Hi All, well not a good day at all :-( Started the day off running back crazy from an appointment, didn't get in till after 11am. I really did think about not trading at all, BUT, saw that if I'd been here I would be long real close to where the market was. So I went long 921.5 (about an extra 1.5pt cost). The reason it came back to that price was because it was on a nice downtrend :-( Which carried on to reverse me short at 11.22 (912.5). Which then went in my favor a couple of points before taking off :-( In the wrong direction. I also ran into a problem of how to close out the day which ,go figure I hadn't thought of. I had planned to lock in half profits at 3.30, but this trade was against me, I looked at some resistance and figured it it breaks it I'm out. Which I did, (927)and it did actually go further before selling off a little. If I had just waited till the end of day I'd a been about 2-3pts better off, again go figure when I let them run till the close , I lose, and when I try to protect a little I lose, WELCOME to the world of trading :-( Guys I know , what a "Royal" mess up, even writing this I'm spotting so many mistakes I made today, I'm giving myself another "F". Apart from running in late, notice delayed start again throw me way off again !!!! I also just plain and simply didn't look at my rule, about when in late, use the first hour as entry into the market, just forgot it. Might have kept me out today or at least a slight win. Again I'm putting it down to rushing around and not focusing. There's still plenty of stuff I'm not happy with myself about today, not having a rule for a close against me, hind sight says (easily) should have just waited till 4pm, but with new highs looking to be made, the resistance idea seemed to fit at the time. What else, oh I'm sure there are plenty, I'm just real tired right now, but I've probably listed enough to get on with. I'll be replaying today through my mind a few times this weekend I'm sure. One thing I will do is go over my rules again, and set some up for the things I'd not come across before, especially the delayed starts !!! I still need to look at my exits near the close, I worked late last night on it, but didn't get anywhere near where I wanted to, a busy weekend ahead. Anyway heres the trades, 1st trade -9pts, 2nd trade -14.5pts, total for the day -23.5pt, very big hit, that could have been avoided. To tell you that I really don't feel like I intentionally broke my rules might seem strange, but I don't think I did. It was just very, very poor concentration and not having a plane in place for the running around prior to trading, it will be fixed!! Have a great weekend, Andy
I play Chinese Chess, the good thing about internet is I don't know who is my opponent is so I am free from fear but if I check his record then suddenly I have fear. http://www.itsyourturn.com/iyt.dll?waitingroom?p=1 I agree chess is just like trading, especially when you play for money.
Hi all, hope you all had a great weekend Well day 10, put's me half way through the trial Today got me short about 10.08am at 918.5pt, NQ, came real close around 2pm to reverse me, but didn't get there by about 1pt !!!! Went back over Fridays chart, got reversed 1/2pt from the low, sure I could change stops to all different places, but I think when your using a trend following system, whipsaws are going to be around, and at the most horrible place :-( Though I'm hoping/believe if I can ride out the chop and STILL be consistent on my over all plan, I might be able to squeeze a profit out, guess we'll see So I was short all day, felt like I was riding the trade/trend the wrong way, but at the end of the day scoring an A +, plus covering at 911.5pt NQ, put +6.5pt's in my pocketed Using big stops is real tough especially when I was up maybe around +16pt's, but the system I'm trying to follow say's stay in, and so I try Actually checking it against , as if I was papertrading , I'd be about the same P/L (since I started real $$), guess when I started following it, it started on a downtrend :-( Murphy's law I guess, but the lessons being learned I'm sure will pay off in the future Have a super evening, Andy
andy, can you give us your running profit or loss at the end of each trading day. It will give us a better idea of how you're performing over a larger time frame. Runningbear
Hi All Well today, no matter how good a day God tried giving me, I just didn't want it :-( As far as following the set system I did alright until near the end of the day. BUT because of some otherthings going on (tighter cash flow, than I figured) Greed/Fear got a hold of me today, or should I say I let them !!!! Anyway, went short NQ about 10.10am (920) then rode it all day. I'm still not sure about the closing at the end of the day, so I saw a little up move and covered early about 3.50pm (902) . Which gave a nice 18pt profit. To be fair by covering a little early I saved about a 1pt. I'm just still uncomfortable during this last 30 or less min's. Reading the above you may have thought, seems like a good day, but now for the rest of the story :-( Today I broke my set plan by taking on other trades, because of probably fear of not succeeding with the system (actually looking at over all P/L, and not the main reason set out before me, to learn discipline!!) I tried to scalp the ES. Having NO set plan, wrote out, sure of, confidence in, I got what I deserved (maybe less!!) , and lost just over a $100 . Still ended the day profitable, but scored a nasty "F" for breaking my rules !! Cash for the day, $360 (nq) - $110(ES+commissions)) = +$250 Here's the running total, over the last 11 days. NQ only :-( Total trades today (just NQ) = 1 P/L for today only (just NQ) = +18 Total trades overall after today = +15 P/L running total after today = +4.5pt's Looking at +4.5pt's after 11 days of trading I guess doesn't look too hot, but God has been real good to me. I've had at least 3 days of scoring an "F", plus all the lessons I've had !!! It could be alot worse, again the main point of this exercise was to learn "discipline," which I'm still needing more of, but I do think I'm seeing some great benefits here by being able to step back and actually analyze my trading. Thank you all, sorry about the ES trades today. Have a super evening, Andy p.s Reason for the scalping, plain and simple I took my eyes off my God to provide for the future and tried to do it myself !!! He's given me a real "peace" about trading and even following the set plan, I need to trust Him for the out come and enjoy the ride. I've asked for forgiveness and given it back to Him, looking forward to a great day tomorrow Not because I'm looking for a big win, but because I remembered He's in control.
