I did not make any trades today. I meant to I really did, but I became very absorbed in what I was doing and before I knew it I had worked through lunch and the trading day was over. Although I didn’t make any trades, today was hardly a wasted day, in fact it was probably one of my most productive in a long time.

As many of you know, I started trading in the equities markets and only recently switched over to trading futures exclusively. Part of the reason I wanted out of the equities market was because it was just taking me too many hours (anywhere from 2-4) scanning the markets, pulling up charts, and doing research each night. So I spent my day today working on a Radar Screen stock screener tailored to meet my style and the plays I look for.

It is a work in progress and I’ll go over the kinds of plays that the screener locates in future posts. But for now I’ll post what I have and let you have a look for yourself.

This particular scan was done on the 15-minute interval. In short the screener is great at finding potential Price Divergence plays and stocks that have recently hit new highs/lows and are consolidating. I gotta run now, but I’m excited about the potential to finally start taking advantage of some opportunities in the equities markets again.
 
 

Given that my Tick % Indicator had spent practially the entire day above 90% (above 99% in fact), the trend was decisively up and short plays should only be considered in the rarest of circumstances.

This is just a pretty standard momentum breakout play that often occurs on days like today. This was my final trade of the day as I had been laying back during much of the day looking for just the right spot to get the last few R-Units that I needed to hit my daily goal.

When I saw the TRIX & price retracing in such an orderly manner, my ears went up and all I could do was wait for the signal. It came at 4:23 as Price closed right at the upper portion of the trendline, at which point I placed buy stop right above the prior bar’s high.

The converging factors were quite impressive when taken altogether: Price & Trix had a trendline break (TL+), the momentum on the squeeze indicator also rolled over while at the same time the $TICKs were pushing higher. The entry was the easy part. What I dwelled over was whether or not to stay in and go for a much bigger move or simply to be happy hitting my daily goal.

I opted for the second choice and closed the position right under the prior high for the day. A wuss perhaps, but I’ve been burned way too many times on “the last trade of the day” that “SHOULD” have pushed me over my daily goal. So if I can get myself content with simply and consistently hitting my daily goal, then over time I will then be able to raise that goal instead of haphazardly deciding that today I’ll go for twice that amount…But it sure is hard some some day…