Bernie's S&P E-Mini Futures Trading Journal

Opening Comments Still in the moving process. Spending a few days in the South of Spain. Finished of the June short with a nice profit. Will be looking at the July 4th Long next. Real Money Trading S&P 500 e-Mini There is a Special Holiday Trade around the July 4th Holiday in the USA. This is a long trade. The best entry day for this trade was the 28th of June. The market had rallied on the 28th making the entry on the open a good entry point. I missed that entry day. The 29th of June is also a good day for entering this trade, with only slightly lower odds of success. I was not watching the market at the open, so did not enter at that time. I logged in at about 9:45 and the market was rallying of the day low and had given a buy signal in the 10,000 tick chart. This looked like a decent entry point for the trade as the market had declined significantly out of the open. I took 1 contract long @ 2433.00. The rules are to buy on the open, hold the trade fo...

Opening Comments Pretty quiet overnight. The market re-opened about where it closed and went sideways. We have most everything packed up and removed from the apartment. Today we ties up some loses ends and head South to visit friends for a couple of days. Was a little bit of drama with the move, but that is normal. Will not have internet access for part of the day and will not be able to monitor and manage the trade. Real Money Trading S&P 500 e-Mini Holding 2 contracts short at an average price of 2434.625. Last night I moved my target up from 2423.50 to 2430.00. I did this because of our moving and will not be able to manage the trade through the day. In early morning trading the market came down and touched the target but did not get filled then rallied back to retest the 2436 range, went sideways for a bit, then tanked, took out my target, we are flat with a profit of $457 went down and took out the level where my original target was and kept going. This ...

Opening Comments This week is going to be a bit different. We are packing up the apartment in Spain for a move to the UK. Once everything is packed we will go visit some friends in the South of Spain before landing on our daughters doorstep next Saturday in the UK. That means I will not be able to trade in the same manner as usual. It also give me an opportunity to try some other strategies this coming week. We  have a Special June Short trade that I have been following and looks to be setting up well. The trade rules are to enter short on the 5 Trading Day Left in the Month (TDLM), then exit on the first profitable open. The 5th TDLM is Monday, July 26th. The market opens on Sunday afternoon @ 17:30 so we will enter 1 contract short on the open. The Stop is $1,900. We will put a target in at 2423.50 or take the trade out on the first profitable open, whichever comes first. The target is chosen taking a couple of things into consideration. The first are the prev...

Week in Review Real Money Account Was a very good week despite, or because of a couple of Plan B executions. The Real Money Account did very well with a profit of $1,600, and an average of $320 per day. Next week we will up the target to $300 per day. This is again an acceleration of our original plan to transition from Simulation to Real trading. Not sure how much trading I will do next week. We have movers coming on Monday to pack and load out our stuff. Then we are going to visit some friends in the South of Spain for a few days before landing on our daughters doorstep in the UK. There is a special trade next week that I may take instead of my regular day trading. We will see how things work out. Bonds Simulation Trading Not a real busy week with the Bonds. We made a profit of $278 for the week. We are long 1 contract going into next week. S&P 500 E-mini Sim Account The Sim Account was a little different story, we lost 1,371 dollars on the week and are stuck ...

Opening Comments So, we hit another milestone yesterday. The equity in the Real Money Account has grown by $10,000. The interesting statistics to this are; 1st $5,000 of equity growth took 49 trading days. 2nd $5,000 of equity growth took 25 trading days, half the time. Let's see if we can improve on that for the 3rd $5,000 of equity growth. The market rallied on the open off yesterday's late day decline. Nothing interesting to trade yet. We wait. The Sim Account remains stuck in the long position. Will keep working the average price down as opportunity allows. Our daily target in the Real Money account, for this week, is $250. Real Money Trading S&P 500 e-Mini The 2,000 tick break out of a consolidation and gives us a buy signal. 2:05 - Placed an order for 1 contract @ 2435.00 just below the entry point on the signal. Order Filled. Target @ 2436.25. Target hit, we are flat with profit of  $57. The 2,000 tick declined off the recent high into 2...

