Jody and I no longer trade with Market Mover Trading.  We think we received a good education with MMT, but we no longer feel that the MMT style of trading is conducive to actually making money for anyone except the owners.

We will restyle this blog in the next few months.

This was just one of those days.  I am learning to listen to myself, I am more and more in tune with what’s happening and it’s paying off.

We were, in my opinion, in consolidation up to this announcement.  So, even though it was a multiple announcement, I chose to use an MMT Tool we don’t normally use on multiple announcements (S).  I put it (SSL 3/3/1) in at 3 seconds, and it registered at :58.  Order was at the candle open and it filled at exactly my order (short 1177.25).  Had it blown through my order, I would have canceled all, so as to avoid being filled on the way back up.  The candle went all the way down to 1174.75 and stalled, so I flattened to get out at 1175.50 with a profit of 1.75 points (17.5% or $87.50 on one $500 contract).  Love it!

The Pretty Picture:

Unemployment Claims, PPI, Core PPI & Trade Balance; 10.14.2010

I skipped Economic Optimism (IBD/TIPP) this morning to stay in my warm bed on this rainy fall morning.  Good call.  I decided to simulate the FOMC Meeting Minutes that came out at noon.  I am not as good as I would like on all things FOMC and even though this is only a medium impact announcement…I decided to sim.  Because there was mucho consolidation prior to the announcement, I decided to use my SSL (2/2/0) strategy with my MMT Tools…even though most things FOMC don’t lend themselves to this particular strategy.  Set my strategy just as 2 seconds went to 1 second.  My order went right in at the beginning of the opening candle (1159.75).  There weren’t enough contracts to fill my order on the way down, so it went through me and filled me short (1159.25) on the way back up, which was okay in this situation, as the movement then went back down to the nearest PP on the same candle.  I moved my profit target up to a tick above the PP and got out at 1158.50 for a profit of 3 ticks, or .75 pt, or $37.50 on one $500 contract.

FOMC Meeting Minutes; 10-12-2010

Today was a profitable day, but it’s likely that had I entered my order just a second earlier, I would have made $250 on my one contract rather than $75.  Just have to tweak a little.

The pretty picture and all the details:

Non-Farm Employment and Unemployment Rate; 10.08.2010

Not much to say…I simulated it because it was medium impact and I couldn’t find where I had ever traded it prior to today.

Consumer Credit; 10.07.2010

The pretty picture says it all:

Unemployment Claims; 10.07.2010

So, the local boys have been talking about stops vs stop limits.  About how they always use stops. I’m a stop limit kinda girl.  I don’t wanna get filled way further along the candle, especially on announcements that aren’t likely to move more than 3 points or so.  So I decided to try out a stop today and I potentially lost 1.75 points (on a 3.75 mover) due to slippage.  My order went in beautifully.  Order in at 1159.50, bottom half of strategy 3 ticks down at 1158.75, filled at 1157, out at 1156.5 and left 3 ticks on the chart. Would I have been filled on a stop limit?  I’d like to think so based on my entry.  I still got 1/2 point, but I would have preferred 2.25!  So, new rule on this announcement.  It’s a SL ALL the way.

Pretty picture:

ADP Non-Farm Employment Change; 10.06.2010

So, today the news might have been leaked a little early.  The :59 candle started moving up with 12 seconds left until the announcement, so I stayed out.  I probably could have got a short in, but I don’t think I have enough experience with that type of thing, so I stayed out.  Here is the pretty picture:

ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI; 10-5-2010

Today was Consumer Confidence.  It came in about 4 points lower than the consensus (no surprise to us CONSUMERS!) and the market moved so fast, it was past my entry (SSL 3/3/1) by the time I set it.  So, I didn’t get in.  And with no prediction points today, I watched the rest of the movement and made the correction and similar movements in my mind.  Need more practice on those suckers.

Consumer Confidence; 9-28-2010