Fresh Look for TWC!

I truly want to thank all of you that sent feedback regarding the site and its content. it was very clear that a majority of feedback was suggested in the following areas:

1. The ability to post individual equity alerts using the setups.
2. Equal transparency of results for non-clients.
3. Overall improvement in site naviation and store-front.
4. More consistent use of Twitter to communicate updates.

As the holidays approach, so does the drop in market volatility. This will give the TWC team the opportunity to implement your suggestions. We are fully on board with your ideas and anticipate turning the switch on the new site and blog starting January 4th.


Here is a summary of the changes to be implemented:

Fresh Look to the Site
We could not agree more! (at least for our U.S. customer base). We are traders...not html programmers. The unanticipated burden of this type of relentless programming was unexpected. A more user friendly platform will be in place to allow a more professional look and abiliy to update our site with greater latency. The partnerships intent was to create a data center with transparent trading data without the marketing bias we see on other trading sites. We will not compromise our principles that many traders are subjected to. Our China audience is more accustomed to a more data-intensive site content. We believe our changes will provide good balance of timely content and transparency with a fresh look.

More Frequent Blog Updates
Speaking with several traders at the Traders Expo in Las Vegas, they convinced us to go 'all-in' with our blog. Starting in January, the blog include a more detailed perspective on specific trades and the psychology (and setup of course) behind them. This added commentary will be a valuable complement to our new results summary data found on the site.

Transparent Trading Results and Reports
Trading results will now include an updated sheet with all trading activity performed by TWC. Also posted will be our monthly risk summary reports that summarize all our benchmarks and key performance indicators....all posted right on the performance link of the site. Snapshot tutorials will also complement the trading data on setups that classicly represent our risk philosophy.


Small Account Content
One of the most frequent questions we receive is 'can I achieve similar results with a small contract'? Of course the answer is yes. While there are much greater economies of scale regarding trading expenses, in the end a point is a point and a tick is a tick. TWC will post the results using a fresh live account starting with a $10,000 account balance. All the pain and glory of trading 1 and 2 lots will be exposed for your reading pleasure. Many of our trade snapshots will come from trades generated off the 10k account. A current balance tally, that includes debits from account fees, commissions and data feeds, will accompany all updates.


Derrivatives
TWC is very engaged in the derrivatives trading markets. Why? There is tremendous value in some of the binary and spread opportunities using the traditional S&P futures. It also keeps us connected to the small account holders who can consider joining us in the future. TWC believes this arena is the next frontier in futures trading and will start to introduce our consulting work and opportunites in this fascinating market.

Affiliate Program
Simply put..we think we screwed up! We'll, maybe that's a bit much, but we certainly didn't place the effort into this program as originally intented. (Great trading markets will do that to you!). Look for a greater presence and eligibility into our affiliate program. The doors will open for non-partners as well.


We would like to wish our U.S. and Chinese audience a safe and happy holiday season. As you can see, TWC Futures Group, LLP will not be resting much during this time in order to provide the content and services you requested delivered to you in a realtime and transparent fashion.

Michael Toma, CRM
Dir. Risk Management
TWC Futures Group, LLP

Futures Update: December 11, 2009

What a week in the e-mini pits! As a professional trader, I normally contain my emotions based on good or bad results. The objective we teach is to implement a risk pla with flawless precision. Outcome is not the benchmark of success or failure. When you work in a dynamic environment, you are subject to swings and trends that at times test the boundaries of statistical probability. This week certainly qualifies as such.
Results this week: 17-3, 85% (vs 63% benchmark) with a +17.00 ES point result based on one contract. Multiple contract trader average of 1.5 contracts (per two contract lots) averaged 29.25 points.

The markets are flowing extremely nicely during this rollover week, particularly in the market profile range. Classic setup #2 has also brought much better than average results week to date.

Strategy: We go into protect-the-green mode today as we head into the weekend. As we head into the holiday trading season, focus turns to corporate development and a new fresh look to the site and blog content. Next post will provide better details.

Congratulations for all that exceeded their goals using the TWC setups this week.

The Blog is Back!

Thanks to all who have written regarding the blog. Unfortuntely, access to this blog in China was blocked (still love the country!). All trading activity and performance results continue to be posted on the www.twcfutures.com site. Check there daily for results as well as supporting trade commentary on the blog. The site is also going thru a big transformation visually and look to have that launched in the next few weeks.