Opening Comments The market opened a bit lower, but has maintained the same range bond structure as  yesterday afternoon. Pretty messy chart since about 13:30 yesterday. Stuck in a 4 point range and no flow. We need a break out to show us some direction. Sim Account remains stuck in the long position. Will keep working the average price down as opportunity allows. Our daily target in the Real Money account, for this week, is $250. Real Money Trading S&P 500 e-Mini Pretty quite morning so far. Nothing significant happened at the European open. We are still range bound. Coming into the open all signals are pointing to a long trade. Took 2 long @ 2433.50 just before the open. Target @ 3434.50 No follow through on the long side off the open. 2,000 tick declined into 2 consecutive sell signals, I hesitated, there was a small rally then a decline into another sell signal. I placed an order to flip the trade on this second signal. 8:37 took 8 short ...

Opening Comments Yesterday was the first loss I have had in the Sim Account since April 27th. Not something we are used to, but it can and will happen. On the flip side we managed the Real Money Account short trade into a $585 profit and that is what really counts. No joy for the Sim Account as the market continued lower overnight Our daily target in the Real Money account, for this week, is $250. Real Money Trading S&P 500 e-Mini The market has set up a support level at 2433.00. The 2,000 tick declined off a lower short term high into a sell signal at support for the 3rd test of this level. The entry signal came in at 2433.00. 1:09 - Expecting a rally off this support I put an order for 1 short @ 2434.00 and was filled. Target @ 2433.00 Target hit, we are flat with $45 profit. The market breaks lower, consolidates for a couple of bars then declines into a sell signal @ 2429.50. The market then rallied off this sell signal. 2:28 - Placed an order fo...

Opening Comments No real movement overnight. The market re-tested the resistance level at 2452 a fourth time and is now declining back to the bottom of the range. We have been in this range from about 2246 to 2251 since around noon yesterday. Our daily target in the Real Money account , for this week, is $250. Real Money Trading S&P 500 e-Mini Currently holding 3 short positions at an average price of 2445.25 Targets set as follows based on Fibonacci retracement levels and the Size of the trading range the market has been in since yesterday noon. If we break out of the range lower we will probably adjust these targets lower as well. 2 @ 2443.25 1 @ 2442.25 It is now 7:30 am and the market has declined back to the bottom of the range and is re-testing support. Oil prices have dropped significantly overnight, breaking through a support level. This may work in our favour on the short side of the S&P. From the open the market broke through support and...

Opening Comments No market moving events over the weekend. The markets opened about where they closed and have made a small upward move continuing the Friday late day rally. Prognosis for the week from our advisory subscription is for the market to rally in the first few days then pullback towards the end of the week. Our daily target in the Real Money account , for this week, is $250. Real Money Trading S&P 500 e-Mini Missed a long signal at 1:04 and the market is running higher from that signal. Waiting for the next one. The 2,000 tick appeared to be setting up for 2 consecutive sell signals. I placed an order in anticipation that was filled, then the sell signal did not follow through. 3:40 - Sold 1 short @ 2438.00. Target @ 2437.00 Since this is already off plan and does represent a possible reversal point in the market I am going to adjust the target based on the open and Fibonacci numbers. The mid point between the 23 and 38% retracement levels brin...

Week in Review Was a pretty consistent week. Did well in both the Real Money Account and the Sim account. Also did well on the Simulation of the Bonds trading with a profit of $2026 for the week. We will run this simulation for a while to see how it performs. Real Money Account Summary & Chart Did not get into any big trouble and hit my profit target each day, for the Real Money account. I averaged $230 per day and made over $250 on Friday. I am going to accelerate my target schedule and aim for $250 per day next week. Real Account Equity Chart The account is growing nicely and the ROR is approaching 30%. Sim Account Summary & Chart I continue to do well in the Sim Account, $3,825 profit for this week. $765 per day average. I trade more aggressively and with more contracts in the Sim account.

