EZJ Momentum

Going positive on the 4 hr chart perhaps...?

Summary Week Ended Friday 23rd May 2014

 

5 Stock Trades:

3 BARC + 163.20 BPS
2 EZJ + 75.04 BPS


Stocks net  + 238.34 BPS

All long trades, overnight.

I traded 5 days this week.

Return on account for the week + 2.76 % net.

P:L ratio was N/A as there were no losing trades.

No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.

Thoughts

A decent week. A profit is a profit, although my entries were not at the best levels.
And I missed some good entries on the miners on Thursday & Friday.

Again above my 2.5% weekly benchmark, which is good.

Here are the changes on my watch list stocks for the week:

Next week is a short one since Monday is a holiday in the UK.

The ES is threatening to break 1900 at the moment.

Looking forward to more opportunities next week.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

EZJ Recent Price Action

Red line could be resistance perhaps...

Summary Week Ended Friday 16th May 2014

 

11 Stock Trades:

1 AAL + 8.55 BPS
3 BARC + 21.19 BPS
7 BLT + 69.28 BPS


Stocks net  + 99.02 BPS

4 long, 7 short trades, all intraday.

I traded 5 days this week.

Return on account for the week + 2.69 % net.

P:L ratio was 4.8:1.

No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.

Thoughts

A decent week. Again, a few poor exits, but a profit is a profit.

Again above my 2% weekly benchmark, which is good.

After some analysis, I have decided to increase this benchmark/target to 2.5%, so I just scraped in above that this week, even though it was a pretty quiet week overall.

Trading on BLT was interesting this week, it rallied strongly from the 1890s to 1980s, and I had a look at the price history:

There was a high of 1989 in Feb, shown in blue. One thing I never really understand is who is buying near obvious resistance ? Shorts covering their losses perhaps ?

Note how far it fell after that high on the 21st Feb ?

Anyway, this was an obvious short level. Unfortunately, I got nervous when the price didn't immediately drop back to the 1960s, and closed for a small profit (always more nervous short than long). Of course, it later dropped back to the 1960s. But that's trading for you.

I still don't understand why people were buyers at 1985..... Were they also sellers in the 1890s last Friday I wonder... Oh well...

Later in the week, BLT did manage to break out and hit the 2000 mark, although it closed at 1995. I took the opportunity to sell some shares at 2000 that I bought back in Decemeber 2013 at 1763

Once the dividend of around 35p is included, this is a gross return of 15.4% on this investment (trade ?), or 1540 BPS.

This is obviously not included in the account being monitored in this blog, but a decent return on a boring large cap stock. It would be nice to do one of those every month.

We saw some serious weakness on stocks during Thursday and Friday, although the FTSE actually managed to close positively on Friday .
Change on watch list stocks over the last 5 Days:

STOCK	T - 5 DAYS	CLOSE	CHANGE	BPS
AAL	1604	1561.5	-42.50	-264.96
BARC	260.15	241.55	-18.60	-714.97
BG.	1264.5	1283.5	+19.00	+150.26
BLT	1896.5	1953	+56.50	+297.92
BP.	500.9	507.1	+6.20	+123.78
CNA	318.5	328.9	+10.40	+326.53
EZJ	1685	1516	-169.00	-1,002.97
GLEN	325.5	325.6	+0.10	+3.07
HSBA	596	632.5	+36.50	+612.42
RDSA	76.37	2345.5	-24.50	-103.38
RIO	325.2	3286.5	+98.00	+307.35
SBRY	335.8	347.7	+11.90	+354.38
STAN	2370	1336	+44.00	+340.56
UU.	3188.5	837.5	+15.00	+182.37

Looking forward to more opportunities next week.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

Watch List Stocks 5 Day Change at Close 13th May 2014

Five day change on my watch list stocks at yesterday's close:

STOCK	T - 5 DAYS	CLOSE	CHANGE	BPS
AAL	1542.5	1637.5	+95.00	+615
BARC	245	255.35	+10.35	+422
BG.	1266	1269	+3.00	+23
BLT	1912	1965	+53.00	+277
BP.	501	500.2	-0.80	-16
CNA	324.2	323.6	-0.60	-18
EZJ	1667	1658	-9.00	-54
GLEN	320.75	330.65	+9.90	+309
HSBA	604.1	611	+6.90	+114
RDSA	78.5	2370	+23.50	+100
RIO	325.2	3330.5	+115.50	+359
SBRY	333.4	339	+5.60	+168
STAN	2346.5	1308	+27.50	+215
UU.	3215	834.5	+30.50	+379

Daily Stocks Spreadsheet Week Ending 9th May 2014

We had a decent week in terms of volatility.

