Hope to get some experienced responses to this: I've done swing trading since 2000. Finally caught on early 2002. Figured if I can make some $ in this market, can't wait til a new long term uptrend starts. Enjoy trading so much I am trying daytrading because, a chart is a chart and a timeframe is a timeframe, right ? (work fulltime USA east coast so trying European futures) Well, the stops I use in Swing, which are fairly wide, usually placed just under where you'd typically place a stop just under a pivot, aren't working in daytrading European futures. Being that there is just one contract trading, you either get out or keep going. No partials. This is putting the win/loss ratio too high on the losses being that the stops are so wide. I took a $4k account to $5100 in two weeks and thought that I had found a new career. Then, the stop losses came in and it only took a few, being that they are larger than the winners, and now I'm at $3800 1 and 1/12 months from starting this venture. Maybe I'm answering my own question, I should let the winners run ? Any advice on stops, when to take profits using 1 contract at a time would be great.
SwingLow(SwingTop) stops doesn't work... Well you're not making it work... that's all... Time to hit some backtesting software or your charts...
Post a few charts of when you were doing well for 2 weeks and also post a few charts of when you were not doing so hot.... make sure you post charts of exactly what you use for trading. EliteTrader only allows one attachment at a time...however you can use the free chart upload service at http://www.ttrader.com/mycharts/index.php and upload all those charts....then come back here and post the single direct link where your charts are stored and I'm 100% positive you will get more helpful responses. Make sure you annotate those charts where you placed your stops and where you enter and exit the trades. If not...your going to get a lot of views for this thread and not much anything else out of it except for some nice philosophical discussions about stops. NihabaAshi