Thursday, March 19, 2009

Thursday Notes - Phone Booth Trading

5:30pm Was that some kind of putrid afternoon session or what? Talk about zero breaks or extensions ... sort of like playing ping pong in a phone booth (for those of us old enough to remember phone booths).

Thankfully, there was just enough movement in the late Europe and early U.S. sessions to offset the putrid P.M. session, and the only reason I was able to increase the chip stack by +$8K today was decent size management that had me testing extension probes with extremely light sizes in the afternoon. While I don't track intraday win/loss, it had to be under 25% in the afternoon, yet for once my size selection in both sessions was on target.

I definitely finished off my equity high for the day as the result of the afternoon blinds and antes, yet as with the New England weather, if you don't like the pace, wait a day.

For the tighter the coil, the harder the potential move.

Poker night tonight.

3 comments:

KC said...

Hi Don,

I've been following you for the last few months and really appreciate your blog.

We're out here following you - just not always saying much!

Thanks again for taking the time to share. I realize it's also "therapy" for you, but you give us all something to shoot for.

KC

Jules said...

Another scalper's day :-)

I admire your blogging style. I've never felt the need to apologize for the way I write, and I feel bad for you that you keep having to explain why you blog the way you do (which I think is exemplary!) :-)

I couldn't agree with one or perhaps two of your trading philosophies initially (yes, particular the one on starting your day with a "drawdown" mindset - don't know if I was the nervous wreck you were referring to LOL!), and I simply stopped reading your blog for a while. It was more my problem than yours - I was afraid that my psychology would be affected. But I've always had you on my bookmark, and when I felt that I was strong enough to read your thoughts again, I've dropped by regularly since.

In a nutshell, it's your blog. If your readers can take away something useful (at NIL cost), good for them. If they can't, it's not your fault.

Happy belated birthday, and have fun trading today :-)

Don Miller said...

Thanks KC, Jules.

I think Jules hit the nail on the head and may get the comment of the year award in terms of what, if anything, to take out of looking over one's shoulder in this manner.

"Watching" someone else's approach to trading, even via an end-of-day blog recap, can be such a double-edged sword, and potentially harmful if not put in the proper perspective.

Seems you've got your head on strong and straight.

Good trading.

Don