May 01 2008
Today’s Trading Look-Back – May 1, 2008
The less said about today’s trading, the better.
I did something boneheaded. I put on a short position in the latter morning when the market looked like it was stalling out in the middle 1390s. It just hung around there for a while. I got caught up writing a comment for the service I work on, then got called into a meeting and forgot all about my position. When I got back to the screen I was under water by 11-12 points.
“Didn’t you use a stop?”, you’re probably wondering.
If I’m in front of the screen and know I’ll be there relatively undistracted, I normally don’t. There is a simple reason for this. I generally use how the market is acting from a few different angles to decide whether I want to stay in or get out. Oftentimes that means making a quick exit of a trade. This is something that improves my R performances as I often get out at less of a loss than I would have had I just used a stop. Not having the active stop in then takes away any risk of my accidentally getting stopped into a new position because I didn’t get the order cancelled in time.
Yes, though. If I’m expecting distractions or going to be away from the desk, I do put in a stop. Well, I usually do. 
For the sake of discussion, though, today’s initial key levels were 1382 where they were rejected back on April 25th, and Tuesday’s point of control at 1393. A run higher to 1400 or so on a break was predictable, though it was suprising to see a continuation on a pre-Payrolls session.
Here are some other posts which might interest you:
