakeven) for my POT and went back to sleep. MON had given bad guidance and i was hoping that sell off would at the very least tamper POT's gains. i woke up to find that my POT had already been sold at breakeven. it was at the same level again and sinking lower. what really pissed me off, was the price differential. i bought my puts yesterday, when POT was at 116 for 12. today they offered the same price 12 only when POT reached 115.3. that's some serious price gouging. i don't like trading POT ;|
i watched the indices flutter around and traded the YM. was up $400+, when i made a bad buy. i survived that one (last one below), but the lesson learned is now becoming fairly clear. YM is a very dangerous instrument to trade. very volatile and it's not that easy to see where the overall market is going, compared to a single stock. i have to be very cautious trading this fucker.
gonna rest up now, since still not fully recovered from my stomach flu. or is it the pig flu ;)
| Underlying | Quantity | Action | Price | Description | Time | Date | Exch. | Commission |
| POT | 10 | SLD | 12 | JUN09 125.0 PUT Option PYPRE | 11:24:57 | 20090527 | NASDAQOM | 7 |
| YM | 3 | BOT | 8339 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 14:28:00 | 20090527 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| YM | 3 | SLD | 8345 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 14:29:47 | 20090527 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| YM | 3 | SLD | 8360 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 14:40:38 | 20090527 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| YM | 3 | BOT | 8350 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 14:58:35 | 20090527 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| YM | 3 | SLD | 8366 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 15:07:22 | 20090527 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| YM | 3 | BOT | 8350 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 15:10:54 | 20090527 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| YM | 3 | BOT | 8311 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 15:24:19 | 20090527 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| YM | 3 | SLD | 8310 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 15:46:58 | 20090527 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| MON | 10 | BOT | 10.3 | JUN09 70.0 CALL Option MONFN | 15:59:53 | 20090527 | PSE | 7 |
yesterday was blah
i woke up with a memorial day hangover and was pleasantly surprised to find both POT and futures down. it is very rare that holding options in a security like POT over a long weekend pay's off (within day trading scope). It was trading around 113 and even then i only got a palty .7 profit. luckily i sold at the open, because it spiked huge right after. another minute and i would have been fucked.
i have been experiencing mad problems with running my trading software (TWS) on my linux based laptop. It is extremely slow. The problem is that it's written in Java and my machine only has 1GB ram. I might have to install windoze on my laptop until i can upgrade it's ram.
luckily my kid brother's new laptop was there, only $400 bucks and so fast. i traded off of it. re-shorted POT around 116 at 10:30 am. watched it go up to 117 and remain there for the rest of the day. very frustrating day. +200 on the dow and it never broke, even at the end of the day. i feared we might be getting a genuine push up across the board in equities.
| Underlying | Quantity | Action | Price | Description | Time | Date | Exch. | Commission |
| POT | 10 | SLD | 11 | JUN09 120.0 PUT Option PYPRD | 9:32:54 | 20090526 | NASDAQOM | 7 |
| YM | 3 | SLD | 8420 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 10:24:21 | 20090526 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| YM | 3 | BOT | 8410 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 10:25:57 | 20090526 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| POT | 10 | BOT | 12 | JUN09 125.0 PUT Option PYPRE | 10:30:27 | 20090526 | PSE | 7 |
Friday, May 22, 2009
dismal week
the week started out on a happy note. no more boring desk job. no more hiding my trading screens. i figured out how to trade futures. coffee shops. sunny weather. girls.
the reality. told my dad i'm trading and as usual he chewed me out. he calls it gambling and no way to "live life". i felt very bummed out. i made a real bonehead futures trade on thursday, which shook my faith in futures being easy to trade. i didn't make any coin on my regular options trades either. overall i'm down 500 for the week and my last options play today on POT could be a looming disaster. time decay alone is going to eat me. sigh.
i will say this STRONGLY....the way this market trades has changed significantly from last year. last year was a bonanza, mini fortunes were made. all you had to do was go short. these days the chop is damn near unpredictable. long dead zones when no trades can be made. you need real patience to trade.
The Upshoot. i can't just be a daytrader. the money just isn't there. plus there is much more risk. and it's not fun. i don't want to stare at the ticker all day. once in a while for kicks, but not all day, every day. i need a job. i need some regular people banality in my life.
here are the stinky lousy rotten trades....i don't even feel like getting drunk.
