No longs today. I had considered going long 5 ES while covering the last at 1127, but I'm throwing in the towel for the day. NEED some sleep! Plus, seems like whenever i stick my hand in the pot one too many times, I would get burned. Get that mouse FIX man. Or buy a new one... COMPUSA and BESTBUY has mouses that are FREE after the rebate...
Nice cheese for 10 cars man! Seriously good. I haven't traded ES for a while but today sure was day full of opps. I did well on DAX, too - although admittedly not fully much as you did today - I really didn't trade enough size today... I sure know that ES is awesome for liquidity, though. If I was doing ES again, I wouldn't have a problem going straight back to 20 cars per click, because "sudden moves" like on DAX just don't happen, you can hardly lose much to adversity. That's the beauty of ES. The ugly side is that's is comparatively rare on opportunities, super-low daily range and slooow and booooooooring these days.... It's like trading the bund man! But then.... There's always people like AMT who doesn't mind that at all, just focuses on the larger timeframes and keeps adding another 50 cars every time the market goes a few points against him... I want to be an AMT! :eek: FastTrader - Amazing performance particularly to you - Congrats man! If after that little time you've put into learning this you're already pulling out decent trades, you can be doing very well soon! The major thing you've got going for you though is having oodles of cash and not having to rely on trading as a source of income. For me, this literally made my bed. If money doesn't matter, you will see trading as what it really is : A game. And a chase for highscores rather than money! I remember I was a gaming freak most of my "former" life. It was pretty much the same time I started trading that I stopped gaming. Gaming sucks, because you play every game through in a short time and it becomes boring. Trading is awesome, because it's the most fun and most challenging PC game you can play. No need to buy sequels - the "Market Game" constantly updates itself with new (and free!) challenges and sequels. Also, you can play the game in any mode you like, and any difficulty degree. It's the most perfect game out there, always exciting, and always challenging. Today, when I listen to people talk about the "adrenaline rushes" they get from playing Doom or Half-Life, I could almost fall asleep... And ignore those nasty Sony Playstation commercials that warn us with the slogan: "It's not a game." Scientist
Why not use bracket orders? Even better if you use a really cool platform to TWS, like ButtonTrader. Cuts stress, cuts risk, and is extremely nice in general. Button rocks my world man!
Scientist, thanks for the kind words. I still have a lot to learn, but maybe there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Also, I personally like the way ES moves. I like the fact that it doesn't spike up or down like DAX. There's a certain comfort in that. Maybe you should try ES again for a day and just SLOW down a little. Why scalp for ticks when you can just do 3 R/T like LSU and bank $3K while paying your broker less than $150. Your style of trading requires member rates, and you're trading with IB. Doesn't make sense to me. You need cheaper commissions man! -Fast
Get a Logitech Dual Laser Mouse - They're awesome. I've had my latest for over a year now and I luv it man! I also have put "minimize" as a function onto the thumb button - Find it extremely practical, because I can switch between windows and minimize whenever I want to, just looking at a window! Can highly recommend it.
Well, my preferred trading WOULD require member rates if I was trading ES/NQ, but not necessarily on DAX! Remember, comms on DAX are MUCH lower relative to the leverage you have! I can do about the same I'd do on ES with 20 cars with about 4-6 cars on DAX! Not only for commission though, but also for the volatility factor and much higher $ value swings! Yes, you can do 3RT like LSU, but that's just not my style. All the power to those who can, but it's not what I do. And besides, while he might do well like that quite often, he also might have some decent losing days or just not too many days as good. Certainly more gyrations in equity curve. I take small trades, but I also take miniscule risks, and have a very high hit rate. Over the course of the day my equity curve is pretty smooth, most days are pretty similar results and I have few losing days. "Swing" traders can't really do that. Besides I don't have the patience to sit in front of a screen for hours a day, watching the paint dry on a couple of trades. I have done this, and it makes me walk up the walls. I like to be fully immersed and occupied, preferably reading at least 6 charts, 3-4 depths and 3-5 tapes, comparing in all timeframes and just doing it all n'sync. Both "fast eyes" and peripheral vision by the way. I used to trade 3 windows of Nasdaq TotalView once and was loving it. My NLP coach figured that I can have 7+-2 (up to 9) thought processes going on simultaneously. There is a certain small group of people that can. Most people (over 99%) can only process up to 5+-2 things at a time. Well, matter of fact I really like mine all fully occupied in order to focus. Ask TMTrader, he's seen me chatting with him synchronously and live while I was trading the US opening on DAX! It's a bit iffy though, shouldn't be doing that or I'll end up swearing at somebody... By the way, I've done overnight swing & position trading and it's a great thing to do (and I'll be doing it again soon to take care of excess liquidity), and I have no problem with it. That's how I began trading. But I do have a problem with sitting in front of a market full of opportunities all day long and only taking a couple. What's the point? And I don't tick trade by the way. I'm a scalper, not a tick trader. About 60% of my trades are 1-3pts, 20% are 4-6pts, 10% are 6 -10pts and 10% are 10pts+.