New Year's buying in soybeans

Renewed vigor in buying soybeans has catapulted the soybeans futures higher in the New Year. This appears to be reflective of great confidence that soybeans prices will surge to even higher prices during 2008. May it be a prosperous New Year for all!

In the first 30 minutes of trading during the evening session, soybeans prices have already climbed more than 20 cents.

I am extremely gratified that my long trade that I was unable to close before the end of the Monday session was reinforced by buying this evening. If the market had sold off, I might have lost significant money. I will close out that trade when prices start to retrace. Often, this will occur during the evening when momentum wanes, as prices typically retrace during the overnight hours on the East Coast of the United States and in Europe. If prices are still rising, I will use a trailing stop to achieve this, or if prices start to retrace before I go to bed, I'll just close the trade. Fortunately, I don't have to worry much because the trade is very profitable at this point. I got lucky, something I do NOT count on -- ever -- in the trading business. I made a mistake and benefited handsomely from it. Still, I would have been better off not making the mistake at all.