Yes, at this time. I found that my trades in the opening 2 hours were net profitable and nothing I did after that added anything of value.
I admire your discipline to do that...I really believe there is something there. What % now are you trading the CL and what % the ES?
I finally got tired of giving back $$ after the opening 2 hours so I set an alarm and step away at that time. I've only traded CL once live and I was nervous when I traded it, so I decided to spend more time sim trading it, because being nervous when trading causes mistakes and I don't want to make a mistake trading something that moves my account value $200 every 30 seconds or so. Every day I sim trade ES and CL, usually 2 ES trades (one at each extreme) and between 4-8 CL trades. My most profitable CL trades are almost always before the open.
Im the exact same way. Actually, I start getting hesitant after 10:30ish or so EST, for crude and the indexes that is. Sometimes I'll buy equities at the close.
do you view bollinger bands as basically the same?...my trading platform does not have keltner channels
No, because with few exceptions I kept cutting my winners. I simply could not trade ES properly live, despite great success in the sim account. I decided that I'm very comfortable trading stocks right now and I trade only 4 of them. It's working out really well for me and if it works, don't fix it. I definitely plan to trade CL and ES more often in my live account over time and in fact I bet by year's end that's all I'll be trading. I only viewed Bollinger bands once in my life so I have no idea how they relate to Keltner channels, but I do know that a lot traders use them. You can use strictly price action without indicators of any kind; when price has made an extreme trending move, usually the 3rd or 4th push (relative to your time frame), just watch for a retest of the extreme. Once the retest of the extreme either a) fails before reaching the extreme (lower high/higher low), b) fails to break thru the extreme (double top/double bottom), or c) pulls back quickly from a very small break through the extreme (failed breakout), it's a low-risk reversal signal. And yes this is 20 questions, as any USEFUL trading journal should be!
Any USEFUL trading journal has trades and p/l results! The question-to-trade ratio is getting out of whack. Increasenow asks tons of questions all the time (even the same questions over and over). I don't see much evidence he actually uses any of the advice he gets. Sometimes I think he just gets paid by ET to ask question and increase _page views_. I'd love to be proven wrong this time and actually see some real trades instead of this "Is it bigger than a breadbox?" game he plays!
Aw cmon, he has made some silly threads, but lets give him the benefit of the doubt. At least he was always honest about being on the sim, and hes obviously passionate about this. Until he makes a "I Blew Up" thread I'll just wish him the best. But post some real time calls and some charts of real trades you executed. You might be able to help yourself looking back, or others may throw some tidbits of help your way.