Week 2 of trading on Trade Sim was a mixt of loss and gain with my soybeans contracts. From the first week I come with a short contract for January 2013 (S3F) and a long contract for November 2013 (S3X).
This combination result in an equity as low as 39124.65 in the beginning of the week. Then, the prices for soybean decreased and I start making some profits, but because of my long contract, I was still losing money.
Analysing the evolution of the price for these two contracts from June 1st to September 21st I noticed a high correlation (0.898) and a close movement in time and also a decreasing trend on the last days.
This made me go short with other 2 contracts on January (S3F) and payoff the contract from November (S3X). As a result, at the end of the trading week my equity balance was 40098.28 (I gain back the losses from last days) and a realized loss of $-238.50 which was due to the November contract that I payoff on Friday.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/50096428/22/Payoff-for-Futures-contracts
http://www.thecropsite.com/news/12058/soybean-prices-tumble-but-there-are-some-positive-developments
Happy to hear that your strategy worked and you have gain. I like your description about your margin account. Thanks!