don't gripe(btw, i know a seasoned trader like you knows this) thats cost of doing business(if you owned a small biz expect expenses)...could have easily made 5 or you wouldn't have taken the trade in first place.
Having missed the great opportunity yesterday afternoon, I decided to go all in today. And sure enough, it turned out to be the best day to date with a tidy profit of 25.25 points or $1262.50 minus commish. Code: Today's Trade Stat No. of Trades: 25 No. of Winners: 13 No. of Losers: 9 No. of Breakevens: 3 W/L Ratio: 1.44 Avg Gain: 2.98 Avg Loss: 1.50 Cumulative P/L: 25.25 $300 Daily Challenge Winning Days (>= $300): 7 Losing Days (< $300): 3
But suppose I sold short at the open and covered at the close. How much would I have made today? 29.75 points. No kidding!
That's why I like to shoot for a 2-3 trades/day/instrument kind of system. (Easier said than done, of course!) It'd be interesting to look over your shoulder for a day... Looks "jittery" as I call it (i.e. a bit fast paced for my nerves) but disciplined nonetheless.
I`ve read the first couple pages of this thread & can say that the ES is a different animal these days & not really conducive for tick scalping/super short term, as there is no more getting filled on the bid/ask, so one is down a solid 2 ticks right off the get go. That said, I`ve been trading ES since `99... I`d established a daily target of 1K - 1500 a day for what I called my blue collar account & was able to consistently win 15-18 days out of a 20-22 day a month account... 2 trades a day max.. morning set up & afternoon set up like clock work, it was a close to automated without being automated as one can get. So it is possible but, imho, you would have to open up your time frame a bit in order to make a real living. It takes balls to put your trades out there & leave yourself open to criticism from the arm chair experts... Good Luck & refine your craft.