<b>I am a scalper</b>. I looked for a cool logo for the word 'scalper' and all I found were Indians, so if you know of one, please share a link. Pacific Time is valid for all trades unless otherwise noted. Limit orders for entry, stop and exit, MIT orders for add orders. Hard exits trail in as profit progresses. I scale in, but do not scale out, so the exit target is the same for both initial entry and add(s). I normally do not exit a trade when an opposing signal appears, unless the trend changes or two opposing signals appear in a row; therefore, I stick with my trade and normally do not exit early.
I should add that the goal of this thread is to make friends with other profitable traders who are halfway or more toward early retirement, and this is a test to see what sort of constructive criticism and support I get from veteran and novice YM/ER2 traders alike. We all have down days. I forgot to mention that I trade with a $300 margin for the YM and $700 margin for the ER2, and that I use equal numbers of contracts for initial and adds. I do not use dollar figures in my totals because some people trade lighter, or heavier, than I do. To correct my first post (locked), hard stop exits trail in as profit progresses.
<b>Two weeks ago:</b> <b>5/12/08: 43 pts</b> +7, +18, +18 <b>5/13/08: 25 pts</b> +7, +18 <b>5/14/08: 25 pts</b> +7, +18 <b>5/15/08: 27 pts</b> +7, +18, -12, +7, +7 <b>5/16/08: 32 pts</b> +7, +7, +18 <b>Week Summary: 152 pts</b>
<b>Last Week:</b> <b>5/19/08: 43 pts</b> +18, +7, +18 <b>5/20/08: 21 pts</b> +7, -4, +18 <b>5/21/08: 32 pts</b> +18, +7, +7 <b>5/22/08: 39 pts</b> +7, +18, +7, +7 <b>5/23/08: 61 pts</b> +18, +18, +18, +7 <b>Week Summary: 196 pts</b>
look forward to your journal...questions: 1-how many YM contacts do you trade per trade?ever go "all in and all out" 2-how many ER2 contracts do you trade per trade?ever go "all in and all out"? 3-how many YM trades per day? 4-how many ER2 trades per day? ...I also trade the YM at $300 daytrade margin...best to you..
I trade between 1 and 40 cars per trade including adds, depending on my system's recommendation. I never go all-in, I always go all-out, since I sometimes scale in but never scale out. The + numbers under each day represent the profit (or loss) from each trade, so usually three or four trades per day. Happy trading!
Since you say you are scaling in up to 40 contracts (and I would guess that your posted results are for YM), what are the results based on? Averged out per contract? Or total points per trade, regardless of number of contracts used?
Can you recommend a book that explains the basics of scalping? From what I gather, risk in scalping is less but upside potential is limited. I could be completely off so I welcome your clarification. I will me checking daily for your jounal updates......trade well! Justin
I'm a scalper as well. Was trading the ER2 but wondering if volume is decreasing now that it will be trading on ICE. Switched to the ES a few months ago. I generally trade the first 2 hrs of the session. I am using a semi-automated system which I developed originally for the ER2. I use market orders for entry and limits for profit targets. I trade all or nothing unless I think there's a serious trend. Then I will increase my profit target. My target is 1 point. As a scalper, it's not practical to auto trade - the slippage will kill you. What's your profit target on the YM? I liked trading the ER2 - you get more bang for the buck. I work with $2500 margin per contract on the ES - I need a higher margin as my stop loss is 2 points. I've been able to maintain about 85% winners. On losing days, I'll extend my trading period into the afternoon to try and get a breakeven point. What chart size are you using? I'm using volume bar charts. I like scalping - it works for me - never liked being in the market all day. Hope you continue to post your results.