NoDoji's Day Trading Log

If thats what you planned to do then consider it a good trade. If you're making it up as you go along (letting emotion dictate your actions) then you need a plan.

If you have a procedure and don't follow it, you have to ask yourself why?

 

Been reading for some time and enjoy watching your growth as a trader.

Something that I found that has helped me is scaling out and not moving the stop.

i.e. enter 2 contracts; stop at say -5 ticks. Take half off after +6. Leaving the stop I still have a basically break even trade with room to run.

It seems to me you more often than not have quick profits (move your direction initially) then loss or break even. Kinda the same situation I have had.

OOOPS - I didn't see the last part of your post until I reread it. Not really a secret - just another philosophy for getting out, one that I have found useful.

Make 'em pretty, Chris

 

Yes exactly what I'm thinking. Sent you a PM.

I'm glad you enjoy the journal. I'm ready to grow as a trader any time now

 

Sim traded ES using the 2-contract strategy that DblArrow suggested. I faded the open quickly, almost catching the exact top. Took profit on half at 2 pts, then stop to b/e for the rest. This worked great, netting nearly $300. Had I traded 1 contract and taken profits when I had the overwhelming urge to, I would've left half the potential profit on the table.

Then just before 10:00 a.m., feeling cocky from my opening sim success, I decided to trade ES live to the long side because it had overshot the lower channel line and found support @ 1047.75. It’s “buy the dip” season and I joined the bid @ 1049.00. It jumped a few ticks before lifting my order and I chose not to chase the trade. I stuck by my “no chasing” rule, but in retrospect with such a strong overshoot to the downside I think the delayed entry would’ve been OK, with a 2 pt stop zone still safely in view to keep the trade favorable. Boy oh boy what an uptrend and I never jumped in after missing that low. If my order had been lifted, I actually believe I would've ridden most of the trend on half the position after taking profit on the first half way too soon. So far I'm liking this strategy.

The rest of the day was strictly sim, because I really didn’t find the setups all that strong and didn't want to piss away money.

Around 12:45 a.m., I joined the trend on a dip @ 1059.75 just to practice truly believing the trend is my friend and buy every dip even though the market already moved up more than 10 pts off lows. I will say that I moved my stop to b/e as the big dogs started sniffing at HOD, figuring it would break out or fizzle and I wasn’t about to lose money over it, because frankly I did not have a limit order in place in advance at the channel line so my entry price was a pt off.

I was stopped out b/e and immediately shorted at my stop price of 1059.75 because the failed BO left a double top. Took profits on half right at the 20-period EMA and stop to b/e on the other half, which was hit, as the 20 EMA served as support, to be expected in a trend.

The next opportunity was long on a break through 1060.50, because the big dogs came back to sniff and a return to a double top is often a breakout, but I was getting tea and a snack and missed that one. I did return in time to short the new high @ 1062.75 with a tight 1 pt stop because I was now top picking for a scalp in a market that really seemed to have no headwinds. I waited for a 1 pt move in my favor, then locked in b/e. Only 1 contract here because of the lower probability of the trade, so I couldn’t take profits on half and leave the rest at b/e. Waited it out through the attempt at continuation off the upper channel line where I would’ve taken half off for +$85, then stopped out b/e.

Short 2 @ 1061.75 pullback from lower high. Took half at a pt in case the lower channel line served as support to resume the trend, moved the other to b/e, eventually hit.

Not a bad day of paper profits with this strategy: +$385

I want to test this out some more just to gain consistency on entries and be sure I'm setting my initial stops at survivable prices.

DblArrow, I think I may have found a strategy I'm comfortable with. Thanks!

 

And that is what it basically boils down to; being comfortable enough and confident enough to pull the trigger and execute, knowing that in the end it will all come out. (given we use a statistically proven method)

Make 'em pretty, Chris

 

trading is not scientific research or after-fact analysis. after you test out, the market may phase into another stage, that will make the strategy void.

do what the market is currently doing, in the test phase, opportunity is lost.

the opportunity you see is past, that is certain. the opportunity in your hand is not certain,you do not see, that is your problem.

have the nerve to do it. sim trading is totally a waste of time!

 

Considering that my sim trading platform is identical to my live platform in every way, with the exception that I have to pay the 1-tick spread in sim because my order isn't lifted until price moves 1 tick above my limit, it would be more accurate to state that sim trading is a total waste of "money"!

 

you have the money to waste, great.

trading is your job, why sim sim ....do not get it.
if I am your boss, you get fired

 

What part of this post did you miss?

I appreciate your concern for me as a trader, but posts like yours above are non-productive. If you want to be truly helpful, re-activate your journal, post your trades and why you entered and exited where you did.

I learned a lot from watching Oliver Velez and Pristine's Greg Capra trade live on-line, explaining their setups, their tactics, their stop loss placement, etc.

I learned a lot comparing my sim trades with BigHog's trades on certain days.

And I've recently learned a lot testing out strategies in sim. It's raising my comfort level bit by bit each day. I wish I'd sim traded for the first 6 months of my trading life instead of now a year-and-a-half later, but as they say better late than never.

If you are a consistently profitable trader, then offer something to me and the subscriber's to this journal that is productive.

 

Hope this is not to off NoDoji, but...

I have always disagreed with this idea when trading pattern recognition (higher highs and higher lows or whatever) or trading based on some indicator i.e. moving average. I have used the same idea, trading retraces to the 20 ema since 1998 - the results vary somewhat due to volatility but the idea and method have held true.

Sim trading initially, I believe, helps psychologically enough to have worthwhile benefits.

Make 'em pretty, Chris