ESU8 09-08-08 (click chart to enlarge)
I stayed on the ES contract through the open today, for no particular reason. I usually switch to the NQ contract after the open. The ES contract was moving nicely and simply held my interest. For the second day in the row, the market managed to stay in one direction and make things fairly uncomplicated. As the opening bell sounded the market worked it’s way upward for 20+ points, and there was 5+ move later in the morning. On both trades I got cold feed before toward the end of the move and cost myself several points. As a general rule, I may exit trades a bit early. As I see the directional movement begin to break down, especially when I have a sizeable gain, I look for reasons to exit. It doesn’t take much to convince me to leave a profitable trade. I exited the first trade with a 12.5 pt gain, and left 8 pts on the table…..ditto the 5+ move….I stayed around for 3.5 points and hopped out. I also had two unsuccessful trade attempts and ended +14 @ 5 contracts.
You might note that since I stayed in the ES contract I bumped my contract size down. The ES (e-mini S and P 500) contract trades at $50/point/contract. When I trade the NQ (e-mini NASDAQ 100)I trade 10 contracts because it trades a $20/point/contract. I work hard at money and position management and try to stay in the 5-10% per trade range, as a percentage of account size.
I have included a look at todays chart above, and you can clearly see the two moves I referenced.
