Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thursday Notes - Europe A.M. After Trend

11:30am Non-U.S. markets are of course open today, with Europe putting in classic morning-after-trend oscillations, with Wednesday's late day range holding firm to both the south and north.

Unfortunately, I got up a bit late to take advantage of it and wasn't particularly motivated today, which was reflected in the morning's -$2K scratch as I continue to get used to the pace of FESX (Euro Stoxx).

It's clear that I haven't quite gotten it down yet and am far too tentative with it. Ironically, I was actually slightly positive on both S&P and DAX trades today, so I'm continuing to consider the modest FESX trading losses an investment in the future.

So long as it doesn't get out of hand, I'm comfortable with that.

5 comments:

Bob said...

Hi Don,

Congratulations on your success this year. I am wondering why you prefer scalping instead of swing trading. Have you always been a scalper or do you feel it is more beneficial to scalp in the current trading environment ? How were your first few years of scalping/trading ?
Thanks.

Don Miller said...

Hi Bob -

I've always been a short-term trader. It may go back to my early days of stock spread scalping which was highly profitable when stocks used to trade in fractions (e.g. profiting from the bid-ask spreads).

Yet my personality is also such that I simply enjoy being in cash most of the time and only putting capital at risk when I sense high-probability short-term opportunities ... and I've long believed the market is much more predictable on the shorter timeframes if one understands how to continually position on the wholesale side of the trade.

There's of course no right or wrong ... it's simply what I'm comfortable doing from a risk control perspective.

Don

Unknown said...

Hi Don,

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Why are you trading the FESX?

I ask because I currently trade the FTSE100 (Z) and the DAX, and while I've looked at Euro Stoxx I've never traded it. What made you move? Better rhythm than the DAX?


--Q

Anonymous said...

Just found your blog Don, lov'n it! Thanks for the effort :)

Don Miller said...

Q - It's more of an experiment right now as I've never really been able to capture the Europe rhythm to the extent I've been able to do the U.S. market, so I thought I'd try the more liquid (vs. the DAX) FESX.

John - Welcome the the blog :-).