Entry: 62.36
Exit: 64.33
PL%: +3.16%
My initial target for this trade was 65.5, which it touched briefly before coming back down. Last night I had adjusted my stop from 61 to 64.5 to lock in some profits. With some slippage, the trade exited at 64.33 for a nice profit.
ZM[H5], Long, Channel
Entry: 344
Stop: 334
Target: 360
Risk/Reward Ratio: 1.6
1-month channel formation, has been moving sideways for a few weeks now and closed above resistance today. Risk/Reward ratio is a bit lower than I would like but wanted to take a small stab with this trade. It may hit potential resistance at around the 350 level before reaching the 360 target level.
Entry: 4342.75
Exit: 4348.5
PL%: +0.96%
Decided to manually exit the trade today. I’ve never been comfortable holding on to positions that hit all-time highs for too long as they will almost certainly fade a bit. Here it looks like the chart has hit some resistance around the 4390 level. If it does close above, I’d be open to re-entering the trade again.
With the long holiday weekend in the US, decided to post a few interesting charts I found from the Dalian Commodities Exchange in China. For foreign futures trading ideas, I only look at liquid, high volume contracts.
The first one is Fresh Hen Eggs May 2015 (WDK15) with Open Interest at 117,793 and most recent Volume at 100,710. Appears there’s a possible double top forming at the bottom. If the pattern does complete this week, expect for prices to rally to 4,300.
The second one is Soy Meal May 2015 (XUK15) with Open Interest at 1,848,922 and most recent Volume at 1,557,154. There’s an ascending triangle pattern that closed above last week. If the trend holds, can shoot for a target around 2,850.
2/8: *$100,278.55
2/14: *$101,685.77
PL%: +1.4%
Posted a nice gain for the week overall at 1.4%. Currently only hold two positions: long cotton and long e-mini nasdaq. The cotton trade started off slow but began to pick up steam yesterday and today. While the indices are hitting all-time highs, I don’t expect them to slow down going into next week.
*Numbers based off adjusted starting capital amount of $100,000
NQ[H5], Long, Wedge
Entry: 4342.75
Stop: 4270
Target: 4500
Risk/Reward Ratio: 2.16
2-month wedge formation, made the move up yesterday and closed higher today. I typically like to risk less than 1% of my total capital on any given trade but this one is slightly higher. I’ve been watching this chart closely the last few weeks and believe the structure justifies making a slightly riskier trade. Looking for it to move to the top of the 3-year channel shown on the weekly chart.
For indices as a whole (S&P, NASDAQ, Dow), I have a slightly bearish bias as I believe there will be a big correction coming soon, possibly once rates rise which may be as soon as the middle or end of 2015. However, I’m not against making shorter term moves such as this one here, trying to catch the trend up or down regardless of my greater outlook.
CT[H5], Long, Channel
Entry: 62.36
Stop: 61
Target: 65.5
Risk/Reward Ratio: 2.31
Cotton has a nice 5-month channel that broke above earlier last week. I had actually entered long late last week but got stopped out on 2/5. As you can see from the trendlines, I have two sets, one which uses the candlestick body and another that uses the shadow. While I primarily rely on trendlines using the body, I like using the shadow for trendlines as well as a more conservative look at the chart.
I’ve been actively trading since end November 2014. To help keep track of performance, I adjusted the starting capital to $100,000. Here’s a quick recap of my performance thus far:
December 2014
12/1: $100,000
12/31: $96,108.69
PL%: -3.89%
January 2015
1/1: $96,108.69
1/31: $103,858.67
PL%: +8.06%
February 2015
2/1: $103,858.67
2/10: $100,278.25
PL%: -3.45%
These performance totals are net of broker commissions.
Welcome to JL Nexus! I’ll be using this platform to journal and track my futures trading. I’ll be posting every futures trade I enter with corresponding daily and weekly charts and a short explanation. At the end of each week and month, I’ll post a performance recap, highlighting key metrics and comparing my performance against market benchmarks. While my trading will focus on US futures markets only, I will periodically post interesting trades I see from overseas futures markets as well as interesting financial books and articles I come across.
I’m not a professional but have a keen interest in the financial markets and have been following the futures markets for about a year now. Through this project, I hope to become a better trader.
JL Nexus 