February 3rd (Tuesday) Total trades: 7 (2 Longs, 5 Shorts) 6 Winners, 1 Loser Time Zone: Central (Chicago time) 8:38 AM - Short 1 NQ 1489.50 8:40 AM - Cover 1 NQ 1489.00 Result: +0.50 8:49 AM - Long 1 YM 10440 8:51 AM - Exit 1 YM 10443 Result: +3 Notes: Bailed early (as always), but the indices just seemed confused. 8:59 AM - Short 1 NQ 1493.00 9:01 AM - Exit 1 NQ 1492.00 Result: +1.00 9:11 AM - Short 1 NQ 1495.50 9:13 AM - Cover 1 NQ 1495.00 Result: +0.50 9:24 AM - Short 1 YM 10475 9:31 AM - Cover 1 YM 10470 Result: +5 Notes: Ahhh! This was the drop I was trying to catch all morning! Left at least 20 pts on the table. I spent the next 15 minutes swearing at myself on missing the drop and then left for work 1:42 PM - Long 1 ES 1132.25 1:43 PM - Exit 1 ES 1131.00 (Stop-loss hit) Result: -1.25 Notes: It seems like having tight stops doesn't help me at all! Tight stops have done more harm than good, so I'm leaning towards setting wider initial stops (3-4 pts) or not using stops at all. 1:47 PM - Long 1 ES 1131.75 1:56 PM - Exit 1 ES 1132.50 Result: +0.75 Notes: I had to leave for work, so I exited the trade. I swear to God, the minute I exited, ES shot up another point! I was bitching about this in our private chat room! I mean WTF! Seriously, go look at your 1-min charts for ES. The minute I exited, boom..ES up another point! And notice how the previous swing low was exactly at my stop-loss of 1131. Maybe our psychotic buddy "NoMoreOptions" isn't such a weirdo after all...maybe "THEY" are watching. Nah...he's a weirdo! Overall: ES: -0.50 YM: +8 NQ: +2.00 OK, so today I traded all 3 indices and I think it kinda messed me up since I was switching my shorter time-frame charts to the index I wanted to trade and I missed opportunities in ES. I think I could trade all 3 indices simultaneously, but I would need 2 more screens to be able to monitor the shorter time-frames on all 3 indices and have the DOM up for all 3. That would kick ass!
Had a pretty shitty day.. B/E today.. short at 1133 twice and covered for b/e each time. freaking wish i had held overnight
TM, I meant not using hard-stops and only using mental stops since hard-stops seem to get me out at the worst possible moment. Your thoughts? -Fast
February 4th (Wednesday) Total trades: 4 (2 Longs, 2 Shorts) 4 Winners, 0 Loser Time Zone: Central (Chicago time) 8:43 AM - Long 1 ES 1128.00 8:46 AM - Cover 1 ES 1128.25 Result: +0.25 9:06 AM - Short 1 ES 1126.00 9:07 AM - Cover 1 ES 1125.25 Result: +0.25 Notes: This was an accident. When I put on my previous trade, I entered a Sell Stop at 1126 and forgot to cancel the sell-stop so it got hit on the way down. Bailed with a tick immediately! 9:30 AM - Short 1 YM 10485 9:39 AM - Cover 1 YM 10484 Result: +1 Notes: I should have Added another contract when YM went up to 10495+. I wanted to short the 10500 area, but had to leave for work and e-cbot doesn't have stops. My broker is still working on upgrading their software to allow stops on e-cbot. 2:00 PM - Long 1 NQ 1464.50 2:06 PM - Exit 1 NQ 1466.50 Result: +2 Notes: I knew I could get more but I really had to get back to the office so bailed. Overall: ES: +0.50 YM: +1 NQ: +2.00
I don't have a lot of time to write a lot about it, but generaly, I will always use hard stops just in case my conection goes out, TWS is down or my computer crashs. Many things can go wrong between you and your broker while the connection between the broker and the exchange is much more reliable (or at least should be). Besides, crazy moves on unexpected news can cost you much when you try to exit with a market order when the market is running the wrong way. We can discuss about all of it later TM Trader