I feel good about this morning. I'll post my day's review this evening. Obvious CHOP/Triangle range. Traders really like the 3968 value range for now. Premarket range broke both sides top and bottom, and I tried both ways with some very small scratches. Most of these 4 trades I took moved immediately in my direction 2 points, and then against. I'm just sitting patiently for now...
Yeah, I'd of hopefully been buying DAX off the 200ema area M1 and just repeating many many times, hopefully I'd of live spotted the turn down, method called it but you knows!! I made more on my 2 trades this am than I did working and I'm well paid to, but client doesn't take money off me, when I have a bad day LOL Mountain bike time, don't do a Turveyd ( something stupid! )
TurveyD? What's that? More off your 2 trades than your job! woo hoo. I did that yesterday. Can't say the same for today...but I'm not well paid either.
Full Report due tonight. 2 obvious hurdles that I have to conquer. I need to spend time trying to understand the lack of discipline I exhibit during the trading day. Hurdle 1: I overtrade. So much for sticking to less trades. Emotions play a large part here, but also lack of discipline. Hurdle 2: I play obvious CHOP. It's not part of my tested plan. Why am I so damn rebellious against such a simple rule? I need to find this discipline. Full analysis tonight. It looks like there were MAYBE 5 to 8 good entries for my plan. All profitable. I wonder if my hurdles listed above hinder my abilities to execute my plan? TTYL
I don't think of it as real though, as 1 bad day and it's all gone, kinda stuck at this account value for a few months to, not good, but might have it sorted !!
1. Boredom kicks in, watching good trades go by and you think, ohhh go on, boredom trades are normally the ones I lose big on. ( the I don't want to lose, just having a mess, average down move SL kicks in doh! ) 2. Market chops most of the time, embrace the chop, I'm trying to master chop with trend to cover both market types. Your on day 4 your doing better than 90% on here, don't be too hard on yourself.
A couple of comments from a distance- Let me preface by acknowledging that I am not a day trader- & don't have a clue about the instrument you are trading or what it would take to trade for a living- much less to be a day trader trying to earn one's living with one's hard earned dollars on the line every day. Your latest daily chart highlighted the reversal and strong uptrend that occurred - about the same time you went 'live'- A nice 'swing trade' over the prior days if one held longer term. As i have read through your thread- You note the emotional questions,, you say you have a written trading plan coming off Sim trading- have trouble staying with the plan- You will try to limit the # of trades to only the 'best' setups; You will abstain from trading in the am open (trying to get a sense of the market's actual direction I assume- AND further assume that you would likely take those trades that also favor the trend of the market on a higher time frame? Or countertrend only when the price has reached that extended range and should react back to the mean? You will eliminate the overtrading - you will take only the best setups- Won't trade chop- How will you know when a transition from chop to trending occurs? How would you get on board? Why not take the time to present your 4 best type of trade setups that you have learned over the months in SIM and explain why those were your best reward trades- to an absolute novice- like myself- and 'teach' what criteria is necessary for that setup to be a viable trade- how you would see it forming, where you would enter, where you would exit- on a stop-loss- how would you manage the trade as it proceeds in your direction- Do you sell all at a target or scale out? And, after describing those trades and the necessary criteria-apply only them as the 'best of the best'- higher probability trades. What about position sizing? How do you adjust for surviving the learning curve that you have not yet experienced? It would appear that you are ready to jump in and Trade to Earn- when it might be prudent as you actually go trade real $$$ that you first consider Trade to Learn- and indeed give live trading equal time to your Sim time to progress gradually over changing markets with an actual profit/loss / win/lose of a number of small trades- Select only the very best setups and trade them in small amounts........ Get some experience under your belt- The market will be here forever- You want to try to ensure that you have longevity as well- Don't be in a hurry to run in a marathon until you've accomplished some time on the track with some sprints, then 2 milers- then 5 ...........The track changes- You have not experienced that yet- You will assume that tomorrow will be an aberration- and will be surprised when the next week is more of the same- Don't be in a hurry to add $$$$- Just get the experience- and be a survivor - Again, I have no understanding of what you are trading, account parameters, leverage, etc- Don't need to know- While you spent some time on Sim trading- did the Sim trade process teach you anything about position sizing? What is your money management plan if you have as series of losing trades and your account declines by 10% , 20%? 30% Do you define the predominant trend on what higher time frame? Where do you set your trading levels at using S& R- What time frame? could you teach a novice trader the best of what you have learned? How would you try to guide a novice- your method of taking trades? Do you have a level of confidence in your approach? Can you trade only the best of what you have learned? If you apply yourself to trade only the very best setups- with well defined Risk- would your trading business achieve better consistency and profitability? the answer is that there would likely be a higher improvement in results- How often are your stops too tight? Get stopped out only to see the higher move proceed after you get taken out-? What do you use to set your stops or the normal volatility in your time frame? Do you look to the higher time frame to get the overview? Welcome to the real world of real $$$$. Are you a responsible person? If I had known you, trusted you, and had given you the money in your account and asked that you take proper care of it- How would you be trading it? Would you be taking 10 or 15 trades every day? Were those the 'best' trades? Good luck in your pursuit! HMMM- ARE you a good swing trader? Or did you just choose to enter directly into day trading? Do you hold a separate 'investment' account - or is it all in your trading account/? No need to answer me- Those are rhetorical questions ........ Let me add that in case that you find you are like myself- In the 90% or so that have sub par trading results- albeit moments of sporadic 'nailed it' trades.... I am thankful that i have an Investment account 1st- and the trading account came 2nd. The investment account has proven- in it's longer time frame- to have provided better long term gains over the past 4 years...... Not to interrupt your journal with the basics- but I suspect that many "Traders" here on ET haven't bothered to fund an investment account- Sounds archaic -does it not? Why bother- after all? An Investment account may simply use a longer time frame- WEEKS vs hours....... Caveat Emptor added here- good luck in your future trades- Trade less- Trade the best..... SD
@sowterdad Daytrading is where the money is made big money and big losses at first ofcourse. Swing trading indexs is a fools game, there to pulled around by news events, if you want to swing trade then stocks but to make it worthwhile you need a lot more cash in the account. Some you will get an SL hit on and they'll reverse others will go 100pts against you swings and round abouts, all part if the game.
Full report is going to come later, probably on weekend. Had family "stuff" last night. Today is going to be filled with watching out for my two struggles/areas which are essentially a lack of discipline. I'm staying out of CHOP/RANGE, I don't have a system that I've tested that works in it. My system works when price moves. At least a little. I'm limiting myself to the best. Today is my day for discipline. I love discipline. I want to love it, because I know that discipline has amazing rewards. The question my friends, is why don't I play premarket? Sometimes the moves are just incredible. 330 am had 30 point move back to yesterdays value area. retrace 50, and another measured move to just under the supply line created weeks ago. Ranging now.