The Road to Consistency

Discussion in 'Journals' started by trader99, Aug 30, 2019.

Post my gains in % of $$

  1. % Percentage Gain

    78.9%
  2. $ Dollar Gain

    21.1%
  1. Turveyd

    Turveyd

    Well I'm consistent.............








    Either Consistently good with mainly profitable trades or consistently bad with mainly losing traded, good enough ??



    %%% and $$$$ please, post account value / profit loss your call charts aswell, much easier to judge you by :)

    Level 2 is HypnoToad to me, 8hours glued to it zero trades and feels like 2seconds LOL
     
    #11     Aug 31, 2019
    trader99 likes this.
  2. trader99

    trader99

    9/3/2019
    =============
    Realized gains:
    GC: $46
    Lean Hog Futures(Oct): $615
    Lean Hog Futures(Dec used as a hedge): -$791
    NG: $136
    NQ: -$87
    ===============
    Total Realized Gains: -$81

    =============
    Unrealized gains:
    Lean Hog Futures(Oct); -$400
    =============

    =============
    Long Term Unrealized MTM gain for the day:
    $250 (I really don't look at this. I've been holding this for weeks. so the YTD gain is nice but that's not realized).
    =============


    I was up $700+ today on realized gains. Most of the gains were in Oct lean hog futures. Then I decided to scalp on the short side. My first short scalp worked fine. Made some money.

    On my 2nd short scalp, then all of a sudden, I couldn't get out. I PANICKED! WTF?! I called IB trading desk and they told me Oct Lean Hog futures are limit up! WHAT?!


    So I opened up this thread:

    https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/stuck-limit-up.335656/

    Someone suggested that I should hedge with Dec 2019. So, I bought Dec futures then i dropped dramatically. I got out and got with with a -$791 loss.

    I'm not used to limit up days. I wasn't trying to do swing trading or anything. I'm just scalping and decided to do a scalp and get out in a few minutes. Then the limit up halt happened.

    Had I not hedge I would save $791. And if I had put a limit order in for all of my remaining Oct lean hog(HE) then I would be flat. Because briefly, it went below limit up and a few contracts were filled. These are all intraday trades.

    Now, I'm stuck...

    I suppose there's always something new to learn in the market. Am I relying too much on PA/TA? There are other factors like limit up, halts, etc. that can affect my trading. Not just PA.

    Now I'm very scared... Because the trade was originally a pure intraday trade. I'm forced to have to carry it overnight and it can gap up.

    I was sitting pretty with $700+ gain for the day. I should have shut down and focused on other non-trading stuff.

    Lesson learned.
     
    Last edited: Sep 3, 2019
    #12     Sep 3, 2019
  3. Overnight

    Overnight

    And this is why it is vital to never over-lever. You must account for having to hold overnight if your trade goes against your plan. I am a bit concerned that you mentioned you had like 5 contracts on the HE? But I guess you have the dosh to maintain the positions.
     
    #13     Sep 3, 2019
  4. trader99

    trader99

    I was NOT planning to hold overnight. It was supposed to be a few minutes scalp. I didn't know it would halt like that. I actually had 7 contracts on over 2 different accounts. I covered completely in 1 account. So I'm flat. In another account, I still have open 4 lots.

    For me, I've traded 5 to 11 lots intraday scalping. No problem. If there's liquidity then I could have easily gotten out and taken the loss. But since I can't get out I feel stuck!

    I remembered reading about one of the Market Wizards who was stuck in soybeans futures as it went limit down several days in a row. I'm stuck in limit up. Hopefully, I can get out tomorrow...

    I realized now that HE is not like NQ where there's plenty of liquidity and no limit ups(as at least as far as I can remember)
     
    #14     Sep 3, 2019
  5. Overnight

    Overnight

    There is plenty of liquidity in the livestock futures for a retail trader. The problem is the way the instruments are currently structured. The beef people have been bitching about this for quite a while (years), from what I can tell.

    Somewhere buried in this forum is a discussion, or a link to one, where the CME folks were working on a change to the LE future specs. I suppose that if it worked on the LE, it would have spread to the HE. I guess it went nowhere, because the 3-point limits are still in place.
     
    #15     Sep 3, 2019
  6. trader99

    trader99

    I misspoke. There's plenty of liquidity at the retail level. What I was caught surprised was the limit up. I should have researched more. I jumped in trading like it was NQ and any other futures contract.
     
    #16     Sep 3, 2019
  7. Overnight

    Overnight

    Indeed. Always research (or at least observe the behavior of) any instrument in a different genre of the market than the ones you are used to. Grains move differently than livestock, which move different than metals, which move differently from Lumber, which moves different than Uranium or Electricity or Weather futures.

    And then there's Class IV Milk. ROFL. I love that thing for no reason other than it is silly.
     
    #17     Sep 3, 2019
    trader99 likes this.
  8. Overnight

    Overnight

    @trader99 Relax. It seems you are trying to move too fast. Just go with the flow. This quarter is going to get messy IMHO. I have admiration that you are making money on the dogshit NG. I used to really like that instrument. But you have it by the horns? Do not let go!

    Stick with it! Do not waver. Are you hearing me?

     
    #18     Sep 3, 2019
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  9. Overnight

    Overnight

    And when you're feeling really down, there is always Rock Lobster. :) How can this song not bring a smile to anyone's face? Works for me. hehe.

     
    #19     Sep 3, 2019
    trader99 likes this.
  10. trader99

    trader99

    Just saw this! Thanks for the encouragement! I need to consistently bang out more on NG! I'm playing WAY TOO CONSERVATIVELY. I'm definitely very consistent on NG. Basically making money EVERY SINGLE day for months. I should scale up
     
    #20     Sep 4, 2019