LOL easyrider. regarding the question, there is no canned answer. I can only say, it's a good idea when you reached your desired account size to remove the profits. I know several profitable traders doing that monthly, I do too. This keeps the account always at the same level. And when you have a negative month, if any, you must first bring the account to break even before taken out money again. Trading should be done with money you can afford to lose. So as time goes and you are profitable, it makes no sense to put at risk more and more of your wealth. that's the logic. This is true, again, when you decide your account reached the size you want. tntneo
ALLENZ: great idea to start this thread. hopefully momentun and interest will keep it going for a long time
This thread is here for traders to post their trading plans or questions on how to develop them. If you don't have a trading plan try to sit and write one or write down how you would like to see an average weeks trading go. I will post my past weeks performance June 3 - June 7 and how it correlates to my trading plan if that helps. June 3 - 7 Number of trades = 77 RT's ( total commission/ ave cars per trade ) Net Points = 61 ( net points/ cars per trade ) System Setups = 21 System Net points = 51 System win rate = 57% Ave loss per stop = 3.6 Ave gain per win = 7.2 This week by taking 56 additional trades I netted an extra 10 points. After commotion totals a slight net loss on scalps. Trading Plan Number of trades = 20-30 Net points = 20-30 Daily loss limit = 10% of account Monthly Profit target = 20% of account after commission Monthly loss limit = 30% of account Ave loss per stop = 4 points Ave gain per win = 6 points Target Win rate = 50% With this information I can see that scalping this week did not really do anything more than keep me amused while waiting for a setup to come along but I can see that the setups I did take fit my plan pretty well. This weekly evaluation lets me know a lot about my overall trading and how well I am sticking to my personal guidelines. AllenZ
AllenZ suggests: 4. Don't let your account size dictate your trading plan. Big Swinging Dick Syndrome I'm convinced that producing trading profits releases endorphins like other pursuits, but unlike other pursuits ego inflation doesn't promote rapid cash loss like over/poor trading can. I have found being a little "hungry" produces sharper focus and more precision in my trading decisions. A trained falcon who is overfead isn't very interested in hunting but a slightly underfed falcon is more inclined to hunt for the falconer. my .02 Net
ddefina some very interesting information there as far as performance by time of day. I have found that I tend to do poorest late in the day after 11:00 west coast time ( I am based in California ). My best time of day consistently is 8:00 - 11:00 I don't mind trading the chop. My system does not rely on trend so much so the middle of the day does present some decent opportunities for me. For scalping it seems I do much worst in the last 45 minutes of the day and I am trying to limit my trading in that time period. I take very few trades in the first 30 minutes of the day. Great stuff ddefina. AllenZ
thanks for your thread Allen, I am just starting in the futures area as the rules in terms of shorting and leverage appear to be better for me than stocks. I have been spending lots of time looking at the charts and the especially the stockastics in a one min time frame. I have read on elitetrader a couple of times that in order to trade the ES that one must be looking at the ticks, not a timed bar chart. Also if that is true in your opinion maybe you could shed some light to that area of trading. It would appear that there is some opertunities with the one min bars and the stockastics but looking at a chart that printed is a whole different ball game than looking at a chart develop in the heat of the battle. Thanks very much and I look forward to reading more of your posts.
I must admit I don't look at any chart shorter than a 3 min and most of my entries are based of the 30 or 60min charts. I look at a 3min with stochastics, but just for purpose of refining entry. I have seen stochastics work but I have never seen a statistically proven relationship that I could use for relying on them for the sole basis for entry. I don't use a tick chart although I have had several people try to convince me they are necessary. The main thing is that you must use indicators or whatever that HELP you and compliment your trading methods. I find many traders use too many ma's and indicators and can lead to "paralysis by analysis" so it is my contention that less is more and keeping it simple is best. Since I look at nothing aside from price and volume once I am in a trade I am VERY rarely shaken out of a good move prior to it occurring and this HELPS my overall strategy. Hope I answered your question somewhere in this rambling. AllenZ
Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. Yes that helps as it appears to be something there but knowing that the bouncing of the stacs. changes the whole picture.
I think your correct and would agree with your process. My biggest problem with that approach is not going broke before finding my "ideal" method that works for me