When I began trading the ES I was immediately successful and then I went through a period of consistent drawdown. I thought about joining a trading room to get their calls/analysis. I'm glad I didn't. Instead, I worked more on my system and myself and I managed to turn the corner. Don't be a follower, you have to be a leader to win in this business. I don't think I've ever seen a trading room that actually generates profits. There is a reason they are in the "trading room" business.
Krolyk, Let's go over it one more time: Day 1: down 1,300; end of day profit 45 Day 3: down 2,200; end of day profit 305 Day 5: down 2,900; end of day profit 24 I'm glad the market spared your butt all three times (and considering that you're trading up to ***274*** contracts in a day, I hope your calculations include commissions). You did it once and got away with it. You did it a second time and again got away with it (with twice the drawdown of the first time and trading 56 contracts). Now you've done it a third time and yet got away with it - with a personal record drawdown, paying 500-1000 (I guess) in commissions and trading after-hours (not out of a calculation or a plan, but - IMHO - just because your ego couldn't take a losing day). My suggestion: this weekend grab the movie "Rogue trader". All it takes is ONE BAD DAY. I'm glad (and a bit jealous, I may add) that your P/L is positive so far, just do yourself a favor and don't push your luck. Best trading to you, Jorge
Thanks for the positve comment MandelbrotSet, it's always encouraging to get one of those from time to time.
Yes this is nothing to be proud of. I am realizing that I become much more risk tolerant when I am down $1000 or $2000 because I really want my money back. But when I am at $0 or +$100 I make very small trades and just go for $50-$100 at a time. I should probably reverse that and go for bigger positve trades when the setups are there, and accept smaller losses. I'll work on that, easier said then done.
Today went much better, I learned from some of my mistakes this week took some smaller losses when the signals reversed on me. I took some bigger chances when the signals were better, and i traded less. After 6 days I am up $1965.40, but to be honest I'm not sure this is for me, it was the hardest $1900 I think I've ever earned, and I think I grew some grey hairs this week. I'm going to try to take it easy this weekend and build on what worked for me today next week. Day 6 Results: Date: 4/18/08 # of Trades: 30 Contracts Bought: 120 Contracts Bought Range: 1-8 Highest down: ($520.00) Highest up: $830.00 Net Profit/Loss: $726.00
Krolyk, Those 1900 are the easiest money you've ever made. The hard part was watching your equity decrease by the thousands. The way I see it first you dig a hole for yourself and then you (incredibly so far) dig yourself out of it every time (again so far). 6 days is probably not enough data, but there may be some pattern to it. Are you losing during a certain period of the day? What are you doing different (or how is the market different) when you're getting into the hole from when you're digging yourself out of it? Think about it. Also, at the risk of being a repetitive pain in the butt and/or sounding like your mother, I would withdraw 40,000 and keep your size to 1-2 contracts until you can consistently make money with reasonable drawdowns and risk/reward ratios. Still, congratulations on being ahead (I'm not). Thank you for sharing, Jorge
>>Today went much better, I learned from some of my mistakes this week took some smaller losses when the signals reversed on me. I took some bigger chances when the signals were better, and i traded less. Congratulations! >> After 6 days I am up $1965.40, but to be honest I'm not sure this is for me, it was the hardest $1900 I think I've ever earned, and I think I grew some grey hairs this week. For the week you actually made over $7,500 in profitable trades demonstrating that you have some of the skills required to pull this off. Now you just have to figure out how to avoid digging yourself into a hole that you then have to climb out of. Concentrate on solving that problem and you're on your way. There is the potential of unlimited gain and unlimited loss in what we do. Did you really think it was going to be easy? Have a restful weekend and come back next week with a plan. P.
Most of your losing trades will probably have some common denominator. Find out what that is, and don't do that again. You're doing very well.