$780 Today In The Live Trade Room

Another great day of trading for the School of Trade! We saw a number of different news events come out during our trading session this morning; at 8:30am EST Unemployment Claims and U.S GDP q/q was reported. Then at 9:30am EST Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner spoke as well as at 10:30am EST we had the Natural Gas storage stats being released. With all these news events affecting all the markets we trade in different ways, we had to be careful to pick only the very best set-ups on the most liquid markets. This proved to work just fine for us, as we went 5 for 6 today, with a total profit of $780; and all done on a $4,000 trading account (Futures Day Trading Account Management Video)!

We started off our trading day on the British Pound futures (Symbol 6B). Since the start of the European trading session, the pound futures had been in rather narrow choppy uptrend, but started to oscillate with wider price swings once greater volume enter the market in the U.S (Sideways Market Day Trading Futures). After seeing price rally after the 8:30am EST news events, we looked to enter the market with the added volume; and waited for a set-up. Shortly after the news had been released we saw a possible Breaker short set-up, and were able to enter the market at 8:37am EST at 1.6493. Once our order had been executed, we were quickly given the opportunity to take some profits, and closed our trade with +4 ticks (4 contracts) giving us a total of +16 ticks for our first trade of the morning ($100).

Our next trade came rather shortly after our first, but this time on the Crude Oil market (Symbol CL). With the natural gas storage numbers being released later in the morning, we weren’t sure if the crude market would produce much of anything; but today it actually did! With good volume and just the right amount of volatility added to the market, we were able to take some great trades off it this morning. It rallied strong after the GDP and Unemployment figures were released, and didn’t pullback in price until the start of the open outcry pit trading at 9:00am EST (Identify Market Sentiment For Day Trading Futures). At this time we saw a great opportunity to enter the market to the short side because of greater volume enter the market, and larger sell orders coming across the ticker tape. At 9:02am EST we decided to enter the market short with a 2-step pattern and a basis of 78.67. While in the market, we didn’t have to wait long for our profit targets to get filled and even got a chance to let our final contract run with price action, locking in profits of +4 ticks (2 contracts) +8 ticks and +7 ticks for a total of +23 ticks ($230).

Seeing this trend to the short side continue in the Crude Oil, we didn’t wait long before entering that same market once again to the short side (Scalping Futures Day Trading Video). With a continuation of the trend setting up, we looked to take a Breaker pattern to the short side. This is exactly what we did at 9:08am EST, as we entered the crude oil market with the trend on our side and a basis price of 78.35. With the trend in our favor, we were able to scalp off another +4 ticks (2 contracts) on this trade, for a total of +8 ticks ($80).

We continued to wait patiently as the market trended higher in the Crude Oil market. It wasn’t long before the Crude Oil had made a run at its daily highs; giving us yet another opportunity to trade. After seeing the market test the previous highs, it was clear to use, based off our technical indicators, that the buyers were not going to hold price for long, anticipating this, and waiting patiently for our price pattern to set-up for an entry, we looked to take the market short after the buying pressure had been exhausted (Swing-High Swing-Low Technical Analysis Day Trading Futures Video). Finally at 9:41am EST the buyers looked to take profits, and sellers once again entered the market, giving us a great Breaker short pattern and enabling us to enter the market at 78.67. Price soon took off to the short side as more and more sellers joined the market, giving us the chance to take profits at +4 ticks (2 contracts) +8 ticks and an additional +4 ticks on our final contract, for a total of +20 ticks ($200).

After seeing the Crude Oil market test its daily highs once before, we continued to watch the market as, after a slight pullback, it rallied once again and finally broke the highs of the day around the $79 price level. It was evident though to us, via the P.O.T indicator, that the buying pressure would not hold for long, thus giving us a change in the short term trend and a possible trade set-up. At 10:08am EST we were given our quick trend change, and were able to take advantage of it with a 2- step short ( Crude Oil Futures Day Trading Video). We entered with added selling pressure coming into the market, with a basis of 79.13; and it wasn’t long before our profit targets were getting hit, helping us lock in profits at +4 ticks (2 contracts) +9 ticks and an additional +15 ticks for a total of +32 ticks ($320).

Our sixth trade of the morning, and our last came on the British Pound futures (Symbol 6B). Simply put, we thought the market was going to go higher based off our price pattern set-up, but unfortunately, since the market is always right, we were wrong on this trade. As all of our traders are taught, you simply can’t have every trade be a winner. Although it was a disappointment to take a loss as the last trade of the day, it also provided us with another learning experience, that all traders take a loss at time and no one is perfect. Our trade set-up at 11:06am EST as the British Pound was looking to make new highs, so we entered the market with a Breaker patter long at 6589; and ended taking a full stop out of -24 ticks (-$150).

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