This is a span-off my equity trading journal I had started in late last year. <a href="http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=111192">Trading with $25K-Equities </a> Since Dec and through Jan. I trained on futures and opened and use a platform from Infinity Futures. I opened the account with test amount of $5,000 Here is track so far: Jan 30 $30, after commission $(25) Jan 31 +$280, after comm +125 Feb 1 -$410, after comm -$560 Account Balance $4,465. Down from $5,000 Overall I am having a good time trading, I love Infinity AT platform. Today started out +$175 right out of the gate and dropped down to -$270, made my way back to +$175 then back to -$410. Problem: over trading, market oders, impulse trading. I need to be more patien followe my scalper indicators and DO NOT over trade. It seems only broker making money.
Paying $5 R/T with Infinity, I am trading 3 contracts per clip with following scale out schedule: +5 +10 +20 (or running) Initial stop-loss 10 points with 5 points trailing.
I'd like to follow along as I am currently training on the YM myself. - What type of trader are you? (ie: scalp, or intraday position/swing). -With a name like SuperVolatility, you must know the wild swings the YM has been making lately, so how do you get away with a 10 pt. stop? Best of luck to you on your journey.
Tell me volatility....indeed things have been swinging like crazy, in fact most of positions kept taken out because I use 5-point trailing stop. With Infinity you can set your regular stop which is 10-ponts but also trailing and distance for trailing. Say you hit your 1st tartget of 5points then trailing stop will trail that last exit point by 5points....It has been very volatile since I kept getting taken out several time. I'll keep the trailing as it's and revise as I learn more about this animal. To answer your question - 10 point stop was not that much of problem but rather a trailing stop. I scalp YM and use scalper alert indicator in TS to execute via Infinity. Good luck
reviwed my sales...good portion of "bad" trades were from market orders...tho YM is very liquid and mostly penny or 2/3 spread you can still can make to get bad fills with the market orders especially during crazy volatility like we've been having. Adding it to my rule book to very, very carefull with market orders.
good portion of losing Friday was due to me fading YM as it kept making new highs. Now after revising...it important to keep an eye on TRIN and TICK....most of the day TICK was above 0 line and hit my key levels of +800-1000 regularly while TRIN remained below 1 reading around .97, 80, 78 for good part of the session. These are signs that market is in bullish mode and shortly and fading not the best practice. I had read about it...but.... Another indicator was Advancer & Decliners...needless to say Advecers were outnumbering decliners all session....not sure what I am thinking but trying to fade YM in a bullish session. We'll that's $410+commissions lesson learned on Friday. Need to keep watching these indicators...along with MA and price action movement....don't trade when market is SIDEWAYS....most of if not all loosing trades came in sideways trades wich whipsawed me.
Did not trade Feb 4th(yesterday) Started morning session Up 165 then Down -$189 back to break-even -20 now standing at -$305. It appears I am taking every single trade when it comes up and impulse trading. Going to walk away until 11AM PST and then start again. I need to learn to stop trading...walk away when hit certain loss level. More later.
Market very volatile...10-point stop is not working, keeps taking me out. Came back to trading at 11 AM PST...made some mistakes...some are due to technicalities...had changed the defaul contact to 1 instead of 3 but changes were not saved so went more contaracts then needed... Stopped trading for the DAY...might take a day off tomorrow from trading. Given such volatility either need to set wider stops or trade smaller contacts. Down for the day -785+commissions oon 45 R/T.
Super, agree with you on the chop markets. Unless you're scalping ticks I think it becomes tough. I tried a little yesterday, very little follow through. Breakdowns were not carrying through. I didn't adjust my targets down as necessary and got reversed and stopped. No big deal, it was very small stop loss or flat. I would have done alright had I shortened my profit targets.
suedeuno, part of my problem was is um how do you say it....GREED. My standard target setup originally was/is: +5 +10 +whatever after setting loss to break even. Setup with 6 point trailing stop. that setup above at least you reduce the risk while making some money when market turns against you.... I need to continue to fine tune this setup...Not sure if I am sick or just in denial...but I LOVE TRADING YM.