Hello Traders, I'm going to start a journal here on EliteTrader. I've been trading for a while and really would prefer to do only the necessary talking. I trade very simple price action / auction theory based setups mostly in a day trading environment and sometimes on a "higher" timeframe if I see a proper opportunity. I trade mostly the derivatives of the S&P 500 index, futures and cfd. Right here, right now I would like to focus first on the sort of new Micro ES product. I've traded it on the first day it came out and a few other times but it has been out of my focus for a while, so this will be a good time to get back to it. Today I started with a 1lot to test the connection and the fills and the goal is to lift the size to 3lots in the next days so that I can break up the position, since I prefer to exit in a scale out method much rather than a binary win or lose scenario. My goal is to run this journal through the end of the year with updates at least every three days but preferable daily. Only live trades will be posted at the end of the day. I hope you will enjoy the journey!
Okay, week. The mes works fine, I did collect a 3 point slippage on a stop loss but it was a very unusual move on the S&P anyway. I also managed to size up to 2 to 3 lots. There was one emotional mistake after the slippage stop loss, I fealt it was "undeserved" and that the market will bounce back anyway, but these are non existent things, so the goal for next week is just to trade the plan consistently on a 2 to 3 lot size. If I do well I will continue to push the size, to 5 lots.
I like the simple approach you're using. I've just begun looking at market profile. I'm curious if you learned anywhere or just from watching and trial and error. Are you entries based solely on what the profile looks like or do you combine certain price action with certain profile sets. Thanks for the help and looking forward to more of your posts.
I agree with VR. Simple approaches like yours can work well provided you stay consistent and monitor your metrics long term. Is your plan after next week to go straight to 5 lots if successful, or is there a ramp up period eventually getting you up to 5 lots?
Thanks vruton, Yes, simplicity is definitely a winner in my approach. I learned the profile from a trader called Morad Askar, aka FT71 and I highly recommend his work, however, the profile actually plays very little part in my decision makin process. I do watch it but first of all I trade price action and price action trading does work on its own, the profile just adds a little extra visual aid, but even without it on the charts a trader can build skills to see where price has been favoured and where it is most likely going. remogul92, Yes metrics and journaling is probably a bigger element of success than many other more well picked up topics of trading. The number one door is psychology imho, our own as traders and the market as a collective of traders and with that comes understanding your own habits, behaviours through metrics as well. At the end of the week everything gets exported to excel and looked at. I also write a hand written style journal, where I can write about deeper more personal experiences which inevitably comes with trading.