My goal of trading well......

Traders who routinely make enormous amounts of money trading don’t mentally count the pounds or dollars while they’re trading. They don’t keep a mental calculator continuously running in their head to constantly keep track of how much money they’ve put into their account.  “Let’s see, I bought 1000 shares of Vodafone and it’s up one point, times one Pound or dollar a share, equals 1000 pounds or dollars!” Nothing and I mean nothing, will blow your concentration and cloud your judgment faster than keeping that calculator running in your head, calculating the pounds or dollars you’ve made or lost each minute that goes by during the trading day. Another booby trap is to announce to the world, your husband, wife or even your dog that you’re going to make a specific amount of money trading today.  You’re setting yourself up for failure.  Setting as specific dollar amount you must bring home each day, especially if you’re a beginning trader, assures that it probably won’t happen.  This need to make a specific amount of money colours your view of the market and pressures you to open positions that are marginal trades because you have promised yourself or worse yet, someone else - that you’re going to bring home the cash!  Your pledge echoes in your mind, so you force trades.  Odds are, you lose money.  Now you’re embarrassed with yourself and you start questioning your self-esteem, which automatically leads to more losses. The cure for this illness: From this point forward, your goal is not to make money.  Your goal is to trade to trade well!  Money is a by-product of trading well.  A very interesting thing starts to happen when you focus on trading well.  Your profits will start to add up a lot faster than they did when making money was your primary goal.  This is simply because traders who focus on trading well cut their losses and let their winners run.  They protect their capital and leave unnecessary risks to others.  They recognize a choppy market and sit on their hands and don’t trade.  They make promises to no one, including themselves, about the money they want to take home. Traders who trade well let the market come to them.  They are extremely patient and disciplined.  They wait for the perfect setup and entry point.   If that perfect point doesn’t come along, oh well, they wait for the next one knowing that another chance is just around the corner.  Once in the trade, they mechanically and methodically manage their position, taking profits at specific points, and moving their stop loss to protect their principal. Traders who trade well don’t trade simply for the excitement of the trade because they have become addicted to the thrill.  They don’t trade out of boredom or when they are sick or tired.  They don’t trade especially if they have stress in their life that disallows their full focus on the market.  Successful traders always abide by their trading rules and never stray from them. Traders who trade well are perfectionists and can make themselves very wealthy as a result of their unwavering discipline. That is my goal!

New Short Trade - VAL:NYSE

In line with my bearish stance on the whole market/economy, I've entered a new short trade on Valspar (VAL:NYSE).   The stock has been in a strong uptrend since September 2011.   However, the price action appears to be weakening within a tightening rising wedge.   I've gone short this morning at the top of the rising wedge.   There is strong divergence between the price  (making higher highs) and the MACD indicator making lower lows.   Stochastics are oversold and the market has made a small bounce this morning.   By entering at the top of the wedge with a tight protective stop loss order, my first target (at R:RR of 1:1) lies just at the bottom trend line of the wedge, which means that could be achieved even if the pattern continues to hold and doesn't fail.   Should this be achieved, I will be looking for the second target to be just above the .382 Fibonacci level at $43 and the third target to be just above the .618 Fibonacci level at $37.

ICP:LSE Closed

My ICP:LSE long trade was stopped out at break even for a scratch trade on Tuesday....I'm happy to be out as my stop was at break-even which was at the same place as where the pattern failed.

ICP:LSE - Update

This trade has moved slightly in my favour but the market is very hesitant. Given the passage of time, I've moved my stop to break even and will continue to monitor the price action

New Long Position ICP:LSE

I have taken a new long position on ICP:LSE.   The price action has formed an asymmetrical triangle with  the completion point of an AB=CD pattern coinciding with the lower trendline.
You can also see  that there is a momentum step on the stochatsic indicator.....which I take to be an indication of a positive change in momentum.    The MACD, which I also use as a momentum indicator is supporting a move higher.
My stop is just underneath the lower trend line giving me a very tight stop and the opportunity for a good R:RR return.   I shall move my stop to break even if the opportunity presents itself.

Travelling in the USA

I am currently travelling in the USA so my trading activities will be restricted.   However, I still have live option trades running and I will be trading as and when I can and hope to post as normal along the way.

CPI:LSE - Hits target

MY short trade on CPI:LSE has paid me off handsomely this morning.  The price gapped down at the open....and I was filled below my profit target level which gave me an added bonus.   Gaps can work with you and against you and in this case it was in my favour.   The original down channel pattern was violated and the price came within 2 pips of my stop level.   However, my momentum indicators always appeared to "not be supporting the price action" and this has now proved to be the case.

Buying more Put Options

I bought a new batch of put options on Friday, on the QQQ index ETF and some companies.  They are all with expiry dated 18th May 2012 and are all with varying strike prices

This is  a list of the companies, they are in in the US markets:
INTU, CF, PCP, CHKP, CRM, PII,DVA, KLAC, LULU, SWI

They are all short term trades, banking on the market falling from the levels it was trading at on Friday.

Update - CPI:LSE

Oh well.....I entered my first tranche of this trade too early.   However, as you can see from my original post, I only took a half trade size in the middle of the channel.  With the benefit of hindsight, I should have exercised more patience and simply monitored the price to see if I could get an entry nearer the top of the channel.   However, what has developed is interesting.  The price action has proceeded to climb to a point just short of the top of the channel and consolidated.   This has all happened in what looks like a bearish rising wedge and  the price was making new highs but the momentum indicator was not.   That was enough to spur me into action and increase my trade size to my normal risk level within my money management strategy.    You can see that the price consolidated for around 7 hours at the 738p level so this gave me the opportunity to take my second position at  the 735p level.    The price has subsequently dropped to a point where my overall position is now at break even and any downward movement from here will be welcome!

APR:LSE Closed for a small profit

I have closed my APR:LSE short trade today for a small profit.   The price hit my first target yesterday but the action has been minimal since I opened the trade and the Company is due to issue results on Monday of next week.   I don't want to hold my CFD position open over the announcement so have taken a profit while I can