Today into the Close was light. Heineken Light. GMan stopped trading around 3:10. Alex and I traded GS into the Close. We made some chops and then got squeezed right before the Close. Ripper. I could have avoided this rip.

After the Close our desk talked about the light volume. There was no follow through with the stocks we were watching. I started searching for stocks that were moving into the Close. Stocks with order flow. GS was moving better than most. GS could not trade above 98. 98 is a bit of a resistance level on the 3month. There was a huge offer at 98. And so we started a small short position.

The GS short below 98 worked. And then GS failed lower and I shorted again. And that worked. And then GS showed some more weakness. I shorted again. And that worked. SPY showed some more weakness heading for 87. But for whatever reason 97.32 stuck the bid in GS. I was expecting a GS move towards the whole, 97. Flat GS, I waited.

I noticed a huge sell order in the Open Book near 97.61. I wondered if this was the huge sell order I spotted at 98 stepping down. The market was getting weaker. I was surprised that 32c had held the bid. GS had trouble trading above 97.45, so I got short. My plan was to scale into a short in front of the big 97.61 order. I shorted a bit more at 53c and 57c. This was not the best trading idea I have ever had.

I did not know if the 61c huge offer in the Open Book was real. I recognized that the volume was very light. It was very possible that this order was fake and that GS would get squeezed to the whole. That is what happened. Ripper.

I caused this rip into the Close. It wasn’t a huge rip but that is not the point. This was sloppy trading, particularly for this Heineken Light close.

In the After-Hours I traded PFG. PFG gapped down. ARCA would not lift the offer. I got short and covered lower. ARCA stepped lower and did not lift the offer. I got short and covered lower. I followed ARCA. Finally ARCA lifted 13.20 and I flipped my position. I caught the upmove to 14. Chop!

New traders force trades into the Close on Heineken Light trading days.  Recognize these days and punch up ESPN.  ESPN.com the internet site that is.  Blog about ARod.  We have no edge on such days so anything other than trading is better than trading.  As traders we are judged based upon our discipline. I was too loose with my trading into this Heineken Light Close.

Be back tomorrow to work on my craft. Looking forward to hearing what ARod had to say. For the record, most of our traders claim they would juice if that would make them better traders. JToma was the most adamant. That doesn’t surprise me.

Enjoy your evening.