If you can trade with an 80% winrate you gain my respect. If you do not that's ok too at least you are a fellow trader and you got the balls to post a journal.
I started this week and this account with my micro stop at 40 ticks ($20) on both the MNQ and MYM. The market is just moving too fast for anything else in my opinion unless you are going to hover over the "flatten" trigger. But what kind of life is that? I am trying to reduce my stress, LOL. "Get out immediately if a trade goes against you" is how I usually like to trade the NQ's and YM's, but the MNQ and MYM just can't work that way-- because of the extra slippage and bigger fees. My emergency stop loss on the NQ and YM is $150. So you can see that proportionally, my Micro stop loss at $20 is already larger than my E-mini stop loss. ($20 on Micro is like $200 on NQ/YM). I could widen my stops further, but I think that is a slippery slope.
ok..but wait for the MAE and MFE study...I'm just sayin' Micros cause not only an ability for less exposure...but also for wider stops..it may or may not help. But don't change the way you trade if in fact you won that contest and such. But if you trade systematically without emotion or feeling then the MAE and MFE will help you gauge your trades. Es
I traded with only 1 micro contract the first 3 days and a maximum of 2 yesterday. I actually didn't like trading with 2. So yes, I need more wiggle room inside my head! I will probably stay with 1 all next week.
Good Job...you give this old man some hope...and Thank-You readers for not hating and heckling. Let this young man learn and lets try to share what we know. I myself am learning from him...So even if he fails he has helped with this archived thread. Es P.S. Maybe they are heckling and I do not see it as I have them on ignore and blocking. There seems to be a clan of the same offenders here in many threads. I simply have made my ET experience far better.
SS, Well as long as you do not hold into the next session then you will not get a margin call. I think you said something like $500.00/contract in your previous post in the beginning of this thread. I know you said that you will post your official rules but you cannot ramp up per $500.00 as you need wiggle room. I realize you have a daily loss limit which is very good....but watch your exposure ok? ES
As strongly alluded to in my introduction, my motivation is to help others as I help myself. Writing about and reporting on my trading truly helps ME. The accountability is so good. Too hard to cheat. (If no one is watching I take too big of risks when I just "know" what the market is going to do next. These times usually end in disaster, by the way.) But I also have felt so much frustration in trading myself. If I can say something that will help my fellow trader, then I have accomplished something really good. My win rate has rarely been under 80%. But I will start to track it more closely for this journal. "So with a win rate so high, what in the $%^@# is your problem?" I can hear you asking. Just the stops. I hate taking stops! So after getting up to $500 on the E-minis in one day, I might then "decide" to give most of it back by not taking the small loss. Or maybe I immediately start negative and just keep hoping for a rebound. It's all stupid and one of my many demons. I get a small "cut" and I just sit there and watch it. I watch it bleed and bleed and bleed - until I bleed to death. The "deer in the headlights" syndrome is alive and well in me. How many times have I been plastered all over the semi coming down the highway? Can't I hear the engine and the tires? Can't I see the bright lights? But this journal is helping me. I have to take the small losses. I have to treat it like part of the game. I have to show the nay-sayers that I can do it! I owe it to myself to do well after all these years. I want to prove to the other little guys that they really can make it work if they follow a few simple rules.
There should be a mechanism implemented into your trading system to cut losses as soon as it gets triggered. Some traders said they would cut their losses once it hits 4 points or 3%. The problem with using points or percentage to cut losses is you can't mostly tell which day is volatile or not. In volatile period like last August, it was so easily to hit 4 points of losses before market continues its direction as anticipated by your trading system. By the way，I'll take a few days break if I make three consecutive losing trades to examine what goes wrong with that particular set of strategies.