I will be watching AAL next week, recent top was 1605.5 so just broken, and yesterday was the first close above 1600 since September 2013.

I have replaced RIO on the spreadsheet with SBRY.

Summary Week Ended Friday 9th May 2014

 

15 Stock Trades:

3 AAL + 33.95 BPS
7 BARC + 156.51 BPS
4 BLT + 41.88 BPS
1 SBRY + 30.52 BPS

Stocks net  + 262.87 BPS

5 long, 10 short trades, overnight and intraday.

I traded 3 days this week.

Return on account for the week + 6.75 % net.

P:L ratio was 4.35:1.

No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.

Thoughts

A decent week. A few poor exits, but a profit is a profit.

Again well above my 2% weekly benchmark, which is encouraging.

Markets were closed on Monday for the spring bank holiday.

BARC was very active after results came out on Tuesday (see chart), and I could have made a fair bit more on it if I had held my long overnight, but that's trading.

This week I added SBRY to my watchlist spreadsheet, a stock I used to trade in the past. SBRY has had some decent moves recently.

Looking at my spreadsheet, I note that I haven't had a losing week on my stock trading since early October 2013, so I realise that I need to excercise caution at the moment...

Going to post this now (Friday) since I think I am done for the week.

Looking forward to more opportunities next week.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

Summary Week Ended Friday 2nd May 2014

 

12 Stock Trades:

3 AAL + 49.36 BPS
7 BLT + 34.82
2 RDSA + 2.96 BPS

Stocks net  + 87.14 BPS

Long and short trades, all intraday.

I traded 5 days this week.

Return on account for the week 2.36 % net.

P:L ratio was 3.19:1.

No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.

Thoughts

A pretty quiet week. A few poor entries, but a profit is a profit.

North of my 2% benchmark, which is good.

Over the month of April, my trades were as follows:

18 AAL + 213.94 BPS
38 BLT + 354.78 BPS
5 EZJ + 89.87 BPS
2 RDSA + 2.96 BPS
3 STAN + 35.35 BPS


TOTAL 66 trades + 696.89 BPS

Return on account for April +12.50 % net.

P:L ratio was 4.26:1.

I am pretty pleased with the percentage return, although it could have been better.
Interestingly, 65 of the 66 trades were intraday trades.


Looking forward to more opportunities next week.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

2014 Stock Trades by Hour of Entry

Daily Stocks Spreadsheet 30th April 2014

Summary Week Ended Friday 25th April 2014

 

11 Stock Trades:

9 AAL + 48.07 BPS

2 STAN + 24.04 BPS

Stocks net  + 72.11 BPS


Long and short trades, all intraday.

I traded just 3 days this week.

Return on account for the week 1.72 % net.

P:L ratio was 2.02:1.

No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.

Thoughts

A pretty quiet week. Monday was a holiday, and I struggled to find decent opportunies. I missed a couple of very nice opportunities on BARC and EZJ.

On Friday we saw a bit of a sell off and I didn't fancy carrying positions over the weekend, with the Ukraine situation the way it is at the moment.

Looking forward to more opportunities next week.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

Summary Week Ended Friday 18th April 2014

 

17 Stock Trades:

4 AAL + 56.29 BPS

10 BLT + 111.30 BPS

3 EZJ + 32.21 BPS

Stocks net  + 199.80 BPS


All long trades, all intraday.

I traded 3.5 days this week.

Return on account for the week 2.93 % net.

P:L ratio was 10.89:1.

No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.





Thoughts

A quieter week. Stocks on my watch list traded in fairly narrow ranges, and so I had to scalp what I could.

Well above my 2% weekly return benchmark, which is good.

