Great idea! Got one started. Thanks! I'll plan on putting it on the checklist and mentioning it in this journal sometimes to help build the habit of using it.
Thanks for the download! Something practical to work at. I like it. Thanks! Good suggestions! Thank you!
The trading set ups follow patterns. I have automated parts of it, but felt like I hit a wall with what I was doing with the NT8 strategy builder unless I learn to program. I have settled for using colored indicators as a way to make the set ups stand out visually. It's been a while since I looked at the strategies. Maybe I'll pull them up again and give them another try. Thanks!
I became frustrated with my checklist today and stopped using it for a while, when price was in a choppy area. In hindsight it's much easier to see the choppiness. Went back to my checklist after the choppiness of the first 2 hours of the day and did better and regained my confidence that I do like the ES when it trends, just not when I trade the chop as though it were trending. I need to write up better rules that differentiate between chop and trend and include profit taking and stop loss placement for both. The problem is that I often think the trend will break out from the chop and get chopped up in the process. If I had done more thinking about what I was thinking about in those areas I might have noticed the behavior around the trendline areas and it might have helped make better decisions. When price doesn't behave as I expect it to, I need to be more aware that maybe I need to be more flexible in my thinking....and stay out if not sure. So, the choppy areas I failed in today, BUT, I have a plan to work on it. Demo trading only today.
One more thing I need to write into my plan to remember. The MES will often break the 5 minute top or bottom when the ES will not.
Stayed in demo again. Still need to figure some things out. I made too many minor exceptions to my rules today because I didn't want to wait for a better set up and those trades did not do as well. I did get one excellent trade following a strict interpretation of my rules. Waiting for a good opportunity is really hard, partly because I don't know that a retracement will happen that will give a good opportunity...sometimes if I wait for a retracement, that never happens. I decided to trade the open also, which I rarely do, just for the practice and that also did not go well and I didn't follow the rules then. I need to make up some rules for trading around the first 15 minutes after the open because the volatility is so strong that doing what I do the other times of the day is just asking for my stop loss to be taken. So, before I trade the open again, I need to have a separate plan for it. I'm really surprised at myself that I haven't been able to say each day that I carefully followed my rules. I also need to figure out some changes to my rules as far as stop losses go and re-entries.
Do you guys ever look back at a dozen charts that have simple setups to see how many of them worked and how they performed? https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/charts-for-no-reason.344272/page-25#post-5608406