My First Trade in ICE Gives Me Some Nice Gains

by Ryan Mallory

It took me just 45 minutes to rack in gains of over $500 today ($494 after commissions and SEC fees). That, my friend, is not a bad day at all. There was a great trade in DIA to be had at the 10:30am candle that I missed (due to being on a mini-vacation and spending time with family) that would have netted gains of 3:1 and 4:1 depending on how you'd played it. I just happened to catch (ICE) on a quick glance during some downtime that I had today.

I got in to ICE at about 1:45pm EST on a light pullback, that formed a nice narrow-range candle, great for initiating trades off of. After about an hour of selling off, the bears tried once again to push the price of ICE even lower, but failed in the attempt, as the bulls rallied back strong. Once that happened, I placed my trade .01 above the high of the candle and .01 below the low of the candle and when my entry price was triggered, it was off to the races, and 45 minutes into the trade I took gains, even though I usually wait at least an hour into any trade before making a move. I did so in this specific instance, because 1) the market had already made a strong move on the day and was a low probability it would extend further, 2) the pace at which ICE's stock price increased in value, was likely  unsustainable, so rather than try to fight against these two variables, I booked gains and called it quits, and then headed off to the airport to come back home to get back into the full swing of things.

For your viewing pleasure, I've included a ICE intra-day chart using 30-minute candles...