Woohoo! After about a month break (forced break thanks to the bad market), I got to, at long last, trade some real money this morning. It didn't go as good as it could've, but a win is a win is a win..
First thing, I made sure to check the VIX (fear index) was still high enough.. ABOVE my threshold of 15. I was pleased to see that it was still well above 16. (it only jumped up to that since yesterday)
I was a bit nervous and could feel a little jitters as I entered my order to enter, and then the closing order too. This trade was just a toe in the water trade, so my target was just .50 ($50), using only 1 contract. Still, it was more exciting and stressful than just a paper money trade..
Here's what the charts looked like this morning..
to my eye, the BEARS had control of this market.
all I had to do was try and time it so I could catch one of the big BEAR candles as they fell.
I got in shortly after this snap.. as the bear candles started forming in a row..
I only try and ride the move a short time. Even my meager goal of .50 was a bit too much this time. I should've stuck to just .35, which seems to always be the optimal amount, if u took the average of ALL my trades in total. Perhaps I will stick to that target from now on.. at least until I see the market making bigger moves..
My trade's delta got the coveted delta 10 (my first sigh of relief.. but it's not over till it's over)..
That snap was taken at 9:45am and it looked like price was just hanging, right before target, just prolonging the end of stress. :P
It did start moving again, but in the WRONG direction! I watched as it crept UP.. with power hour looming only minutes away.. I even modified my target a couple of times to try and get the trade closed with some profit. If only I had started with a not so greedy .35 target.. but NO.. I just have to go for .50.. cuz that just seems sexy to me! :P oh well, I told myself to be happy with even a .05 profit on this one.
The bulls finally took a short rest and let price fall back down, just a bit, to my target which was just below where it was currently..
Good thing too. I was right to fear power hour.. Look what price did immediately after my trade closed..
that hard and fast bull run would've turned my small profit into a $75 loss as it was enough to hit the stop I had just a few seconds prior.
Isn't the market just exciting?! :D I feel like a surfer with a tiny 5 ft long surf board, trying to ride the ocean waves, IN the middle of the ocean, during a storm (the market).. but it does have it's calm days, too. and there is some bit of method to the madness, I think. :P
and this is the final result..
I'm very happy with my $25 boon of today. It's the start to many more profitable wins (i hope).
