October 1 and here I am to start my journal for the month. Before I do so I want to set out in writing what I am looking for so everyone here on Elite knows exactly what my intentions are and can feel free to comment on my performance in keeping with my expectations. All trades I enter are entered for a technical reason and generally will fit the framework of one my 3 or 4 setups. I dont intend to scalp and generally only take profits of 4 - 12 points on a trade with stops taken being about 4-6 points. When I enter a trade it may start out with a 10 point stop but I adjust stops quickly as trades move in my favor rarely taking stops that large. I get setups off of 5min, 30min and 60min charts and the average holding time is generally about 20 minutes although I have no trouble holding a trade for up to 3 hours. It is my goal to take only the best trades and not to worry about missing moves the market makes when my setups offer no entry. Below, I will lay out my goals, and during the month of October, I will update this journal daily ( or every other day ) as time allows. Feel free to comment, criticize, or just read it and move on to the next journal. It is my intention to post a journal that relies on chart patterns and offers the idea that you don't need to scalp for 1-3 points to trade for a living in the futures markets. ( while that may a viable option for some, it is not my style ) TRADE GOALS Ave Trades Day = 3.5 Win Rate ( excluding flat trades ) = 52% Ave Gain Per Win = 6 points Ave Gain Per Stop Taken = 4 What my journal will contain is a list of my daily trades, some commentary about entry/exit, and days thoughts of trading experience ( mistakes, missed trades, triumphs ). There are a few reasons for posting this journal. 1. To show a method other than scalping. 2. Display my technique. ( business reason ) 3. Interact with newer and experienced traders. I will also post a chart or two when possible. AllenZ
Well at least I picked a good to start this journal as we had one of the widest ranges of past couple months by days end. Let me post trades and some comments. Trade 1 - 10:21 Long 831 Exit 10:48 837 +6 Trade 2 - 11:26 Long 830 Exit 12:00 835 +5 Trade 3 - 13:36 Short 850 Exit 14:12 850 flat Trade 4 - 14:17 Long 850 Exit 14:37 858 +8 Day Net +19 Trade 1 - was a 30min range break. I went long on first 5min pivot following the break. Exit target 1.5 X Stop. Actually I entered early, waiting for the pivot would have made 1 more point and been safer entry. Trade 2 - 5min pivot off of a higher low. Risky trade, but I was VERY comfortable with the stop and confident it would not be taken out. Wanted to hold this for double bottom confirmation but exited with +5 as doldrums approached. I attempt to not trade during lunch period recently. Trade 3 - also a 30min range break. I went short on the first pivot down following the break of the high of the day. Exit target was 843, when we hit 80% of target level at 845.50 stop was moved to breakeven. Trade then stopped flat. Trade 4 - another high risk trade for me. Took the long over the 15min flag even though it was into resistance. I had a strong feeling that once trade #3 stopped flat that a new high was in the works. Also, I figured we would attempt a gap fill to the 863 area, I wanted to exit 858 - 860 as I generally do ahead of whole numbers and major ma's ( 200ma5min at the time ). I expected a move higher but was happy with my gain. Missed the late day move as i thought things were a bit overdone. 30min range break refers to the range formed in the first 30min of trading this is something that generates trade signals for me. AllenZ
When there is wide range such as the range yesterday I am generally looking to fade moves. Buy into weakness and sell rallies. I am looking for a choppy day, if we instead get a trending day would make me think we are headed quite a bit higher in days and weeks to come. Just something I have seen in recent months. Those that are familiar with WR7's, yesterday was one. AllenZ
Second day of the journal was a wild one. Even though today was quite volatile, i had very few setups trigger for me. Trades Trade 1 - 10:51 Short 866.50 Exit 11:27 866.50 flat Trade 2 - 12:58 Short 883 Exit 13:22 877 + 6 Trade 3 - 14:12 Long 867 Exit 14:26 861 - 6 Day Net Flat Month Net +19 Trade 1 - retrace short entry following break of the lows. Moved down to 861 area, moved stop to breakeven and ended up stopping flat. Trade 2 - Short on first pivot following break of high into resistance. Covered a bit too soon, I tend to cover early when against short term trend. I could have held using the 15min chart for pivot exit and been in for the big ride. This was the one that got away. Trade 3 - Long off on 5min pivot off higher low. Eventually made a lower low and stopped me out. Missed 1 entry late in the day on the short side would have been a big one. I was off today and really tried to step back. AllenZ
Allen, you're not boring -- thanks for sharing! re your post "...Moved down to 861 area, moved stop to breakeven and ended up stopping flat." At what point did you move to flat, once you were up 5 points? By flat, do you include room to cover commissions by a tick or so, or just stop out even at your entry price? TIA...
They want blood, Allen. A little bit of pain, some heartache, and maybe a touch of failure to. A wise man once said: It's not as important that I succeed as it is that my friends fail. brutal words for sure, but I fear there is a lot of truth in them...
I will move my stop to breakeven once I achieve 75-80% of my intended target. For that trade I entered at 866.50 with a target of 858, about 8 points, so once I had 5 points of profit my stop moved to breakeven. Once I start accepting below average gains where does it stop, I try very hard to stick to my targets. I stop out flat on approximately 20% of my trades. Usually I will set the stop to .50 under my entry when possible to cover some commission expense. Good question. AllenZ