jonbig04

yea, I thought people were switching from the March to the April, not from the April to the May. What the heck.

I'm on the 4/10 contract. Dangit, why is the 5/10 all of the sudden so much better? The vol has been fine on this contract all the other days, it's weird. Isn't this the front month?

What's with the light volume today?

Welp my would-be target filled about an hour ago. I can never get used to being stopped to the tick. It's not like there's anything you can do about it. Just bad luck I guess. Cost me over 100 ticks this time though. :crap::crap: Anyway I'm not averse to shorting the same area again, but I'm really waiting for a BO above 83.5ish.

The world hates me. Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch

Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch And yet, to the tick Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch

Cool thread. Since I'm taking my CL trades live now I thought I'd chime in. Here my longer term chart. I was looking for longs down at 79.40ish. I got a stop order in but it never filled. The level bent too much for me and I didn't catch the move up. I'm now hoping for a pullback to 80.76ish, or a short near 83.04 OR an upside breakout about 83.04. Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch

A very complex process of...just ignoring the data. Haha, as long as I know the trades didn't happen I will just have a pesky gap there, but that will be gone in a few days. I tried to exclude the weekend, but that eliminates some of the current valid PA. No big deal, the main thing was making sure the data was just a misfire.

Thanks guys, think I got it sorted out.

Ninja w/zenfire. Just emailed Zen trying to figure out what the heck this phantom data is all about ha. It's messing up my charts.

Something is definitely off here, but it seems like a lot of people are showing data for 3/13. Trying to get to the bottom of it.

My charts are showing a massive gap down in CL 4/10. From 81.10 to 79.60's. And it's saying the gap down happened on 3/14..as in Saturday. What the heck? I verified the chart with a friend of mine and he's showing the same thing. a $1.00 gap down? On a Saturday? What am I missing? Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch

Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch

We reached a major level on the S&P today, even on the daily chart. I'm keeping on eye out for what could be a monster breakout above 1148 (1150 cash index). I bought the HOD and got out for -0.75 when it became clear the BO wasn't happening. I then was able to get a short in and reach PT 1. The rest were stopped out BE when price came back up to retest. I would like to get long down here, but there's been too much chop and my levels are unclear. Once again though, I really think that a BO above 1148 could be monstrous.

Never triggered. To sleep I go.

Thought I'd share this potential trade, and reasoning behind it. Below is a large time frame chart. I'm hoping for a pullback tonight/tomorrow (hence the short in the next chart). After which I will try to get long around 1125.75. The red lines outlines what I'm looking for. In an ideal world, right? Haha. Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch And the stop entry: Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch One thing I don't like about this trade is the R/R. On the short it's only 4R. Mostly because this swing is a good deal larger than the ones I usually take, but I've been getting so few signals on ES lately I feel like I kinda have to take what I can get. Also, if the trade pans out I should be able to get a 6R or 7R trade in on the long at the bottom. If so my target will be trend continuance, and higher highs. If it happens, that is. A big if.

Tell me about it! :doh:

And I'm sick of ES and it's lack of volatility and my lack of trades! Grrrr. CL here I come...

No trades today, but I was up late last night with ES and I made some decisions I was proud of. Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch As you can see, technically it was within my rules to enter a short there. I didn't because the swing was too small. I learned my lesson from last month and really wanted to see a nice bounce from deeper into the support zone below. Then if THAT broke down I could enter. I got the bounce, but price never came back to break that S and continued upwards. I saved myself a stop. No big deal but I'm happy that I was able to draw some decent conclusions from price and not repeat last month's mistake. I wanted to get in a long on the flip test of 1125.75, but price never pulled back for me Looks like there is a short sequence at EOD. I feel kind of weird because I maybe entering this short right when the market opens on Sunday night. But I guess price is price right? Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch

Listen to atto, you should.

I'm pretty much head over heels for CL now. I'm restraining myself and trading it sim for a set amount of time. The thing loves to breakout it seems. I caught a breakout on it the other day that netted the equivalent of my entire monthly goal on ES lol. It just makes ES feel so boring.

I use skitch for annotating the charts (it's free) and all I have to do is click "copy to forum" and then paste it right into the body. It's just a lot faster.

For the double top/bottoms that's correct, I wait and enter on the retest of the "hump". For my other trades though I try to get in on the breakdown like you do, but sometimes I miss fill and have to wait for the retest haha. Side not, I actually started using that method of entry for breakouts. Basically (assuming downside BO) I switch to the 5 sec and wait for the first sure of volume (low), then watch as price slowly ticks back upwards. If it's just a probe I'm thinking that price will never come back to that low. If it does come back I'm thinking it will probably break out. I enter just before it gets there and, hopefully, breaks out. If you recall I botched that CL breakout last month. I think I'm starting to get a handle on it now though. Quick note: I a now adding double top/bottom w/ hump retests to my plan. I used to trade them all the time, but took them out so I could focus on the other setups. This has happened 2 times on es in the last month or so. Both times I didn't take them for no other reason than the fact that they weren't a part of my current plan. They are too easy and reliable not to take advantage of. Today I even had the short in, but canceled it because technically it would be a lapse in discipline if I did something that wasn't in the plan. That's a psychological Rubicon that I don't want to cross. This setup doesn't happen a lot, so this isn't a big change. I'm sure every dang trader caught this except for me. But no more! Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch

They pretty much are the same kinda thing, only that in the case of a double top you aren't looking for a LH because the peaks are equal. But same concept really. Double tops as I see them don't happen very often, but I'm picky when defining them.

Quick note: I a now adding double top/bottom w/ hump retests to my plan. I used to trade them all the time, but took them out so I could focus on the other setups. This has happened 2 times on es in the last month or so. Both times I didn't take them for no other reason than the fact that they weren't a part of my current plan. They are too easy and reliable not to take advantage of. Today I even had the short in, but canceled it because technically it would be a lapse in discipline if I did something that wasn't in the plan. That's a psychological Rubicon that I don't want to cross. This setup doesn't happen a lot, so this isn't a big change. I'm sure every dang trader caught this except for me. But no more! Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch