We Went 4/4 In the Live Trade Room Today

All of our trades today came on the Crude Oil market (Symbol CL). The crude oil market closed yesterday at about $70/barrel, after its strong rally based on the inventories number released. Since the beginning of the open outcry pits at 9:00am EST today the market continued its rally from yesterday into the $71/barrel price level, but once the U.S equities market open at 9:30am EST the market began to consolidate between $71-$70/barrel. This consolidation was most likely due to a number of U.S news events that affected the market as well as the Fed chairman Bernanke testifying to Congress. Once this was finished, the market began to retrace its large rally back into the $69/barrel levels. We took a total of 4 trades today, finishing the day with a total profit of +$480.00 on 4 contracts.

Our first trade of the morning came after 9:00am EST, with volume entering the market at the start of the open outcry pits at 9:00am EST. We noticed the market had been consolidating in at the $70/barrel price level, and looked to take a trade based on the increase in volume at 9:00am EST. Once the pits opened, the traders began to push the market higher, and we decided to join the buyers to the long side ( Crude Oil Futures Day Trading Video). At 9:07am EST we entered the Crude Oil futures (Symbol CL) with a Breaker long at 70.52. With the stochastic’s curled in our favor, and large buy orders coming across the ticker tape, we knew that our trade was placed in the correct direction. The market quickly rallied higher, allowing us to take profits of +4 ticks (2 contracts), +8 ticks and our final contract, which we let run, go us an additional +8 ticks for a total of +24 ticks on the trade ($240).

Our second trade of the morning came prior to the ISM Manufacturing PMI and Pending Home Sales figures were released at 10:00am EST, where we were able to scalp a few ticks from the crude oil market before the new was released (Identify Market Sentiment For Day Trading Futures). At 9:50am EST we noticed that the buyers had just broken the $71/barrel price level, but that the momentum was not there to hold price at that level for long. So, at 9:50 we entered short with a 2-step, with a basis of 70.92. The market quickly dropped as sellers jumped on to the short side, we were able to close our trade with profits at +5 ticks (2 contracts) and +8 ticks for a total of +18 ticks on the trade ($180).

The third trade of the morning came just prior to the 11:00am EST hour on the Crude Oil futures. The market was trending even higher, into the $71 price level, and we were thinking the trend would continue, so we entered the market long with a breaker at 10:56am EST. Once in the trade, we quickly noticed that the momentum was turning sharply to the downside, and with large sellers coming across the tape, we closed out trade out at entry (+/- 0 ticks) (Scalping Futures Day Trading Video).

Our final trade of the morning came closer to the lunch time hours, and the market had begun to retrace off its highs, so we looked to jump onto the short side. Entering the 11:00am EST hour, the crude oil market was continuing its trend to the short side, and the sellers had begun to push price below the $70/barrel level. To continue on this trend, we entered short with a 2-step at 11:27am EST. With a basis of 69.78, we were able to scalp off +3 ticks (2 contracts) on our trade for a total of +6 ticks ($60) (Scalping Futures With 1-Contract To Start Video).