The London market is closed on Friday and Monday for Easter, so we have two, four day weeks, and volumes were nothing special during the week as many people are away from the markets at this time of year. Not me of course !


It's Thursday lunchtime, and I think I'm done for the week.

Looking forward to more opportunities next week.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

Linda Bradford Raschke – 50 Time Tested Classic Stock Trading Rules

1. Plan your trades. Trade your plan.

2. Keep records of your trading results.

3. Keep a positive attitude, no matter how much you lose.

4. Don’t take the market home.

5. Continually set higher trading goals.

6. Successful traders buy into bad news and sell into good news.

7. Successful traders are not afraid to buy high and sell low.

8. Successful traders have a well-scheduled planned time for studying the markets.

9. Successful traders isolate themselves from the opinions of others.

10. Continually strive for patience, perseverance, determination, and rational action.

11. Limit your losses – use stops!

12. Never cancel a stop loss order after you have placed it!

13. Place the stop at the time you make your trade.

14. Never get into the market because you are anxious because of waiting.

15. Avoid getting in or out of the market too often.

16. Losses make the trader studious – not profits. Take advantage of every loss to improve your knowledge of market action.

17. The most difficult task in speculation is not prediction but self-control. Successful trading is difficult and frustrating. You are the most important element in the equation for success.

18. Always discipline yourself by following a pre-determined set of rules.

19. Remember that a bear market will give back in one month what a bull market has taken three months to build.

20. Don’t ever allow a big winning trade to turn into a loser. Stop yourself out if the market moves against you 20% from your peak profit point.

21. You must have a program, you must know your program, and you must follow your program.

22. Expect and accept losses gracefully. Those who brood over losses always miss the next opportunity, which more than likely will be profitable.

23. Split your profits right down the middle and never risk more than 50% of them again in the market.

24. The key to successful trading is knowing yourself and your stress point.

25. The difference between winners and losers isn’t so much native ability as it is discipline exercised in avoiding mistakes.

26. In trading as in fencing there are the quick and the dead.

27. Speech may be silver but silence is golden. Traders with the golden touch do not talk about their success.

28. Dream big dreams and think tall. Very few people set goals too high. A man becomes what he thinks about all day long.

29. Accept failure as a step towards victory.

30. Have you taken a loss? Forget it quickly. Have you taken a profit? Forget it even quicker! Don’t let ego and greed inhibit clear thinking and hard work.

31. One cannot do anything about yesterday. When one door closes, another door opens. The greater opportunity always lies through the open door.

32. The deepest secret for the trader is to subordinate his will to the will of the market. The market is truth as it reflects all forces that bear upon it. As long as he recognizes this he is safe. When he ignores this, he is lost and doomed.

33. It’s much easier to put on a trade than to take it off.

34. If a market doesn’t do what you think it should do, get out.

35. Beware of large positions that can control your emotions. Don’t be overly aggressive with the market. Treat it gently by allowing your equity to grow steadily rather than in bursts.

36. Never add to a losing position.

37. Beware of trying to pick tops or bottoms.

38. You must believe in yourself and your judgement if you expect to make a living at this game.

39. In a narrow market there is no sense in trying to anticipate what the next big movement is going to be – up or down.

40. A loss never bothers me after I take it. I forget it overnight. But being wrong and not taking the loss – that is what does the damage to the pocket book and to the soul.

41. Never volunteer advice and never brag of your winnings.

42. Of all speculative blunders, there are few greater than selling what shows a profit and keeping what shows a loss.

43. Standing aside is a position.

44. It is better to be more interested in the market’s reaction to new information than in the piece of news itself.

45. If you don’t know who you are, the markets are an expensive place to find out.

46. In the world of money, which is a world shaped by human behavior, nobody has the foggiest notion of what will happen in the future. Mark that word – Nobody! Thus the successful trader does not base moves on what supposedly will happen but reacts instead to what does happen.

47. Except in unusual circumstances, get in the habit of taking your profit too soon. Don’t torment yourself if a trade continues winning without you. Chances are it won’t continue long. If it does, console yourself by thinking of all the times when liquidating early reserved gains that you would have otherwise lost.

