First CME Back to School Futures Trading Challenge

I traded for 4.5 hours today beginning 1 hr before market open...out of the 5 or 6 days the challenge was available. Been traveling and haven't always had internet. Also have a buddy to take care of, can't make him wait around.

But nevertheless I came in 226th place out of ~1,500...not all the people who signed up were active participants though I'm sure. however, when I was slightly negative I was in ~350th place, so I assume the majority lost money.

I can tell the top dogs used fundamentals, as well as technicals, to make their profits. Much respect to the winner, he closed out his positions half-way through today when he hit 50K. Before that he had 13 trades, suddenly 25 trades.

Looking forward to learning more about how the futures and forex markets tick and being a part of this challenge next year!

I will use CME's practice simulator for my paper trading. Like the layout, the products available...it promotes longer-term trading vs. instance action...which is what I need. It also includes slippage, 1 pt either way so is more realistic. Comissions not taken into account though. However, I have reason to believe these will be less important, than slippage certainly.

$387 in 1.25 hours on 1 /es contract. 2 b/s. PAPER profit.

Taking advantage of what appeared to be a Cat 3 "relief" day, entered a single paper trade during pre-market and closed approximately 1.25 hours later. If a true Cat 3 day then this is leaving a significant amount of profit on the table. In the future, at least 2 contracts will be purchased, doubling up on standard risk. The first will be sold when the momentum of the move appears to subside. The second will be held, with an aggressive stop, until a reversal is spotted, the trade is stopped out, or until the close of the day.

One other note: a minute chart was nearly perfect to predict a local maxima for exit on the first contract today. It would not be sufficient to spot max/min for a cat 1 day, because they would happen over a much shorter period of time. A 15 second bar or so might be needed for this. Think or Swim does not offer this, but ninja trader might in terms of tick charts, which might have a whole 'nother utility of their own in terms of displaying market action!

The 3 Trading Day Categories

In the spirit of hurricanes...

Cat 3 days: Buy the premarket, sell the close--or vis versa. During these days--after some major fundamental change--the market is adjusting to new realities and is expected to move strongly in one direction. These are the easiest and most profitable trading days. Standard position size can be increased because there is little risk of loss, although stops should still be used and moved throughout the day. They are often delineated by large pre-market futures price moves and accompanying explaining news. Positions should be entered 1-0.5hr before market open using a futures product...or whatever leveraged perennial product is available. If none, enter equities in the pre-market, or say on awesome earning the day before, after market.
Cat 2 days: There is a trend, although oftentimes there is a backlash reversal around 9:30 pacific time, 12:30 ET.
Cat 1 days: buy and sell "at value"--meaning previous support/resistance levels only, not much movement to be expected on this day, little going on, often market is in a holding pattern regarding some grand approaching event. Perfect time to sell neutral options strategies.

275 26bs

Traded 30 mins b4 open,

250 ES 16bs
260 GC 6bs
-225 ZC 4bs --one trade. Poorly controlled risk! Was breaking out went wrong way early, should have gone other way!

275 26bs

Could have been a lot better. Still need practice!!

$312, 32 b/s

Traded /ES during the latter half of what could have been (and turned out to be) a powerful day due to a hydrogen bomb test by North Korea on the weekend. Didn't really do any long term trades well and messed up a lot on the scalping and shorter-term trades. Wasn't a horrible performance though!