Underlying Quantity Action Price Description Time Date Commission POT 10 BOT 11.00 JUN09 120.0 PUT Option PYPRD 09:34:27 20090522 7.00 POT 10 SLD 11.50 JUN09 120.0 PUT Option PYPRD 09:45:28 20090522 7.00 YM 1 BOT 8257.0 JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 09:51:48 20090522 2.13 YM 1 BOT 8257.0 JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 09:51:48 20090522 2.13 YM 1 BOT 8257.0 JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 09:51:49 20090522 2.13 YM 3 SLD 8260.0 JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 09:53:19 20090522 6.39 YM 2 SLD 8260.0 JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 10:00:43 20090522 4.26 YM 2 BOT 8270.0 JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 10:01:40 20090522 4.26 YM 3 SLD 8278.0 JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 10:09:41 20090522 6.39 YM 1 BOT 8278.0 JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 10:12:40 20090522 2.13 YM 2 BOT 8278.0 JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 10:12:40 20090522 4.26 POT 1 BOT 10.30 JUN09 120.0 PUT Option PYPRD 10:20:29 20090522 1.00 POT 1 BOT 10.30 JUN09 120.0 PUT Option PYPRD 10:20:29 20090522 0.40 POT 7 BOT 10.30 JUN09 120.0 PUT Option PYPRD 10:20:31 20090522 4.90 POT 1 BOT 10.30 JUN09 120.0 PUT Option PYPRD 10:20:32 20090522 0.70
Thursday, May 21, 2009
treacherous YM gives headache
so i'm up early to get rid of my GS and i'm worried, because futures are down considerably and so i think get rid of it as fast as possible. it opens about 1.5 below my position and i'm sweating bullets and it zooms up and i sell for a measly .2 loss. sigh of relief turns to horror as it continues skyrocketing, touching 139, +3 from my position. i couldn't believe it, the entire market was tanking and it was zooming. it stayed up there for a while too, pissing me off for most of the morning.
the rest of the market was solidly red...i scalped the YM a bunch of times and felt mighty good about myself. then i went to bed, but i didn't feel like sleeping, so i decided to go get coffee at Greenberry's. they finally got wireless. i get there and the market is flat. no movement at all. which is fine with me. i drink coffee and enjoy the sun. look at the chicks. go get a delicious burger at Ray's Burger joint, which i totally scarfed. the rest of the patrons must have thought what a pig, but then again they don't trade the YM.
the day ended very badly however. i shorted YM at what i thought was a good level, because i thought the market would continue to tank downward. big mistake. the market zoomed up and zoomed even more at close. i bought at the low and sold literally at the high. such bad trading is almost unprecedented for me.
was it because i was bored and didn't pay attention? was it, i still don't understand how to trade YM? or was it the kind of smushage i have gotten conditioned to over the past year, simply don't happen any more? new patterns are emerging for sure.
anyway, i got a big loss, vaporized all my profits and got a nice headache as well. sigh!
| Underlying | Quantity | Action | Price | Description | Time | Date | Exch. | Commission |
| GS | 10 | SLD | 10.30 | JUN09 130.0 CALL Option GS FF | 09:33:31 | 20090521 | NASDAQOM | 4.50 |
| YM | 3 | BOT | 8286.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 09:37:10 | 20090521 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| YM | 1 | SLD | 8284.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 09:41:55 | 20090521 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| YM | 1 | SLD | 8284.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 09:41:56 | 20090521 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| YM | 1 | SLD | 8284.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 09:41:56 | 20090521 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| YM | 1 | SLD | 8298.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 09:48:01 | 20090521 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| YM | 1 | SLD | 8298.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 09:48:02 | 20090521 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| YM | 1 | SLD | 8298.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 09:48:02 | 20090521 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| YM | 3 | BOT | 8288.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 09:59:46 | 20090521 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| YM | 3 | SLD | 8294.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 10:01:12 | 20090521 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| YM | 3 | BOT | 8284.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 10:02:13 | 20090521 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| YM | 2 | SLD | 8290.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 10:03:28 | 20090521 | ECBOT | 4.26 |
| YM | 1 | SLD | 8290.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 10:03:28 | 20090521 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| YM | 1 | BOT | 8285.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 10:13:49 | 20090521 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| YM | 2 | BOT | 8285.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 10:14:02 | 20090521 | ECBOT | 4.26 |
| YM | 3 | SLD | 8290.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 13:00:55 | 20090521 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| YM | 1 | BOT | 8277.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 13:05:07 | 20090521 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| YM | 1 | BOT | 8277.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 13:05:07 | 20090521 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| YM | 1 | BOT | 8278.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 13:05:07 | 20090521 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| YM | 3 | SLD | 8230.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 15:02:17 | 20090521 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| YM | 3 | BOT | 8290.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 16:00:22 | 20090521 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
ym my favorite future to trade
i got laid off from my job....friday was the last day....so the last 3 days i have been trading full time.....funnnnnnnnn (a little scary also).
