tampa's "short skirt" trades...

So Gann's Ghost isn't pissed at me?

...whew, thank God.

 

Well, maybe Gann's Ghost just wasn't sure which data feed you use? So he took out as many as he could muster. Either way, he didn't seem to stop you from profiting.

 

That was a good one, echo - made me teehee


BTW -

While less than a full week into it, I am very pleased with the “short pants” method. (You do understand that that is not what triggered Monday’s trades – I hope.)

Losses average just a bit over one point. Profits average two points, and the win/loss ratio has been impressive – at least so far.

I can’t imagine why anyone would really care, but in the event someone is trying to follow this, I made a mistake in posting the “rules.” The 5 period moving average is a simple MA – not an exponential. The reason is that it is smoother, and thus easier to get signals from


BTW – a sincere thank you to all the people reading this tripe, and to those joining in with their posts.

 

A nice recovery after a really bad day is not unusual for me. But for whatever the reason, I feel that today is one of the most important days ever for me in the market.

It's a classic "chit, or get off the pot" day - if you know what I mean.

So here goes...

 

The market sucks this morning – details later – so I got to reading Gordon Gekko’s thread in “Trading”. Jesus. It’s heartbreaking.

This can be such a miserable business. OK, so he’s just a kid, and will almost surely come out of it all right – I hope.

God knows that I have my troubles, but when I read the “equity boys” threads I just shake my head. All the grief that they put themselves through. Waiting for things to return to the days when it was hard not to make a buck. And so many of them are so young!

Sometimes I just sit back and smile –“welcome to the real world, little boy”. “Got your teeth kicked in? Well, get used to it” But how were the poor bastards to know that the 90’s were not the way it really is – after all, it’s all they know.

So now GG is on the ropes. Doesn’t know where to turn. Somehow it’s not fair. Somewhere his grubstake is in someone else’s pocket. Somewhere someone else is feeling smart, while GG is feeling awful dumb.

It is such a mean business – so unforgiving. But that’s the way it has to be. I don’t care if my “winnings” are your last dollar. Nor do you care if my losses bankrupt me, so long as they are deposited in your account.

Maybe Gekko is lucky. He’s young. He has no real responsibilities. He has time to recover – time to come back – time to move on.

But it is still very sad. I wish that I had not read it.

 

I played by the rules, but...

All of my losing trades initially went in the right direction, but the “noise” today did me in time after time. In retrospect, the only clue available was the ultra negative TICK readings.

6 Round Turns / -5 ¾ points.
1 Winner – 5 Losers
Average Loss: 1.55 points.
Average Win: 2 points.

Total P/L ($1437.50)

Again in retrospect, the only thing I could have done was to just not trade. The market was far too choppy/noisy – I never had a chance.

For the moment I am none to amused with keeping this “journal”. I may or may not continue with the effort.

 

Journal are a lot of work, and can be hazardous to your trading.



H

 

Both would bother me. If trading wasn't anonymous, I would make a lousy trader for that very reason...

nitro

 

nitro, I like your style.

 

I wonder if it occurs to you that there may be some type of flaw in your trading plan?

Here's a few suggestions:

1) Reduce your trading size. Trading 5 lots when your strategy is not working is just a route to bigger losses. Go back to trading one lot until you build some consistency in your trading results.

2) You started this journal by stating that you were unable to sit with your position, as I recall. Based on your journal posts it's almost impossible to tell whether you're sitting or making the same old mistake. But I review the one day where you posted times of trades....you were jumping out VERY quickly. Sometimes just a matter of a few minutes would have resulted in LARGE additional profits. Why would you cut your profits short?

3) Enter some details in the journal so that people can give you suggestions. Otherwise, continuing the journal is not going to be productive for you.

So that you don't think I'm just arbitrarily picking on you, understand that I REDUCE my trading size if I perceive that volatility is increasing. That's my perception right now. Reducing size reduces RISK.

I also reduce size if I'm losing. I increase size as I make money. I increase size somewhat if my day is profitable. I'll increase size if my month is profitable. In other words, I take risks with my profits. Again, I NEVER increase size when I'm losing. I reduce size.

Reducing size allows you to get back into the proper tempo with the market. Losses occur because you're trading incorrectly for the type of market. Increasing size when you or your strategy is out of tempo is insanity, and a sure way to lose.

Now, I understand it's your money, your journal. Just trying to offer some helpful suggestions. Again, no point to the journal unless you provide details of what you're doing and when. Just providing your wins and losses doesn't help you and won't get you any suggestions.

OldTrader