IncreaseNow's "Sell/Short" Futures Journal **this is a real/live active trading journal. My futures account has been freshly funded with real $$$ and all trading is for real. No demo or papertrading** Why not stocks? need too much cash Why not options? clumbsy platform and takes a huge move in underlying to make real $$$ Why not forex? did not like the move down to 100-1 leverage and looks like heading to 10-1 leverage...oh boy. Also, do not like that there is one centralized exchange with actual transparent trading with actual volume reporting Why "Sell/Short"? You must become a specialist to suceed...I believe I have better ability to perceive/discern "sell/short" set ups rather than "buy/long" set-ups...I have heard other traders mention this also...so, with the futures contracts I am trading there will always be at least one (most likely more) contract giving a strong sell signal SPECS: Daytrading Futures only with daytrade margins FUTURES CONTRACTS TRADING ES YM NQ 30 YR CME Globex EURO CME Globex AUD CME Globex CAD CME Globex JYEN CME Globex SFRANC Comex Gold (large contract) Crude Oil (CL large contract) What will be in this journal: perhaps some trade mentions...might mention some winners and might mention some losers. This will be a place for sharing observations, some trades and to disuss my thoughts and other's thoughts on the various contracts mentioned...not gonna mention very trade. Well, let the fresh trading journey begin afresh...!!
Good luck. How about post a daily screenshot of beginning balance and EOD balance? It would be cool to see the progress...
No one really believes the silly paper trader is really going to start trading for real, do they? NO WAY
You need to post your trades in real-time or as close as possible with actual fill prices and what your target/stop is going to be. You can always post a blotter at the end of the day or week and you will probably need to if you want to prove you are actually making money with your trades. Posting stuff like "I'm bullish on CL today" without putting forth the details is useless. Posting entries without stops or targets is pointless. Just trying to keep your journal honest!
For the most part, yes. In trying to figure out why certain signals look much clearer from the short side rather than the long side (trend pullbacks being a good example for me), I've concluded that the bias must be buried deep in my (our) subconscious and/or genetics. It does make some sense when you consider that we witness things falling everyday throughout our lives (leaves falling from trees), but how often to we witness things shooting up toward the sky -- unless you visit Yellowstone, not much. Maybe there's a better reason, but for now, that's the best I can come up with. Also, if you are really monitoring all of the contracts listed in your first post, then I don't think you'll have a problem only going short. But if you're only monitoring one or two at a time, then you may not get as many signals as you need. I usually monitor about 3 contracts.