48. When the ship starts to sink, don’t pray – jump!

49. Lose your opinion – not your money.

50. Assimilate into your very bones a set of trading rules that works for you.

Summary Week Ended Friday 11th April 2014

 

20 Stock Trades:

4 AAL + 91.13 BPS

13 BLT + 139.08 BPS

2 EZJ + 57.65 BPS

1 STAN + 11.31 BPS

Stocks net  + 299.17 BPS


Long and short trades, intraday and overnight.

I traded 5 days this week.

Return on account for the week 4.54 % net.

P:L ratio was 7.08:1.

No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.





Thoughts

We saw some nice volatility this week.

A decent week's trading, although my exits could have been much better, especially on EZJ !

Above my 2% weekly return benchmark, which was encouraging.

I'm often too early moving my stops to lock in a profit, a couple of trades on AAL were a classic example, since I had a first target sell @ 1588, but was stopped out for a small profit @ 1570. In the next few minutes AAL traded to 1592.50.. In retrospect, I should have been more patient with the position.

Equity markets sold off early in the week but rebounded strongly midweek, only to fall back on Friday. Friday was very busy for me with 6 trades (round trips) made in BLT, AAL and EZJ.

Here are the changes over the week on my watch list stocks:

STOCK	CLOSE	CHANGE	BPS
AAL	1537	-28.00	-178.91
BARC	236.05	-12.10	-487.61
BG.	1113.5	-22.50	-198.06
BLT	1909.5	-51.50	-262.62
BP.	475.45	-14.60	-297.93
CNA	334.9	+6.40	+194.82
EZJ	1700	-127.00	-695.13
GLEN	311.6	-7.10	-222.78
HSBA	617.6	+5.10	+83.27
RDSA	2194.5	-21.50	-97.02
RIO	3330.5	-50.00	-147.91
STAN	1321.5	+57.50	+454.91
UU.	758.5	-35.00	-441.08

It's Friday afternoon, and I'm done for the week.

Looking forward to more opportunities next week.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

Summary Week Ended Friday 4th April 2014

 

10 Stock Trades:

2 AAL + 14.97 BPS

8 BLT + 69.58 BPS

Stocks net  + 84.55 BPS


All short trades, all intraday.

I traded 4 days this week.

Return on account for the week 1.39 % net.

P:L ratio was 4.47:1.

No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.





Thoughts

A quieter week.

Below my 2% weekly return benchmark, reflecting the fact that I didn't find many opportunities to trade.
A profit is still better than a loss of course.

Miners saw more strength this week after the recent sell off in the sector:

Looking forward to more opportunities next week.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

Summary Week Ended Friday 28th March 2014

 

16 Stock Trades:

15 AAL + 347.86 BPS

1 BLT + 3.30 BPS

Stocks net  + 351.16 BPS


Long and short trades, intraday and overnight.

I traded 5 days this week.

Return on account for the week 3.30 % net.

P:L ratio was 1.47:1.

No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.





Thoughts

Quite a difficult week for me. I was away in London at the weekend, and I had a swing long position in AAL from the previous week (with stops in the market), which I closed for a smallish profit on Monday when I returned to my desk.

Sitting in the airport checking prices on my phone was interesting. But sometimes it is better to just let the trade look after itself, it's a very difficult area, and I'm still learning this game.

My entries could have been a lot better but a profit is a profit, however small. Still above my 2% weekly return benchmark, so not too bad.

A volatile week on the miners, but the sector recovered from the lows of the previous week when copper fell sharply. Gold dropped below $1300 on Thursday.

Chart of the FTSE mining sector:

Banks also weakened, and the FTSE was volatile.

It's been a decent month, but we still have Monday before it's over.

Posting this on Friday morning as I've done for the week .

Looking forward to more opportunities next month.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

Summary Week Ended Friday 21st March 2014

No stock trades closed this week.




Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

Summary Week Ended Friday 14th March 2014

 

3 Stock Trades:

1 BARC + 12.82 BPS

2 BLT + 17.75 BPS

Stocks net  + 30.58 BPS


All long trades, intraday.

I traded 3 days this week.

Return on account for the week 0.53 %.

No losing trades, so P:L ratio was N/A.

No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.





Thoughts

A quiet week for me.


Looking forward to more opportunities next week.




Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

Summary Week Ended Friday 7th March 2014

 

7 Stock Trades:

2 AAL + 21.98 BPS

2 BLT + 6.36 BPS

2 RIO + 78.22 BPS

1 STAN + 2.37 BPS

Stocks net  + 108.93 BPS


Long and short trades, intraday and overnight.

I traded 5 days this week.

Return on account for the week 4 %.

No losing trades, so P:L ratio was N/A.

No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.





Thoughts

A decent week, some market volatility due to the Russia / Ukraine developments. Above my 2% return benchmark. It should have been a bit better, but I suffered slippage in closing my RIO trades.

I am trying to be more selective in my trades, I think I have the developed the patience to sit and watch/wait for opportunities when they occur, which was always my weakness earlier.
Often this means that most of the day I am sitting, watching. The danger with that is that it is very easy to become distracted by online newpapers etc. I sometimes use limit orders so that I won't miss a trade.

A still update and then print out my daily stocks spreadsheet every evening after the close, and although I have refined it several times in the last few years, the basic format is the same:

I mark levels I believe are important with a highlighting pen, and have it in front of me during the trading day.


I missed a nice rally on UU, after spotting the support on the chart a few weeks back, some trades are just too obvious:

This week the SPX 500 made another new all time high, but the Dax is still well off the recent highs, which is interesting (Ukraine effect, Germany does a lot of trade with Russia).

Friday is US employment day, which is often a market mover, I am typing this update whilst we wait for the data at 1330 GMT.

In London, STAN made a new 52 week low this week, after it released results. It has fallen from 1800 to 1220 in the last twelve months.


Looking forward to some volatility next week.




Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

Summary Week Ended Friday 28th February 2014

 

15 Stock Trades:

8 AAL + 84.31 BPS

2 BARC + 1.71 BPS

2 BLT + 2.64 BPS

2 HSBA + 35.11 BPS

1 RIO + 2.34 BPS

Stocks net  + 126.11 BPS


All long trades, all intraday.

I traded 4 days this week.

Return on account for the week 3.18 %.

P:L ratio 3.00 : 1.

No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.





Thoughts

A busier week, some poor exits but still above my 2% return benchmark. Left a fair bit of ££ on the table, but that's the way things go sometimes.

The events in Ukraine produced some market jitters later in the week.

On Monday, my broker introduced a new trading platform, so there were a few issues with that, although nothing serious.



I will not be trading on Friday, so Thursday was the last trading day of the month for me.

This chart shows the breakdown of the 40 trades made in the month of February:

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

Summary Week Ended Friday 21st Febuary 2014

 

8 Stock Trades:

7 AAL + 50.50 BPS

1 CNA + 13.04 BPS


Stocks net  + 63.53 BPS


Long and short trades, intraday and overnight.

I traded 4 days this week.

Return on account for the week 1.31 %.

P:L ratio 2.74 : 1.

No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.





Thoughts

A quiet week. 

A very premature exit on CNA.

Difficult trading on AAL. Closed shorts and longs too early.

Still, a profit is preferable to a loss.

Hoping for more opportunities next week.





Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Summary Week Ended Friday 14th Febuary 2014

 

10 Stock Trades:

2 AAL + 42.91 BPS

3 BARC + 31.57 BPS

2 BLT + 40.74 BPS

4 STAN - 5.03 BPS


Stocks net  + 110.18 BPS


Long and short trades, all intraday.

I traded 4 days this week.

Return on account for the week 2.48 %.

P:L ratio 2.78 : 1.

No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.





Thoughts

A quiet week. 
Poor entries on STAN but better on BLT, AAL & BARC. A profit is preferable to a loss.

Hoping for more opportunities next week.

Changes for the week on my watchlist stocks:

STOCK	CLOSE	CHANGE	BPS
AAL	1519.5	+39.50	+266.89
BARC	253	-18.70	-688.26
BG.	1072	+19.00	+180.44
BLT	1888.5	+83.50	+462.60
BP.	486.4	+4.70	+97.57
CNA	318.2	+4.00	+127.31
EZJ	1713	-15.00	-86.81
GLEN	338.1	+12.70	+390.29
HSBA	638	+10.20	+162.47
LLOY	80.45	-1.35	-165.04
RBS	342.6	+5.10	+151.11
RDSA	2123	+22.00	+104.71
RIO	3516	+109.00	+319.93
STAN	1290.5	+50.50	+407.26
UU.	753	+20.00	+272.85

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Summary Week Ended Friday 7th Febuary 2014

 

7 Stock Trades:

3 BLT + 33.56 BPS

4 STAN + 45.54 BPS


Stocks net  + 79.11 BPS


No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.






