I used to e-mail with an older guy who went by the handle "10x". He was a very patient and concise trader. He mainly traded the /ES E-mini S&P 500 Futures contracts daily. When he did swings, he would pair his trades such as a long and short ETF. In other words, he would go long and short at the same time of the ETF for say Oil, and then float them against each other by buying the corresponding number of shares to make them equal by dollar value. Once he found a trend on one that was over taking the other, he would sell off the laggard so to speak.
This got me to thinking over the last month or so as the markets have been so crazy. I found myself trying to force swings in a market that was not swing friendly. So I started to move my focus back towards futures contracts to use as a trading vehicle for the time being. My goal now is to tighten up my intraday charts to make it easier to get in at better entry points on the future contracts, and use them to scalp out daily income until the market gets back to swing mode which I prefer.
The following link is a shortcut, or cheat sheet to the futures contracts I watch, including the margin rate, ticks to make $200, times the trade and so forth. I use thinkorswim, but the symbols should jive with most platforms -
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B5BXfYeOb6N5OGRjZGViM2YtOTA0Zi00NzVkLWJkOGYtMGM2ZDRmNGEzYzJh&hl=en_US
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Time to Grow a Pair
First I have to say I was already making money before accessatrader.com, but being in the chat now with the other traders, has taught me many new strategies. First of all, to step on the markets throat when it's giving, and reign in the aggression when it is not. As Dan put it, you have to grow a pair and take more size when the market is ripe to give.
I always wondered how people made a lot of money in the market, as I thought they had to always hit home runs. But what I have f found out is you make lots of base hits to get runs, and once in a while you knock one out of the park. There are also lots of little losses, that are part of the business. And that is what this is, a business. If not, you are just gambling and not managing risk, or having a sound strategy.
So if we are coming into a time when the market is ready to give, it will be time to take size and step on the markets throat and do what I was meant to do; make money and use it for good. If you don't have a strategy or plan, come join us and invest $99 a month in your business. Chances are you will make enough to cover a year in one good day, if not week trading on the same desk with us.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
The Pity Party and Why I am Not Going Anymore
I have not posted in a while now, mainly because I have kids and other responsibilities that keep me busy enough outside of trading, and keeps me from having extra time to be writing. With that being said, I did find time this morning to post on the 'rut' I have been in for close to 5 weeks now. I think I may be turning the corner though and getting back on my feet as of this week, or at least I am feeling a little more confident in my decision making.
I have been tracking my weekly gains/losses now since October of 2010. That was the moment I realized finding a job after being jobless for 9 months was probably not as good a prospect as concentrating on trading for a living with a small account. I figured after having been involved with some sort of trading for 6 years, I could probably get by at least even if only making 300-500 dollars a week. Yes a small income indeed, but when you consider I was at one time making anywhere in the 60-90k a year range, and now the best job offers were for much, much less, trading seemed the right decision.
So I managed to build my account up rather nicely during the last 3-4 months of 2010, and then my wife added some money to my account so I could trade full time after her 401k had grown enough to make it worth it. January through March were good to me, but then came April. Wake up and smell the coffee!!
April was the hardest month I have had so far since last October, and I almost got down on myself. I started feeling sorry for myself and doubting my abilities. It was not my abilities so much, but my lack of discipline in the current market environment and my decisions during that time. It took me all of April to realize that sometimes even the best in their vocation hit a slump. I had not 'blown up' my account, and we were not doing without.
May has now rolled around and the tape is still choppy, and I still make the here and there dumb decision, but they are getting to be less of my choices now. I realize that each week the market presents opportunities, and it is a matter of finding them and capitalizing on them.
I am blessed in so many more ways with a great family, friends, food, shelter, waking each morning and so many other blessings we over look each day. I would like to make more money each week than I do, and am fortunate enough that I have a job where I can get a raise any time I choose, although I have to make the right choices. I can take a day off without guilt, eat lunch with my wife or kids any day I choose, or volunteer to do something at church because I can.
