this is driving me nuts! ES ES ES

In ES trading I enter on break of bar in my direction (give up .25), then if stop is hit I exit also on break of bar (in opposite direction), that's another .25. So automatically 0.5 points is added to all of my losses!! And my gains are like 1p, 1.5p, 2. 0.5 is like 25-50% of my average gain!!! Just to enter and exit I lose .5 point!!! What should I do? Do you guys know what I'm talking about? Anyone else ever thought along same lines? Am I insane?

 

I enter .25 away from where I "think" I should enter, and exit .25 away from where I "think" I should exit.

-FastTrader

P.S. Trading can lead to insanity

 

Umm... Thats why scalping for 1-2 points doesnt really work. You forgot to add the cost of commisions.

You are playing a losers game where the odds are highly against you.

--MIKE

 

Yeah...I understand.

Only a few solutions to this problem.

1) Develop systems with much larger average win/loss sizes, so that eating the spread becomes a much smaller percentage of each profit/loss

2) Increase you win% rate to make up for that kind of spread eating

3) Develop systems where at least one side (or both) of the entry/exit equation requires the market to come to you. This cuts your slippage in half.


peace

axeman

 

My suggestion is to read the tape a little closer and refine your entry, but always make your exit dirty (pay the spread). If this is a real problem then you need to look to capitalize on bigger moves (3-4 points +) in order to make the slippage negligable.

Goodluck,

 

Tough, isn't it?

 

Switch to NQs

 

Try to sort out your old trades using historical charts, you will find that there are trades that you can take 3 to 5 pts instead of 1.5 to 2 pts.

Now, the question is - can you figure out why that sometimes your setup can take 3 to 5 pts while the other ones cannot.

You can then improve your performance by not trading the lower reward potential ones.

Yes - you will remove some good trades, but the overall effect should improve your bottomline.

 

An interesting opinion, especially coming from someone who chose TrendFader as his login. I think I will never understand what people mean when they say "trend" or "scalping".

 

If paying the spread is your main problem switch to YM where paying 1 pt for the spread on each turn is not as bad.

But I doubt that this will solve all your problems.

TM Trader