8/13/2009 morning update 2

• shortly after the last post, i came to the conclusion that the most recent NQU09 addition at 1621.50 was made mostly because i was afraid of missing an up move...the 'fear of missing' in and of itself is no big deal in my mind...however acting on this feeling by entering a trade in a more aggressive manner than is comfortable for me is a big deal...
• i should have just moved my initial limit order up from 1603.50 to 1612.50...moving it up to 1621.50 was too far...
• since i was no longer confident in my NQ discretionary swing trading plan, the lot that i added at 1621.50 was just sold at 1626.50, for +5 points/contract...
• i have changed the buy limit order that was on the books from 1603.50 to 1612.50...
• this makes more cognitive sense to me and feels better emotionally...the NQ still has not broken out of the current range that is now 10 days old...if it does break out, and then if it sucessfully re-tests the break out area, then i will feel more confident in the bullishness of the NQ and re-enter an NQU09 discretionary swing trade...
• right now, as far as i am concerned, the NQ is still in its range, and thus i should be entering in the bottom of the range at best, and if i want to be a little more aggressive, then entering in the middle and at the bottom of the range...exiting should be at the top of the range...
• if i had thought and felt this all through earlier today, then my 1603.50 limit order would have been moved up to 1612.50, would have been hit around 10 am, and then would have been exited around 1627.50, netting me 15 NQ points/contract...
• as it turned out, while rangebound, i took on too much downside risk, while having too little upside reward...though i netted 5 NQ points/contract, it was a poor plan and a poor trade...
• now that i am out of that trade, i feel better about the new plan...

***remember this is an illustration of what i am trading and my thinking...my trading plan may change without notice...this is not a recommendation for you or anyone else, to buy or sell this or any other security...***