There is no doubt that I would have made more money in a sweat shop in China than I have made in the last three months. That seems clear.
This is a pretty good analysis of why your getting your butt kicked. "Trading in the Zone" is actually a pretty good suggestion. Part of your problem is a memory issue...each trade should stand on its own merit. The outcome of a trade is in no way influenced by what you did before...unless you completely automate your trades. I've tried the two tick and quit a day or $$ limit but for me I just trade smart and not set limits. You can not or should not be influenced by the "big" scores in the past. Generally it is best to start small become consistent then very gradually increase size.
The most important advice already given: Stop trading live. It will serve 2 purposes Obviously stops the financial capital drain, second and IMO more importantly it stops the loss of mental capital.
I see what you are saying. I am moving towards automating my system. That will also allow me to back test with more accuracy. Good words, thanks.
Cool. In other words two things are happening as I currently am. 1. Obviously I am losing money. (This may seem odd, but that does not bother me that much. I can make money back doing things I am good at, but had rather not do. I truly enjoy trading. Even given the last months major mistakes and draw down I am not considering returning to what I am good at, but dislike doing. I can be successful at trading. I just have to 'get there'.) 2. You are saying that by staying in the game and getting beat up I am progressing mentally downward? Similar to losing money? I am losing my mental capacity to trade? And, like money, it is not replaceable, or at least easily replaced? Is that what I am understanding? I see the point. I see the value in the thought. hmmmm. It will take me some time to accept or reject that idea. Right now I am doubtful that I am losing my mental capacity due to losses. But, I see how you may be correct. I would welcome more thoughts from you on this. That is what caused me to mention Jack in my initial post. He said some things along this same line in another post. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showt...ge=6&highlight=es point reality&pagenumber=12 Does this go along with what you were thinking? Thanks.
Every blind dog and its mother can id S&R Itâs what you do, in relation to what price does â that ONLY matters (and likely why you have two handfuls of ass) If I had only exited when the loss was smallâ¦. possibly even reversed and jumped on board ======================== 15 min to Wapner RN
After you develop your set of rules to trade, best to demo it starting with $2500, when you triple it, start again with $2500, do this 3 times and then you be ready to real time trade, otherwise you will run out of money. Have a check list of your rules, and you can only do what is on checklist, cause anything outside the checklist is failure. The ES, unless you are very good at trading, is not an instrument to day trade all day long. There is a reason my house only trades first 40 minutes and last 2 hours of the day. Many traders have problems of identifing chop after it is too late and have a few losses. The afternoon session is very much CONTROLLED, and unless you have the wisdom of watching 10,000 hours of screen time, you will be a victim much more than being profitable. And the last 45 minutes of day session is only time of day where my backtesting shows when the DOME shows value on volume, but unless you watch for months, only then can one understand the value. Using support/resistance and Dome can give from 1-4pts in this time. I use to trade all day long when I was a newbie and wouldn't listen to the old timers on trading less. If you can get your losing percentages extremely low, you can average down on all trades, then breakeven trades you end up making very good money, so between breakeven trades and winning trades, you can actually be cleaning up on 90% of your trades. Only trading during times that have best chances for trends reduces commissions and stress. And Have a goal in morning, like 2-4pts, get real good at this amount and then add size, after goal is reached, reduce contract size 80% rest of the day so you make it almost impossible of having losing day.
The computers are doing the same thing we are. Do you think those programs have some innate knowledge of the market? No they're being programmed by a human.
lol Sent you a PM! Plenty of free stuff out there. You really don't have to spend a dime learning this profession. Just need screen time (and an edge).