QID call

Since the QQQQ closed yesterday on the uptrending support and today almost a full point below the line, it's time for me to buy a QID call.
Because of the significant down turn on the Qs this morning, I bought the call when I looked at the market at lunch time.

Jan09 69 Call for $5.80

Just before the end of the day, that Call was up $0.60
Then in the last 30 minutes of the day, it reversed and turned into a $0.20 loss.
However each of the major indices closed below a 4-week uptrending support with the exception of the RUT which closed at its uptrending support.

So I will hold this QID for a while. My exit earlier will be if the QQQQ breaks above the horizontal resistance at 32

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Time to get out of QLD

BlainR thanks for the good wishes. Unfortunately, today the QQQQ definitely met one of my exit criteria, and not the one I'd prefer.

The Qs closed below the uptrending support so I'm putting in an order to get out in the morning. Hopefully I won't loose too much more before the order fills.

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Still holding QLD call

My exits on the QLD call were if QQQQ gets near 32 resistance (which hasn't happened yet) or QQQQ breaks below up-trendings support. Friday's close was pretty much right on that support line so for Monday I'll hold the call.
When the Qs meets one of the above critera, it will be time for me to sell my QLD calls and buy QID calls. For the moment, I wait to see where Monday's close will be.
Waiting is one of the hardest things for me to do with a trade!

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Near-term upswing

So the market seems to have confirmed the QQQQ break through of resistance and futures are up this morning.
I've put in an order for a Jan 25 QLD call.
Exits: if Qs goes below the uptrending support or if it gets near the horizontal resistance at 32

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Didn't follow my own advice

Yesterday after saying I would sit the day out, I got in and should not have.
On a slight rollover of a large mid-day market spike I bought a call on the QID. It went up slightly, down slightly and ended up being neutral. I'm putting in an order this morning to close at a few cents profit, enough to cover the trade.

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Was today's breakout real or artificial?

The QQQQ broke through downtrending resistance today that it has been bouncing off since 12/8.
However...

Although volume was higher than yesterday, it was not up to the 30 day moving average let alone breaking resistance with high volume.

Today the Fed dropped the interest rate to a new low. Did that cause the up swing in the market? Very possible.

An uptrending resistance line can be draw from 11/20 through today's low. Until today, that could have been a mini-trend within the larger channel down trend.

But was today's breakout real or artificial? I'm not sure. We are also close to hitting the horizontal resistance of the prior 5-yr low. I'm still undecided if I want to wait to see what it does against that or look to place bearish trades as it nears it. So while I think about this, I have no trades entered for tomorrow.

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Keeping a journal

I’ve restarted keeping a journal of my trades. I need to get back to being more disciplined when getting in and out of trades. Forcing me to write down my reasoning helps.

With the previous post, I have also begun posting some of that journal information this blog. Again it causes me to think through what I’m doing.

I’m hoping that forcing myself to write my trades and reasoning down will allow me to see what works and what doesn’t.

How else can I learn from my sucesses and failures if I don't know which is which?

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QID -Locked in today's profit

Reason for entering trade:

QID has been bouncing off the up-trending support line while its underlying (QQQQ) has been bouncing off down-trending resistance line on lower volume.

I entered the trade order for a Jan09 67 Call last night for fill this morning. I had originally intended to stay in the trade longer...

But with the White House making comments about a possible deal for the automakers and possible interest rate change tomorrow, I didn’t want to loose my profits overnight. I've seen that happen to my trades too many times.

So I sold a call 1 strike price away to turn it into a debit spread to lock in today's profit.

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