01/04/2010: SIMULATED TRADING SESSION TRADES: 3(LONG) + 0(SHORT) Winners: 0 Losers: 3 LEGEND: BLUE IS LONG & PINK IS SHORT Trade #1, honestly was scared out before it even hit my stop, attempted to redeem myself on my next two trades by following my planned stops. Trade #2, stopped out Trade #3, stopped out, was expecting a large move in either direction, but more so in the long direction, although when the move failed I should have possibly exited? 2010, was quite different than these days also 3x speed is crazy fast. Honestly talking to you guys, I think it is because I do not stick to one type of trading. The decision I have to account for are. Do I exit early base on price, or do I let it hit my stop? Do I take profits now or do I let the winner ride? I will think about it while doing homework, but honestly maybe I am leaning towards sticking to an black and white plan, but I dislike it because it depends, but who am I to say I can read the markets.
You trading part-time as in do you have another job or you feeling pressure to trade right now because you do not have a job ??? wrbtrader
You trading in between classes or you do not trade on days you have school ? The reason why I'm asking questions like this is to see if you're trading while "distracted" from other things that may be impacting your trade decisions without you knowing it. Simply, I'm a strong believer that the psychology in our environment impacts the cognitive decision making process of a trader. wrbtrader
All classes online, exceptions are test dates in which I will not trade. I do strongly have that view also. Edit: Online meaning I do not have a conflict of time when I trade, because they are asynchronous classes.
I suggest you write your plan down. This way you can determine if you actually follow your own well thought out plan. At least you'll determine if the problem is the plan or the trader. A basic plan should answer the questions What to trade? When to trade? How much to trade? When & where to exit the trade?
Best advice for any one starting out as a trader instead of a buy and hold investor. In investing you go with the herd, trading you move away from the herd, get off the beaten path. Hope OP listens and adjust his/her strategy to what you said. I didn't turn profitable in trading options until I seek out thinly traded underlying and gave up day trading. Best to you.
Here is my small piece of advice: -day trading commissions will eat any profits you make with your small account -intraday SPY is basically trading noise -use lower time frame like days or weeks - trends are visible there -search for trending market with low noise -research basic trend system -check out recommended books on ET -practice on demo account Good luck.
very good question. when is the market going to make a good juicy move? We ( or rather I ) can't predict when it is going to happen. However, on 15 Jan during the US session, US ES, Russell 2000, NQ Europe Dax, stoxx50, omx, ftse MIB Asian Nikkei, hangseng, Taiwan index all went down at the same time. Very important not to miss such an opportunity. If you see such a positive correlation, the move is going to be very strong and decisive.
I appreciate all the constructive criticism and feedback. Honestly it is quite helpful. I plan to make a written plan now, before I start to branch out intensively into other types of trading and maybe spread my time to thinly. Although many say intraday scalping on the SPY may not be possible I'll attempt this path first, for it is the one I feel most comfortable with. Although I know I shouldn't be too comfortable and stay on this path, if it doesn't work I will attempt another. For now I have accumulated all comments and have thought of them for a while and plan to write down a basic plan to build on. I just had a thought on what I may do. Thanks all for questioning. I will still do backtrades everyday if I have time just to get more experience.