There were two announcements at 6:30 am: Unemployment Rate and Non-Farm Payrolls. The unemployment rate was lower than expected and payrolls were down. This mixed information caused the market to spike up, then drop, and then rise again in a matter of seconds. I used a straddle technique, which I have been warned not to use in this type of announcement as movement is fast and volatile. Since I am paper trading, I decided to straddle and see what would happen. Wow! In a matter of 3 seconds I was entered into two separate trades in the wrong direction. I lost 2.5 points on the first trade and another 2.5 points on the second trade. There was a bit of a correction after about 7 minutes where I made back 1 point. Overall, I was down 4 points (40%) for the day. That wiped out most of my profits for the week and I ended up 2.5 points (25%) for the week.
There are no announcements on Monday, but I can't wait to get back at it on Tuesday.
