In regard to this Magma comment: "putting them in your own spreadsheet would serve the same function" I disagree for 2 reasons: 1. By posting them publicly, I can't change my decisions once they are made. If I put them in a private spreadsheet at the end of the day, then I can say to myself "go LONG at 10:40 AM", but then the market starts tanking at 10:41 and slides sharly until 10:57 AM. It is so tempting to just say to yourself, well, I would have seen the sharp decline starting, and would have held off on going long until that sudden slide ended. There is a real temptation to cheat if everything is kept private, which of course does me no good at all. 2. Let's say that I am forntunate and do stumble onto something successful. it is not out of the question, I have been studying NDX index numbers for a couple years now. If I just put my numbers in spreadsheet, I can't prove anything to anyone 6 to 12 months from now. It is impossible to know when the numbers in the spreadsheet were entered. As I said, I am an inexperienced trader, I have come to the realization I don't know enough about trading. Maybe I would want to partner with a very experienced trader 6-12 months from now. I could provide a "winning system" and they could provide trading experise, and we would both make money. But I can't prove my paper trading success to that experienced trader if I just enter numbers in a private spreadsheet. They could say that I just created the entire spreadsheet the day before. Hey, I'm not saying I'm going to be a success, I'm just saying "what if"? My one single thread is not going to harm the discussions in this group, and nobody is forcing you (Magma) to read my updated thread.
Portfolio managers and the like may see the need for stops...my notes are reflective of active trading, intra-day and swing. You are right, and we make sure that risk parameters are understood and followed by our traders so that they may "live to trade another day" (as they say).. Don Bright
liltrdr, Sorry, there was no graphic imagery. It's a phrase that's been in common use for many years.
For whatever my opinion is worth (not much it seems at times) ...I say go for it. It makes more sense to post actual stuff, before it happens rather than "past post" as so many of those "trading boards" seem to do. Ilove it when I see "xxx looks like it's ready to move, I'm buying at 31.00...." then I look to see that it is already 32.50..., you get my drift. So, let's see what you come up with.
Don Bright, I had some fun with you on another thread because I thought you were just promoting your firm and not really helping anyone. Now I'm beginning to think I might have been a bit hasty. Apparently you have helped people through PM's and I think your comments on this thread have been excellent, couldn't agree more with you. Your comments about "negotiated prints" were very helpful to those of us who are used to Lev II and find listed a bit mysterious. Keep it coming.
If this was real money, I would probably use a stop to avoid utter catastrophe on one single day, but it would be a very high stop level (i.e. 10% loss, doubled to 20% with margin). Besides, I keep daily print-outs of the intraday NDX chart, so it is always possible to go back and look at your paper system and say "what if" I would have had a 5% stop loss level? Or a 7% stop loss level? What would the net difference have been for each day affected by a triggered stop loss. And you can see if it would have made an overall difference over time. And yes, it does prevent huge losses on a single day, and yes it does decrease volatility. I am not denying that stop losses are very useful, but I don't plan to utilize them for the time being in this paper trading exercise. That's not not to say I won't change my opinion later.
bobdek, By posting them publicly, I can't change my decisions once they are made. Ahh, but you can change them here a day later, a week later, a month later, whenever you want to. Note the option in the lower right of every one of your posts. It allows you to go back at any time and edit the post. If I just put my numbers in spreadsheet, I can't prove anything to anyone 6 to 12 months from now...Maybe I would want to partner with a very experienced trader 6-12 months from now. I could provide a "winning system" and they could provide trading experise..But I can't prove my paper trading success to that experienced trader if I just enter numbers in a private spreadsheet. This public forum, where you can edit you entries days, weeks, or months later provides no more "proof" than a personal spreadsheet. My one single thread is not going to harm the discussions in this group, and nobody is forcing you (Magma) to read my updated thread. The name is Magna, and no, your one thread won't cause any great harm in the world. In my original post I was just wondering of what value it would be to anyone on the board since you said you didn't intend on posting any reasons or explanations why you chose to do a certain trade. I'm still wondering. As a point of reference, look at Hitman's journal. Now that is of great value, and a marvelous contribution to the members on this board.
If you're going to memorialize your trading on a public forum, you should post entry and exits for the day, as well as cumulative MTD and YTD results each post. I know you have a website, but your posts won't be that interesting here if you just post "Long" or "Short" each day. Good luck.
bobdek, Good idea, but you should rethink your rules. With any intraday system, there are three big issues, commissions, slippage and "air pockets." I didn't see any mention of commissions. I don't fully understand how you will derive your entry price, but it has to be based on the bar starting AFTER you decided to enter. In other words, if you decide to enter at 12:00, your entry price has to be based on the bar beginning at 12, not the preceding one. I also think giving yourself an average price may be overly optimistic, depending on your entry rules. If you are buying breakouts, then slippage becomes a big problem. If you are buying pullbacks, maybe not. Finally, your results are not credible if you just wipe out really big losses and say , well I wasn't sitting there. I suggest you come up with a disaster stop loss figure and put that into your system, keeping in mind that a 20 or 30 point freefall in the NDX is not unheard of. At the same time, there is no reason to deny your self huge windfall profits. That's how most daytrading systems make money. I wonder if you have backtested your system, and if so, maybe you could share the results. Good luck.
bobdek, I tend to agree with Magna, that the postings here would not hold any water to anyone looking for a proven track record (due to the mentioned edit capabilities). If you really need "proven" results, you should look into a service such as Auditrack (www.auditrack.com), which is setup just for what you are doing. You are certainly welcome to post here, assuming Baron is ok with it, and if you don't desire feedback, then your method will work for you. But since your getting this service free, it seems only fair to discuss your thoughts (that doesn't mean the actual rules of your system) behind your trades the way Hitman does so that other new trades may learn something. Honestly, I'll be surprised if this thread lasts more than a week. Nothing against you, but Hitman is the only one who has had the discipline to keep up a journal (I know I wouldn't). Many others, with great intentions, have tried, but the threads eventually dissapear to the thread graveyard. However, I wish you the best. AAA, agreed. Also, Don's posts on this thread have been very good, thanks Don. Kirk