I didnât have a good feeling about today so I decided to be extra cautious with taking trades today. This fact reduced my number of trades by about 50%. Even so, I played a few trades in my head which would have created more nervousness than profits. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Trades - 2 Winners, 1 Loser 3 ER2 Trades = +2.7 = $270 per contract ------------- = +$270 per contract ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Feb 5, 2004 9:52 Short ER2 567.7 It's falling 9:54 Cover ER2 567.8 -0.1 seems not, quick escape 10:06 Long ER2 569 Ret is over? 10:07 Cover ER2 569.2 +0.2 Not working 12:59 Long ER2 566.8 Here we go 13:13 Cover 1/2 ER2 569 +2.2 Price stalled 14:34 Cover 1/2 ER2 569.8 +3 Doesn't seem like it's going to recover, will reconsider re-entry later ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 Trades - 4 Winners, 1 Loser 1 EUR Trade = +0.008 = +$1000 per contract 2 ER2 Trades = +4.7 = +$470 per contract 1 ES Trade = +0.5 = $25 per contract 1 YM Trader = -10 = -$50 per contract ------------- = +$1495 per contract ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8:28 Long EUR 1.253 Preset breakout setup on news 8:31 Cover EUR 1.261 +0.008 started reversing, covered on fear it might reverse all the way - I still didn't get the real numbers (*) 9:31 Long ER2 569.5 Ride it up 9:34 Cover ER2 571.7 +2.2 Everything is turning 9:39 Short ER2 573.2 This is redicilus, everything is going down. 9:43 Cover 1/2 571.5 +1.8 Stalling, will take 1/2 to be covered 9:59 Cover 1/2 570 +3.2 Momentum shifting 10:09 Short ES 1133 should ret for a scalp 10"14 Cover ES 1132.5 +0.5 Will not hold if it's not moving 10:30 Short YM 10543 Seems YM is running away 10:31 Stop YM 10553 -10 Hit my stop-loss (*) - The initial target for this trade was 1.263 which would have yielded $1250 per contract. The spike scratched this number almost touching it but reversing before that. As I saw it start to reverse I closed the position immediately fearing it may reverse all the way as it happens ever so often - All of this because at the time I still did not have the real numbers. Of course shortly later price raised some more and surpassed my target by much. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TM this is a very interesting thread. Thanks for sharing with us. I post realtime in a chat room all the time. One of the reasons I post was to stop me from making the 2 dozen scalp trades since it is hard to write that all down. I can see what helps you win is to be selective in your trading. Just a note to people who ask, what are your settings and triggers. It makes little difference, it is all in what you see.
As I wrote in the journal, posting my trades online in a chat room didn't do very well to my trading. I don't know exactly why since they are on last priority. I might try it again some time but I don't really feel the need. Beside that, I do log on occasionally to the chat room (the same one you are in ) as some information and opinions are exchanged there, beside the fact that it can help with the boredom many traders feel while trading. Regarding settings and triggers I will have to write something up but it might take a while. For that matter I am a discretionary trader and all the trades as you pointed out are very selective. TM Trader
I like the 'missed the big move, scalp it' trade you had a few days back. I actually did one of these trades last week. I love it-- what are the chances you get in at the actual top(bottom)-- very slim. Grab some ticks and get away. Reminds me of a friend of mine who used to be a thief as a hobby (strange guy). He said the key was "don't be greedy." And the first part is easy... missing the big move. I'm very good at that.
I do this also, times I miss the start of a huge move in say EUR/USD GBP/USD or any other pair looking at the hourly and 4hr charts, but after seeing a move take off flipping down to 5min charts can get me a good entry to capture some of it. I used to stick to longer term trades, but find this very nice way of capturing more pips.
I am a master of missing the big moves. There is no one single big move that I didn't manage to miss in the last 2 months TM Trader