I have traded the ES (together with the learning part, still learning) for over 5 years now. On and off, never full time for over 3 months consecutively. But when I trade full time, I trade the whole day. I lost more money than I earned, but due to my conservative nature, I have not lost more than 100k. The exact number? Sorry, lost track of that, but definitely more than 50k. I never had the guts to put down my trading record in a journal like this one. I plan to face my weakness and start doing it today. My best strings are trading ES 1-5 lots at a time, usually by adding to loser averaging down, I made over 1k a day for maybe over 20 days in a row (well not over 1k everyday, but would average about 1k daily). Back then, I thought I would be able to make a living by trading ES. As anyone who have traded long enough would know, averaging down can be disastrous if one made a wrong directional judgement, and it is a huge trending day to the opposite of your bet. BTW, when I trade this way, I always traded long. I am a bad shorter. I am learning it now, getting the hang of it now. I had about 3-4 this type of days, and sometimes I do not get out and stayed overnight, I think my largest one time loss (when I decided to throw in the towel or margin called) is about 30k. Right now, I am recovering from a 25k bust. I only trade one contract now. Very occasionally (once a day the most) average down using a second contract, but that is it. I found it is very hard to make money and cover cost, if I take my loss frequently. This week, my first 3 days average win after cost is only 20-60 dollars, and Thursday is a loss of 22 if cost is covered. Today, I averaged down, and took a 400 loss on the chin. I plan to use this weekend to formulate a new trading plan, this type of trade will not last, since it cannot cover cost, and a waste of time, except for learning to scalp. One of the goals of starting this journal is to really hear from elite traders your comments. I will report very honestly my daily trading experience on this journal till Sept. 5th, when I need to take a long trip abroad. For swing trade, I have bought one contract at 1358, target is 1369 for 10 handles, but so far have no plan on where to cut loss, if at all. Maybe at 1352, if it does not turn back up, I will cut loss. But will try to get back in diligently if wrong. I only hold swing trade longs, never shorted overnight.
Update Sunday night 7/22/2012 The ES is trading as low as 1350.50 now in the Sunday night session. I did not close my position as a stop loss. With an overnight low breaking support a bit, I would just going to my account and set my position to take a one tic profit and get out, and see what will happen tomorrow during the day. My experience, I was always given one chance to get out when seeing the market is not going to my way, and when it reaches my break even point, get out fast, otherwise the market can turn back. Of course sometimes it will not turn back. But this is my trading rule and plan, just get out.