The past week.

Some good, some bad over the past week. Really hate the -$1500 rip last week. Same ridiculous move; didn't stop out and loss mounted. I will catch on eventually. Only practice trading until then.

I like yesterday afternoon's short of ES as it neared trendline resistance at the close. Then a hold overnight. Covered this AM near the bottom of the move for a gain.

Warren Miller's 1983 classic, "Ski Time"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsA7_UnBXeA&feature=player_detailpage Featuring former 4-time world champion freestyle/mogul skier, Joey Cordeau. (who also happens to be my brother-in-law)

To the right, REFLEX Ski Poles did an ad campaign featuring Joey. This one hangs here at the house.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is a long-time resident of Sun Valley, Idaho. When he asked around for ski lessons and only wanted to be taught by the best skier on the mountain, everyone sent him to Joey. Arnold now has a ski run on Baldy named after him, "Arnold's Run."

If you want to learn to ski the bumps and never settle for second best, here is his website which includes educational videos:

http://www.weekendwarriorsguide.com/

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.