My emini daytrading journal

Discussion in 'Journals' started by emini500, Mar 24, 2006.

  1. emini500

    emini500

     
    #41     Mar 24, 2006
  2. Buy1Sell2

    Buy1Sell2

     
    #42     Mar 24, 2006
  3. K-Rock

    K-Rock

    My trading style is similar to yours; however, I learned the hard way, to draw a line in the sand, to determine when to stop countering price moves and go with them. Look to the daily chart for clues.
     
    #43     Mar 24, 2006
  4. pbw

    pbw

    :) --just bookmarking this journal for later reading..
     
    #44     Mar 24, 2006
  5. Hi emini

    Me three. I am a knife catcher and not ashamed. I bet you did real well last month (some crazy percentage much better than most here). Most days the S&P (not that trendy) will reward you for your balls but it is also setting you up for a nut-cracker when it makes a straight 20 pt shot with little pullback. If you review your charts, you know they are there. As for your bias, the reason why the market moves like that is because people with "good" bias (treasury, option volatility) got squeezed and grinded. The only way to longevity is to put all your energy to control the downside. Was it Buy6Sell9 said be right??? Only play the best setup that you know where to get out quick. Be wrong!

    I love this thread...

    Fellow countertrend trader.
     
    #45     Mar 24, 2006
  6. emini500

    emini500

    Last month was a good month and only lost one day. Lost came from my one account not having enough money to add more in. I wanted to but reached my limit so I came to the conclusion that I needed more to trade effectivly. Only had a max of around 12 contracts. I was stopped out for about a 1200 dollar loss. Also though I got out kinda early a lot of times because I couldn't add the way I wanted to if my posistion went against me.

    With my account size now I am able to do 2 things. Go for more gains and string myself out a little more.

    Commenting now about only taking good setups. Well in my opinion all of my entries are good setups. If I didn't think they were then of course I wouldn't take them. Also a good setup confirms after the market moved in your favor. Remember I am a trend fighter so my setups aren't going to be great but I enter in a area where I think we are due for a turn.

    I know one day I will lose around 2k. Who knows though when that will be. Just hope my small gains are enough to keep me in the positive.
     
    #46     Mar 24, 2006
  7. Amnesiac

    Amnesiac


    That's interesting. You are aiming for a 200$ gain per day but you are also willing to accept a possible 2000$ loss in a single day.

    Such a day will eliminate 10 profitable days and will cost you another 10 days just to get back to breakeven. So you are basically willing to trade a whole month for nothing.

    You should consider changing this ratio. For example, if you stopped trading for the day after a 300$ loss, you would be back in the green after only two more profitable days.
     
    #47     Mar 25, 2006
  8. K-Rock

    K-Rock

    I used very wide stops as well, but recently I have been able to improve my entries so my stops are more reasonable. Developing a simple signal/filter can make the difference. Another benefit is you don't have to average in as much.
     
    #48     Mar 25, 2006
  9. Hi emini,

    I used a lot of symmetry, trend lines, etc. When my setup is right, it will not go against me for more than a point... yes 1 ES point (sometimes it does kiss my stop and go... Unfortunately, it affects me more than I would like to admit... still an amateur).

    In fact, I know if I keep average in during the morning volatility, the odds is actually in my favor "in real life" that I can get out even or with a profit 7 out of 8 times but it is that one time that is gonna be a huge trap. First my psychology is not getting used to taking large loss (I also can count the minor losing days with the fingers of one hand), I probably have accumulated a great profit cushion to throw around and ironically, I also want to keep my money (get it back) because it was hard grinding work of many days. That proverbial one time will 90% of the time kill me because the market's been feeding me fat for months and ready for slaughter. Either you use constant size and systematically pull money out of your account or you might need to trade differently. I think trading differently is a less "satisfying" but long term answer for myself.

    Emini and K-Rock, please feel free to PM me and maybe we can have more discussion without listening to "trading with the trend" in the background. We ARE trading the "beginning" of a trend with small stop loss while the rest of the world trading the "middle" of a trend with larger stop loss and some go for the kill. I counted that less than 30% of the two-point reversal will continue for six point or more (yes, I count it for a while) during this low volatility period. Not very appealing to me other than for cocktail party conversation.

    Good trading.
     
    #49     Mar 25, 2006
  10. volente_00

    volente_00

    emini, you list a specific monetary daily goal, but what is your risk limit daily ?
     
    #50     Mar 25, 2006