Perhaps you could enlighten me about "what actually consistently works"? Also you can add this to your list: 5. Doesn't care about advice like "READ some books first" /JT
This is my 14:th day trading the 'minis. It's a lot of work for minimum wage. As usual I took a hit during the later part of my trading day (@ 3.15pm and 3.26pm). It seems that trading during this time of day becomes very choppy. If movement during the trading day is chaos like, it becomes supersonic chaos after 3pm. Managed to get a couple of winners at and above 1pt. I even had two winners at 1,5pts. I think (and hope) that I learn a lot every day about price movement. I'm getting more and more convinced that TA is BS. 3.54pm: My IB screen locks-up. I'm glad I'm not in a trade right now! The trades: Code: 1 NQZ2 BOT 13:28 913.50 SLD 13:34 912.00 1 -30.00 -34.80 0:05:48 2 NQZ2 SLD 13:37 909.50 BOT 13:42 908.50 1 20.00 15.20 0:04:30 3 NQZ2 SLD 13:43 908.50 BOT 13:46 907.50 1 20.00 15.20 0:02:34 4 NQZ2 BOT 13:52 911.00 SLD 13:52 911.50 1 10.00 5.20 0:00:11 5 NQZ2 SLD 13:53 911.00 BOT 13:53 910.50 1 10.00 5.20 0:00:13 6 NQZ2 BOT 13:53 911.00 SLD 13:56 912.00 1 20.00 15.20 0:02:30 7 NQZ2 SLD 13:57 913.00 BOT 13:57 912.50 1 10.00 5.20 0:00:35 8 NQZ2 SLD 13:58 912.00 BOT 14:00 911.00 1 20.00 15.20 0:01:39 9 NQZ2 SLD 14:01 911.50 BOT 14:04 910.00 1 30.00 25.20 0:02:48 10 NQZ2 SLD 14:09 909.50 BOT 14:11 908.00 1 30.00 25.20 0:02:23 11 NQZ2 SLD 14:12 909.50 BOT 14:18 908.50 1 20.00 15.20 0:05:27 12 NQZ2 SLD 14:20 909.50 BOT 14:30 909.00 1 10.00 5.20 0:10:39 13 NQZ2 BOT 14:45 910.00 SLD 14:46 910.50 1 10.00 5.20 0:01:02 14 NQZ2 BOT 14:47 909.50 SLD 14:48 910.50 1 20.00 15.20 0:01:15 15 NQZ2 BOT 14:54 912.50 SLD 14:57 911.50 1 -20.00 -24.80 0:02:14 16 NQZ2 SLD 15:01 909.50 BOT 15:08 908.50 1 20.00 15.20 0:06:35 17 NQZ2 SLD 15:08 909.50 BOT 15:09 908.50 1 20.00 15.20 0:00:45 18 NQZ2 BOT 15:15 906.50 SLD 15:21 902.50 1 -80.00 -84.80 0:06:03 19 NQZ2 BOT 15:26 902.50 SLD 15:33 901.00 1 -30.00 -34.80 0:06:57 Total 19 110 18.8 0:03:23 /JT
Funny - that's been my thought exactly on more than one occasion in my trading career Some days it pays to sweep floors at MCD instead. Keep your head up - it'll get better. You're on the right track.
JT, I personally find a daily profit target (not to mention stop loss) to be of great benefit in these early "feeling around" stages. I think your results over the last few sessions would have looked different had you adopted a daily profit target of, say, 10 NQ points. I can understand the philosophy of not employing one - in fact till I started trading the eminis, I was opposed to the concept of a daily profit target and stated so in my journal. Minimum wage is better than a kick in the pants - keep it up!
Ditto Mr. Sub. IMO, going home a winner each day is worth more at this point than going home a bigger winner every once in a while. It's a lot easier to build up confidence doing it that way.
Hi JT, Here's a common discipline problem I've noticed among those posting their journals here at EliteTrader. Whenever I read a message in which the trader saids specifically what is causing their losses or when such losses occurs...they continue doing it...consistently. Today you said... As usual I took a hit during the later part of my trading day... Now...since you know when you make your money and when you give back to the market your profits... lets see if you continue trading the afternoons (I'm going start watching your trade entries and exit times closely for the next few trading days). Simply, your starting to realize what your strengths and weaknesses are... for now...until you have more experience...stay away from the weaknesses and concentrate more on your strengths. Next...you said... I'm getting more and more convinced that TA is BS. Lets see if you will continue using TA. Traders don't succeed nor fail because of TA...traders succeed or fail because of how they interact with the markets. P.S. A losing day while completely being discipline is much better than a profitable day without any discipline. The latter will more often than not...cost you more in the long-term. NihabaAshi
NihabaAshi - great post. Remember - the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. I have that taped to my monitor.
Tech Analysis: I wish I had a job at McD. At least I wouldn't have lost money today. "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results" - I must be borderline insane! nkhoi: Thanks! Please elaborate! Mr Subliminal & Quah: Thanks for the advice. I agree with you - a daily target would be in place. I'm thinking of using a 150 $ gross profit target. Since I do a lot of trades I wouldn't like to have a low profit target, and then actually end up with a net loss after commish. NihabaAshi: "Simply, your starting to realize what your strengths and weaknesses are..." Well said. I have really been trading only for 15 days now. I'm actually surprised that I haven't lost more than I have right now. Also 15 days is kind of short to figure out if my style works or not. Also I would like not to change to much from day to day, since I will jump around to much, and thus being unable to draw any conclusions about past history. BTW: Today I wish I had used TA. Code: Trade # Type B/S Time Price B/S Time Price Quant. Gross Net Time Points 1 NQZ2 SLD 13:44 893.00 BOT 13:48 891.00 1 40.00 35.20 0:03:31 2 2 NQZ2 BOT 13:51 891.50 SLD 13:53 891.00 1 -10.00 -14.80 0:02:02 -0.5 3 NQZ2 SLD 13:54 890.50 BOT 14:00 892.50 1 -40.00 -44.80 0:06:49 -2 4 NQZ2 SLD 14:01 892.00 BOT 14:01 891.50 1 10.00 5.20 0:00:16 0.5 5 NQZ2 SLD 14:04 891.50 BOT 14:12 892.50 1 -20.00 -24.80 0:07:47 -1 6 NQZ2 SLD 14:13 892.50 BOT 14:14 890.50 1 40.00 35.20 0:01:15 2 7 NQZ2 SLD 14:15 891.00 BOT 14:16 893.50 1 -50.00 -54.80 0:01:25 -2.5 8 NQZ2 SLD 14:18 895.00 BOT 14:22 898.00 1 -60.00 -64.80 0:04:01 -3 9 NQZ2 SLD 14:27 895.50 BOT 14:30 896.00 1 -10.00 -14.80 0:02:25 -0.5 10 NQZ2 SLD 14:33 897.00 BOT 14:34 900.00 1 -60.00 -64.80 0:01:06 -3 Total 10 -160 -208 0:03:04 -8 Now the bad news: unfortunately this loss put me below the required margin limit. I will work on my grand plan and paper trade the rest of this and the following week. Will not post paper trades. Plan to start trading again October 1. I'm temporary out - but in good spirit! /JT
JT your loss is minimal compare with number of trades you made. My prediction you will make a bundle in paper trading.