tampa's "short skirt" trades...

Hey OldTrader,

How about some more of your market analysis? The ones you provided were kind of like having Bill Walsh come over and watch the sunday games with me.

 

Tampa,

Excellent day for trading pullbacks if you're sticking to your plan today.

Take a look at the chart that I've attached.

DraXon

 

11 Round Turns / +$150.00
5 Wins – 5 Losses – 1 B/E

15:56:50 SLD 4 802.75 ES
15:56:50 SLD 1 802.75 ES
15:49:14 BOT 5 801.50 ES
15:47:16 BOT 5 800.75 ES
15:42:27 SLD 5 800.50 ES
15:39:21 SLD 5 801.50 ES
15:36:12 BOT 5 803.25 ES
15:23:20 BOT 5 803.75 ES
15:17:23 SLD 5 805.25 ES
15:15:26 BOT 5 806.75 ES
15:12:06 SLD 5 805.00 ES
14:45:47 SLD 5 799.25 ES
14:35:31 BOT 5 797.50 ES
14:23:23 SLD 5 796.25 ES
14:20:32 BOT 5 798.20 ES
14:03:59 SLD 3 799.25 ES
14:02:29 SLD 2 801.25 ES
14:00:07 BOT 5 799.25 ES
13:45:49 SLD 5 802.00 ES
13:43:56 BOT 5 800.00 ES
13:35:39 SLD 5 798.50 ES
13:30:54 BOT 5 798.50 ES
10:14:05 BOT 5 773.75 ES
10:10:35 SLD 5 772.75 ES

More than usual bad luck today. Partial fills, unfilled profit targets, etc.

 

It just ain’t fair, I tell you!

You do everything (well, most everything) right, and bad luck steps in to turn a good profit into a tiny profit.

In one trade my objective was hit, but I was only filled on 2 contracts – and did not realize it. A couple others hit the objective, but were not filled, resulting in significantly smaller profits. And several times I increased the objective, it was not met, and had to scramble for my life!

Oh well, such is life. What happened, happened – damn-it.

It’s kinda like telling a story about the big catch that got away...

 

Hi tampa,

Wow...your trading 5 contracts.

You must be a seasoned successful Emini veteran to trade that many contracts.

Note: I'm not being sarcastic.

How many years have you been trading the Eminis?

Also, I see a lot of the exact same size per trade.

Thus, another question...why are you giving equal weight to both Long positions and Short positions on a day soon after 10:33am est?

In my opinion...Short positions should have been on the light side today whereas Long positions should have been normal after 10:33am est.

vice versa had the market been trending downwards.

I'll say this...if you have less than ONE YEAR of successful Emini Futures trading in your resume...

you should not be trading 5 contracts right now.

In addition...biting off too much (5 contracts) can easily cause trade discipline problems (trading psychology) that you may not be able to recover from.

Hopefully, your not doing this via self-taught trading and that a successful trader is guiding you around all those common road blocks that most traders think they can navigate around themselves.

Therefore...one bad trading day and your history.

NihabaAshi

 

Thanx for the input.

To answer some of your questions.

a) I have traded futures, including the large S&P, for close to 20 years now.
b) I am trading 5 lots because my account can handle it.

The post 10:00 AM shorts were indeed counter trend plays, but with reason. I am in essence scalping. My charts, as well as the TICK indicated a fairly good chance of a 2 point move - 2 points is my objective.

My biggest mistake today was increasing the profit objective on several trades, and then having to settle for much less.

 

Tampa.

You've been at this about 7 years longer than I have.

Congrats...most traders don't last that long.

I also do counter-trend trading sometimes...but only with a smaller than normal size.

I wasn't aware that you are scalping.

However...I still don't understand the equal weight for Long and Short positions in the same trading day.

Take care and tomorrow should be an interesting trading day.

It usually is after a day like today.

NihabaAshi

 

...let's just say that I had a good job that could support my hobby

As for the counter trend sizing - I may well take your advice on that.

 

NihabaAshi,

Although I am a big advocate of proving your trading method first, (so in Tampa's case he should only be paper trading or trading just one contract) I do know exactly what Tampa is talking about.

I used to play poker professionally (i.e. made my living by playing poker) before I started trading. As my income, savings, and net worth grew, now I just can't enjoy playing poker anymore. Even the $15-30 holdem games don't really get my attention.

Same is true for going to Vegas. 10 years ago I would be very engaged betting $25 on BJ. But now I'd have to bet $500 to get my attention. In other words I don't gamble anymore because I don't believe in risking $20-30k with a negative expectation; and playing with a smaller stake is just boring.

Maybe Tampa is in the same boat. Based on his net worth and experience, trading just one contract doesn't float his boat. I.e. imagine having a $200k trading account (with more in networth and savings) and "learning" to trade with 100 share lots or just 1 emini contract. If you are a rigorous student you and believe in proving your method works then you will be diligent. But for many discretionary traders they don't "feel the burn" unless the share size is the proper amount.