I'm short SP over the weekend and look to close Friday. Day trading not for me. I'm following though.
If you shared some details of your strategy, concept of operations, entry/management tactics etc it might provide useful context for others to offer feedback - that is, assuming you care about receiving any.
My strategy is: 1. I first draw a path on my chart to pre-plan my entries. If price somewhat follows it, I enter. 2. It is also based on the context of where the price is at (i.e.: at top of a range, in a pullback of an trend) 3. and pay close attention to the possible support and resistance price levels, and see how much activity is going on in real-time (i.e. "is the volume profile growing there?", "is it favoring a side for imbalances?""how many block trades, and how is the speed of the t&s?" 4. Once my intuition tells me to, I enter my trade. and then my money/risk management comes into play.
Monday Reversal (minus 22 ticks). 1. Pre-Market Outlook: Trump said China called him twice to negotiate. Futures are up. 2. Pre-Market Bias: Range to bullish 3. My Thoughts during Trades (#of Trades: 3): First Trade: I wasn't thinking how much G7 meeting would effect markets today. Cnbc started showing the meeting after my trades. I didn't think that price would be in a downtrend cause of what Trump said during pre-market. I entered once I noticed a volume anomaly in the 5min chart on the long down candle. I forgot what I learned in the moment which is to 'not enter at the first signal (which was the anomaly), and wait for a 2nd one.' I entered with FOMO. I've been noticing this mistake during past few weeks. I became overly confident on entering in this first trade cause of the positive day I had last Friday. Second Trade: I re-entered my trade when I noticed price bounce up back to my previous entry. I got stopped out again (15 ticks). I've been noticing that the trades I take between 715 and 725pst usually don't workout well. I'm going to stop trading during this time zone for the time being. Third Trade: I've already reached my day's drawdown of 30ticks, but I couldn't resist the opportunity after 730. Once price retested the lows again, I noticed lots of buying from the t&s. The volume profile built up at that level too, so I took it, and placed a profit target to previous high on the 2000tick chart. I wanted to use this trade to lessen my drawdown. I've been noticing that I usually do well between 730 to 745pst. The G7 meeting wasn't listed in ForexFactory or Econoday, so I didn't look much into it. I think next time, I'll treat it like a regular meeting that I shouldn't trade in. I should also think about widening my stoploss to the full 30ticks because of the extreme volatility the market has been having because of this trade war. I would have had enough room for my 1st entry. Check back for part 4 and 5 later today.
4. What I Learned or To Focus More On: I was reminded that the market reverses much like an oil tanker. It will slow down before turning around. I still have that reckless side of me about catching a quick reversal, which I have profited in the past when I was trading in my demo account. I based this trade on the lucky ones I have had. It's this gambling side that I need to get away from. This was not an ideal entry that I taught myself to do. 5. After Reviewing-My-Video Thoughts: (54:41 my video location) After reviewing my entry from my recording, I noticed that there were intermittent 'below the bid orders' before, and after my entry. Before entry: The light red transactions are the 'below the bid' trans. After entry: 3rd hint right before the 1point dip. Paying more attention on the 'below or above' the 'bid or ask' trades is something I need to work on. P.S. The demo account shown is on top of my live MES superdom. I use the ES superdom demo account to show my 'chart trader' atm tags on the chart.
two questions, what exactly are your stop loss parameters and how do you decode your exit strategy. Do you have a specific target in mind when exiting or do you wait for the price/volume etc to signal an exit.
I have an atm strategy that starts out with 15ticks as my stoploss, and 30 ticks for profit target. But it will change based on the current market volatility, so I mentioned that I should widen my stoploss to the full 30 ticks in section 3 under 'Third Trade'. That would make my profit target to 60 ticks. My exit depends on how the market moves after I enter. Usually, I will exit my position early if I notice price/volume, chart/candle pattern, or block trades and intensity of activity, that might be strong enough to reverse price enough to pass the ATR of the timeframe I'm focused on. The turquoise tags shown at the bottom of the charts is the ATR. If price starts to move in a smooth uptrend, I might execute a trailing stop below the prev. candle low, and follow price until I get stopped out. If it's in a range, my targets would most likely be at the edge of the channel. One of the daytrading authors I read, mentioned that each stock has its own personality. So I applied that thought to the futures market, and am learning the personality of the ES. I have a much better grasp at it than 7 months ago, and my strategies are based on that. But I always try to focus on a 2:1 or better ratio.
"I'll start simplifying my entries." Tuesday Downtrend morning (minus 30 ticks). 1. Pre-Market Outlook: One econ report at 7am pst. 2. Pre-Market Bias: Range to Bullish because I was expecting the trend to continue up within the 240min chart trading range. 3. My Thoughts during Trades (#of Trades: 1): I was trying to catch a reversal after 730am pst. The trend continued down and I got stopped out at 30 ticks. I accepted my day's drawdown and "live to trade another day". Here is an overview of this morning on the 5min chart. I've learned that trying to catch a reversal is harder than going with the trend. Even though I've caught a few reversals in the past, my main objective is to trade better. I remember being taught to trade with the trend and enter on pullbacks. My natural inclination is to do reversals and being contrarian, so I can catch a big move the other way. It's my bad habit to break.