Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Wed. 03/11/09 - Gotta pay to play

My PC is an utter POS. Charts freeze on it all the time, and there's no way I could risk real $ trading on this machine, so I ordered a new dual-core machine this afternoon (gotta pay to play). I traded part of the morning on my younger brother's quad-core PC with 4 GB or ram hooked to a 26" wide-screen display. A couple of those 26" screens would be perfect for trading (my current setup is three 19" screens, except only two are functioning since my current PC is messed up). Anyway, the new box should be here by the weekend and I'll be up and running on it by Monday :-)

Today's trades resulted in a gross P/L of +$375.00. We had an open gap at 733, and almost got a gap-fill (price hit 732.50). It's close enough that I think we can consider that gap, filled. I was expecting some resistance at that point, and it worked out fairly well. The following charts show today's trades.

ES 233-tickbar Chart showing the earlier morning trades


ES 233-tickbar Chart showing the later morning trades


Left a lot on the table but again, this week's focus is not trading and I was occupied with other tasks while putting these trades on. Speaking of which, I need to get back to finishing my final paper for one of my classes, so wrapping this up here. For tomorrow, lets be mindful of the retail sales and jobless claims data coming out at 7:30 AM (central), and the open gap below. I would still expect some resistance in the 733 area, but if we can break it on volume, 750s are not out of the question. S&P closed below its mid-point which, to me, is a sign of weakness but as always, trade what you see.

Gap filled in the afternoon session


ES/$TICK (3-min)
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6 comments:

  1. mtcx2009March 11, 2009 at 6:57 PM

    I went through the same issue and decided to try and keep things simple to one screen 26". I may expand if I go full time.

    Sometimes too much information is not a good thing.

    Hot Tips: Get a removable drive bay. Load one drive for trading only - nothing else. No email, no virus risk, no games etc. Load a second drive for general use.

    Ideally have a backup machine with the same hardware ready to go. Drop in the drive and go.

    Put your broker on speed dial.

    Get a UPS for your equipment.

    Consider a backup internet connection if you start to make a living trading.

    ReplyDelete
  2. E-Mini PlayerMarch 11, 2009 at 7:52 PM

    Good points!

    ReplyDelete
  3. mvwMarch 12, 2009 at 9:14 AM

    Hi E-mini Player, do you have any good resources for using the tick charts?

    ReplyDelete
  4. E-Mini PlayerMarch 12, 2009 at 11:10 AM

    Do you mean the chart with the ES and NYSE $TICK or the tick-bar charts? I use the 610-tickbar chart for execution.

    ReplyDelete
  5. mvwMarch 13, 2009 at 2:17 AM

    I'm referring to the tick bar charts. I can't find any good resources on that.

    ReplyDelete
  6. E-Mini PlayerMarch 14, 2009 at 11:53 AM

    I use the 610-tickbar chart like any other chart. I think momentum is easier to spot on a tick-bar chart.

    ReplyDelete

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