I don't want to be negative but i have a few remarks concerning the trades you did today: Catching the relative highs and lows (for the next few minutes, because in general they didn't hold) is no proof at all of a good system. The results of the day proved this. The trend was clearly short all day, so the money had to be made in going short. That's where the best risk/reward ratio was. You made to many trades. Your broker will get rich on your back. I agree with what Icarus618 said: i think your trading has to improve dramatically and quickly, or you will lose lots of money. Just my opinion. I made only 1 trade today; low risk and high reward. But i only trade when i have to, i never trade just to trade.
Martys, I have always respected your effort as demonstrated by the posts on this board. I am a bit surprised, however, by the setups you are taking. I tried to follow along with a 2 min ES chart. You are trying to scalp the market, but you are doing it by picking tops to go short and mid-range to get long. This is all well and good if you have the commish structure where these trades are only costing you $0.30 per turn. But at retail rates, you will put yourself behind a serious mountain of costs to overcome. I can see why you are picking some of the levels that you are, but you need to wait for some confirmation of the reversal itself. Finally, I would strongly suggest something less liquid and more able to confirm/deny your bias immediately. A product where you don't have to be early to be queued right. Consider the YM or ER2. Best of luck to you. I wish you success and prosperity.
Hi FT71, You are right... some of the middle trades (middle of the daily range) are low probability probe trades. Because in my works, when the price action breaks the first range (for the lack of better words), they tend to trend but sometimes they do pullback to gain more strength (squeeze more people) to extend the move. Those probe trades are possible points of pullback. I have not changed my bias. I am just plain greedy. I have also decided to completely do away the "trigger" (confirmation). I think it is gonna kill the setup. There are many times I want to enter the trend but I just couldn't find a "real" good entry. CME membership is definitely a distant thing for me now. If you understand why I enter at certain level, I assure you it is mere coincidence and actually most likely it will cause problem for me because you know what's likely gonna happen if too many people playing at the same level. This is a difficult methodology to execute. I have to be there to take all the trades because some day is gonna be not so good and other days give me the goose bumps. I missed a couple of trades today for various reasons and I didn't trade one other reversal after 3:30pm. I would appreciate you keep giving me feedbacks. Actually a few other guys try to warn me about fading trend out of good intention. I know I might be getting a little defensive because of the ego thing. I will keep trading away tomorrow and try less experimenting with those "middle" setups (trouble spots during trend day). There is only one way IMO to make this setup work and that is to take as many trades as I can. 7 years of plenty and 7 years of famine. Thanks!
This statement here is likely to keep you in trouble. I think it is great that you are trading as much as possible to get a feel for your market. I caution you, however, to not trade with an offensive mentality. Trade defensively and let the market confirm your entry and direction. You should have a limitation on the number of losses you can take in a row. Nature works in streaks and taking a break during losses helps breaks that streak and reset your perception for the next set of trades. Good luck.
I will keep this in mind. I am still playing with this thing (not trading the full size). It is a problem when the market trends. I have thought about stopping the day after losing certain amount of money. Things can get worse before getting better. The game plan today is just like the game plan every other day. Take as many trades as I can or I can afford like an idiot. Let's make some points.
Short at 1197.25. Stop at 1198.50 I was a little slow. This is the second entry when it hits "new" resistance.
The first trade was a bad trade. I don't know why I took it. Things did not line up. My brain is a little slow today. P.S. It was lining up then it expired but I did not realize that.