Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Tuesday Qs

Another sub par volume day, although the Qs (NDX) were the bright spot relative to the other major indices (DIA,IWM, & SPY). Tomorrow should tell the tale whether the NDX divergence in strength has some legs.
The NYAD was not very enthusiastic, although the 10/20 did flash a bullish cross at 12:00.
Only one trade today at 10:35 (47.17) as the Qs bounced off the S1 pivot (not visible on the above chart) and my new algorithm (center blue line) fired a BUY at the 35 level. With the overall market showing weakness I was skeptical of the trade but decided to follow the signal rather than my discretion. My first target was PP and when the Qs got there a hour later I was ready to bail. . .but the 10/20 had not crossed so I decided to stick with it and put in a even break stop. With the NYAD picking up at 12:00 the Qs sailed up and I set R1 as the next likely target. When the Qs reached R1 at 13:35, with the NYAD very tepid, the rest of the market stalling and my indicator falling below 80, I closed the position (47.52). Yes, the 10/20 had not crossed, but a doctor's appointment was approaching and I needed to leave. . and I was unwilling to leave the position open, stop or no stop.
Time in trade: 3 hours (more than usual)
Trade gain: .35
Given the lack of volume and the relative weakness in the rest of the market, I consider this a good trade, but was glad to be out of it ahead of tomorrow.

Finally, in a follow-up to yesterday's video clip on the El Churro, I've included some historical info and travel notes to help understand the uniqueness of this site.
http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web07f/wfeature-el-chorro-adventure-p1
As a former rock climber (not El Churro skill or risk level), who is now reduced to golf for outdoor pleasure, I can appreciate what it takes to survive in this sport. Great lessons in tactical planning and risk management. . . and mistakes are really costly.

4 comments:

Cuccaa said...

Just curious, have you checked out Wealth Lab, http://www.wealth-lab.com/cgi-bin/WealthLab.DLL/home Down at the bottom, they have the ten most requested strategies, you go to that page, and there's an area to enter for a check of the system on any stock, like the Q's, like this, http://www.wealth-lab.com/cgi-bin/WealthLab.DLL/testsystem
HAH, a new toy.

bzbtrader said...

Thanks for the link. I am currently exploring some rather unconventional mechanical trading systems in order to generate a low risk revenue stream so this may be a great resource.

Cuccaa said...

Just a side note, but the part that really freaked me on that El Churro video, was when he walks across the little 4 inch wide pipe, hahahahahaha. The actual area for the foot to sit on is probably about one inch wide, having spent most of my young adult life falling off the top of 3 1/2" wide, FLAT, walls, I can appreciate his skill.

bzbtrader said...

I too was a framer in younger days and "walking the walls" was my least favorite phase of any project. I really welcomed the 2x6 framing jobs. The guys working high steel always blew me away.