First, yes. Second, yes. imagine everything what price could do....before you trade..... then there will come the trade, when price does it.....so be prepared....
Take 2 units only if account risk remains the same (smaller stop which probably doesn't work)... Adding a unit for scaling reasons doesn't make sense unless the second unit REALLY pays for itself rather than simple add risk. I have tried this only to find I got even more nervous.. you are already not holding near long enough as it is.. IF not holding long enough is the issue (it is for me) then you (I?) need to go to 1/2 unit so I can be less nervous... You COULD also think.. "2 units, more risk therefore I will be more selective"... BUT if not.. more losses.
Really not a lot to say. 15 trades + 12 points. not all shown on the chart. Sometimes my stops are too tight and i re enter a couple times before i get the trade. That's fine with me. Holding winners is a problem which if you look at the chart you'll see what i'm talking about. If i lost $ today i would be frustrated and angry . As it is i'm more in awe of what could have been. I'll admit it's a little amusing as well in a strange kind of way. I will figure this out. I will not let myself be beat by me !
Trying too hard today and lacking a bit of focus. -5.25 pt and too many trades- 13. Today i tried holding some winners that didn't work out. MFE of 6.50 on one trade exit +1.75. Another MFE +3.5 exit -1.25. Don't let a winner become a loser. This 'rule' i wonder about. Strictly follow or be willing to take some heat ? My price read on some of these was saying exit but i was trying to impose the hold longer mindset i lacked yesterday. The difference though was yesterday i was exiting quickly more on emotion and to grab profits whereas today when i was wanting to exit i think it was a more legitimate read of PA. All part of the learning curve i think. There is progress despite the lousy results today. I still believe my read of the market is far better than before. In the past it felt like i was just trying things or jumping into trends. Now i know why i'm taking trades. Still lots and lots of room for improvement.
Holding winners for more despite price holding/pausing at S/R levels. Again a couple trades w/ MFE +5 that i exit -.50 and -1.00 Majority of my entries are where i want to be getting in and are good reads on the market. Still a few flat out bad entries. Moving my stop to near BE too soon and not taking profits based on price action are still my problem areas. Looking at past trade results if i use 2 cars and exit 1 at a fixed + 3.00 pts and hold the other and exit based on my actual exit then it definitely adds points overall. Even of course figuring the 2 cars on losses. I would expect the actual results to be even better because it would allow the second car to run more than my historic numbers. logically it makes sense to me , psychologically i'm not quite sure if i'm ready to do it. Anyway, down -6.00 pts today. I hope i'm not deluding myself in my abilities or my methods. It seems that what i'm doing currently(even staying at 1 car ) with just a slightly different exit strategy should work very well. chart w/ a few trades
Thanks JP. Enter on pullbacks in the direction of the TREND. In general I know i currently trade reversals set ups better than my other set ups. At least w/ entries. Entering on pullbacks is not my strength and i'm aware of it and working on it. Maybe it's leading to a bias in what i'm looking for. Thanks for the reminder. Cheers ! No trades today.
Reversals WILL work if they are REAL reversal of TREND (as it will be a NEW trend). if your entry (TIMING if thats what you call is good - picking tops) should really not matter. If you hit every slowdown of price or pull back - offcourse your entry will be GREAT for few minutes - and then the trend continues wiping ur entry and hitting stop or forcing you out. None of the SHORT entries you made were good. sorry. Trading Furtures intraday is tricky in itself as they barely move and when they do - its fast. Most volume on futures are HEDGES (from all time frames)..they are destined to push prices opposite to the actual trend for few minutes before and right after a real move in indices. keep that in mind. Also, due to participation by hedges/ day/ position/ hfts... they are VERY volatile in smaller time frames. this is not to discourage u at all... as you see i have nothing to sell. I wish you well.... you know you are not fighting the market but only urself. GL
another thing resistance is in a AREA and not in a specific numbers... price has to show clear REVERSAL OF TREND to confirm a reversal in those AREAS.... 2-3 average sized candles are still in the AREA of resistand - thats 3* time frame of wait BEFORE you can START looking for reversal entries.
Still struggling. not much to say at this point. Whatever i'm doing wrong i need to figure out myself and find a way to correct. My most common problems are still: bad price read- usually going counter trend at wrong time, exiting winners too soon or not willing to take heat. Today had some volatile swings in NQ which didn't make it easy at times. I actually thought about switching to ES as it seems a little less volatile. Not going to do that just yet. Lately i haven't had as much time to do post mrkt review. Going forward i should have more time and intend to spend more time learning from my mistakes. that's it for now.