Thursday, June 28, 2007

Did It Again

Thursday June 28th, 2007 ES Futures - FOMC Day

Today the CAT Indicator kept driving higher up until the FOMC Meeting, but price was choppy and driving sideways for the majority of this time. This is another case of price having to "catch up" to what the CAT Indicator is predicting to be happening. An earlier posts shows this happening to the short side and today was a good long play example.


I still need to do some more research to verify that this is not just a recent phenonmenon. But I find this a very interesting and so far a reliable clue towards price action produced from the CAT Indicator.

Trade Well, Trade Wise
John

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Buy, Buy, Buy

Wednesday June 27th, 2007 ES Futures

Buy, Buy, Buy is what the CAT indicator said most all day today. There was an initial dip below zero off the open. It is hard to see in the compressed 1-minute chart, but it was all up from that early CAT low. Every dip in price high showed a higher low in the CAT indicator.

Now if I just listened better, I would have had a much better day. I must figure out why I end up fighting the trend as much as I do.

Trade Wise, Trade Well
John

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Late Post

This is a late post since I found some issues with on of my new filter indicators, the Mini ADV. I believe I have my indicator fixed now and I wanted to point out what the CAT indicator showed for Friday.

Friday the 22nd of June, 2007 ES Futures

I found it interesting that the NYSE Tick was very weak Friday. This weakness showed in my CAT indicator as it just kept driving lower all morning. Notice in the following 1-minute chart how the purple line for the CAT stayed much closer to it's down trend line than did either the ES price or Mini ADV indicator.

At the low of the day, all the values were back around their respective trend line drawn off of the lows mad early in the morning.


How Did it Go

I'm still taking too many trades "late" in the move. If I pass on a signal or just miss a trade opportunity I have a really bad tendency to just enter a trade "hoping" the move keeps going. First of all - there is the "Hope" word using to describe my trading. I must get the "Hope" out of my trading. These are not "signalled trades" but I'm having a hard time eliminating this trade for some reason.

Need to Keep Score

50% cost me 1 - 2 points
25% scratched out at break even (still cost commission)
25% profited 1 or more Ticks with one (only one) profiting 1 point

Need I say this put a big dent in profits for the day.

If I entered a counter trend scalp trade and traded the opposite direction of these trades, I think every one of these would have held an initial 1 point stop and hit a 1 point target. I'm not planning on trying this, but I can show this over and over again, but still have troubles not taking this trade. This will change.

Trade Wise, Trade Well
John

Indicator Issue Fixed

When I investigated why my Mini ADV Indicator did not show the initial drop on Thursday the 21st of June, I discovered a couple of issues. One change to the calculation that would have effected historical chart review and another data issue that I believe caused some of the chart discrepancies. Here is what the chart should have looked like.


I like how this filter indicator seems to support the indication of turns in the market. Still more research to do.

Trade Wise, Trade Well
John

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Indicator Update

Thursday June 21st, 2001 ES Futures.

I had a good day today. Still not capturing all that I feel I should, but I feel like I'm getting back on track. I need to start keeping score based on the number of "good signals" I take and the number of times I try to "jump on" a trade late. Based on my track record, I am far better off fading the move for a 1 point counter trend scalp trade than I would entering the trend trade late with a 1 - 2 point stop. I respect what FlatWallet is doing keeping score on a two week count down to consistently follow his method. I should come up with something similar for my discipline.

What about the Indicators

Thought I'd share an update showing my two filter indicators CAT (Purple) and Mini ADV (Blue). Thanks go to Dr. Brett for inspiring these indicators. The CAT is a copy of his Cumulative Adjusted Tick, and the Mini ADV is a twist I created based off of his Relative Dollar Flow. As you can see in the following 1-minute chart of the ES for today, both of these indicators tracked with the trend fairly well.

The CAT mimicked all of the swings the best. But overall showed more weakness today than is reflected in the actual price action. Turns are more often than not signalled late as well.

The Mini ADV signalled the turns much better. I added yellow vertical lines to compare the turning points through the chart. Several of the turns were double tops or bottoms and I only highlighted the candle with the most extreme tick reading of the two. Mini ADV either "turned" at the first top or bottom or "turned" between the two.

I need to do a lot more research with these "filter" indicators. They did help me today to stay with what seemed like the constantly changing trend. I specifically want to figure out why the Mini ADV did not represent the first swing lower.

Trade Wise, Trade Well
John

Mini Advance Decline

The biggest thing I don't like about the NYSE ADV - Advancing Issues is that it tracks from the prior day's close. I can see the Gap in prices and I don't need a "false indication" that is generated by the gap. I want to know what the stocks are doing for me today. Also since stocks have a staggered opening, it takes some time for the ADV to "build up steam" and become useful off the opening. I find this is often 15 - 20 minutes.

For fun I took Dr. Brett's stocks used in his Relative Dollar Volume Flow and made my own Mini-ADV. I trying out an indication of Up or down from the Open.


How Does it Work

I need to do more research, but I find it interesting so far. Notice the high in the ES Futures at 9:45 CT. The Mini ADV is the blue line at the bottom of the chart. It was working its way lower. Time will tell.

Remember

This is not a new "magical indicator" to pick trades. This is just a potential filter tool.

Trade Wise, Trade Well
John

Friday, June 15, 2007

Took a Break

I have noticed that there are a lot of bloggers that are taking a break from their blogging activities.

I needed to do the same thing this last week and I'm trying to decide if I'll continue blogging or not. For the immediate future you will see a reduction in the number of posts as I work on some more Trader Feed indicators and spend more time on my trading statistics.

Trade Wise, Trade Well
John