I have decided to have another go at the futures riddle as there is no give up in me. The benefit is well worth the effort so another journal it is. I am down to 3 issues that have complicated my futures trading: 1. Moving away/cancelling stops Fear related. Nearly without fail, this has been to my detriment, especially mentally. The common rationalization is I need to put the stop at the last swing high but often any retrace past halfway WILL get to and break the swing high. Besides I can re-enter. Goal: 2.25 pt. max trade loss. (stop at 2 plus possible slippage) 2. Short trade duration Also Fear related. "Seems" a lot of swings in NQ tend to have similar durations therefore the move size should (no bracket) not determine when to close a trade but rather time. Left about 60 NQ points on the table last week due to ending trades in less than 10 minutes. Goal: 20 minutes minimum per trade. 3. Trading more than 3 times a day The first 2 cause this one. Handle the first 2 and this won't be a problem. Without exception the succes of each day diminishes very quickly my trade count goes up. Simple really as trades past the first 3 usually are in chop-land after noon. The idea here is to avoid the chop. Goal: 3 trades/day. Trading system is good enough to break-even/do well 2/3 of trades Following these rules the chance of ruin is very low.. On a daily basis I will rank my adherence to these 3 on a 1 to 10 scale. Why will this try be any different?? What am I going to do to ingrain these rules? I will meditate on walking away once in a trade as it is THE only way to calm the lethal first 10 mins anxiety. Walking away enforces all 3 rules. Also meditate on calming down and minimizing the value of 2 NQ points. The overwhelming goal is to avoid those days from hell, familiar to us all.
Morning Prep: No Reports Interesting hourlies.. NQ especially could be the mythical Diamond formation.. Game plan.. Short 1875 area or Buy high 1850's on confirmations.. Reverse trades outside this wedge if left with conviction.. 75 breaks and 87 area again.. AND follow rules.
Only one trade and good job.. Rules: 1: 7 ... Moved stop in favor of trade but early.. jeopardized trade.. A small chase to 71 (rather than stop entry) complicated things. 2: 10 ... 44 minutes in trade.. 3: 10 ... 1 trade only. + 18.25 pts. Good enough for the day.
Will miss first 2 hours today... another swing back down in the range? Finviz now offering futures charts.. quite a site. USD flying so this could be it for stocks.. http://finviz.com/futures_charts.ashx
Missed quite some action. There was a nice short setup entry right after open. Hourly it would seem a bounce back to lower TL (58 to 59 area.. 1131.5 to 1133ES) today or tomorrow would be a short area if we don't reverse AGAIN back into the 80's.
The afternoon not usually worth big moves especially after a big morning.... Will refrain from it in the future.. The last trade was THE trade to keep but will stick with 2pt stop... Rules: 1: 10 2: 10 ... 45 min trade... 21 min trade (stopped)... 1 min trade (stopped) 3: 10 ... 3 trades. - 4.25 pts.
Morning Prep.. NQ trashed that formation by dropping into the 40's AND not staying down there yesterday.. Will leave the TL the for now though MUCH less useful.. Need both NQ and ES above mid points, 75 and 38 area respectively to continue the pattern back up to highs.. Report at 10, GOOG after close...