Most importantly, the trading setups are producing some nice consistent returns and I'm looking forward to introducing TWC's risk indicator to the performance results section. We are finally excited about our vision becoming a reality with the latest technology that will enable our retail clients to improve their performance results while taking the guesswork out of their entries.

Michael Toma, CRM
Dir. Risk Management
TWC Futures Group

October 16 & 19, 2009

No trades today. - outside work. Hypothetical backtested results -1.50.

October 15, 2009

No executed trades today. Hypothetical goal for today's price action : +2.00

October 14, 2009

Early day today due to afternoon committments. One am trade with a 2.25 winner. Technical setup should have rewarded those 4.50+ points for those with patience and availability.
Will monitor setups in after hours for the next 3 business days.

October 13, 2009

Interesting day with low volume but tradeable swings if one had lots of patience and did not cave in on probes...and there were lots of them. Total of 6 trades, a bit much for our style, but 4 needed to be scraped at minimal loss or gain. Two runners accounting for 5.50 ppc. Nice way to end a short week for the group. Morning session only tomorrow and travel thereafter.

Note: will provide simulation results for Thurs/Fri/ and Mon. Pls check in daily!

Monday, October 12

Holiday trading volume and range. Managed a breakeven after 1W and 1L. Reminder to self to not trade next Columbus day. Too thin volume. Move into Tuesday.

Note: No formal trading on Thurs, Fri, and Mon. Oct 15-19 (travel)

Friday, October 8, 2009

Horrific price action ala day before July 4th. Only difference is it the day before Columbus holiday. Futures markets will be open on Monday but it appeared the pit boys went home early. Only two trades today and one of them pre-market. Fib confluence acting very well of late, particularly since the CME unbundling of tick feeds and our modification to a 1280 tick chart. Will continue to do so as long as the results are still there. Backtest showed our original 512 tick chart proved more erratic since the CME change. Will take the 2-0 and 3.25 ppc to the books on an underperforming but positive week.

October 8, 2009

Abbreviated trading day but managed two setups, for a 1-1 w/l with a +3.00 ppc. Early loss followed by an initial target of +5.00. Fib setups really working well and considering greater weight on such intra-day confluence.

October 7, 2009

Normally, 'inside' days where price action is contained within the previous days range is not beneficial to most of our setups where we attempt to take advantages of trends. This day was no exception however we kept our trades close to the vest and managed a slight -2 ppc. Usually inside days are followed by wild trend days and the early futures are already indicating such. Looking forward for some nice ranges tomorrow and as always, sticking to the plan.

October 6, 2009

Certainly get the feeling of chugging along the mountain with these markets. Challenging price action and the victors are the ones who put emotion and bias aside and just trade the setups. Booked a standard 3 points per contract however risk reward would demand slightly higher results. Need to see more of those +5's and +7's in the long run. We continue to forge ahead into the trading week with earnings season kicking off with Alcoa.

October 5, 2009

Whipsaw day to say the least. Managed to squeak out 2.5 pts. per contract but it certainly was easy or pretty. Had to double check account after hours just to be sure it wasnt a minus 2.5. Either way, its in the books and we'll take it into Tuesday.

October 2, 2009

Nice way to end the week. All started pre-market with a trend short after the horrific employment rate number. (Good to have set targets as as rule during pre-market). Reversal long setup shortly after the open. Some chop the rest of the way thru resulting in a +6.25pts per contract. Excellent way to end the week. End of week results +15.50. ppc.
Great weekend all.

October 1, 2009

Crazy way to start Q3! Lots of chop and shakeouts but could have been worse. Will take the b/e less commissions on a day that should have been a very profitable trading day. Sometimes the exit rules just clip you out and it happened twice today. Rules are rules and they are there to protect you, however sometimes it prevents gains. Move to unemployment Friday with protect the green mode fully in place.

September 30, 2009

Wild day in that the morning session allowed us to grap 7pts on that 14 pt runner. Some other 2-3 point trades were nullified by one of our larger stopout. Will still take the points on the last day of the quarter. Consider it our own personal window dressing.

