Doing well, but need to clean it up

I had a decent start to the morning. I bought ES and Eurostoxx on the Continuing Claims data, but put on too much size and scratched it very quickly. I had very little to show for it, even though I think I saw a great opportunity.

I was patiently waiting for places to sell oil after the oil market sold off after the the open. I actually chose decent spots and took my relatively small losers. I then got the feeling someone had the 9am Phili Fed release early, and I was correct in my assumption. Bloomberg released it early and thankfully I was able to buy a little oil on the early release. However, it was very small and did not get back my losses from selling it.

I remained very patient and waited for my spots with multiple reasons. I was able to make a pretty good day of it, but then got a little sloppy and sold a low and bought a hi for no reason, and took my 10 tick losers. It was frustrating to say the least, but I buckled down again and got back to my highs around 10:30. I have found that from 10:30 ish to 12 or so I get very beat up and have a hard time seeing the market. I took a break for about 2 hours and just decided to sit and wait.

Sure enough the US fixed income market had tanked and I saw a great opportunity to buy. I traded Eurodollar for the first time in about 7 months. I made some decent trades, ones that would have been huge winners on small size, but I just wanted to make quick stabs and take quick profit because it has been so long since I traded it. Oil went a little crazy and I took some losses that forced me to cut my size. I was able to use that size to get back to new highs, and walk out of there at my high.

I noticed today that I started to feel a little sloppy with my trading. I feel like had I prepared a little more and set up some trading tools, that I would have had a better chance to capitalize on some great opportunities. Also, I lacked focus in my own trading. I did not trade with that killer urgency. I am not sure what to make of today. It feels great to walk out up more than I have in the past, but I feel like I squandered many opportunities today.

For tomorrow and the end of the week I plan on keeping it really tight. I would be thrilled to walk out up anything. I know it will be a late night tonight, and its a summer Friday. I need to be extra cautious and patient. I need to set up everything and really bear down and stay disciplined. It is unacceptable to slack off because I am doing better, because that's what leads to my draw downs. I am trying to keep the same mentality no matter how I do.