2% per day!

Sounds good.

I'm glad you didn't let those minor problem (both internal and external) take you out of your flow.

Good trading.

 

Hey TradStSTOX, just found your thread. Intriguing adventure. I'm interested in keeping up with how you do (mistakes and all.....as we have all been there).

As you seem to be scalping, I'm curious if you're using fixed targets and stop losses per trade.

Also, do you use a daily loss limit or profit goal, whereas after meeting either, you stop for the day?

Good luck with your pursuit!

 

Thanks MandelbrotSet for the support. The worrying thing is, to learn that one still needs to go through the school of hard knocks after having visited it already many, many times over! Our breed is generally one of quick learning function but when it comes to the markets, apparently, No One learns quick enough… lol.

Sandy,
My target is 360/day(in an average day I usually get there before 11AM), I can push it to 1k+ but, from here on, I intend to settle for 400 to 600 days.
I do not use stop losses, NEVER! But I am fairly protected at the same time by another instrument when the market goes against me which helps reduce the losses. My big loss recently was about NOT abiding by the latter rule. I just don’t believe in naked trading anything anymore, there must always exist some kind of hedge(insurance).
Per trade profit targets, depend on the trade at the time, ideally I’d like to pick up >$50 per car per trade but if it hits a $20 profit in less than 3 seconds, won’t say no to it and try to reenter it at even a lower price for a second ride. The trickles add up quickly ONLY if you can be right on majority(preferably ALL) of your trades. I try very hard not to have losing trades or come off my high of the day. Which explains the trickle profits and the 400-600 daily target.
IMHO, Trading MUST only be about Consistency, if that one goal is achieved then, ALL rules have been followed.

 

I agree! Consistency is the KEY to success in daytrading the e-minis. Consistency breeds confidence, which breeds better trade decisions (as long as discipline is there) and the ability to increase contract size judiciously.

No stop losses! That's unusual. Certainly, the common daytrader axiom is never to trade without a stop loss in place (and not just a mental one). Are you adding on as a position goes against you?

You mention a hedge. I'm wondering how you do this. For example, are you taking strictly scalp trades on the short side, but have a long hedge position in another account, in case the market trends significantly up against you, and too many of your short scalps are losses?

 

sandyG…,

I do have a daily loss limit with my broker which is set at $2500(rather on the high side, I know!) and recently when down 2700 in 1 day, it hadn’t kicked in yet, so I terminated trading for the day myself to avoid getting liquidated by the broker(the embarrassment…lol).

As for stops… it’s a lengthy discussion but, to make a long story short, using stops in an era of volatility as there exists nowadays, it is suicidal to use them specially when there are better alternatives available(like pairing(but not to be taken lightly(it is a whole P.H.D. by itself!))).

As for averaging, when trading naked, NEVER, period! You enter a trade because you have a reason for it and you stay with it for as long as the reason strongly continues to be present. The market continues against you, arb/hedge/pair if you have to.
Now having said that, when arbing into over sold/bought situations and the market goes against me, yes by all means I do average, because I am trading a n “Over” situation in the first place and my losses spell further opportunities.

 

TradStSOX - can you point me towards any resources that would explain more fully what you refer to as your arb/hedge methods?

Thanks.

 

I use my own methods, learnt by experience but, I have read in other threads about traders utilizing pairing instead of stops.
You can search for pairing and I am sure you'll find some leads.

Let me also make it clear, I DO NOT recommend naked trading without stops but rather recommend using other alternatives in place of stops.

Here's a hint, if your reasons behind your trade have not changed? Then why take a loss on your initial trade and write it off when you can make money off of your poor timing(Well this is as far as I'll go on this issue... lol)?
HTH

 

Hi TradStSOX!

I voted YES because I think it can be done, but according to my own experiences not with the method you trade.

Let me tell you my story. Last year I traded a similar strategy you are trading I think. I traded NASDAQ 100 Index (not NQ e-mini, but CFDs) at overbought/oversold situation (using mainly MACD) targeting 1 index point profit and never used stop loss hoping that my losing position will recover soon or in the worst case in few days. When I had huge losses I averaged and this waited or hoped break-even point came earlier than without averaging. For long months it worked well I had no position closed with loss. I had period when I achieved very good results (for example 600% in 2 months).

In November when this credit crises started I had to realize that this method is not working within every market circumtances. When the index started falling more hundred points I averaged, averaged again and averaged again and finally swept out my account to zero. My 99,9% win ratio worthed nothing as the the remainder 0,01% took away everything.

Fortunately I have the opportunity to start again but due to the above experiences I will use absolutely different methods despite the successfull periods. I have been paper trading for a while with strict stop losses entering to trades with 1/1 risk/reward ratio. It seems to be working and it is not dangerous to use tight stop losses even in these volatile sessions.

Can you explain me why is it better to hedge a losing position than closing that position at the same moment? What is happening if the trend revese just after you have hedged your position?

Regards,
A.

PS: Sorry for my poor English

 

yea its possible just take it slow

 

Andris,
Thanks for taking the time to share with us your valuable experience and in fact it is absolutely so as you have mentioned it and very risky to just straight out bet on the oversold and overbought situations Vs. rather they should only be utilized in combination with other factors and albeit as part of a much more involved strategy which would then make sense.

For the record, any system which just plain old waits out to turn profitable, is a LOSING system period.

As for your last question, like I had mentioned in my earlier post, you would hedge a losing position if ONLY your original reasoning behind your trade has not changed and only your timing has proved wrong. So rather than vacating a trade that you have reason to believe in, you pick up some extra profit while it is going against you, since you are sure it will hit your original target sooner or later, now if meanwhile conditions change and you get another signal for the opposite direction then you have to decide which of the 2 signals you’ll abide by. In my case, I hedge the opposite to my trade when I receive that second signal contrary to my original trade and if it is weaker than the original one.

HTH