Hi Longshot, I think what happened is db moved his stop to b/e when 1007 was reached which was a 4.5 pt move instead of 5. This was one of those rare times when if you had waited until 1006.5 was reached you would have not gotten stopped out b/e. Jerry
Actually, Jerry, that didn't have anything to do with it. When the DTL was broken, I moved my stop to just above the last reaction high of 1011.0 at 11:37, according to the rules. This was taken out at 12:18. --Db
today must of been the day to play es. I shorted the morning range this @ 884.5. Booked 22 points on 3 lot. actually both yesterday and today were quite nice although it took some patience to stick with the plan.
the lo of the 1st 30 min range was 885.5, I set my trigger to lo -1 or 884.5. I didn't only get 7, I take my profit in 3rds. I typically trade 12 lot so i like to reduce risk as the trade progresses rather than risk it all to stop. I only trade 3 lot during the holidays, with such low volume I want exposure to the market but not too much. I always look to take my 1st third at 3-4 points depending upon how the market is moving. Was moving so slow I took it at +3 or 881.5, I take the 2nd 3rd at what I determine to be a signficant lo, I determined target to be 873 which I took when we hit it at 14:48 this was +11.5. I then stopped out on the last 3rd at 877 when we broke that last swing which was established at 14:30. The stop was hit at 15:33. Make sense?
So, (a) you don't take economic reports into consideration when deciding when to enter? i.e., you use the 30m range regardless? (b) how did you determine that 873 was a significant low? (c) you therefore made +7.5 on your longest-held contract? --Db
Nice work js. Those who trade size have a different mindset than 1 lotters. Of course one difference is logistics.... a 1 lotter cannot scale out. And 45 pages of which at least 80% is the contribution of one member should clue you in that you are talking to a brick wall. Don't waste your time. Bravo on the size trading. I trade 4-5 cars on the nq and the es. Continued good trading js.
db.. a) I do take eco reports into consideration, however I try to stay informed as to the signficance of the days reports and make a decision as to the degree of risk associated with them. this particular trade was taken at 10:05 after the new home numbers where released however that was just chance as I had made the decision that I wasn't really that concerned about them on this particular day. Part of that decision was that I was only trading 1/4 my normal size so risk was reduced anyway. As to my thoughts regarding the housing numbers and why I basically blew them off, with the record numbers released in Oct I thought that the Nov numbers being released were probably expected to be off a bit and didn't see much chance for a big upside surprise. b) target was taking the high of the morning range and subtracting atr which was 16.5 more or less(assuming my memory is right), I don't have my journal handy with the exact number but I think this is the same as your method although it seems like we come up with different numbers. I use the atr indicator in esignal. c) 2nd contract produced 11.5 points. 3rd contract was less but you never know, I typically give that last 3rd some room, just as many times as not I've caught a late session flush that overruns my target. I must admit that Friday I wasn't glued to the monitors and set my stops and alarms and was downstairs much of the afternoon making gumbo for dinner Maybe had I had a full position and a more active day I might have done things differently. I was happy to take 22 off the table with while really only keeping one eye on the market.