Futures Roundup

The Doldrums Range kept me out of chop for most of the afternoon saving me from two false momentum signals. It wasn't until 12:26 that we had a clean break through the bottom of the range established during the Doldrums. It was at this point that I should have heeded two warning signals: (1) we were approaching the last 1/2 hr of trading, and (2) we already experienced 3 legs down in today's session. However, a signal is a signal. I do not have any rules that keep me out of trades at a period "approaching the last 1/2 hr of trading" or when we have experienced 3 legs of price movement. Given that my momentum indicators fired sometime prior to my entry due to price being within the doldrums chop zone, I got in a bit late and experienced a sharp reversal after an initial move down. The end result was -22 ticks on the ER2 and -30 ticks on the YM. That should have been the end of the story with my end result being +28 ticks on the YM and break even on ER2 for the day, but no. Indicator discipline goes out the door and I resort to my old ways of tape reading. I "felt" the reversal. I have been watching the "tape" long enough to get a feel for when the market is giving a head fake - I felt that this was one of those times. No indicators, just pure price movement and bar expansion on the 2 minute chart. There is no reason I should have made money at the end of the day if I stuck by my plan, but ya know sometimes you just need to say "fuck it" and run the red light.

Good outcome - bad process.

Results for the day:

YM: +41 ticks (equal to $205 per one contract position)
ER2: +36 ticks (equal to +$360 per one contract position)

24 Hour Range: 238 ticks
Regular Session Range: 210 ticks

YM High Volume Price: 14016
ER2 High Volume Price: 831.60

YM Pivots for Tuesday:
R3: 14434.33
R2: 14319.67
R1: 14196.33
Daily Pivot: 14081.67
S1: 13958.33
S2: 13843.67
S3: 13720.33

ER2 Pivots for Tuesday:
R3:868.33
R2: 858.57
R1: 848.03
Daily Pivot: 838.27
S1: 827.73
S2: 817.97
S3: 807.43