YM, dow futures is my favorite so far....i like the volatility, but haven't yet quite got the hang of how to trade it....too impatient, need to wait sometimes. here are the trades
for May 18th:
| Underlying | Action | Quantity | Description | Price | Time | Date | Exch. | Commission |
| YM | SLD | 1 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 8425.0 | 13:59:25 | 20090518 | ECBOT | |
| YM | SLD | 2 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 8425.0 | 13:59:26 | 20090518 | ECBOT | |
| YM | BOT | 1 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 8484.0 | 16:01:30 | 20090518 | ECBOT |
for may 19th:
| Underlying | Action | Quantity | Description | Price | Time | Date | Exch. | Commission |
| YM | BOT | 2 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 8450.0 | 09:54:00 | 20090519 | ECBOT | 4.26 |
| YM | SLD | 3 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 8506.0 | 10:35:43 | 20090519 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| YM | BOT | 1 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 8490.0 | 11:00:28 | 20090519 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| YM | BOT | 1 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 8490.0 | 11:00:34 | 20090519 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| YM | BOT | 1 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 8490.0 | 11:00:36 | 20090519 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| IBM | BOT | 10 | JUN09 110.0 PUT Option IBMRB | 5.40 | 14:19:47 | 20090519 | PSE | 7.00 |
| IBM | BOT | 10 | JUN09 110.0 PUT Option IBMRB | 5.40 | 14:19:47 | 20090519 | PSE | 7.00 |
for may 20th:
| Underlying | Quantity | Action | Price | Description | Time | Date | Exch. | Commission |
| IBM | 10 | SLD | 5.60 | JUN09 110.0 PUT Option IBMRB | 10:07:25 | 20090520 | PSE | 7.00 |
| IBM | 7 | SLD | 5.70 | JUN09 110.0 PUT Option IBMRB | 10:14:05 | 20090520 | PSE | 4.90 |
| IBM | 3 | SLD | 5.70 | JUN09 110.0 PUT Option IBMRB | 10:14:05 | 20090520 | PSE | 2.10 |
| YM | 1 | SLD | 8493.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 14:07:18 | 20090520 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| YM | 1 | SLD | 8493.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 14:07:18 | 20090520 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| YM | 1 | SLD | 8493.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 14:07:18 | 20090520 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| YM | 2 | BOT | 8470.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 14:13:42 | 20090520 | ECBOT | 4.26 |
| YM | 1 | BOT | 8470.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 14:13:43 | 20090520 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| YM | 1 | SLD | 8476.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 14:34:23 | 20090520 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| YM | 1 | SLD | 8476.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 14:34:23 | 20090520 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| YM | 1 | SLD | 8476.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 14:34:23 | 20090520 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| YM | 3 | BOT | 8481.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 14:40:04 | 20090520 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| YM | 3 | BOT | 8455.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 15:10:37 | 20090520 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| YM | 3 | SLD | 8445.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 15:19:53 | 20090520 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| YM | 3 | BOT | 8420.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 15:30:20 | 20090520 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| YM | 2 | SLD | 8400.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 15:52:02 | 20090520 | ECBOT | 4.26 |
| YM | 1 | SLD | 8400.0 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 15:52:02 | 20090520 | ECBOT | 2.13 |
| GS | 5 | BOT | 10.50 | JUN09 130.0 CALL Option GS FF | 15:53:21 | 20090520 | ISE | 3.50 |
| GS | 2 | BOT | 10.50 | JUN09 130.0 CALL Option GS FF | 15:53:21 | 20090520 | ISE | 1.40 |
| GS | 3 | BOT | 10.50 | JUN09 130.0 CALL Option GS FF | 15:53:30 | 20090520 | ISE | 2.10 |
Thursday, May 14, 2009
trades dow emini today
| Underlying | Action | Quantity | Description | Price | Time | Date | Exch. | Commission |
| STLD | SLD | 30 | MAY09 10.0 CALL Option RQLEB | 1.45 | 09:34:24 | 20090514 | CBOE | 21.00 |
| YM | SLD | 3 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 8301.0 | 11:25:03 | 20090514 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
| YM | BOT | 3 | JUN09 Futures YM JUN 09 | 8300.0 | 15:55:17 | 20090514 | ECBOT | 6.39 |
WOW...i love the futures...no daytrading restrictions on the number of trades i can make in a day....finally. very liquid. yesterday i traded the S&P 500 emini future and today the DOW 30 emini future. i have been reading up and researching on this stuff all day today. 2 drawbacks. contract price is 2.4 per contract per side approximately...which is well above .7 per stock option contract. despite the blabber you might read on the net, commission per trade in futures is much higher than stocks / stock options. 2nd - i am buying everything on margin. what rates am i paying?? and what does that amount to in dollar terms. i will look over reports this weekend and report :)
but, so far i'm rocking it. i made $15 on my YM trade, although i was down as much as 600 at one point. freaky volatility. double edged sword, but so far it's not as crazy as i thought it would be.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
finally i trade ES.....WOW
| Underlying | Action | Quantity | Description | Price | Time | Date | Exch. | Commission |
| NUE | SLD | 32 | MAY09 45.0 PUT Option NUEQI | 4.00 | 13:59:16 | 20090513 | PSE | 22.40 |
| ES | SLD | 1 | JUN09 Futures ESM9 | 883.75 | 19:10:47 | 20090513 | GLOBEX | 2.40 |
| ES | BOT | 1 | JUN09 Futures ESM9 | 883.00 | 19:12:43 | 20090513 | GLOBEX | 2.40 |
| ES | SLD | 3 | JUN09 Futures ESM9 | 883.50 | 19:45:54 | 20090513 | GLOBEX | 7.20 |
| ES | BOT | 3 | JUN09 Futures ESM9 | 883.00 | 19:51:43 | 20090513 | GLOBEX | 7.20 |
| STLD | BOT | 30 | MAY09 10.0 CALL Option RQLEB | 1.40 | 19:55:49 | 20090513 | CBOE | 21.00 |
