What's the Plan, Stan? - Closed

 Wednesday 05 April - Interesting day! Sun in shining, looks beautiful and they are calling for freezing rain later? What?

So, I waited until after the 0830 numbers, looked at all of the charts and decided to go long. Put in an 8-tick reversal. Plan was that if I was stopped out with the 8-tick, I would do a Fib retrace. Was filled at 0839hrs for 1 x ZN at 116'135 from the 8-tick reversal. Stop of 10 ticks and no target. I would like to let this one run if it can, so I will hold through the 1000hrs numbers and beyond.


After 1000hrs numbers, prices surged. Moved my stop to BE+1 and I was now in a riskless trade. 

After lunch, I was looking at the other products, and decided that the two-year was retracing to the hourly Turning Line, so decided to get into a long position there. At 1327hrs, Bot 1 x ZT @ 103'260. Stop 20 ticks and open target. 


So now, we see why we do the little thing we do. 

  • All bids to buy or sell get a stop (and target if applicable) with GTC order. 
  • When an order fills, I ensure that there is a stop, and it is GTC. 
  • See where I am going? 

At 1426hrs, power went out, as the freezing rain was walloping everything. Internet goes down, computer powers down, cell phone signal isn't the best. So, a quick check of the prices after 1630hrs showed I was stopped out of both.

At 1526hrs, Sld 1 x ZN@ 116'140 for a one-tick gain.


At 1601hrs, Sld 1 x ZT @ 103'235 for a 1R loss.


Happy with the trades? Yes, but I wonder if I would have been better trading to targets instead of shooting for the moon on the trades. This is something I struggle with. Was I happy with the 1R loss? Yes, as I would do the trade again. You don't know if the price will continue to decline or bounce off the support and go back up. Just when you think it can't go up again, it will. So, it was a trade that was part of my plan, so I am OK.

I was also happy I do make triple sure that I have stops set into the broker. If they weren't in place, things could have gone bad. And power was out for only 22 hours this time!

Live to trade another day!  

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