Fri Aug 26 Trades & Journal

20160826
Short 1 NQ 4789.0, -2.0
Long 1 NQ 4795.0, +2.0
Long 2 NQ 4793.5, 4793.5, -0.0, -2.0
Short 1 NQ 4742.5, -1.0
Long 2 NQ 4780.0, 4780.0, +2.0, -2.0
Long 2 NQ 4776.0, 4776.0, +2.0, +8.0
Short 1 TF 1246.5, -1.4
Short 2 TF 1248.8, 1248.8, +0.7, -0.0
Short 3 TF 1249.4, 1249.2, 1249.4, -0.5, -0.0, -0.5
Long 1 YM 18573, -2
Long 2 TF 1246.2, 1246.2, +0.5, -0.7
Long 2 TF 1245.1, 1244.4, -0.0, +2.0
Total YM -2
Total NQ +7.0
Total TF +0.1


The news can cause havoc in the market place, especially when a Fed Chairman is scheduled in advance to speak. But it can also create tremendous opportunities. There are often entry models that appear pre-news on which to ride the wave of apparent panic as the speech is made public, and then again after the news is out, there are often bad news buys or good news short opportunities to fade. Today offered both a pre-news short entry and a bad news buy opp, but my trading did not well capitalize on either. The pre-news setup was a stop-n-reverse into a short. I choose the NQ, but it was choppy, so I lost faith. The YM was clean a minute or so later, but I was 'skunked' and just watched as the plunge took place without me. Still focused on the NQ, I used it for the bad news buy opp, but my default exit limit, set at +8.0pts was hit so quickly that the best of the excursion went on without me. The TF would have been an excellent choice, but with my focus still caught up in trying to 'get even' with earlier NQ stop-outs, I missed the TF, and was left to trying to find the top to fade into the ensuing rally--unsuccessfully. Thus a day of huge excursions--most of which my Trade Plan did accommodate--was wasted. Think ahead. What models could appear on a news climax? Which contract do you want to be in? What are its best climax levels from the Pivot/Exhaustion Grid. Be calm. Be ready. Act when the model appears. That is what you came for.