Three nice weeks – time to reOrganize

 

HPIM3769photo 

 

In the past weeks I visited Tlaxcala, Mexico and Chicago. The left picture is of a paint of 10 feet high of a market day about 700 years ago. Back then ‘traders’ organized themselves by trading commodities in different locations. Just the same way the SP500 is traded 30 feet away of the ten year bond markets.

 

Both trips to Mexico and Chicago were grate experiences in personal, spiritual and speculative terms. I met Dr Brett Steenbarger, I touched the floor of the pits, I met floor brokers as well as electronic brokers making currency hedges for balance sheets of $50million. I went to two yankee games and a week later in Mexico I met about 100 young persons like me that are building the civilization of love trough our Catholic Church.

 

photo3 I thank the lord for facilitating such grate opportunities. I hope to create a return for each lesson learned.

Baseball and mkts from Niederhoffer’s specs

I was in the US embassy trying to get my visa and as a distraction I was reading Vic Niederhoffer’s “Practical Speculation”. I found a suggestion why I like so much baseball and markets.

 

page 245:

At a 2001 Yankee Playoff game co-announced by New York Governor George Pataki, it was mentioned as a matter of routine that a certain batter had the third hightest percentage of foul balls per pitch with two outs during playoffs of all American League players. If only market practitioners were to keep at their fingertips one-thousandth of that kind of knowledge abut the picks of their favorite analysts – returns to be anticipated, winning streaks, balls, strikes and so on- the market would be a far more sensible and profitable place.

 

Maybe facebook can help finding patterns among these analysts.

¿Qué buscan?

 

Many times they are not trading because the have found an objective opportunity but because they need money and they need success and solve all their fantasies. Dr. Brett Steenbarger

 

How much time paying attention and learning skills before executing positions? 

 

Let us not to seek quant edges or a fancy way for fulfilling my fantasies. There must be true opportunities as I use to do in the school selling shirts, cds and coffee bags.

 

Let us remember my 1st trade. [with $3,000 capital].

 

 

Por diego joachin, analista de commodities

Me estreno como Trader con una pérdida de -38% de la cuenta en el primer fill de mi historia. Fue una decisión impulsiva, sin estrategia. Entrada el 26 Junio con expectativas de continuación en el uptrend del maíz. Sabía que hoy salía el reporte de USDA para la crop y los stocks, pero lo olvidé. Sin embargo estuve al tanto de la posición durante ese tiempo, hasta hoy lunes que abrí la plataforma a las 7am con un mark-to-marketeven” o sea cubriendo el costo de transacción y unos cuantos dólares de ganancia [otro error, contar las ganancias al mismo tiempo que transar].  El siguiente error es que la estrategia de entrada era a través del mini Corn, no del futuro que es cinco veces más grande; yo entré, sin querer, al futuro lo cual me exponía a cosas peores de las que pasé; la arrogancia y la emoción, especialmente falta de disciplina, hicieron que dejara abierta la posición para ver qué pasaba [puedo poner varios “hubiera” pero no viene al caso]. Tampoco puse stop loss.

Bien dice Ed Seykota: “todos obtienen lo que quieren del mercado”, si alguien quiere probar hipótesis matemáticas, lo hace, si alguien quiere emociones fuertes también lo obtiene, aunque a un costo alto. Estoy cayendo en la cuenta que estaba buscando emociones fuertes, por eso no me detuve a calibrar el trade antes de entrar.

Lunes 7am entro a la plataforma y veo el mercado a 790 6/8 por bushel [cierre del overnight] esto me mantiene tranquilo ya que durante la sesión del domingo se vió una pendiente positiva del 784 al 790 entre 5pm y 7pm [hora de Guatemala, una hora antes de Chicago] [vea la grafica]

 

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Mientras desayuno recibo los reportes de USDA y obtengo señales divergentes: el acreage es por debajo de lo especulado por el USDA pero los stocks son 15% arriba de hace doce meses. Esto me pone a especular como va abrir el mercado: ¿qué fundamental a tomar?  ¿El bullish o el bearish? Para mientras espero que den las 8:30 hora de Guate. Cuando finalmente son las 8:30 en punto [llevaba varios minutos pidiendo quotes en la plataforma, pero no obtenía nada porque no había mercado todavía] le doy “get quote” a la plataforma y todos los precios cambian instantáneamente a rojo y veo que el “Last” está 19 centavos abajo, lo cual equivalen al 38% mencionado al inicio. Trato de hacerle “offset” a la posición pero la plataforma no me deja [desde que vi lo rojo sabía que iban tocar el limite, 30 centavos, asi que solo me quedaba evitar vender al limite] entonces hice un fill para un SELL del mismo contrato y dejé que asi se balancearan las posiciones. De no hacer esto, la perdida no sería -38%, mas bien -66%.  [Este último error consistía en que yo no sabia usar la plataforma al 100% todavía].

El hecho de que haya escrito como fue todo a la hora de la ejecución revela mi inmadurez como trader serio; yo estaba buscando excitment, no trading, o sea estaba gambling y no especulando.

Tomo esta pérdida como el costo de un curso intensivo de especulación. También la tomo como una terapia “amanza egos” o sea un sistema que revela en realidad que, como y quien en verdad soy.

Tampoco puedo dejarme llevar por frustración porque me pondría en un escenario peor. Más bien percibo esto como un “debe mejorar” y no como “renuncie inmediatamente”; un poco caro, pero así nos hemos ganado el nombre de homo sapiens.

