IMHO, at this moment, price will be range bound until it takes out 1251 or 1257.75 (ES) and hold. So you should look to higher time frames to help you determine wither to have wide or tight exits/stops.
I somewhat have relaxed myself, got back in the groove... made a few good scores and now am down only -$150..... Trying to settle back down.. got rattled really hard this morning in some violent moves.... Also, turned my bot on out of desperation a little wihle ago, its yet to trade, but I think I am going to let it trade for the remainder of the day as well.... I need to see what this thing does in a live account at some point...
now only down -94... getting back into the rhymn and feeling pretty good.. I"M VERY NERVOUS though, my BOT just opened up a position.......... Now that I'm doing much better I probalbly should have turned it off....... I mean I ahve made up OVER 200 dollars in past hour.... i'm feeling good now.. lol
I know how frustrating it can be to keep getting your stops hit and be so far in the red early in the morning--we all do. But you've really got to chill out an not let your emotions rule your trading decisions. Making changes to your trading plan, on the fly no less, based on one or two days worth of results is not what I would deem "advisable." Listen to JimmyJam. Maybe taking a year off is a bit much but you owe it to yourself to take some time off from trading real money and work on your setups using months worth of data. And by the way, if you don't follow the rules of your system, it's not a system.
My bot got me SOOOO nervous right now......... didnt I learn anything from the terminator movies.. dont trust computers with your future! lol
I know what you mean about changing your plan and then of course you get right into perhaps market conditions that specifically are the worse for your "improved" tactics. I would suggest starting a new plan on a monday, after studying the weekend, and only paper trading for a day or so just to see what it feels like. I mean this even if your changed plan is really just tweaking the details on your curent plan. I also know what you were talking about how trying to trade by the common "rules" is worse then just going with your developed flow. The reality is a lot of trading "rules" are too clumsy and if you look at the market, not realistic. In fact they seem to be ok for not losing tons of money, but when you get some practical experience, not useful for much else. Thanks for posting Frosty!
Since I settled down after huge losses early in the morning, I am still trading my "improved plan" and have been comming back ever since.. now only down $-67.. which I woudlnt consider a bad day especially after where I was... NOW the problem is my crazy bot.... its down a good bit of money at the moment, but over the past month or so while running it through the sim account I have come to expect this from it... It will work its way out and maybe even be positive by end of day... that would be nice.... but it has had some BIG draw downs before.. thats why I was always scared to run it live.. hopefully today is not one of its big drawdown days....... especially now that i'm starting to get my confidence back in my own abilities...
After battling back all day, I am now up $8 dollars from my trading, but down a lot from the bot currently.... But I feel a lot more secure in my trading.. I mean I essentially lost a little over 300 at one point today, and made it all back.. meaning withot my morning blow up I could possibly be up OVER 300 right now..... I also have not been trading much, been more selective, and catching bigger moves..... I think my trading is looking a little better, might end up closing the day down though who knows, but I am feeling more confident... I just hope my bot makes back its losses by end of day...
Just turned the bot off, it finished the day -$57.... which is inline with its typical results.... May run it again Monday, it just adds so much extra stress.... but does make me trade less...
Alright, Frosty. Nice comeback on a pretty ho-hum day. Confidence and comfort level with yourself and your setups. Major key in my book.