Long and short trades, intraday and overnight.

I traded 5 days this week.




Thoughts

Not a great week, well below my weekly target. Missed a couple of decent moves but I guess a profit is preferable to a loss.

Markets were generally up on the week. Miners may be finding more favour at last, all 4 mining stocks on my watchlist were up for the week.

Hoping for more opportunities next week.



Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Summary Week Ended Friday 31st January 2014

 

18 Stock Trades:

2 BG + 143.60 BPS

4 BLT + 108.36 BPS

3 STAN + 50.39 BPS


Stocks net  + 302.35 BPS

7 Index Trades:

 

7 FTSE - 1103.16 BPS

Net all trades - 800.81 BPS





Long and short trades, intraday and overnight.

I traded 5 days this week.




Thoughts

A bit of a disaster on the FTSE, got stopped out on a position out of hours, and took a bigger loss than I'd planned.

Therefore I have decided to concentrate on trading stocks, since I have a much better record doing this.

It's taken me a few days to get round to typing this up. Not the easiest thing to do, but it was all my fault of course. Not a great start to 2014.

So from now on,  it's 100% stocks.


Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Summary Week Ended Friday 24th January 2014

 

18 Stock Trades:

2 AAL + 148.54 BPS

21 BLT + 18.61 BPS


Stocks net  + 167.14 BPS

7 Index Trades:

 

7 FTSE - 121.31 BPS

Net all trades + 45.83 BPS





Long and short trades, intraday and overnight.

I traded 5 days this week.




Thoughts

Another really tricky week, I traded BLT really badly, short too early and closed too early too, so basically ended the week flat on it. I caught a few more points on it on Friday. I need to improve my entries.

I got caught in the big fall on the FTSE late on Friday and so gave back all my early profit. I don't really know why I held onto the position, but it turned out to be pretty stupid.



Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Summary Week Ended Friday 17th January 2014

 

7 Stock Trades:

5 AAL + 54.11 BPS

2 BLT + 25.29 BPS


Stocks net  + 79.40 BPS

14 Index Trades:

14 FTSE + 34.39 BPS



Net all trades + 113.80 BPS

Return on account for the week 1.98 %.

P:L ratio 2.25 : 1.

Long and short trades, intraday and overnight.

I traded 5 days this week.




Thoughts

A really tricky week, I caught a few moves on the FTSE but it was really hard work for scant reward.





Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Summary Week Ended Friday 10th January 2014

 

16 Stock Trades:

 

5 BLT + 150.26 BPS

1 EZJ + 12.44 BPS

6 RIO + 57.16 BPS

4 STAN + 68.63 BPS

Stocks net  + 288.49 BPS

5 Index Trades:

5 FTSE + 12.65 BPS



Net all trades + 301.14 BPS

Return on account for the week 2.84 %.

P:L ratio 2.09 : 1.

Long and short trades, intraday and overnight.

I traded 5 days this week.




Thoughts

A busy week, I caught a few moves on the miners and STAN, although a few entries were very poor.

Friday saw the release of the US payrolls data, which was weaker than expected.

I traded EZJ for the first time after I added the stock to my watchlist, EZJ made new all time highs again this week.

I tried to concentrate on stocks as this has been my 'bread and butter' trade over the lst few years.

A return of greater than 2% return beats my weekly target, although it could have been 4% with better trade management....

STAN saw a big drop after announcing a reorganisation:

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Trading Books

There are many good books out there.

Of course, this is just subjective, and a lot of people will not like/be bored with/disagree with some/all of them.

Some also say that you can't learn trading from a book.
That is true, but there are useful ideas in these books that one can incorporate into ones trading strategy.

Anyway, here are a few:

Marcel Link - High Probability Trading

An excellent book. Wriiten by a chap who ran a brokerage, so he has seen people make all the mistakes. Good stuff on correct use of indicators, and on trading in general.

