There were two announcements this morning. I won both trades and made a total of 1.5 points (15%). The first announcement was at 6:15 am on Employment Change. The news came in a bit better than expected and the market moved upward. I used a straddle strategy and made 1.0 points (10%). The second announcement was at 8:00 am and was a Purchasing Managers Index (which I always like as I am a purchasing manager in my day job). This announcement came in a bit worse than expected and the market moved downward. I made 0.5 points (5%) on this trade, also using a straddle. There was very little correction on either of these trades, so I only traded on the initial movement. I guess I'm a little gun-shy on correction trades after my loss yesterday.
After six days of trading, I've already doubled my money (on paper). I am up 10.25 points (102.5%) and that's even with a loss yesterday. I have won on 12 out of 13 trades. I know it's going to be a different ballgame when I start trading with real money in a few weeks, but this is pretty exciting.
