Resources leading the charge. Mon Mar 9

There's been a lot of talk about support having failed for the Australian market and a fall to around 2800 on the xjo index being on the cards but given the strength in the resources it seems more plausible that the near term low will be around 3000 to 3100.
Bhp - up 5.6% and still running. The fall from Thursday morning through to Friday afternoon was sharp but held above support and a retest of the highs looked on the cards. Just a shame that it so often happens in gap form in bhp so that I couldn't participate. I spent much of Friday afternoon long hoping for a least the start of the bullish resumption but it didn't eventuate.
Fmg - firm but without the same enthusiasm as there is in bhp and rio.
Ncm - up about 3% and near its highs but not charting cleanly at present.
Rio - as per bhp
Wow - I'm still slightly long as I forgot to square up on Friday afternoon. Down 7 cents but looking like the only trade opportunity in the short term as the base building continues and a break through 2600 could signal a good driving day.
Wpl - the bullish surge from Friday has continued and shows no sign of stopping. the weekly and daily charts look very promising although a bullish break isn't yet confirmed.
Spi - broke out of Friday's range early and is grinding up slowly. Has more than filled the gap formed on Friday's opening so could show surprising strength today.
I'm also looking at qbe today. I want to build up a book of financials hedged with written call positions so that I've got a better spread of stocks to trade. The ban on shorting financials is still in place. The weekly and daily charts are still in poor shape although very extended on the downside. However, qbe is potentially making a higher low here and could provide a buying opportunity on the 30 minute chart. If that were to eventuate and it was to move far enough I'd be tempted to write calls rather than sell out stock and start from here.

11.57 Qbe fell through support quite quickly so that trade is off. However, after scanning through the banks I noticed that cba is making a potential higher low so I've gone long at 2687 with a stop at 2659.12.34 The market slipped back so stopped out of cba at 2672 and wow at 2578. Nothing on right now.

1.07 Still not in the market although I missed a trick in wow as it broke support and has fallen rapidly. Was a potential trade there. I decided on the weekend to resist reversal trades for the time being as it gives me too many options, so I'm wanting to see a strong opening move then a retracement, usually more than one bar but should be clean, and then a resumption. There'll still be situations where I'll need to cut and reverse but they'll be rarer. Here's an example in the spi. There wasn't a reversal opportunity as it wasn't particularly extended but now the main thrust is down, if there's a rally I'll then look for a shorting opportunity. In this case, it may be a bit far gone after having changed direction mid morning but perhaps there'll be a chance late.

1.24 My concentration is all over the place. I had plans to short ncm on a break down through 3177, taking the view that since the chart wasn't gappy today's high might have failed to breach Friday's high and therefore I could pre-empt another swing down. I just checked and the stock has fallen 40 cents without me noticing.

This is one of those situations where I'd cut and reverse ,though, if it steadied up and started rallying over the course of a few bars because at present, looking at today's action only, there's a good swing up and a standard retracement. I'm playing it by ear as to how to assess these trades with my key guideline being that if the chart is moving cleanly then I'll be able to cut trades for square to up.
1.47 Long bhp at 2912 and rio at 4814 as they resume the uptrend.In both cases I expect them to make new highs but not push on very far, I'll wait and see. It's also possible that they make lower highs in the process of having a more complex correction so I need to be open to that possibility too.

2.39 Stopped out of bhp at 2903 and rio at 4827 as they showed a bit of strength but failed to follow through.

3.09 Bhp and rio have steadied and are a bit higher now so I'm regretting being so cautious with my cuts. However, wpl has made a higher low and it's in a nice uptrend so even a rally that fails to make new highs could work well. Here's the chart, long at 3595...

3.42 Just sold a little wpl at 3615 to cover costs. It's the only position I have right now although I considered buying the spi earlier at 3147 because although the strength had been to the downside on the day, the swing was quite large and potentially making a higher low than Friday. A bit of a judgement call and I erred on the side of caution. Here's the chart...

3.49 I saw this setting up in wow but thought any rally would find strong resistance at 2575 (recently touched 2590) and since my entry was 2567 I left this too, obviously not a good call and doesn't pay to over-elaborate.

4.11 Had sold a little more wpl at 3605 and sold the balance on the match at 3591.

Overall, 5 trades today with 1 winner, 2 losers, 2 breakeven for a small loss. Happy to have reduced my turnover. Could have taken a couple more trades but still far fewer than previously and I feel more confident to trade bigger size with fewer potential trades. Knowing this, I need to stay in my trades longer where appropriate.