Looks like I will get no more signals today, so done for the day. Made +$60 after commissions. Not making a killing, but its something, if I get consitant enough I can always scale up to make more money. With 2 contracts I think I woudl do much better as I could let the 2nd contract run longer.. still to early for that though. Right now is all about sticking to the plan and becomming consitant. If after 1 month my results are staying consitant maybe then I would look to move to 2 contracts. As it stands right now I am only risking about .5% of my account value per trade, and the most I should loose in any one day is about 1.5% of my account value. So I could easily scale up to 2 contracts with this account value using these risk parameters. Must prove to myself I have a consitant plan first though. Wins: 4, for 23 pts avg 5.75 Losses: 2 for 6 pts, avg 3 pts Avgerage is a little better than yesterdays, losses still staying consitantly low. Can't wait for tomorrow.
Trades today: +2 pts - 6 pts -4 pts +3 pts +4 pts + 8 pts A lot of my singals are failing, had several signal I luckily did not take that failed very quickly after..... The last 2, +4 and +8 that was actually one signal, I took 2 entries on it, and scored 4 pts on one of the contracts and 8 on the second contract... Hopefully My signals start working better today, i'm searching through what was going on for each one to see if I can find a reason why they failing so often today...
Few more wins: +4, +4, +3, +7 Currently at +$80 on the day.... and guranteed to end the day with a profit, since my next loss stops me for the day.. Hoping to have a few more wins today.. I love trading a method!
Made a few more trades, +4, +2, +1...... Stats: Wins: 11 for 42 pts, avg 3.81 pts Losses: 2 for 10 pts, avg 5 pts Net for day +$104 Everything went failry well today. My results are staying relatively consitant, espeically the number and maginude of my losses. I am staying pretty confident and happy with this method. One thign that bothers me is today there were a lot of crap signals that failed quickly, before I had a chance to even enter them.. guess it was good that it failed quickly before it could hurt me but not something I want to see happening. I think because of a lot of failed signals I did not enter some trades that would have been great.. and the trades I did enter I was quick to pull the trigger. Avg win of around 4 pts is too low... Idealy I would like to see this get to around 8 to 9 pts with the same win % and avg loss size I am seeing now. Feels good to be on my way though. I notice no responses lately, so not sure if anyone is even reading this journal anymore. Probablly all feed up with me not taking advice and loosing all the time. I would like to thank everyone who has posted suggestions as I feel it has helped me greatly in developing a trading plan.
Its nice to end up for the day, but with your average loss of 5pts compared to your average win of 3.81, unless you can go 11 for 2 everyday, I would try and get that risk-reward ratio down. Speaking from experience, it feels good to win 2,3,4 in a row, but you feel twice as worse when 1 loss takes all those gains away.
Trader, Thats why I have a rule to stop as soon as I hit my third loss in the day. If that happens then my method just isnt working good in that market that day and I should pack it up and start again. With this rule in place the MOST I should lose in any given day will be less than <$100. Also, my stats over the past 3 days are: Wins: 22 for 94 pts, avg 4.27 Losses: 6 for 25 pts, avg 4.16 Win % 78.5% So over the past 3 days my avg win is slighly higher than my avg loss. However when comisions are figured in this it not so, luckiliy my win % is high enough to make up the difference and still make some money 3 days does not prove or disprove a system though so I have a long ways to go to see what my long term results are like. You are right however, I do need to get my risk/reward a little better. I am hoping to get my avg wins closer to the 8 pts range over the next few weeks. Thanks for the comments
Well I have gotton stoped out on all 3 trades i took today, so I am done for the day. trade 1: -6 pts trade 2: -4 pts trade 3: -5 pts Net for day: -$87
From that I can only assume your a counter-trend trader. Good luck, I used to have that mentality, but switch to trend following and my trading greatly improved.
Hi Frost; Here's a word of wisdom (as if I have any of that)... When the market trades based on exogenous events, it is best to trade discretion instead of signals. Unless your system is capable of predicting beginnings and endings of exogenous events, world-wide. :eek: Have a good weekend Osorico