can you post a screen shot of your charts??? Just want to see what you are looking at. You are a machine! Nicely done!
Very impressive for having no "edge". Hope you don't mind if I probe your methods a bit. Are you adding positions as price goes against you, or when it moves with you (i.e. adding to losing positions to average down or to winning positions to build on success)? Do you determine the trend for various segments of the day and only go with that trend? You posted 4 trading "windows" today (9:30-10, 10-11, 11-12 and 1-4). Is your determination of when to be scaling in versus out (i.e. when you shift from doing one to the other) discretionary or do you have hard and fast rules for doing so? Based on the collection of indicators you use, it would seem that you are using a significant amount of judgement. Whatever you're doing, it seems quite fascinating. Sandy
I am not yet sure I have a "method", but I am trying to shape and sharpen my method, through all the mistakes I have made over the years. I started trading Emini S&P about a decade ago. I have lost more money than I care to remember. I think I lost approximately a million dollars during this time. So I guess I have paid my dues to learn the trade and make trading a business. I am still a newbie, trying to overcome my mistakes and do better. The main reason for starting this journal is to hold myself accountable for my actions and being more disciplined than before. I am hoping some day I will slay all my trading dragons and have a "method" I can depend on.
I scale in when the market is going against me. I know that I am right about the direction, though my entry was not as good. I switch from one-minute to five-minute chart just to check myself about the direction before I scale in. I scale out when I am closing my position, so that I lock in some profit even if the market were to reverse. I also scale out if I am not sure if my assumption on direction has changed. I don't have hard and fast rules. Mine is not a mechanical trading system. I have developed a "gut" reaction to price and volume movement over the last decade, which is a double edge sword. It is susceptible to a lot of emotional judgements. Please don't judge the process by the results (i.e. don't be impressed by the profit from one or two days). If the process is flawed, a day's winnings mean NOTHING. I will give it all back another day. The important thing is to do what is right (or what is proven to be right over a long period of time). I am yet to prove to myself that I have staying power. Thanks for your comments.
congrats on your success. when you were asked how many points you take , you said 2 pts. per trade. do you mean 1/4 pts or a full pt. ? thanks, bgp
Thanks for your reply. It would seem that channels would be useful for your scaling processes (whether manually drawn, or calculated). You mentioned BBs, but not Keltner Channels. Have you looked at KCs at all? I find KCs more useful than BBs. Sandy
Just wondering how this journal is going to benefit you. So far you are simply posting the results of your trades. If you made a mistake, or for that matter did something right, there is no mention of it. Here's a question: your results so far seem to be pretty good. What happens to you when the results aren't good? Can you identify it? What causes it? OldTrader
No, I did not say 2 points, I said 2 ticks. Each "tick" is 1/4 point, which means if I make 1/2 point I am ready to scale out. If you divide the number of contracts by the gross profit I posted you will see that it is generally around that. Some times I do very poorly (see my 1-4 PM trade window, where I had a lot of losses and averaged about one tick per contract profit).