Tony Oz - The Stock Trader

A trade-by-trade account over a four week period trading Nasdaq stocks. This is a bit of an eye opener for anyone who has not traded fast moving markets. His ability to monitor multiple positions is really pretty impressive IMHO.


Alan Farley - Master Swing Trader

A difficult writing style (quite odd actually) but there are some excellent ideas in this. All chart-driven. Maybe he should have had a better editor. Some people hate this book though (see reviews on Amazon.com)


Mark Douglas - Trading in the Zone

Nothing about charts or timing, all about getting into the mindset of a trader.


Nassar - Rules of the Trade

Good stuff on rules, discipline and performance measurement.


Elder - Trading for a Living

The first part of the book, on psychology, written by a practising psychologist makes this a must - read IMHO.


Vic Sperendeo - Trader Vic & Trader Vic II

Good stuff on the US Fed too. Fans of Von Mises will like his views on economics.


Van Tharp - Trade your Way to finacial Freedom

Pretty thorough treatment on expectancy, probability, performance measurement and a few systems examined too. (Tharp is a coach not a trader though).


John Piper - The Way to Trade.

A British writer for a change. Good in parts, especially the description of a real life FTSE options trading strategy.


Schwager - Market Wizards & New Market Wizards

Classics. Interviews with the stars of the trading world.


Lefevre - Reminiscences of a Stock Operator.

First published in 1923. This is timesless. A classic, shows you that crowd behaviour doesn't change, people do the same things again and again.

Quote:

"I did precisely the wrong thing," Livingstone notes. "The cotton showed me a loss and I kept it. The wheat showed me a profit and I sold it out. Of all the speculative blunders there are few greater than trying to average a losing game. Always sell what shows you a loss and keep what shows you a profit."

Just my opinion of course... DYOR.

Summary Week Ended Friday 3rd January 2014

 

6 Stock Trades:

 

5 BLT + 51.74 BPS

1 RIO + 37.69 BPS


Stocks net  + 89.43 BPS

6 Index Trades:

5 FTSE + 24.19 BPS

1 DAX + 8.26 BPS



Net all trades + 121.88 BPS

Return on account for the week 2.36 %.

P:L ratio 2.21 : 1.

Long and short trades, intraday and overnight.

I traded 2.5 days this week.




Thoughts

A short week, the market was closed for New Year's Day. Volumes were lighter than normal.

The markets made highs into the end of 2013, then sold off when they re-opened on Thursday.

I traded a nice reversal on the miners on Thursday, closing a bit prematurely, but a profit is a profit as they say. Given the shortened week, my net profit was not bad.

Looking forward to next week, when volumes should pick up.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

FTSE 2nd Jan 2014

Summary Week Ended Friday 27th December 2013

 

1 Stock Trade:

1 RIO + 28.43 BPS


Stocks net  + 28.43 BPS

7 Index Trades:

7 FTSE + 22.73 BPS


Net all trades + 51.16 BPS

Return on account for the week 1.28 %.

P:L ratio 9.86 : 1.

All short trades, all intraday.

I traded 2.5 days this week.




Thoughts

A quiet week, the market was closed for two and a half days for Christmas.
The German market was closed for three days.

FTSE made new 30 day highs on Friday.

The Dax made yet another all time high, and is over 13% above the 200 DMA, which is not that common:

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

FTSE Cash 24th December 2013

Summary Week Ended Friday 20th December 2013

 

9 stock trades:

2 AAL + 32.04 BPS

7 BLT + 135.69 BPS

Stocks net  + 167.73 BPS

11 Index Trades:

11 FTSE + 48.72 BPS


Net all trades + 216.45 BPS

Return on account for the week 3.17 %.

P:L ratio 2.19 : 1.

Long and short trades, intraday and overnight.

I traded 4.5 days this week.




Thoughts

Another busy week, over 3% return for the week is above target, although I left a lot on the table exiting FTSE longs too soon, ditto with AAL.

I need to trade the index less and concentrate more on stocks, since I think that is where I have made more consistent profits in the past, even allowing for the higher cost in terms of spreads.

