You just have to set your mind to it I think. That's why I like to scalp part of my position for "x" ticks profit and ride the remainder until I get a signal reversal. I'm still long 1 contract and hope we go up. My reversal signal is now at 793.2 so I'd be around breakeven if we reverse now. Sometimes these quiet markets are painful to sit through but slow moves still make money just like the fast ones.
It was a very choppy open to the market with the trend not really forming until close to 10:30 so be happy you were able to scalp some profit in the morning. I went long around 9:40 or so ar 792.20 and got a lot of whipsaw as well before getting out with just under a point. Good thing too cause ER2 dropped back all the way towards 790 lol... One thing that helps me is I look away to another market. With ER2 whipsawing I traded Pound & Euro futures where trends tend to hold on longer. when you get caught in the chop, one thing I have found is that the chop eventually corrects itself so look for that real trend to emerge sometime by 10:30 or so (one thing that helps as I have mentioned is that I use 1-minute and 5-minute charts which helps me get a bigger picture for the trend at times). Anyway, I am no expert obviously, just suffering the same whips as you all
We all suffer the same problem. I didn't get a close below my 793.20 stop so should have stayed long and did until 12:03pm CST when the YM, NQ, AND ES all broke down through support. I thought for SURE ER2 would be going lower so I exited at 793.9 I should still be long now at 796.40 but I am not due to lack of discipline on following my systems...
i have EXACTLY this same experience. what i do now is trade bigger size in the am and trade little in the pm. what might work for you is to trade 2 contracts in the am and trade 1 in the pm. or just be more cautious in the pm, go for smaller wins. that's what i do. however, this trading is not make it or break it for me, so i don't feel obligated to try to make a certain quota every day. i'm mostly playing against myself, just to see how high i can go in a day (profits).
Great thread. Do you mind posting a P&L EOD of how much you made and how much you are up since the start of the journal. This will help us all see how you are progressing. Thanks.
Here's the R120 chart I am using. I have tweaked the volatility stop to (15, 4). Ensign shows W=14, L=9, P=74.80 over a decidedly short backtest. I'll think about posting a P&L. Not sure about the ramifications of that. I can tell you my balance today is just North of $22,000.