Update from trade 41... Closed the swings as you can see. I need to learn to "let the winners run" as they say, because I left 150 MNQ points on the table by exiting in the morning yesterday. I specifically look for days like that, where it grinds up during the day. Alas, better to be prudent than greedy. Flat for the weekend.
Continuing from trade #43 The YM trade on Wednesday really bummed me out. Right from the bell the thing goes up 400 points. I'm looking at it and looking at it and decide to get in at, yes, what turned out to be the top. Right around 11:30 AM the thing just hit a wall, and that was it for the day. I had meant to go in on Dec but entered on Sep, so added 1 to Dec. I figured my target of 50 ticks could be hit, but alas, decided to book that one around the RTH bell. On Thursday I thought I was being clever by waiting for the NAZ to drop 190ish points before going in. But it then proceeded to drop another 150ish points! WTF, I knew there would be selling, but sheesh! And entered the SP as well. I figured today would be a downer, and am actually surprised the NAZ didn't plummet more. (Well, yeah, the bulk of selling was yesterday you dolt!) Anyways, swing it baby!
Continuing from trade #47... Only the swings this week. Yesterday before RTH I saw them both in profit, especially the SP trade. It was up 30 points. The Naz as well, so I said to myself "OK, I'm going to try one of those "let the winners run" deals. Well, at 1PM the BoJ decided to play footsies with their policy parameters and the equities sold off rather harshly. So much for trying something new. I was just tired of getting out of the market in the morning and watch it go on and on during the afternoon rise. So today I took the Naz out at my original target (a few points better in fact), and let the SP run. Well, it didn't get very far but at least it was not a repeat of yesterday. Teased the ladder on the exit and got out 3 points over the best bid. (About 5-10 mins before close someone one-upped me and managed to execute at 4660.00. Bugger!) Flat for the weekend.
Opened a couple, but nothing closed this week... Entered the MES on Monday, and it got within a couple of points of my 14-point target before falling away. Then Tuesday night happened, and well, pffht. The MNQ I entered after it dropped 300 points (sound familiar?) on Wednesday. It dropped around 75 points more but closed around BE that day, and poked into profit briefly when AMZN reported yesterday. Today it went 100 points into profit but yep, my target of ~125 points was just too high as it went to shit in the sell-off this afternoon. I'm more miffed about the NQ than the ES, because while the ES was hit with the black-swan, the NQ was a miscalculation on the profit target considering it's range. Been down this road before. Insanity? *hums quietly, walking into the distance*
A 14pt MES target ($70 x2) now a $600+ x2 loss? Profit turned into loss... What is your point target now? 14 points in MES and 125 points in MNQ is not unreasonable. Especially considering your plan of attack, using non-front month dated contracts for swing trades. What IS unreasonable is the consistent brew of mid to high 3-digit, and worse, 4-digit drawdowns stemming from an unwillingness to accept loss, or lesser profit. On the brighter side, your journal is diffused with 2-digit and low to mid 3-digit profits. At this point I'll say that I am in denial and I refuse to understand. Good trading to ya.