5 instruments, 3 profitable, 2 losing. What to do????

I have been daytrading for a while on 5 instruments (ER2, ES, NQ, YM, EUR) and after analysing each instrument individually I’m only profitable on ER2, YM and EUR. And this is the think, should I continue trading ES and NQ for learning experience (although I lose money on those) or should I focus my attention on ER2, YM and EUR and get more familiar with those instruments???

Perhaps some say this is a strange question because trading is about winning/money but IMHO I think you also learn when losing money.

Thanks in advance,
FT79

 

If no much experience with these instruments I would recommend you to choose only 1 instrument and trade with it for awhile (2-6 months).

Expand later when knowledge and skills grows.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
FT79;
Its your business;
watch, with less time,record sheets on stuff i seldom trade.

Back to business, can learn somethings also with papertrading;
frankly dont even keep wasting ink or pencil on stuff thats not profitable for me.Since its a business , will risk/reward ink on some of this stuff.

 

Trading 5 different instruments isn't too difficult as long as you have the experience...assuming that's what you meant by saying you've been trading for awhile.

Yet, you need to be careful here because you need to determine if your profits in ER2, YM and EUR are dependent upon you watching/monitioring the price action in ES and NQ regardless if you trade in ES and NQ.

Simply, don't trade ES and NQ...only have them on your screen as you normally do just in case they are part of the reason why your profitable in ER2, YM and EUR.

I've met some traders that didn't realize the other trading instruments on their monitors actually enable them to have a better understanding of the price action in whatever they were trading...

Then if those other instruments were removed...they seem to struggle with their trades even if those other trading instruments wasn't part of their defined trading plan.

By the way, I trade the same instruments as you do along with a few others like the DAX, ZN and Light Crude Oil CL.

If I remove one from the equation...it has an affect on my profit level in the others because I'm dependent upon the info (price action) from each to help me see the big picture sort'uv speak.

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=49173

Last of all, to prevent the temptation of trading ES and NQ if you determine they do help you to be profitable in ER2, YM and EUR...

Replace ES and NQ with their respected Index (SPX and NDX).

NihabaAshi

 

Thanks for giving me feedback, because I don’t know experience/profitable trades I use ET for feedback if I’m not sure of something.

Tickmaster:
I totally agree with you when you just start trading but I’m trading for a while and feel more comfortable trading more instruments at the same time because you increase your bet size and because of that I’m more comfortable when trading.

Murray t turtle:
I if understand you correctly I only keep track of my trades on a macro-level. On a daily basis I keep track of my trades in Excel sheet and write stuff in my trading dairy for learning (not more then 30m a day). At the end of each week I look if I was profitable on an instrument or not. During the week I’m only focused on trading an instrument. And your right: Trading is a business and you should focus only on your best markets/instruments.

NihabaAshi:
My setups are completely objective concerning the entry, exiting is subjective (watching the DOM, T&S, other timeframe, character of symbol and other symbols). But DOM, chart of instrument and T&S are leading indicators for me.

I have thought about trading DAX but it is too big for me at this moment and I don’t feel comfortable because it’s difficult to setup a “perfect hedge” compared to ER2, ES, NQ, YM and EUR when something goes wrong with the exchange. I use IB and it’s very easy for me hedge my position with the underlying, options, ETF’s or even options on ETF’s.

Again, Thanks for the feedback and Happy Trading,
FT79

PS. my decision is to stop trading ES and NQ and focus my attention on the ER2, YM, EUR and watching the DAX to get more familiar with this instrument.

 

Have you asked yourself "Why" can you not make money in these instruments (while making money in the others (quite similar). Is it something about your approach that makes the instruments not suitable for profitable trading?

More importantly: How much out of sample trading experience with these instrument do you have? Is it enough to determine that your approach has failed on them or could the relative success/failure across instruments be in agreement with your expectations (backtest).