NEW OPPORTUNITIES

                           We Just Invite Ourselves When Needed

What can you say about gold?

“Honey, what was your last girlfriend like?” Yea, it’s like that.

I didn’t trade gold today. Going forward, until the market goes back to more normal conditions, I will be looking for picking more intermediate long positions on selected algorithm signals where we can then make “free trades”.

I did make a good crude oil trade today, on the signals, but screwed up when I went to adjust the stop. Here’s what happened.

I got long on a buy signal at 108.26 with an initial stop at 107.93. About 20 minutes later the market moved above 108.30 [bid] and I wanted to then adjust my initial stop. My MT4 platform liquidation box was on my screen, so I needed to minimize it up in the right hand corner so I could then bring up the box to replace my stop. So, I depressed my mouse and “moved it across my screen to minimize”.

“Hey vegas, thanks for moving your depressed mouse over the “liquidation of position” area and setting off closing of the position at 108.31. We’re on our way to 110 and thank you for letting us out; by the way, would you like a cookie?”

“Errr no thanks, but a very dull knife for my carotid artery on my neck might be appropriate.”

I’m officially blaming my injured right hand; after all I can’t just be a klutz can I?

As I hinted yesterday, on Sunday I will be posting a special segment on crude oil and how to trade it. Even if you have never traded crude before, I think you will be pleasantly surprised how good of a market it can be for trading. It offers all the advantages of gold [when it is active and normal] plus some gold doesn’t have.

So, come on back Sunday night sometime and read all about it; you will be glad you did.

Have a good weekend everyone.

-vegas

DID I NOT WARN YOU?

                                 Some People Just Won’t Listen

How can I talk about today’s gold market without raising my blood pressure or using non-mother approved language?

How about less than a $4 range for the first 8 hours of trading; less than $8 until the U.S. session opened; and last but not least the price spikes and price drops [near 2 PM]? I warned you guys of this kind of action.

I started the day off in early Asia with a buy signal trade that I had to wait 8 hours to basically scratch. Add to the long wait, and with no market action, dealer games with my fills. I spent a large part of the first 14 hours of trade making my views on dealers known to the brokerage house kingpins.

My views on gold today I summed up pretty well on the other post at http://vegasxau.blogspot.com

I did have a nice trade in crude oil today, although not the volume I wanted.

Over the weekend, I will be making a special post on crude oil that basically will outline how I trade this market for the PAMM.

Until tomorrow, have a nice day everyone.

-vegas

IT ONLY HURTS WHEN YOU LOOK

                                     Or, He Was Short Gold

Unbelievable action in gold today; pure and total boredom for 20 hours then $25 / oz. in 90 minutes. Severe price spikes that come out of nowhere, leaving you wondering what the news was [errrrrr, there wasn’t any, and that’s part of the problem].

I started the day off trying to position a “free trade” on the upside. I did this twice in the wee hours of Asia, each time the market not cooperating. A few pennies of profit.

“OK, you wanna go down, then go down.”

Twenty hours later with a $10 range, gold is giving me a headache. The algorithm, as you all should know, is no help in this kind of environment.  I’m literally sitting here wondering where the day’s range is going to come from, if at all. Wonder no more.

Hopefully, we can get Asia to cooperate with some quick profit taking tonight, and I try again to position a “free trade” on the upside. Looks to me like the buying isn’t finished, and before we can correct to the downside, we need some kind of price spike in either Asia or Europe to bring the market to an overbought status. We’ll see.

And lest you think it was boring for 20 hours in just gold, crude oil had only an $ 0.84 range before it decided to go $0.50 in 1 minute before giving it all back in the next ten.

So, we stay disciplined, and tomorrow is another day.

Have a good day everyone.

-vegas

TRAIN STATION TRADING

                                          Required Reading

 “Hey, wait for me! I’m trying to get on this train.”

“Sorry man, train has left the station.”

Guess where you’re still standing?

I came into today’s trade quite bullish on gold; the problem I had was execution. I never wanted to pay up to be long when we got the “spikes out of nowhere”. As I wrote on the other post, these spikes/drops play havoc with the algorithm and the attendant signals.

I traded some WTI Crude Oil today, and in the days ahead will spend more time in this market. The intra day volatility is very good, the spread is consistently pretty tight at 0.05, and the market puts in a $1.50 - $2.00 + / barrel range almost every day: just what I am looking for in a market.

Today I focused more on Crude Oil than gold, getting my bearings and watching volatility action. It was a pretty slow day until late in the session when prices exploded $1 per barrel in 15 minutes. Like I said, I’ll be doing more trading in WTI.

While I made some pennies today, it was nonetheless frustrating dealing with a gold market that acted more like a psychotic teenage girl than a major functioning market.

“Welcome to trading today vegas, can I get you a cookie?”

“Errr, no thanks.”

The good news is that it was an opportunity cost, and there are an unlimited number of those in the days ahead. Still ………

Have a good day everyone. Tomorrow’s another day.

-vegas

KEEP THE DEALERS WEALTHY DAY

                       Help A Dealer Make A Car Payment Will Ya?

What can you say about a day when the spread is 5% of the total range? What can you say about a day where there were 7 5M candlesticks greater than $2 / oz, and yet the range [outside of the first hour of trading late Sunday afternoon] was about $7?

It’s easy! If you traded today, you helped a dealer make a car payment. Now, don’t you feel better about yourself?

I have seen more professional traders get seriously hurt in markets like this and compound their problems as the day wears on. The reason you walk away from these types of days is because you can’t make money back if you have a losing trade.

We get back to normal tonight, and when markets stay tight for an extended period, they usually break out with a bang.

Have a good day everyone.

-vegas