September 29, 2009

Challenging day to say the least given our setup strategy. Good thing about our setups is the relatively low exposure to risk and the ability to capture big gains. Market just did not provide us with either and ended up with a small loss. (-1.25 pc). Frustration set during the day when a target was hit but not filled and reversed and exited our trade with a stop out. It's trading and will happen from time to time but that still does not make it any easier. More convinced that using MIT orders will be the way to go. You give up a tick here and there but they save you over the long haul, not to mention lock in profits on a trade that has hit target. We continue tomorrow.

September 28, 2009

Unexpected trend day up. Another reason not to have a bias. Implmented plan effectively and captured 5.50ES p.p.c. with only 2 setups. Will take it going into Tuesday. Curious if they hold these levels with minimal pullback. Until the market tells us otherwise, we lean long on pullbacks, including the scary ones. Hope all had a good trading day and caught some of that a.m. move.

September 25, 2009

Shortened session for the group with a +3.25 on one trade and two b/e results. Setup#2 to be the primary focus going forward starting next Monday. Easy to learn, easy to teach, good transparency and only requires 1 contract, for which we report on. Multiple contracts will just have the same results exponentially which is easy for member adminstration and compliance. Looking forward to the new TWC!

September 24, 2009

Very nice trending movement in the markets. Traded minimally due to other obligations. Took the 1-0 +4.5 and booked it. Trading tomorrow will also be limited with next Monday back to normal trading activity.

September 23, 2009

Overall extremely dissappointing trading. Not reflected in the journal per-se but missed tremendous trading opportunities on the board. Trading remotely and had limited charts and a DOM. Decision to only trade market profile setups due to limited data feed. Resulted on one of the biggest trend days (both ways) in the past 3 months. Will accept as part of trading and move on...I hope.

September 22, 2009

Few valid trading setups with potential target in site. Good move since they would have results in some breakeven or slight negative results. Selectivity was the theme for today. Two trades only going 2-0 and 3.00 points per contract. Expect similar cautious trading until fed decision due out at 2:15pm EST tomorrow. Trading with confluence and caution.

September 21, 2009

Interesting waves to start the trading week. Lots of almosts, ticks from targets, etc. Still ended up with a +4.25 day per contract. Can't complain for a Monday. Still agitaged that the runners came so close. Until tomorrow.

September 18, 2009

Always difficult trading options-ex. Combined with protecting the weekly green, we kept it extremely light today. Managed 1.75 pts per one contract. Can't complain given the circulstances. The setup of the day came at 3:50 PM est. - 10 min prior to the close. Would have managed a 5 pt target trade. At minimum, gives us confidence for Monday. Good weekend all.

September 17, 2009

Nice volatility with good opportunities abound. Fib numbers still working well as confluence now that the markets have nice flow. Will continue to use them more promiently as a confluence with our setus until the market tells us otherwise. 4-2 with a 3.25 pt gain per average contract. 4x witching tomorrow so may keep it light and trade the ranges once the expiration and IB have been completed. Note to all: please stay out of trouble tomorrow.

September 16, 2009

Short trading day today. Reason twofold. Prior committments this afternoon and most importantly - daily target hit. +5.00 per contract. Nice way to bounce back from a slight losing day. Continue long bias until market tells us otherwise.

September 15, 2009

Difficult to get any traction on today, particularly in the afternoon session. Will take a -4 pt giveback into tomorrows session. Market continues to make new highs in the auction. Will continue our bias in that direction until otherwise advise by market profile. Have a great day!

September 14, 2009

Extremely lethargic price action after the 1st hour. Managed to get two brief trades in the muck with a 2-0 result. 3rd attempt ended up in a scalp gain. Any Monday gain is a good gain. PPI tomorrow.

September 11, 2009

Slow price action this afternoon but still managed to catch a 4-1 trade total within scalp mode. Market profile served better in earlier days this week so the move to scalping was proven a successful strategy. Good to see $TICK fades as confluence back working well after the summer.
Have a great weekend all.
M.Toma. Dir. Risk Management, TWC

September 10, 2009

Market continues to buy on any weakness and the bias can only continue to be long until proven otherwise. Market profile setups were minimal and for the most part kept us out of trouble. Lots of swings in the that caught us for a few stop outs which were mitigated in the pm session. Taking the small loss to offset the earlier week's gains. Just a dent. Staying out of trouble tomorrow. In protect the green mode.