Markets were volatile, the Fed sparked a huge rally on the US equity market on Wednesday night after they said that yes they were going to taper, but not by very much. The miners sold off heavily early in the week, this is BLT:

FTSE rallied sharply off the support around 6480.


Next week will probably be pretty quiet, market is closed on the 25th & 26th, and 24th is a half day I think.
Looking forward to ending the month with a reasonable return.


Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

The FOMC Effect 18th Dec 2013

BLT Action 16th December 2013

BLT traded in a very wide range today, made a new 30 day low in the opening 15m, then rallied to close @ 1793.

Summary Week Ended Friday 13th December 2013

 

20 stock trades:

2 AAL + 112.70 BPS

16 BLT + 73.86 BPS

2 STAN + 171.34 BPS

Stocks net  + 219.27 BPS

17 Index Trades:

17 FTSE + 51.72 BPS


Net all trades + 270.99 BPS

Return on account for the week 3.58 %.

P:L ratio 2.14 : 1.

Long and short trades, intraday and overnight.

I traded 5 days this week.




Thoughts

A busy week, over 3.5% return for the week is above target.

Markets were quite volatile, I traded the FTSE quite a bit this week. Modest results for quite a lot of work, but then that's the markets for you.

Still no sign of the Santa rally.

FTSE has declined for six consecutive weeks.

Next week is the last full trading week of the year, looking forward to it.


Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

FTSE 10th December 2013

Summary Week Ended Friday 6th December 2013

 

14 stock trades:

8 BLT + 136.62 BPS

1 BP + 31.5 BPS

5 STAN + 171.34 BPS

Stocks net  + 339.46 BPS

10 Index Trades:

10 FTSE + 36.47 BPS


Net all trades + 375.93 BPS

Return on account for the week 4.53 %.

P:L ratio 5.46 : 1.

Long and short trades, all intraday.

I traded 5 days this week.




Thoughts

A decent start to the month, over 4% return for the week is above target. Missed plenty of trades but that's normal. I only have one pair of eyes.

Markets were quite volatile, STAN came out with a profits warning and shed over 600 BPS in the first hour's trading on Wednesday.

FTSE is still well off the recent highs, and I'm wondering if Santa is going to appear before the 25th Dec.

FTSE 4 hour chart is interesting right here:

Looking forward to next week's trading.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

UU Chart 5th December 2013

Weekly Chart...

Resistance may be support.

FTSE Cash 4HR Chart 4th Dec 2013

Summary Week Ended Friday 29th November 2013

 

5 stock trades:

5 BLT + 51.49 BPS


Stocks net  + 51.49 BPS

4 Index Trades:

4 FTSE + 10.03 BPS


Net all trades + 61.52 BPS

Return on account for the week 0.94%

Long and short trades, all intraday.

I traded 3.5 days this week.




Thoughts

A shortened week, did not want to give back the month's profit in the last week, and the US was closed for Thanksgiving.

I will not be trading on the last day of the month.

Some statistics for November:

75 trades.
61 winning trades.
14 losing trades.


57 long trades.
18 short trades.

Return on account 15.70%.

52 Stock trades, net + 585.36 BPS.
23 Index trades, net + 100.11 BPS.

Net BPS + 685.47 BPS.

P:L ratio 2.57:1.

FTSE change during the month: -1.20%.





Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Summary Week Ended Friday 22nd November 2013

 

15 stock trades:

3 AAL + 28.47 BPS

12 BLT + 88.54 BPS


Stocks net  + 117.01 BPS

4 Index Trades:

4 FTSE + 16.10 BPS


Net all trades + 133.11 BPS

Return on account for the week 2.66%

Long and short trades, intraday and overnight.

I traded 4.5 days this week.




Thoughts

A quieter week, and I was not able to find many trades.


I closed a couple of FTSE trades very prematurely (short trades, I am always more nervous trading the short side, something I need to work on I think).

A profit, but well below my weekly target. I had a discussion about targets on Livecharts.co.uk, and it may be that my weekly target of 500 BPS cumulative may be a little high. 

Therefore I may also target 2% return on capital per week, which is more modest and therefore more likely to be acheived.

November is progressing well, but I have to be careful not to give back my profits next week, so I will be trading very cautiously.






Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.