Trading For Those With a 9-5 Job

Lean Hogs

Possible trouble in the grains - Rough Rice and Corn

Dollar Index

A lesson in sell and hold...

Hi All 9to5ers out there. I rarely write a lot of text. I normally annotate a chart with my ideas as you would see from all my posts. But I think today it is worth getting us to think about real profitability in this business. How can we make the money we all want to make? How can we get to the point that trading gets easy and the markets become our cashpoint or ATM as it is called? How do we attain the income we have always dreamt about but are still finding hard to achieve?

The answer is "Sell and Hold". As you know this thread is not about scalping. There are no 5,10,15, 30, 1H or 2H charts on this thread. That's because we are at work and cant be trading at work. Think about a surgeon losing money and operating on someone while monitoring the 5 minute chart (lol). The gameplan of this thread is to develop and trade the daily chart at least and then progress on to position trading. That is where the money is at imho.

We need to get rid of the 'itchy finger' syndrome. This is a situation where we close out of a good trade leaving a whole lot of potential on the table. I have done it many times but I say I am getting better every trade I place. We dont have to run out of a trade because we have $200 profit and then watch the market go almost in a straight line another potential $2500. My mentor always says 'Set your stop and go' Perhaps we need to do that more. Lets purpose to milk every trade for all its worth. Think about it. You have done your analysis, thought it over and over, enter the trade, set your stop, aligned your mind with the probability that you might be stoped out and then you close the trade for a measly $75 profit because of fear.

Find below 2 charts I put up about Lumber. I originally highlighted this one when price was around 380 march ending. Sell on a break of 370. Price hit 280 3 days ago. That is a move of $9900 in about about 6 weeks. I made handsome money from this one. Now you might say you dont trade Lumber but the principle is the same. Let's milk every trade for all it can give us.

Agreed?

Now the 'lesson' is over we come back to the usual end of the week analysis. The month has ended as well so we will have additional insight from the monthly charts.

Dollar Index

GCSI Index - it does not look good for commodities in general.

Cotton

Hi Olu

I used to trade commodities a lot., one of my favorite things . Will have to keep track of things here closer. I had a futures account with MF Global. Closed it out 6 months before they went tits up. My needing the funds turned out to be a blessing. Any way great journal

Soybean Oil

Canadian Dollar Futures (inverse of usdcad)

Thanks for your comments Rufus. Glad you got your money out of MF Global. You are welcome to keep track of things here. Feel free to post too

Olu

HI Olu, Love your philosophy!! For myself I look for solid Trends to setup and initiate on the Weekly chart - see prior post. No problem giving up the turns and theoretical "Max Profit" because I give up the chop and all the stress that goes with it. Once I have a solid Weekly trend, I shift to the Daily to plan my Strategy. AG

hi Ou, I am also expecting the bull to ressume soon, but IMHO the retrace is not yet over. The weekly close showed a slowing down momentum but not a clear-cut / reversal to take off directly. However, I am watching the FXCM $ index which is a bit different than the $ index. Anyway, I am expecting the bull to ressume around middle of next week or by the release of the non-farm PR.
BTW, great thoughts on "sell and hold". I am also trying to make the shift, it is just difficult with small accounts. Good luck this week.

Hi AG thanks for your post. I really want all who read and contribute to this thread to succeed at trading. Hence you hear me spilling my philosophy. I like the idea of using the weekly. In fact my mentor told me to trade the weeklies and only move stops weekly. I have been nibbling that method. I also use the monthly charts for analysis as you can seel from some of my charts. I will keep you guys posted...

Olu

I agree with your analysis that the retracement might not be over. I just dont want it to be too deep otherwise it might for a tradable top. I feel that after all is said and done we will soon see 8600 on the dollar index. The question and the trademanship is how to take the twists and turns in getting there

Olu

Olu, would you mind sharing the name of your mentor and his firm? just in case one day I build enough money in my little account and seek professional help. It is always safer to use the service of someone who is recommended especially when you do not have much to gamble with. If you don´t want to post it here is my email [email protected]. Thanks

Hi Rehab

He doesnt have a firm. But he posts on this thread. You have probably read his posts many times without knowing...
I will tell you later

Olu

Euro - smacked back by resistance

Spoke too soon. correction was not over