You're right, but was at 6:40 last night while the price was still trying to find its trend. It crossed through the VWAP multiple times. Then in the early morning hours it found a new floor that was tested 3 times, and the price continued to climb on top of the VWAP. The 4th test of the floor and the pullback entry off it for me was a very good sign that we're going to keep going higher. Looking back at the different types of days, today is a strong accumulation up day: https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/es-price-action-scalping-5min.358227/#post-5375847
Unfortunately the perfect entry or exit strategy does not exist, this time you might have left some money on the table with your current exit strategy, the next trade your current exit strategy can possibly save you just as much or even more that you might lose with another exit strategy. For me personally getting the exit strategy right is one of the most difficult things regarding trading. I am doing well but sometimes i also leave a lot of profit on the table by either closing to early breaking my rules or by fiddling around to much with my strategy. I am getting close to something i am pleased with and then i am just going to stick with it.
@DevBru What kind of exit strategy are you close with now? All in, all out? All in, scale out? Something else? Since I am now using 2 contracts, I am thinking of testing different trailing stops for each. I've coded this logic for the new automated stop trails: Contract #1: Trail by 1 tick above/below previous bar, and skip inside bars Contract #2: Trail by 1 tick but 2 previous bars ago, and move to contract #1 logic after contract #1 is stopped out and that bar closes.
5/17/21 +$17.40 after commission (+1 tick, 2 contracts) Switched to trading on phone after there were no entries during the first hour Bet on a 1-2-3 reversal pattern off the VWAP At one point position was more than $800 in the money, but quickly reversed and ended up with only +1 tick.
Any particular reason for skipping the earlier 1-2-3 reversal entry today during the 10:15 (EST) bar following the failed breakout of the overnight low? Seemed like a reasonable setup, even though the result would only have been 3 ticks profit.
@Owaco That one didn't count because 3 made a new low. I would have taken it only if the low of 3 was equal to the low of 1 and less than the low of 2. Basically the low of 3 needed to be within this blue box in the screenshot below. Otherwise 3 made a new low and is now a candidate for the start of a new 1-2-3 pattern.
Ah, I see. I tend to think of the 1-2-3 reversal and 2-B reversal (with small break) as effectively the same setup, where the market twice tried to go in one direction and failed.
I think you're right, and it does work a lot of the time. But I have found that it also increases the chance of a losing trade so I use it as a way to filter out those entries.
5/18/21 +$367.04 after commission (+15 ticks, 2 contracts) The new logic for the automated stop loss to skip trail on an inside bar worked well today, allowing to capture +15 ticks profit instead of getting stopped out at only +3 ticks. Thank you Owaco for the suggestion!
5/19/21 -$157.96 after commission (-6 ticks, 2 contracts) First losing day in May High volatile days like today a single 5 minute bar can range 10-20 points, making entries harder. It also means the initial stop loss is larger and the risk per trade is higher. ATR with a short lookback period could be useful