So no more Pity Party for me. I need to refocus on my efforts and remember that I am lucky to be doing what I am doing, and that I have the abilities that God has given me. I hope to write again in a few weeks and give a much different result of my trading efforts than April saw.
I have been tracking my weekly gains/losses now since October of 2010. That was the moment I realized finding a job after being jobless for 9 months was probably not as good a prospect as concentrating on trading for a living with a small account. I figured after having been involved with some sort of trading for 6 years, I could probably get by at least even if only making 300-500 dollars a week. Yes a small income indeed, but when you consider I was at one time making anywhere in the 60-90k a year range, and now the best job offers were for much, much less, trading seemed the right decision.
So I managed to build my account up rather nicely during the last 3-4 months of 2010, and then my wife added some money to my account so I could trade full time after her 401k had grown enough to make it worth it. January through March were good to me, but then came April. Wake up and smell the coffee!!
April was the hardest month I have had so far since last October, and I almost got down on myself. I started feeling sorry for myself and doubting my abilities. It was not my abilities so much, but my lack of discipline in the current market environment and my decisions during that time. It took me all of April to realize that sometimes even the best in their vocation hit a slump. I had not 'blown up' my account, and we were not doing without.
May has now rolled around and the tape is still choppy, and I still make the here and there dumb decision, but they are getting to be less of my choices now. I realize that each week the market presents opportunities, and it is a matter of finding them and capitalizing on them.
I am blessed in so many more ways with a great family, friends, food, shelter, waking each morning and so many other blessings we over look each day. I would like to make more money each week than I do, and am fortunate enough that I have a job where I can get a raise any time I choose, although I have to make the right choices. I can take a day off without guilt, eat lunch with my wife or kids any day I choose, or volunteer to do something at church because I can.
So no more Pity Party for me. I need to refocus on my efforts and remember that I am lucky to be doing what I am doing, and that I have the abilities that God has given me. I hope to write again in a few weeks and give a much different result of my trading efforts than April saw.
Monday, November 29, 2010
The Tithe & The Coin
I have gone back and forth over the years with tithing. My wife and I have done it at times, but never on a consistent basis by any means. My brother has been consistent in his belief to be obedient in tithing and will tell anyone who will lend an ear, that he and his family have never wanted, as he has been obedient, and God has seen to provide.
In August of this year we started tithing a percentage of the money we had coming in. It was an amount that felt right, but a little uncomfortable at the same time. We wanted to be cheerful givers, and not out of guilt. We also wanted to support the place where we get spiritually fed, and where we give a lot of time through volunteering for different ministries they offer.
Fast forward 3 months and money was still tight, and is still tight. My wife and I had just given our third month of tithe and boom an argument struck one Sunday after church. It was one of those stress induced, doubt filled, faith arguments. We got things settled as best we could and the rest of the day was as normal as possible.
The next morning while reading news and looking at e-mail, I decided for some reason to go out to apmex.com where I used to buy coins and other PM's for hobby more than anything. I had gotten an e-mail like every other week, but this time for some reason I went to their site to look at coins.
I still has several coins in my night stand that I had bought several years back and figured I might as well see if they were worth anything. Both had increased in value, but one had gone up in value so much I almost did not believe my eyes.
Without going into great detail and making this any longer than need be, I will just say that a coin I had bought for $79 was now sold on eBay that week, two days after the discovery for $1300. I called my brother who I had given one to for a birthday present as well, and he was shocked as you might imagine. So the coin had given us back our 3 months of tithe plus another month we had not given.
We continue to tithe and between the coin and my trading, my trading account is up close to 300% since we started tithing and being obedient to God in this area. Our long term goal is to increase our tithe as we have the ability to do so, or just stretch a little so the comfort level is always breached just a bit. We want to use money for good, and to help others that really need help.
In August of this year we started tithing a percentage of the money we had coming in. It was an amount that felt right, but a little uncomfortable at the same time. We wanted to be cheerful givers, and not out of guilt. We also wanted to support the place where we get spiritually fed, and where we give a lot of time through volunteering for different ministries they offer.