September 9, 2009

THE CRAZY TRADING DAYS ARE BACK! Today, without question, confirms that the volatility is back in the markets. runnup of over 13 points in the ES only to be followed by a 6 point fade at the highs with lots of longs getting trapped. Leave it to the market to shake them out and resume the upswing late in the day. Market profile setups worked well and even some fib players would have managed their own. Taking 7 points conservatively for each contract traded.
Welcome September!

September 8, 2009

Sloppy trading action all day and little room for any recognized swing trades. Losses were kept small which was the key to today's trading. Small net gain of 1.5pts for this Monday and look for more larger runs throughout the week. Any green on Monday is good green.

September 7. 2009

Markets closed today. Semi-session in ES futures closed higher on Monday anticipating follow-thru higher at pre-market Monday night/Tuesday morning.

September 4, 2009

No trading today due to anticipated light volume and unpredictable jobs report. Preparations all set for start of larger timeframe adjustment to TWC setups. Greater results transparency will go in effect as per member suggestions. Looking forward to a great ride. Great weekend all.
Michael Toma, Dir. Risk Management.

September 3, 2009

Interesting trends today with the move pre-market, drop down to yesterday's VAL and following some chop, a short covering rally. Moves like this will tend to nice gains starting next week when the strategies move up to a higher timeframe in an effort to capture more runners. Gold continues to push ahead towards their journey to 1000.

September 2, 2009

$ES volume really dried up in the afternoon session so most of the trades were completed before the chop fest in-between value areas. Impressive result too: 4-1 with the only loss being a modest 3 tick stop-out. Protect the green mode to Thursday's am session and consider the rest of the week an opportunity for paperwork.

September 1, 2009

Welcome September and may the volatility begin! Lots of price movement and just followed the H-A's down. Biggest error was taking profits a bit early but will take the 8.5 pts into Wednesday. So tempting to take an overnight bounce into value. Will pass on it.

August 30, 2009

Is it finally September? Markets starting to act a bit robust taking a cue from Shanghai overnight markets down -7%. Good market action and withstanding 3x a stop out by the tick, it still managed to be a +4.75 pt day per contract. Would have been a stellar Monday without the tick-outs but that's trading (or at least that's what they tell me ). Hopefully your stops were 1 tick farther away.

August 28, 2009

Typical August summer Friday with lots of movement in the pre IB hour with subsequent settling down into value area most of the afternoon. Those seeking a 'Lonesome Highway' trade (VAL to VAH), you would have missed a 5 point trade by 1/2 point. Sell at close would have provided a 2.5 gain for those patient enough to withstand the chop.

One point of perspective, the S&P index continues to provide lower 20-day highs at a time when the index is making new highs. The peak was in mid-July. Questionable divergence since the shorts keep covering and fund managers need to participate on the long side. Just a note to consider next time you consider jumping in at the highs. TWC will continue to monitor this divergent pattern.

August 27, 2009

Unexpected trend day down then followed by a nice trend day up. Could not hold the entire way thru but those that follow 15 minute H/A bars fares quite nicely with little stress. Will take the flat day into tomorrow that expects to be.....flat. Dell earnings suprise could be a tell for tomorrows' opening and thus test those highs made earlier today.

August 26, 2009

Another slow day with relatively little opportunity for big runners. Stuck to the 1.5-2 point range targets within the value zone. 3-1 in trades ending the week long undefeated streak. Will take the small gain into Thursday.

August 25,2009

Another stellar day in the ES going 5-0 maintaining a perfect trading performance week to date. +8 points per ES contract. Nice flow to the markets with plenty of opportunities throughout the session. Only error was passing up a few afternoon signals due to protect the green mode. Reality will set in but hopefully not to quickly.

August 24, 2009

Slow day after the opening range was set. Need to get accustomed to it for the next few weeks as traders sleep at the beach. 2-0 for ES trades today for total of 2.75 conservative points per contract. Any green on Monday is good for carryover til tommorrow' session.

August 20, 2009

Horrific trading action with exception of 1st hour. Options expiration is like that and add in summer trading and you have very lethargic trading. Taking a 1 point loss into tommorrow with anticipation of 1/2 day trading and at minimum level at that. Wake me up September 1st.

