Trading results:
2020 +$6098,50
2019 +$8185,00
2018 +$1342,50
2017 +$5843,00
All verified!
(trading exactly one E-mini S&P 500 future for the Greed and Fear model portfolio)
Creating advanced orders step-by-step in Trader Workstation (TWS by Interactive Brokers)
Interactive Brokers (IB) is a popular broker, operating in several counties around the world, usually under local national names. Their trading platform is the same everywhere, it's the Trader Workstation or TWS. For novice users, it may be somewhat intimidating at first glance, but once you get a good understanding, you'll see it has a lot of powerful features to offer.
We have learned that disciplined trading is the only way to survive in this business. The best way to adhere to your own strict trading rules is to automate things. Let your orders take care of your trading, not your brain because the human brain usually fails in (short-term) trading. In order to achieve this, we need an extensive set of order types. TWS has just that, so let's get into it.
Results 2020 Greed & Fear model portfolio
- Details
- Written by Raoul Suurmeijer
- Category: Results
In 2017, a start was made with verified actual trading results. Now we continue doing so for the year 2020. The result is based on trading only 1 E-mini S&P future with a (minimum) $10.000,- base amount. This is the Greed and Fear model portfolio. With the accumulated profits, the value of this portfolio stands at $25370,50 at the start of 2020.
Trading update - December 2020
- Details
- Written by Raoul Suurmeijer
- Parent Category: Today
- Category: Market updates
December had 4 trades, of which 3 were losers and just one small winner. The first trade was a short trade, not very common, but opportunities seemed right. The second one was a long trade and looked very promising, but was stopped out with only a small profit left. The third and fourth were stopped on maximum loss. But especially, the last one showed the importance of having a fixed and automatic (instead of mental) stop loss(!)
In total, this resulted in making December almost the worst performing month of this year.
The yearly result of the Greed and Fear model portfolio for 2020 has been updated.
Trade of the Day: -$656,00 December 21st, 2020
- Details
- Written by Raoul Suurmeijer
- Parent Category: Today
- Category: Market updates
For trading on December 21st, there was a strong bullish signal, so an order was entered and emailed to all investors. The buy limit order was set at a level that has a significant chance of getting touched during an intraday pullback.
Combined with the buy limit, a bracket order was entered to close the position at pre-determined levels. This could be the stop loss (maximum allowed loss) or the sell limit (profit target). If either gets hit, the position is closed and the other remaining order is canceled.
Trading update - November 2020
- Details
- Written by Raoul Suurmeijer
- Parent Category: Today
- Category: Market updates
November again did not give us many signals. In total there were 4 trades set up, but only one got filled which turned out to be a losing one. The net result for November is set at -$706,00
The yearly result of the Greed and Fear model portfolio for 2020 has been updated.
Mind the gap: on the daily chart
- Details
- Written by Raoul Suurmeijer
- Parent Category: Trading
- Category: Market psychology
In our previous post about gaps, we looked at market behavior around opening-gaps and would generally happen during that same trading session. But nothing spectacular came out, an opening-gap basically meant nothing for further price action that day. Also, the average size of an opening-gap turned out to be a few factors smaller than average daily volatility, so those margins were easily absorbed regardless of whether there was an opening gap or not.
Now suppose the opening-gap does not get closed during the same trading day. How does affect the market in the next couple of days? Does price gravitate back towards such a gap, as if it wants to pull in price or doesn't it have any significant meaning as we saw in the opening-gaps analysis? Let's dive in.
Trade of the Day: +$2444,00 September 30th, 2020
- Details
- Written by Raoul Suurmeijer
- Parent Category: Today
- Category: Market updates
Today's trade was the only one this month. Yesterday evening, I entered an order and sent an e-mail to the investors. As always, the order was a limit order anticipating intraday pullback. When the limit was hit, it first looked like an almost exact hit. But an hour later the ES dropped roughly 13 points below the initial entry, and then later that session again.
From that low, it took off right through our profit target. The bracket order is such a fantastic order type that way. Once the profit target is reached, the position is closed automatically and profit taken. Towards the end of the session, we're seeing some selling, getting well below our profit point which always feels good.
Mind the gap: opening gap
- Details
- Written by Raoul Suurmeijer
- Parent Category: Trading
- Category: Market psychology
There's a lot of talk about so-called gaps. General wisdom says they will be closed. But is that true? Is there a statistical edge about gaps that we can use in our trading? Let's find out.
Trade of the Day: +$1280,00 August 21st, 2020
- Details
- Written by Raoul Suurmeijer
- Parent Category: Today
- Category: Market updates
From now on, the trades that are made for the Greed and Fear model portfolio will be reported on the blog after they are closed. This will result in a more accurate and up-to-date reporting of the trading result.
Market gurus and their predictions - Part 4
- Details
- Written by Raoul Suurmeijer
- Parent Category: Trading
- Category: Market psychology
After part 3, we move on to part 4 of this series of 'Market gurus and their predictions'. If you're new to this, you may want to start with the first part for some additional explanation.
The fallacy of becoming a successful short term trader
- Details
- Written by Raoul Suurmeijer
- Parent Category: Trading
- Category: Market psychology
If you use any search engine and type in the phrase "How to become a successful short term trader" or anything similar, you will find roughly 70 million(!) websites that will help you in achieving that goal, or so it seems. While in reality, there's only one right and honest answer which is more like this: "There is an extremely low probability you will ever be successful in short term trading, and you will most likely lose all funds in your account".
What is autotrading?
- Details
- Written by Raoul Suurmeijer
- Parent Category: Trading
- Category: Autotrading
First, autotrading is a great development for the trading community, both for investors as well as traders. It gets rid of all the fluff and ambiguous analysis that float around the internet, that whole crazy circus feeding the modern gold-rush.