Fast forward 3 months and money was still tight, and is still tight. My wife and I had just given our third month of tithe and boom an argument struck one Sunday after church. It was one of those stress induced, doubt filled, faith arguments. We got things settled as best we could and the rest of the day was as normal as possible.
The next morning while reading news and looking at e-mail, I decided for some reason to go out to apmex.com where I used to buy coins and other PM's for hobby more than anything. I had gotten an e-mail like every other week, but this time for some reason I went to their site to look at coins.
I still has several coins in my night stand that I had bought several years back and figured I might as well see if they were worth anything. Both had increased in value, but one had gone up in value so much I almost did not believe my eyes.
Without going into great detail and making this any longer than need be, I will just say that a coin I had bought for $79 was now sold on eBay that week, two days after the discovery for $1300. I called my brother who I had given one to for a birthday present as well, and he was shocked as you might imagine. So the coin had given us back our 3 months of tithe plus another month we had not given.
We continue to tithe and between the coin and my trading, my trading account is up close to 300% since we started tithing and being obedient to God in this area. Our long term goal is to increase our tithe as we have the ability to do so, or just stretch a little so the comfort level is always breached just a bit. We want to use money for good, and to help others that really need help.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
The Quest @ 3-10%
So what in the world is the quest, and the attached 3-10% mean you might ask? It is what I have embarked on this year, then stopped, and then started on again. You see, I lost my job in December of 2009. I had a small trading account and did some swing trades now and then, as I worked during the day and had little time to monitor any positions. Well that changed when I was laid off, and I suddenly had lots of time to trade at that point.
Unemployment sure helped with paying the bills and I was able to scratch up a little more money to get around 5k in my account to trade with. My goal has been to make 3-10% a week off my capital to grow my account and be able to take out some funds to help pay bills. Crazy. Impossible. Maybe. But a task I was willing to undertake.
This was not my first time trading, to back up just a bit. I had tried to day trade full time, several times, and left good jobs on 3 prior occasions. All 3 times I did OK, but was under so much pressure to pay bills due to our debt load, I made poor choices. I was the guy who sold my winners too soon, way too soon, and held my losers way too long.
But that is not the case any more. I had no job, so I made trading my job. With less than 25k you are under the PDT rule, or pattern day trader rule which limits you to 3 day trades per rolling 5 days. I am fortunate to be around enough network groups of traders and scanners to find plays and slowly built my account up to near 10k. It could have been more but I did not take big risks.
I decided to study for a license for insurance around July and August and hung up trading for several months while I did this. I moved my trading money over to our checking account to survive. Fast forward to late September and the insurance gig was going slow. So I went back to what I knew and felt I could make money doing. I put 2k back in my trading account. Through a series of very good trades and a few other events which I will chronicle in my next blog, I have gotten my account up near 7k now. I will detail more about how this all came to be in my next blog called The Tithe & The Coin.
Unemployment sure helped with paying the bills and I was able to scratch up a little more money to get around 5k in my account to trade with. My goal has been to make 3-10% a week off my capital to grow my account and be able to take out some funds to help pay bills. Crazy. Impossible. Maybe. But a task I was willing to undertake.
This was not my first time trading, to back up just a bit. I had tried to day trade full time, several times, and left good jobs on 3 prior occasions. All 3 times I did OK, but was under so much pressure to pay bills due to our debt load, I made poor choices. I was the guy who sold my winners too soon, way too soon, and held my losers way too long.
But that is not the case any more. I had no job, so I made trading my job. With less than 25k you are under the PDT rule, or pattern day trader rule which limits you to 3 day trades per rolling 5 days. I am fortunate to be around enough network groups of traders and scanners to find plays and slowly built my account up to near 10k. It could have been more but I did not take big risks.
I decided to study for a license for insurance around July and August and hung up trading for several months while I did this. I moved my trading money over to our checking account to survive. Fast forward to late September and the insurance gig was going slow. So I went back to what I knew and felt I could make money doing. I put 2k back in my trading account. Through a series of very good trades and a few other events which I will chronicle in my next blog, I have gotten my account up near 7k now. I will detail more about how this all came to be in my next blog called The Tithe & The Coin.
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