When I started with the ES I set my stop at 1/2 point below my price I bought at if it dropped immediately after I bought it. If it bumped up after I bought, I moved my stop to 1/4 which would pay my commish. If it hovered after I bought it my stops would be 1/2 below and at the price I bought it. I missed opportunties, lost a little bit of money, but only 1/2 point. My winners outpaced the losers and I was constantly adjusting my prices, but it allowed me to continue to trade, learn and I widened my stops after I was making money. Yep, the stops were super tight, but I figured if I acted like a spoiled high-school cheerleader and dropped everything early when it was not doing anything for me, I'd come out ahead. And it has.
Very interesting. I started in a very similar way, but after a couple of weeks of slow bleed I gave up.
I was watching the NQs all day today. I took 4 paper trades, 3 shorts were winners 4 points each, 1 short at the morning lost 2.5 points. I didn't use a simulator I just took the trades mentally watching live quotes. Luck of the beginner I am afraid..... Tend to feel more comfortable shorting the retracement after a sharp decline. Thank you all for the feedback, keep it up. Happiness to all of you Hamp
here is a post from dbphoenix that I think is a keeper: there is another one from nitro that is also excellent, I will try to find it. nitro basically recommends starting with the SPY with 100 share trades and taking signals from the ES, and increasing size as you become profitable. My advice is that you must have rules that are written down, and you must follow them. Above all this game requires discipline. You must have discipline in developing your method and in executing it. I believe it is too easy to fool yourself with paper trading, but I think it is useful for forward testing methods initially. Trading the 100 shares of SPY instead of paper trading will make it real, but keep your losses small. 08-21-03 03:35 PM from dbphoenix I posted this elsewhere a day or so ago. It may be helpful, particularly if you remember that even though you may have experience trading, switching to a different type of trading, while not the same as starting from scratch, still presents many of the pitfalls that the usual newbie will encounter: If you're still trying to "find your way", I suggest you forget about discretionary trading for the time being as it requires a certain subjectivity that new and newish traders just aren't capable of indulging in. First, find a profitable strategy that has tolerable risks and drawdowns. If you find a great ES strategy that requires 10pt stops and potential 50pt drawdowns and the thought of that makes you sick, then you need to keep looking for a more compatible strategy. Second, once you've found that strategy, test it yourself, not by "backtesting", but by going over old charts using the bar interval you plan to trade, bar by bar, maintaining a log of your "hard right edge" trades and noting any problems. Third, if everything still looks good, paper-trade it until you show consistency in trading. Don't worry about the money. If the strategy is right and you're consistent in trading it, the money will be there. If you end up trying to second-guess the strategy or "feel" the trades, go back to step one. Fourth, trade it for real. Here's where the discipline issues will come up, either because you get bored or because you haven't nailed down the rules or because you think you're better than the system. Work them out. Go back to three if you have to. Only when you've achieved complete discipline, are able to execute your system flawlessly, are completely consistent in your trading, and can be objective about what you're doing will you be ready to introduce subjectivity into your trading. But, even then, if you get into trouble, you need only back up a step and return to your "comfort zone". You can force discretion into your trading, of course, but you will most likely just postpone that day when you will be completely at ease with your trading. Take the time to build a foundation of discipline and confidence and you'll leave most of your peers in the dust.
here's the quote from nitro: 05-11-03 10:33 PM Re: Advise for new futures trader. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote from Vas62: Hi all. I'm going to start trading ES and/or NQ in a few months. I traded stocks part time since 1999. Not much of profit. Considering it as a learning period. I 'd like to ask you guys to share your experience in trading futures: indicators, software ,brokers,monitors (screen)setup ,what's watched during trading day(besides e-minis of course ) etc. Thank you in advance for your input. Vas62 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Don't trade the ES or the NQ when you first start out. Make your decisions based on them, _BUT_ trade using 100 shares of SPY or 100 shares of QQQ to implement the trade. As you gain confidence, increase your share size. Once you reach 500 SPY or 800 QQQ, you are "ready" for 1 ES or 1 NQ. Best of luck, nitro __________________ Good entries, patient exits, strict discipline on stops, keep costs down, go both long and short - BUT ABOVE ALL, YOU GOTTA DO SIZE
ptt, I like nitro's posts very match, thank you for the info. Any sources that I can find historical INTRADAY charts on the web? happiness to all of you Hamp