16 losers in a row and done

16 losers in a row. Not a joke and not an exaggeration.

I came in early this morning to trade GE and Bank of Amer. earnings. They barely missed and there were only small opportunities that I found riskier than the reward.

I waited from 5:15am until 7 am until I made my first trade. Oil had popped on Citigroup's earnings, which were BS because all the gains were from the sale Smith Barney. I sold oil right near the high, and took a tiny loser. Oil then sold off and came back so I sold it again. Again, I took a small loser and watched it melt down 60 straight ticks. I sold again when it retraced one more time, and took a very small loser, only to watch it sell off. However, I was starting to think that maybe this isn't so bearish. I keep selling and it comes back.

I changed my opinion and bought a low, again, took a very very small loser and watched it rally. I bought another low and held it for a while, and got out because the timing of it wasn't so great. Again, another small loser. The market sold off a little, I bought what I thought was a 3 lot, but luckily was only a 1 lot, and it tanked 25 ticks. I took a 25 tick loser and I only knew I bought a 1 lot when I clicked out and ended up short at the low a 2 lot, and it popped back up against me.

After that I waited a while because I wasn't seeing anything and I wanted to wait to see how the markets reacted after equities opened. I was noticing that as oil was rallying, 10 yr would sell off and SP would rally. However, oil wouldn't rally unless heating oil and gasoline would either. I waited and watched as the SP sold off on the open. I saw the 10 year rally a little and oil popped, but heating oil and unleaded gas did not. I sold oil, and sat on it, took no heat, and put a stop in for a scratch. After a few minutes, I was out. I tried again when oil made new highs, but heating and unleaded didn't, SP were selling off, and 10 yr was rallying. Again, it was a winner at first, but then I took a scratch. This should have been a warning sign. Oil made new highs, again, nothing else was rallying, in fact, now the euro looked weak, so I sold oil a third time. This time it popped and big size came in and I took a 15 tick loser. That was it, I was done for the day. I lost too much money.

After reviewing my trades, my first 6-7 I noticed that most of them would have been winners. In fact, I only got out because they either came back to scratch or went just a little bit against me. They never even reached my stops. I just panicked and got out. This is very frustrating. This led me to take bigger risk later when I was frustrated and making poor decisions. Ultimately, it was a combination of bad decisions and bad risk management that caused today to be painful.

In retrospect, oil was strong, by far the strongest market, yet that was the one I was fading and selling because nothing else looked very strong. Everything else told me it was all bullshit, but it was my lack of identifying what was going on that was bullshit. Ugh. One day it works and the next day it doesn't. Yesterday the relationships I noticed made me money and today they cost me.

At least today was a manageable loss, and not out of hand. I have a lot to clean up and look at.

For next trading session, here is what I need to do. Wait more patiently for my entries. If the range is from 10-20, I cannot buy in the 15-20 range and I cannot sell in the 10-15 range. My risk is too great. I need to wait so sell near the high of the ranges and buy near the low of the ranges.

Also, I need to look at getting out of oil. Oil just frustrates me. Its a product where I lack so many edges, thereby making it so difficult to be profitable. If I can start trading more 10 yr or Eurodollar, where the playing field is more equal, then I can find decent trades and set ups.

I need to forget about the day and just focus on the weekend and taking a little break.