ES Journal - 2019/2020

When you have a Nutso in the Whitehouse, you're going to have a Nutso market....guaranteed.

 

Got really lucky today...as I was short the huge afternoon rally in NQ. I withstood a $2000 drawdown on that trade and was lucky to end-up with a small profit. Whew, that was a sweat-out trade.
Other trades included the usual "top tick" stop loss out deal....boy do I hate those. But they're going to happen in this jumpy market. So that trade had a "too tight stop" and the afternoon trade had a "too loose stop". Better improve my discipline and consistency.

 

Small amount of trades = small amount of fees and commission.

 

Ah that one trade I cut short...went on to double....patience, patience. I need more of that....and better stop loss placement, that's for sure. Top/bottom ticking is no fun....but the algos love it !!

 

Indeed, once I did a 6-month test... each entry trade was split in two, ½ would go into the account I watch, the other ½ would go in a "set & forget" account. At the end of the 6 months, the set & forget account performed vastly better than the account I watched and tinkered with. Emotions can kill an otherwise good trade.

I'm not provocating carelessness but if you have a clear view on why you are entering the trade and have a realistic objective, more often than not the objective is reached

 

Yes, the objective is reached , but it ends-up less than the optimal amount that would have occurred if I held longer.
Part of the problem is that I've been using mostly market orders and sometimes limit orders. I use stop orders only to get OUT of a losing trade..never to enter into a trade. And even worse, I never use trailing stops to get out. I may need to investigate them. For me, the volatility in ES and especially NQ just "top/bottom ticks" you to death with that order type.

 

Ok, looks like you identified all the issues so look forward to being a better trader soon. Just one observation... "Yes, the objective is reached , but it ends-up less than the optimal amount that would have occurred if I held longer"... it's called greed and does not always turn out well. Again, if you had a clear view of the objective when the trade was entered, be satisfied with the objective, alternatively replace the t/p limit with a traling stop when the objective is reached

 

Thanks for that FX....I'm going to start using trailing stops. Somehow I've had a phobia against them.....LOL. I guess every trader has a weakness or two.

 

Short 2897.75. Target 2881, which is a 50% Fibonacci retracement level.

 

will it go below 2880.00 ???