April 27 2010 Overlay and Trades

Good return to volatility today reminiscent of 2008.

I had a small gain even though there were several opportunities for good profits today.

For me, most of the setups were on the long side even though there was a good sell off. There were bounces with setups off 1201.25 twice and 1187.00 twice followed by a washout and short squeeze with an obvious setup for me.

My execution of these opportunities was just plain bad. I did not want to buy 1201.25 just after the open because I felt the price had not pushed far enough down. Obviously, I was correct in premise but that does not matter.

1201.25 still needed to be bought. The price bounced and provided an opportunity to capture 3 points quickly with a confirmed exit based on my plan.

I was thinking too much about the overall picture instead of playing the game.

I felt skeptical about the move up and had a bearish wedge drawn on my chart as the price grinded up off 1201.25 after the open.

My gut knew what was happening. I saw the small break down after failing to reach 1210.50 and felt a correction coming. However, I was not interested in shorting this market even if it meant I was going to miss a 20 point run down.

Once the selling pressure came in I was looking to bid into painful moves down. I knew where to execute but hesitated due to the news driven move. I need to remember that I need to play the emotional moves, not avoid them.

The dumbest move of the day was when I took an early break at around 12:15 PM EST. I knew the price was sitting on a key support and wanted to buy after a washout. I felt the market would not get moving again until after 1:00 PM EST.

That was a mistake. I got back onscreen at 12:45 PM EST just in time to see an excellent long setup start working. It was too late for me to chase.

Stupidity caused a lack of performance today. I had capability and the market cooperated but left everything on the table.

The only positive aspect of today was the bid and scalp into high volume selling at 1197.50. I am looking to hit more of these as I have noticed that I have excellent feel for these opportunities.

I need to stop screwing around and engage fully.