August 19, 2009

Suprising rally in the am session since Asia collapsed. Lots of shorts expecting more and had to cover. Just goes to show that you follow the H/A bars and you can stay out of trouble (for the most part). Somewhat chopped up and gave back some of the ticks in commission. Just staying afloat on options ex week is considered success.

August 18, 2009

Smelt, felt and looked like a dead cat bounce off of Monday's drop. Only time will tell. Continued that nice trading streak in the a.m. session only to have a net flat afternoon. Still pleased with a 4-2 day, +2.75 per contract day. Any green on options expiration week can't be bad. Looking for volatility after the IB has been established to be dry until month's end.

August 17, 2009

Nice shocker of a down opening but unable to catch any except for a pre-market short. After initial balance set in, it was chop price action. Caught 2 moves thru the value zone, albeit a 3 point range. 4-0 in trades with small scalp profits in all. That what happens when you have a 3 point afternoon range. Will take the points into Tuesday.

August 14, 2009

Disappointing day in the fact that we held a bias for a rotational day. Ended up a trend day with a short covering rally at the close. Both were missed due to the bias. Great lesson from even the pros. It's ok to have a bias but never neglect what the market is telling you. Anything can happen. No damage since no trades. Only the loss in opportunity. Look forward to a new week. Great weekend all!

August 13, 2009

Nice price action today with a 10 point opening range allowing for some nice flow thru the MP range. Only a 3-2 w/l today. Did have a critical trade that hit target with no fill. Hung in there for a b/e on that one. Otherwise, kept the losses small and the winners run. Nice way to enter a Friday. Certainly in protect the green mode come tomorrow morning.

August 12, 2009

No trading today. FOMC meeting + 10 Yr. Treasury auction. Will resume tomorrow.

August 11, 2009

Nice flow to the markets today. Unexpected trend down day but price action still allowed some nice entries. Only challenge is that you still need to keep targets reasonable and not get to greedy. Managed six trades going 5-1 with a 5.75 net points per contract. FOMC decision day tomorrow so I'll pass on the day.

August 10, 2009

Many times traders often tell others how they traded in relation to the number of points gained, or if they followed their plan. Today, the market provided little opportunities for big plays. An opening range of 6 ES points led to indecision between chop between the range and range extension.
Today was a day where you shouldn't judge your day by the number of points gained or lost, but points gained in relation to what the market would give you. The 4 ES points today should be cherished as a homerun day, since that is virtually all the market would give.
Look for another homerun day tomorrow....preferably with more points!

August 7, 2009

Considering taking the day off from trading. Employment number report, summer Friday volume and choppy price action...you name it. Turned out to be great price action. Smooth entries and little heat on stops. Took longs on the way up and shorts on the way down. Breadth showing weakness and Goldman Sachs hitting new lows was a tell that this 200 point Dow rally had some signs of weakness. Didn't want to jump in front of a train, but would short on high probability setups. Results were a 4-0 day and target points for day. And to think I wanted to relax on the beach. Perhaps I'll do that next Wednesday during FOMC announcement day.
One last note: all four trades were from market profile signals. MP has been red hot of late.

Great weekend all!

August 6, 2009

Nice price action throughout the day. Thanks much to market profile value zones. Kept it light today while working with some projects. Will take the green, even if it was a lighter contracts and fewer setups.

August 5, 2009

Nice movement throughout the value areas. Took lots of guts if you trusted trading at extremes, but that's why those with higher risk parameters are rewarded. Given the chop bias (or at minimum, downtrend day), we opted out of the beautiful long setup in the p.m. All you needed was a 15 min chart and a heiken-ashi bar colors. Oh..and lots of discipline. Breakeven 3-2 after commission. Horrific given the price action.

August 4,2009

Summer price action continues with lots of chop. Targets, including some market profile targets are limited to 2-3 ES points. Difficult environment where a little chopiness can get you stopped with 1:1 risk reward. Slightly negative thanks to the the ZN bond trades which may need to take a seat soon. Couple of nice trades towards the end of the day including a runner long (is it possible to sell off at the close anymore?) minimized the damage. Until tomorrow.

Monday, August 3

The S&P hitting 1000 was about as obvious as Adam Lambert's status and it finally hit (the index, of course). Chop fest with little volume, however don't let that discount the fact that we've come a long way from 660. Neutral trading most of the day reflective of traders whooping it up in the Hamptons rather than in lower Manhattan.