Opening Comments Got off to a shaky start yesterday, but managed to pull it together and exceed our daily target. Worked for every cent we made yesterday, no easy trades in the Real Account. The market has rallied out of the open into a consolidation range. Waiting to see what it does next. Real Money Trading S&P 500 e-Mini 2,000 tick pulled back then rallied off a higher short term low into a buy signal. 2:02 - Took 1 long @ 2436.25. Target @ 2437.25. No follow through. the market faded lower. The 2,000 tick made a lower short term high and declined into a sell signal. Flipped Trade. 4:52 - Took 4 short @ 2434.50. 1 to cover the long and 3 for recovery. Target @ 2433.25 So, we are stuck in a sideways range looking like the next signal might be for a long reversal. If that happens it would require 11 contract which is more exposure than we can handle. We would go to plan B. The 2,000 tick forms another lower short term high then declines into 2 con...

Opening Comments Another positive performance  yesterday. We managed to exceed our daily target and collectively with the Sim account made over $800. this was despite the erratic behaviour of the market due to the Fed interest rate increase. I do not pay much attention to the news and only realized the Fed was talking after the fact. Overnight the market continued lower out of the open. There were a couple of very nice setups that were missed just due to timing, still in bed when they happened. Got to sleep some time. Real Money Trading S&P 500 e-Mini The market has dropped 10 point from the open and we would expect it to take some of that back and revert back toward the open before regular hours. Looking for a sign of this to happen. 2,000 tick formed a nice double test of the 2424 level then gave us a buy signal coming off the second test. 3:19 - Too 1 long @2426.00. Target @ 2427.00. No follow through on this trade. 2,000 tick moved lower off a lower sh...

Opening Comments Another positive performance  yesterday. We managed to exceed our daily target and collectively with the Sim account made over $1,000. So, we can see the potential of the methods. Not much action so far in the overnight market. There was a decline out of the open which has now retraced. Have been going sideways in a 4 point range since noon yesterday. We wait. Real Money Trading S&P 500 e-Mini There was a sell signal on the 10,000 tick at 0:48. It came in right at the bottom of the range and has only a 50% probability so we passed on it. The market rallied from there into 2 consecutive buy signals on the 2,000 tick. Hitting a target would require a break out of the range which is a high risk probability. We pass on this one. To was it was a good trade 6:37 - 10,000 tick gives us a buy signal. Passed on it as well and it turned out to be good. Need to become more confident in my own signals. Am second guessing things this morning. Take the t...

Opening Comments Yesterday was a good day. We managed to exceed our daily target and collectively with the Sim account made $951. Let's do it again today. The late day rally that started yesterday afternoon has continued through the overnight market. We will wait and see if we can get an entry point either with the trend or on the reversal. Real Money Trading S&P 500 e-Mini 2,000 tick gives us 2 consequent sell signals coming off the recent high. Placed order for 1 short @ 2430.75. Order filled. Target 2429.75. Target hit, we are flat with $45 profit. 2,000 tick rallies int two consecutive buy signals. 7:54 - Took 1 long @ 2431.75. Target @ 2432.75. Target hit, we are flat with $90 profit. Now to get set up for the Open Trade. At this point, about 15 minutes before the open we are looking like a long entry. Into the open all signals are long. Took 2 long @ 2432.50 just before the open. Target @ 2433.50. Target hit, we are flat with $190 ...

Opening Comments Friday's activity, Outside day with a down close is considered a Bullish signal. The first good TDOM to go long in the S&P 500 is todays open. Nothing exciting at the open, no gaps, no big moves. Our daily profit  target this week goes up to $200 Let's focus and get it done. Real Money Trading S&P 500 e-Mini The market gave a sell signal on the 2,000 tick @ 23:05. Was late getting up so did not see it and missed that one. 2,000 tick rallied then declined off a lower short term high into a sell signal. Took 1 short @ 2424.00. Target @ 2423.00. Target hit, we are flat with $45 profit. Market was moving lower and setting up for another sell signal. I adjusted an entry point to get my order ready, accidentally hit the buy button and ended up with 1 long @ 2423.00. By the time I noticed the market already moved away from break even. Normally the morning market moves will realign them selves with the open so we can anticip...