5/3/21 +24 ticks, 1 contract ($300) Patience paid off! I usually trade on my Mac the first 30 minutes after open, but today there wasn't any pull back reversal. Switched to monitoring the market on my phone 30 minutes after open. Using 5 minute chart is nice because it takes at least 3 bars for an entry to form, which allows me to check my phone roughly every 10 minutes for how the market is moving while getting other stuff done. Do not need to obsess over every tick. At 9:30am CST the pullback reversal started forming, so I placed a sell stop limit order for 4195.25 The initial stop was placed 1 tick above the previous bar for a total of 14 ticks, or a maximum gross loss of $175 for this trade. No fixed profit target. Captured profits using an automated trailing stop loss of 1 tick above the previous bar. Stopped out at 4189.25, for a total gain of 24 ticks.
For those wondering how to set a stop loss to automatically trail 1 tick above/below the previous bar, I did this by creating a custom indicator. The indicator returns the value of the low or high of previous bar +/- 1 tick. Then when you right click on a stop in NinjaTrader, there is an option to automatically move the stop based on an indicator value. The code is very simple: Values[0][0] = Low[1] - .25; Values[1][0] = High[1] + .25; where: Values[0][0] is the stop loss value when long Values[1][0] is the stop loss value when short Low[1] is the low of the previously formed bar High[1] is the high of the previously formed bar This is very useful because once I am in a trade, I will never close it early. I am fully committed to the plan and the only exit plan is the stop loss, both for closing a losing trade and locking in profit on a winning trade. These trades often last 30-60 minutes, and needing to manually move a stop loss with every new bar is a waste of time. Attaching the stop loss to the indicator lets me forget about the trade and do other things. Then check back an hour later to see if I made or lost money. Read about the functionality here: https://ninjatrader.com/support/hel...oindicators.htm#AttachingAnOrderToAnIndicator
Looking good. "I did this by creating a custom indicator." How much time to figure out how to set this up? What's the cost for your Ninja Trader 8 setup with data? Break a Leg.
@easymon1 Creating the custom indicator was easy for me, but I've been using NinjaTrader for over a decade. They call it "NinjaScript", which is similar to c# and can also use .net libraries for building some really cool things. For absolute programming beginners, as long as you don't have an aversion to coding it's going to take some time to read through examples and play around with it. NinjaTrader has a helpful support forum for asking coding questions, and their built in functions are pretty well documented. In terms of cost, if you don't already use NinjaTrader the upfront cost is a NinjaTrader license. However keep in mind the same kind of trading can be done with other platforms like Sierra Chart, etc. For live data, double check with your broker, should be $10/month for non-pro CME data (ES). Lastly, $59/month for a Chicago VPS. The VPS is optional, as you can trade from home too, but it's the only way that lets me trade on my phone and switch between macbook and phone. Total is $69/month for my live setup.
5/4/21 1st trade entered immediately after open for a loss -14 ticks. It was a fake breakout. Reverse off VWAP Bounce off VWAP with preopen price dropping suggested a breakout down. 2nd trade sell stop limit placed 1 tick below the low. Allowed the automated stop loss to ride the momentum all the way down until stopped out for +54 ticks. Overall net +40 ticks 5/5/21 Quick scalp at open for +16 ticks
5/6/21 +16 ticks, $200 Started adding A, B, C text tags on charts to help show the reason for entry Entry was a sell stop limit 1 tick below B Today a lot of profit was left on the table from the exit strategy, but other days it has helped. Not sure if there is a better strategy here, especially when only trading 1 contract. Would have more options for exit strategy with a 2nd contract for scaling out. *Note, a lot of people are probably trading with a 2000 tick chart, and their interpretation of the opening action would be very different from mine using the 5 minute chart. This is why I prefer 5 minutes. I believe it more accurately predicts the next 30-60 minutes of where the price is headed, vs. the higher chance of noise captured in tick charts around the opening.
5/7/21 No trades today within 30 minutes of open The reversal right after 8:30 was too strong without any pullbacks for abc entry Probably a Strong Accumulation Up Day
Hi, Can I get a copy of your trailing stop indicator so I can test it. I use Ninja Trader 7. oraclewizard77@yahoo.com. Will I be able to change the values without programming like I can do with most indicators I add to my chart? Will it work on 5 min time charts? Thanks.
@oraclewizard77 I don't know if it works with NinjaTrader 7 because as far as I know, the attach order to indicator feature is only for NinjaTrader 8. When you right click on on a Stop in NinjaTrader 7, do you see these options for "Attach To Indicator"? Here's a blog post from when the feature was released for NinjaTrader 8: https://ninjatrader.com/blog/attach-orders-indicators-ninjatrader-8/
No I don't have that. But let's say I do I buy stop order and then after the order is active use either an indicator or I can use a custom ATM strategy. I have created and ATM with a trailing stop but normally I don't use it since I am around the computer to check back on the trade.