A major step forward.

Finally I did it : I traded yesterday, for the first time, the euro fx future (6E) instead of the eur/usd cash market. What a difference! A really professional instrument which makes scalping tremendously powerful. Here are the benefits of the migration:

1. Almost all entries/exits were filled with 0 spread, especially on limit orders, instead of the usual 0,5-1 pip on IB cash!
2. Absolutely precise control of the trade on a price ladder.
3. Lower commissions by 35%, 0,4 pips per trade round trip, instead of 0,6 pips.

All that putted together, it means at least 1 whole pip economy per trade. With 1M lot (8 contracts) that means $100 savings per trade!! Multiplying by 10 or 20 trades per day, the savings are in the thousands, every single day..

You may understand how impressed I am. I must be really naive for staying five years in the cash market. Futures are an absolute must for scalpers. I always wanted to make the migration but always postponed it for some reason. A comment of Thomas from Denmark in a previous post made me think about this again. A BIG thank, Thomas. I owe you a big favor!

Commissions

15 pips on this but a lot of trades and risk taken once. 7 pips given back as commissions. Too much. Trade less!

Barca

3 little trades between the two half times of the classico (Real -Barcelona). Actually the match made me miss the move up..

Bad morning

Fourth trade was a pure compulsive (revenge) re-entry which compromised the whole session. -10 pips.

Cautious

Cautious comeback to the charts, so much that I closed the third trade without reason and lost the move up.

Spring in Creta

Back home after a splendid week in Creta. Most tourists visit the island on summer BUT Creta is superb during the spring. Optimal temperatures (20-25 C), myriads of colors and smells and the luxury to play with snow on the White Mountains and less than an hour later, to swim in the sea..

The photo is from our "family workshop", teaching my little daughters to photograph wild flowers with a pocket camera..

Easter bunny

No trades since last Friday, I took a week off for Easter, to move around with family. I never trade via the hotel room connection, so I can only contemplate, in my hotel, the spectacular eurusd price drop of last Monday and today's recovery. More waves to come. Happy Easter!

Friday-2

Friday-1

Let it go!

Let the price move up instead of fragmenting it to several micro-trades, minimizing gains.

Coming late

Coming late in the trend minimizes the gains and increases the risk of a reversal.

Contra and straight

One silly contra trade to start the day, closed in extremis. Some pips after this, as the move up unfolded quietly. Just five trades. Christian, are you listening ?

One-trade day

Came late to the chart and I had just one trade, with late (risky) entry. I had to leave after this.

Still going up

Waves

Post-NFP (2)

Post-NFP (1)

Immediately after NFP news and I got serious (6 pips) slippage, for the first time in the last years. Risky times..

Afternoon

Morning

Third trade was bad, the rest ok.

Waves up

Slow market

Slow market and somnolent reactions on a morose Monday...

Afternoon

Second trade was a forced one, therefore a loser.

3 trades session

3 trades only, in a lazy, sunny morning, a bank holiday today here. Time for cycling...

Let it come

Two compulsive losses one after the other and then a strong and natural wave up.

Splitting, again

Splitting

One little move splitted in several trades. Splitting costs me a LOT in commissions every day. Insurance is expensive..

Monday

Not much, on a quiet Monday morning. In fact, my execution was rather mediocre.

Range breakout

More pips when the range was over. I stopped when I got the 20 pips for the day. More gains were possible after this, when the move up accelerated, but who cares..A day with no trade lost and the weekend is profiling. I could not ask for more..

Range

Trading in the tight range differently from previous attempts. VEry tight stops, moved at +1 as soon as it turns positive, big lots, risk keeped low.

Rusty

Late entry on ALL trades on this. Hesitation, fear. I am still rusty, after 3 weeks of inactivity..

Back to the charts

Back to my base (after some winter holidays and a business trip), only to be immersed in the post-Fukushima era... Because of the tragic situation in Japan, the eur/yen pair was a straight drop today, big and (very) easy money. But I wasn't comfortable to make profits from the misery (and death) of thousands there. I am not a shark.. So I continued with my modest gains on eur/usd pair.

Black Swan

I went to the movies, to watch Black Swan yesterday. Impressive but rather overrated, imho. It is a must see however, for two reasons : the fabulous performance of Natalie Portman and the last 15 minutes, an exceptional Swan Lake ballet filming. The whole movie has a quite hysterical tone. I prefer to remember the director, Darren Aronofsky, as the creator of the awesome Pi!

Risk

Silly risk taken on first trade, then some quite pips.

Overdoing

Too many trades and contra risky ones, in a rather easy morning.

Green waves

VERY late first entry and subsequent trades.

Nostalghia - Song for Tarkovsky

Working late in the night with this EXQUISITE work in my earphones. French composer and pianist Francois Couturier wrote superb music inspired by the biggest movie director : Andrei Tarkovsky. An excellent way to find again your (my) inner peace and serenity.

Awful

After the previous "perfection", here is my worst session since a long time. Everything is wrong on this : entries (compulsion to trade on a heavy range, entering against the supp/res levels)), exits (silly waiting for a stop to be filled). Bad timing, compulsion, need for revenge, addiction, all the human alienating passion  is there to be scanned by those who need to avoid this. Enjoy!

A perfect session

Strong and smooth moves, almost predictable. Trader's heaven.

Not much

Not much in a session with some dynamism. Mediocre trading.

Breakout

The breakout came this Monday morning finally! I followed price keeping in mind to stay in the trade as long as I could, to avoid exits / re-entries. I exited at S2 line, to keep gains above 30 pips.

Friday's mistake

After considerable gains this afternoon, due mainly to increased volatiliry after Mubarak's resignation, I commited a newbie's mistake at the end of session, when I should already have stopped and enjoy the evening : I insisted to go for the break of the daily low, despite the strength of 1,35 support and  the "traditional" Friday's afternoon incapacity to initiate big, genuine moves. Silly me.. I took a -15 to close charts and play with my kids..

And again

Again

Waves

Smooth and quiet waves in one direction, perfect situation for this kind of trading.

Friday

Missed NFP today, came late from a trip and had some pips before the weekend.

"I can't be wrong"

Two red bars at the same level but I can't be wrong, price must go up! So I lowered my defense and got an uppercut on the face!..-14 pips and felt really stupid.. This is the price of arrogance. I can't be wrong means I am smarter than the markets. But I have already learned that I am just a humble follower of the market. The days I feel I am something special, the loss is there to keep me on the soil...

Madness

Compulsive trading is just that : trading and trading at aeternam, exiting and re-entering at the same point, again and again. Overtrading is the "art" to destroy a genuine price move by splitting it into many trades and get ruined from the paid commissions.. From this 40 pips move I got ..nothing and payed a lot to my broker too.. I had a minor excuse - the move was hesitant and i had to be cautious and expect a reversal, BUT this is only an excuse..

Breakout and retracement

1.3757 (blue horizontal line) was the daily high. I was very cautious with that level, I closed trades, not waiting for the breakout, when price approached this  and found the slightest resistance. I had then two trades above the level, at the break of the high, very cautious again. But, from all these trades, the one I am proud of, is the last one, a breakeven. I closed immediately when i "smelled" that a correction was imminent.

As a scalper, I am realy privileged to trade as described above : imagine, on the contrary, a guy who trades the 15m chart and went long at the break, 1.3760. Taking an affordable risk, he has a stoploss of, say, 25 pips. But price retraced immediately after the break to 1.3728, 35 pips lower with spreads and stop was reached! Even worse, at the previous attempt to break this level today, price retraced 60  pips!.. All stops were taken...