Hasta puede ser mejor que haya tenido esta experiencia negativa (negativa para un inexperto) al inicio y no que haya arrancado con una ganancia de 30% arriba del portafolio y solamente hubiera servido para alimentar mi ego y seguir en la búsqueda de emociones fuertes a través de otros mercados, o ampliando posiciones sin ningún cálculo ni administración de riesgo alguno.

Algo en contra es que la perdia (y las gancias también)  todavía no las puedo sentir al máximo porque el capital inicial fue puesto por mi padre.  Seguramente habría empezado mas responsablemente si el capital proviniera del sudor de mi frente.

Ahora lo que importa es definir una estrategia que sirva de entrada y salida, aplicación de administración de riesgo, y CUMPLIMIENTO de dicho plan.

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Rally Salvaje

Since Monday we’ve been experiencing a strong pull back in the SPY. Check it out:

SPYsalvaje 

 

But Crude oil has not followed in the same rhythm.

oilWild 

 

And what about the T bonds?

… the chart does not want to come out, but I notice this “rally” is reversing as I type.I wonder if crude has the ability to touch the 50s as we receive earnings report during this month. At least puts are still in control in the option market. Do not forget that tomorrow we have option expiration for crude, so there might be some action.

Qué quemón en el azucar

SB has been quoting at abnormal prices in the past two sessions. Yesterday I got a reverting signal selling today’s open.

 

We had pattern continuation which is translated in paper losses.

 

The problem is I remember the signal algorithm but I cannot recall of an exit strategy, i.e. a stop loss.

The entry was take the opposite direction of yesterday’s move if the ratio between volume and open interest is 20% above of the monthly [22d] moving average of vol/opInt.

There is good Z for this algorithm, but the stoploss is restricted to 2%. I need a heavier approach to the stop loss, at the least: the same mental effort of the entry algorithm.

As I type, probably I would be trying to hold the position with the hope a possible profit.

 

So, answering to the daily question of “what I am going to do wrong today, how would I lose?” I must be honest that avoiding risk management would be it.

Also I missed the rollover of N to V, which in first instance would stopped the execution process.

  Check it out:SBintraday [eleven bars of pain, unnecessary pain]

To bear in mind

What I am going to do wrong today?

 

What would you to do lose money? pick losing strategies.

 

Spec is about making mistakes. What separates winners from losers is that winners take small loses and losers make BIG mistakes.

 

If you seek to learn, do it from your mistakes not from your success.

 

 

Denial is a powerful defense mechanism while rationalization is a powerful coping mechanism.

What’s the probability of CL to continue rising?

It has been nine straight weeks that this future has reported ten week moving average above the 20w ma.

 

Since 1983

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So that the probability of this market to continue marking this pattern is 40%.

 

There are two times where this continuation was 19 weeks: the first time was from September 26 of 1986 to Feb 13 of 1987. The second time was twenty years later starting from Sept 14th of 2007 to January 18th of 2008. In the second one price went from 74 to 93 and in the first went from 14.12 to 16.39, 25% and 16% respectively.

 

 

CHECKING STRATEGIES: result: negative

Now in the nine week extension there are four samples:

using 2% stoploss

 

Sample one

27V89 to 22Z89

price return: +7%

strategy: +1%

 

Sample two

26H99 to 28K99

price return: +15%

strategy: -1%

 

Sample three

16U05 to 11X05

price return: -11%

strategy: -6%

 

Sample four

17J09 to 12M09

price return: +37%

strategy: +34%

 

The +34% return is more of a random result.

Oil is not in the zone of the other commodities [dx, bourse, bonds]-puts are way to heavy

Again winner on W. selling the open and buying the close. at least 15 tick on profit, or $700 or about 7% using 1:3 leverage on a $30k contract size.

 

There was a big order in coffee of about 20 contracts which made the price go from 128 to 130 where it closed. In positional trading, it is still finding this soul around the long term alignment.

 

It seems that sugar is building a trading range. ATR is on S, the trade wight is weak, below 3, and price is on S-. Wait for energy biofuels fundamentals for action. I have never seen this mkt in the intraday. I will check it out tomorrow. I should see it since the size is pretty nice for spec.

 

560 is a key level on W.

 

 

New highs on CL. Divergent volume. opening gap and low trading range in spite of fundamental bullish. It might very well start a trip to the south. I should check the 10d MAs system in a reverse manner for seeking bearish profit potential.

 

Gold had a DIV on a +day which is a hight probabiltiy of selling off tomorrow (today).

 

I have nothing for copper. I should try a positional just for matter of knowing the mkt.

 

 

There is a big problem with TS when internet falls because I can’t follow my most recent indicators for the bid/ask battle.

 

There are like 3 systems in oil which I should be papertrading.

Metals leading, bonds finding bottom, dollar weak, equities stalled at long term trend-Nice volatility among cmmdts

What does coffee and sugar after a LowTradingRange in 1d, 2d, 3d, 4d and 5d?

 

Heavy activity in W and C. Everybody is covering the weather expectancy. The long trade in W would have been profitable and now it has a sell signal for the opening of tomorrow.

Volatility is getting in the grains, firstly a long time ago with S, now corn is the one big fish pending to get in the party.

 

Buyers were dominant among most of commodity sessions excepting KC which had divergence closing up at 131 but with a selling dominance, let us not forget that this soft is on existential quest around is long term trends and option surface indicating a lower price expected after third quarter.

 

Wheat: Head and shoulders pattern

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MOVING AVERAGE SCORES

GRAINS 2.02

ENERG 2.5

SOFTS  1.71

METALS  3.8 [watch hg]

DJAIG  3.5

avg  2.5

bolsa 4.0

 

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