Gentle Trader

Archive for March, 2010

This fresh new feature provided by Investor R/T 10.1.2 really simplifies my homework and saves me a lot of time. The software now plots automatically HVN (high volume node) and LVN (low volume node) in my composite volume charts. Cool!

In the chart above, all levels were plotted automatically.

MarketDelta and Investor R/T are exactly the same software with MarketDelta having the additional charts called “Footprint Charts”.  After testing the FootprintCharts provided by the Gomi Indicators in NinjaTrader, I just quit MarketDelta and Started using Investor R/T. The following charts show the output of the 2 softwares. MarketDelta on the top, NinjaTrader/Gomi on the bottom.

Both are being feeded by DTN IQ. Gomi even shows more information than MarketDelta: it plots the delta since recent lows and recent highs. Very cool!

Summing up, I moved from a $200 software into a $75 one and get some nice plus information in my charts.

Good setups are not enough for being a profitable trader. The proper management of the trade once you are in are vital. This Friday I got my setup triggered a few times. First time, in the beginning of the day, I hadn’t started trading. When I first saw it I got the feeling of being out of the party. This is a dangerous feeling that can ruin your trading day.

The first setup I got after being in front of my computer was a buy setup. After a 32k delta sell off, I got my 4k long entry from the lows.  Stopped out this trade. Sell off continued.

Next setup triggered. Market started going sideways.

The last setup triggered was also a long setup. And it would be the best one if I took it with the “correct” size. I entered in the trade with twice cars I use to enter. Got stopped almost in the low of the day, just to see the market rallies without me.

Overview of the day:

Cumulative TICK:

Internals:

Brazilian Market:

Lessons learned:

• If you missed a good entry,  you have to wait another entry with patience
• Never oversize your position

No clear entry according to my setup. Market pulled back right at a Low Volume Node (LVN), which corresponded to 100% Initial Balance extension.

Cumulative TICK:

Internals:

Brazilian Market:

I got 2 long entries triggered.

Cumulative TICK:

Internals:

Brazilian market:

Started to look at June contract (ESM10). Volume still low, but will certainly  improve until next week, when old contract stops trading. Tried some trades today, closed even.

Some long and short entries triggered. Interesting how we can use delta to close the trade BEFORE worst case stop is hit. Sometimes you can stop a “wrong” trade even with 1 or 2 ticks positive.

Ended the day positive. A big view of the whole day follows:

Time to change into June contract! You can find some nice information about rollover days here. If you use Investor R/T or MarketDelta software, go to menu “Control: Data Management: Adjust For Splits” fill the following form:

I used -4.5 correction. More information about Investor R/T and MarketDelta rollover can be found here.

This picture tries to sum up my setup. Had one good short entry that I did not take (was not trading at that time). After that good one, I got a not so good long entry that I took. Got the signal to close it and didn’t close. The market sold off hardly and I added more long positions (stupid decision, initiating a TILT state). In the last push down, I got stopped out and then the market started a nice rally… without me.

Lesson learned: DO NOT force entries after you missed a good one! New good ones will appear later. Must be patient.