Jul 5, 2018 – One Second Victory

Premarket Insight

Finally, the markets are back open! I remember a time when I eagerly awaited short work weeks and days off. That has completely changed since I took my day-trading full time! Yesterday was the longest 4th of July in my life! (LOL) I digress…

Anyway, logging in to my platform, I can see I wasn’t the only one missing the market seeing high volume and strong movement early in the premarket. Also, there are plenty of volatility catalysts on the calendar today.

  1. 8:15 EST – ADP Nonfarm Employment Change
    • with jobless claim 15 minutes later as a potential boost
  2. 10:00 EST – ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI
  3. 11:00 EST – Crude Oil Inventories
  4. 14:00 EST – FOMC Meeting Minutes

 

Should be a pretty eventful day. I spent a good part of the holiday yesterday getting some good back testing in on NQ and CL using Sierra Chart’s replay mode. On that note, hopefully I hear some good news today from AMP Futures setting up my account with them. I highly prefer that platform over Generic Trader.

 

At the Bell

Got one win and one loss on CL. The loss was bigger than the win so I’m currently in the red a little. That play was a bit too aggressive but I’m still counting it as a good play because the 1 min candles were kind of tricky.

Today I will be more than likely only playing CL since I no longer have the initial margin to play NQ with paying myself for June and the losses on Tuesday. It’s all good though since right now I prefer to play CL anyway.

Got off to not so great of a start missing my entry on CL at the open of the market being one mouse click too slow. Really hoping I can get this account with AMP soon. Having to use 2 platforms to make trades is doing too much. With Sierra Chart I can do everything right from the same platform. Plus, I can setup my strategy so that all I have to do is enter the play and let the strategy play itself out. Easy hands-free trading.

Now let me get focused…

 

COB Recap

Market got super choppy in the first hour of the open. CL basically slowed down to a crawl with very little action, where I found myself stuck in a play of agony as it chopped around between my entry and stop loss for 20 mins before finally stopping me out.

 

I decided to take a break around 10:30 due to the lack of action and walked to the store with my wife. Came back to see the volatility had picked up, so put my order in and got filled with $300 profit literally one second later! Nice to finally have one of those types of surges work out in my favor.

 

Taking a break now to eat some midnight lunch since I will be trading the afternoon session with the Fed news. See that one second play in the image below.

 

 

Click the image for more details.

 

For real-time insights follow me on Twitter! @Mv3Trader

 

Comment below with your opinions and questions.

 

Rob

Mv3 Trader

“Trade Consciously”

 

Jul 3, 2018 – Chopped to Pieces

Premarket Insight

Getting logged in, volume looking pretty decent today for it to be just a half-day. I learned to stop paying too much attention to sentiment of a slow or inactive market due to holiday weeks based off historical experiences because since I’ve started trading I’ve seen that to be proven wrong time and time again.

So far NQ and CL pushing bullish with a nice, steady grind higher. Nothing significant for me on the calendar today, as suspected. Just staying optimistic, ready to hit the button.

 

At the Bell

Not much happened before the bell which is fine since I was busy with other business after doing some quick studying. NQ pulling back from morning bull ride into the bell.

At the open NQ dropped hard a whole 20 points in the first 5 minutes. CL looks to be gaining momentum as well. Didn’t take a play on it today at the bell since it didn’t seem to have much energy in premarket. If it starts trending, there should be another opportunity to get in. No sweat.

 

COB Recap

So pretty much I traded like a broken paperclip today. Took three loses in a row on NQ bearish with only one of them being good execution. The other two were late entries due to lack of focus being too chatty in the chatroom. Also, missed some great opportunities in the first 30 minutes of the open like a dear in the headlights with the strong selloff of NQ and CL. Gots-ta do better!

I almost didn’t post this due to the frustration (and embarrassment) but decided not to be selfish. LOL

 

Enjoy the day off everyone. Happy 4th!

 

happy-4th
You can still click this image for details of today’s plays.

 

For real-time insights follow me on Twitter! @Mv3Trader

 

Comment below with your opinions and questions.

 

Rob

Mv3 Trader

“Trade Consciously”

 

Jul 2, 2018 – Passive Action

Premarket Insight

Eager to get this week started from my weekend study and practice sessions, along with the improvements I made with my execution strategy. However, I am planning to move my start time back a bit to about 7 or 8 AM EST mainly due to the fact that I don’t typically get many good opportunities before this time. Of course, the best opportunities present themselves during normal market hours.

Even though this is going to be a short week it’s not short on news with the market focused on Trump’s involvement with global “trade wars” and oil agreement with Saudi Arabia. Historically, this time of the year is fairly uneventful based on seasoned traders’ sentiment, but this year may be different. (fingers crossed)

As far as the calendar, nothing significant sticks out today. Very interestingly, the markets (looking at NQ – Nasdaq Futures) started off the week early with a major selloff down more than 0.65%.

 

At the Bell

Caught a winner on CL premarket, entering the bell with my 2nd play. NQ continued to sell off in the premarket with a big dip right before the open. May end up watching NQ more today than playing, depending on what CL does.

 

COB Recap

Took a loss on that play on CL at the open then got way too passive with CL’s choppiness. Missed at least 3 opportunities on NQ in my live account but I did paper trade it with success. Good reason to chill on all the passiveness. Should have ended the day with $760! Good motivation for moving forward. Still, green is green so I can’t complain! #NextTime

 

Click the image for more details.

 

 

For real-time insights follow me on Twitter! @Mv3Trader

 

Comment below with your opinions and questions.

 

Rob

Mv3 Trader

“Trade Consciously”