With limit orders set at resistance or support of some sort . Dont forget I am using a simulator right now and I see the spread on the DOM . The limit orders seem legit because they always trade through at least a tick and I double check the price on Esignal .
I am only concerned with points per contract and use a one lot . Trailing price with one contract leads to leaving profit on the table but I am focused closely on 10 , 15 and longer timeframes to help me move the stop in my favor .
Today - 710 hrs sell 698.8 stop 1.4 pts target 693 ( previous days low ) sell signal on 60 min. Fill is 8 ticks better than trigger price ( fill = previous close - 1 tick )
The sell stopped out -1.6 pts with slippage . Looking at a 240 min. I can see a head and shoulders buy from 100 hrs but I havent had much success with such low volume signals . I am going to watch the channel on a daily chart and wait to see what shapes up on the lesser timeframes .
Here are todays trades in EST..... 710 hrs sell stop 1.4 pts result- -1.6 pts 941 hrs buy stop 2pt result- -2pt 947 hrs buy 1.4 pt stop result- -1.2 pts 1117 hrs sell 1.6 pt stop result- 2.9 pts 941 and 947 were fades / buying against the sharp downmove . These were both like trying to catch a falling knife , if you grab the handle you win if you grab the blade you get cut . Theses cut me . The 947 had profit potential over 3 pts and I waited to see if I caught a turn and could ride it but price moved choppy/sideways , stopped me out and then went up . 1117 was also profitable and I didnt trail the stop to capture any profit . LESSONS - be careful with the fades , when they work they require a very tight stop and grab profits quickly or dont take them at all . take REASONABLE profits , leaving money on the table is not acceptable . If price continues in my favor dont worry about it . A small profit is better than any loss . Choice - move stop to breakeven when profit is achieved and move stop in my favor to capture profit or dont , wait to see if price continues to trend and accept if price moves against me and a potential winner becomes a loss . I'll go over my notes and review todays trades and be back again tomorrow without having beat myself up , but learning a little ( I hope ) about what I am thinking while taking trades and find areas where I can improve judgement .
No trading for me today . I could only watch shortly but no plan to trade . I'll be at it early in the AM tomorrow .
Nice journal Eric. I trade ER2 and some ES as well. Your style is very similar to mine when I first started trading futures. You have a chance to make it if you stick to it which I didn't. The problem is you will have losing streaks which can last several days in a row and I hope you are prepared for that. It was very frustrating for me and I just couldn't deal with it. I solved the problem by creating a hybrid system where I intraday position trade the ES while scalping the ER2. On a typical day I may do 50-100 ER2 round trips vs. 5-10 on the ES. Some days (choppy) I do not get any swing setups and don't trade the ES at all. My goal is to make 200-500 a day per ER2 contract.
Thanks for the reply . Yeah , losing streaks can wreak havoc with your emotions and winning streaks can do even worse damage I think . The biggest obstacle I find myself up againt is finding one edge or even corresponding timeframe that suits me . For example I find myself trying to hop between longer and shorter timeframes each day with mixed outcomes but find if I just wait for trades to come to me and just trade on the same timeframes each day I would have consistently better results . One reason I'm doing this is that by trying as many possible variations I will find what is best for me . Overall I know I have it narrowed down as far as what I will use as an edge . Trying , analyzing , tracking and backtesting as much as I can proves that consistently repeating the same thing under the same conditions will yield the best results - for me . Finding what works best for me is my goal , achieving excellence will come with time and patience and practice . BTW - havent traded the last few days , I've watched and taken notes and plan to trade during the coming week . I am watching for the stoch on my daily chart to show oversold price and plan to enter short into the weekly downtrend .
Still no signal on my daily chart for the AB , ES and NQ . Looking to establish a position trade on these 3 . From what I see they are in a downtrend on the weekly chart with the ES and AB having broke the long uptrend on higher than normal volume . I am using a trend channel on the weekly to analyze where price could continue down and EMA 's (50 , 200 h/l/2 ) on the daily to determine the trends quality . If the stoch on my daily closes above 80 on an up day I plan to short when daily price thereafter makes a lower low . If not or if the trend reverses or looks flaky I'll wait . I am not positive on an exit strategy . Before an entry I'll decide between trailing the stop above each days high or exit when the daily stoch is oversold . my stop is going above the entry days high . I like the YM too but data isnt a freebie anymore or included with a CME package with Esignal , too bad for now .