The day started well with me spotting several trends and managing my risk well. By 2pm I was up 22 points.
Things went wrong after this when the market got more choppy. My biggest loss was in the afternoon around the time that the US housing data was released. The index started moving fast and I tried to profit from the surge upwards. I was too late and bought at the top, it went quickly down losing me 11 points.
The general ‘choppiness’ of the FTSE caught me out several more times in the afternoon. By 3:30pm I was down 10 points.
| Time | Price | Time | Price | Profit | Running Profit | |||
| 1 | 10:56 | Buy | 4467 | 11:04 | Sell | 4468 | +1 | +1 |
| 2 | 11:09 | Buy | 4472 | 12:11 | Sell | 4479 | +7 | +8 |
| 3 | 12:44 | Sell | 4472 | 12:56 | Buy | 4475 | -3 | +5 |
| 4 | 13:19 | Sell | 4459 | 13:43 | Buy | 4442 | +17 | +22 |
| 5 | 14:42 | Buy | 4462 | 14:46 | Sell | 4453 | -9 | +13 |
| 6 | 15:00 | Buy | 4486 | 15:02 | Sell | 4475 | -11 | +2 |
| 7 | 15:05 | Buy | 4479 | 15:15 | Sell | 4469 | -10 | -8 |
| 8 | 15:25 | Buy | 4468 | 15:52 | Sell | 4466 | -2 | -10 |
Lessons learnt.
- Trying to join sudden trends is very risky. Slow steady trends are definitely safer.
- Trading using a 1 minute chart gives a big risk of false signals. Perhaps I should stick to longer time frames.
- Overtrading is expensive as you are paying the spread for each trade – the FTSE spread with the company I use is 2 points. Looking at the overall picture of the day there were two big movements upwards and one large movement downwards. The optimum number of trades for the day would have probably been 3 rather than 8. These things are always easy to say with hindsight!
Due to not having much ‘free’ time the next trading diary entry will probably be in 2-3 weeks.
http://www.bagism.com/tablemaker/
,Time,,Price,Time,,Price,Profit,Running Profit
1,10:56,Buy,4467,11:04,Sell,4468,+1,+1
2,11:09,Buy,4472,12:11,Sell,4479,+7,+8
3,12:44,Sell,4472,12:56,Buy,4475,-3,+5
4,13:19,Sell,4459,13:43,Buy,4442,+17,+22
5,14:42,Buy,4462,14:46,Sell,4453,-9,+13
6,15:00,Buy,4486,15:02,Sell,4475,-11,+2
7,15:05,Buy,4479,15:15,Sell,4469,-10,-8
8,15:25,Buy,4468,15:52,Sell,4466,-2,-10
//-->
Better luck next time dude!