March 29 - Tuesday

I struggled to find a trade I wanted to take, even though there were periods of movement.

For the past two weeks or so, I have been using a chart of the front month Mini S + P Futures as my way to track the market; instead of the SPY or the SPX. It gives me the same picture of the overall market's behavior and it allows me to follow a moving market nearly around the clock, though admittedly, volume and movement are quite muted in off-hours. Ever since I was in High School, I have been an early riser, up most days around 4:00 am. This is a perfect fit for me because that is the time some volume comes into the ES, allowing me to practice learning a new market. I'm also considering it a "hedge" against my learning curve... if I run out of cash to support myself while I try to learn the stock market, I can still trade the mini futures before whatever job I might have to take. I refuse to ever quit doing this, no matter how many years it takes.

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Two ES trades, a small winner and a small loss, basically offsetting one-another. My trade for the short that I closed for a loss just hung in space and didn't really move so I took it off; time=risk. A couple candles later, it broke down and would have given me a chance at two points. I have to adapt to a slower pace trading after-hours.

Visitor

Our little Maine Coon kitten came to visit me in my office, and I snapped a photo. Not pictured is the little ball; the object of her attention.

March 28

I took last week off from blogging. My results were typical for me... lots of winners coupled with two trades where I didn't use a stop and I closed out for relatively large losses (one over $400 and the other at $1,400). The two losers easily offset my gains and I was down for the week. Had I averaged for better price on both of them by doubling down, I would have made them winners the next day.

I didn't do it, rather I just cut them loose and took the loss. This is part of a program I am attempting to follow: accepting losses, and taking responsibility for not triggering a stoploss by accepting the losses when they are substantial.

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Yesterday was pure drollery, so I accepted an offer to meet my sister for a late lunch; 2:30pm. While away, I missed the big drop in the last hour. No matter, I finished with two small but clean winners in TNA.