Andy, it's good that you're honest and, ironically, I believe you would have felt worse telling us all about the excursion into ES had you made $100 on them. Nobody gets A+ all the time, there will be more lapses in discipline, just don't be too hard on yourself - you're doing great.
Andy, At one point I sat though about 35 days of near no profits using my range breakout system, then bounced back with a 20% profit in one week! Look at it like this. You can only take whaat the market will give and its not giving much at the moment. If you had followed all your rules you'd probably be 8 points up for the same trading period. Average that over 200 trading days in a year and you're around the 30% p.a. mark. It's better than the return you'd be getting in a bank. And you learn a hell of a lot more about who you are. Runningbear
Hi there, yes it's funny sometimes what the market will give, you know when I was papertrading (to be fair, my realtrades are pretty much instep) I was averaging a few points a day over all, even with slippage and commissions, I still figured it might give a point a day( averaged over 95 days). Guess it's just Murphys Law, when I try real money the market changes. Even so, I'm still pretty content with my results so far, it's amazing but I'm becoming to understand no matter how mechanical you make a system, we're still not trading in a complete vacuum !!! There's always something different happening to throw a little wrench in the works, be it half days, doc appointments or unexpected bills :-( That's life I guess, just smile, praise God for what blessing you have, and thank Him for the trails that shape and mould you. Thank you Running Bear, your notes are very encouraging to me Andy
Hi Everyone, well tough day for me guys, followed the system completely all day, well at least until the last 15mins (just cannot pin point what I want to do). So well in fact I'm wondering if I'm even feeling alittle under the weather, just didn't even feel like trying to cheat Sometimes God answers prayers in ways that just throw me for a loop Score A for the day.(not the A+, because of no set plan for end of day, maybe it should be a B Now for the meat and potatoes :-( Went short just after 10.10am (886.0) got to watch what I thought was a nice downtrend developing, well at least until lunch time :-( Anyway watched it make some nice higher highs and lower lows (5min' chart) finally taking out the high of the day, and finally taking out my trailing stop. Which also reversed me long just after 2.30pm (899.5) Talk about an emotional torment, thought I'd just about bought the high, but at least got to see it make some big runs upwards. At one point I was actually real close to breakeven for the day, but the rally couldn't sustain and we sold off near the end of the day. I'm now using nextrend for charting, just their basic realtime, fine for what I need. Anyway I have 1 min's and 5 min's up for NQ, and ES (I know probably tempting myself, but really trying to watch and learn) Well from around 3pm just saw triangles setting up on all four charts, came close to 3.45pm, saw the breakdown , even crossing down past very minor support (two lows on previous 1min bars, and closed out my long at 902.5. Saved myself about 4.5pt's. For the record 1st trade, -13.5pt's, second trade + 3pts, total for day -10.5pts. Running total for 12 days, Trades = 17 P/L = -6pt's Over all, I'm happy about following the plan, I'm sure everybody hates to be up in profit only to watch it fall away, That's just part of this system. Maybe a flawed system, but I'm still very excited on how following a trading plan is working out. Eight more days to go, down hill from here, just hope it's not drawdown as well Thank you all, have a super evening, Later, Andy p.s As a side note I'm really feeling quite sick (illness) as I write, even so having a set plan I was still able to function, if I'd been trading off instincts/emotions I think it would have a very unpleasant day. You may say, your still down 10.5pt's for the day, but I know it still could have been alot worse plus who knows what other damage it may have coursed my trading down the road. I can go to bed early, head bangging and all, still feeling like a winner, hope this makes sense. Got to go I've got medicine to take :-(