05/29/07 +56% Creative, no longer trend fighting, good feeling for reversals, etc. - but still searching for the best way. Volatility of the account and taken risk every day, - both are way too high. Target is 3% per day with minimal risk. The right question for me to ask every day is. What do I need to do today to achieve my target of 3% with minimal risk?
06/01/07 +12.3% Again, participation on sideways market. Not very time consuming. Postions were opened on the fly after taking a look at today's market situation.
Avg. win per day is 2.4% since 101! days. My target is to make good trades every day and settle at a 3.0% per day result (avg.) with a minimum of time consumption.
Long thread, but here are my ideas: Over the past 10 years or so I have blown out three times, and I am now have a profitable system. Here are some suggestions: 1. Start small, 5K or less. 2. One or two contracts for at least six months. 3. In the beginning, forget about profits but learning the craft. Simple mechanics of getting in and out of a trade. 4. Read Van Tharp's book and develop a system. Use those six months to refine and get experience in using your system. 5. After a few months (probably losing money), start refining the system so that you can break even. First learn the system before worrying about profit. 6. The most important aspect of trading is not the entrance but exits -- limit losses and take profits. Include exit rules in your plan. Learn when to get out of a trade. Probably the biggest breakthru in my system is figuring when and how to adjust (exit) my position. This made a major difference in my profitablity. NOTE: I trade options so this may not apply to you.
cdowis Thank you for summarizing important points. I think that entries are very important. It's like a journey where you need to start in the right direction. And to risk only what is justified by that tactics. That's where the Kelly criterion comes into play. Trimming positions can be very emotional, because you have to decide quickly. Better (for me) is to let a position hit a profit target or a stop to automatically get out. I am doing short (digital) options trading. Therefore most of my profit I report in this thread is converted time.