I intend to use this account to explore a different approach to trading than I've been doing. I didn't follow this new method strictly during the combine phase. I wasn't trading every day and I was in something of a hurry to pass the combine and get on with it where real money is at stake, so much of my trading in the combine was what I've been used to doing. Now that this account is funded, I'll be trading one specific approach that I've really only tested and traded in sim situations where the money doesn't matter. Since the money does now matter, I am starting with small size. One micro per trade at least through the end of this week. If I stay with that size for a month it doesn't matter to me. I'm trading MES, MNQ, and MGC. I'm not real great and handling multiple instruments when more than one fires a signal at the same time. I screwed up entirely on the MES trade as I accidentally dropped my trailing stop about 8 ticks above where it was intended. That was due to the mechanics of the TopstepX platform and my lack of hand-eye coordination while watching the trade platform with one eye and my ninjatrader charts with the other. Yes, I'm a boob. MNQ was simply me moving my trailing stop too close too soon and the whippy bitch made me pay. Have I mentioned that I'm a boob? The MGC trade was early, pre-market, calm, and I managed it to perfection. If I could trade every trade with the same easygoingness as I did for this one, we'd all be rich because I'd own all the money in the world and I'd be happy to share with you guys. I'm stopping for the day because my cumulative grade for the first three trades is a C- at best. Also stopping because had I managed the MES and MNQ according to my trading plan, I'd be done anyway because both went to full profit target without me. Have I ever told you what a mindf*ck business this trading game is to me? F*ck me. MGC = A+ MNQ = C MES = F In terms of real money, this would be an $820 profit with full size contracts. But the money doesn't matter right now. I started this particular account and this journal to try to force me to fix myself or die of embarrassment trying. A sort of public flogging.
I won't be intentionally trading until the dust settles from the CPI release. I did have an accidental entry on gold before the release on an errant mouse click, which as soon as I realized it I exited. It was MGC and luckily it was an 8 or 9 tick profit. I have a couple of monitors, and I thought the cursor was where it wasn't, and so when I clicked, it entered an order on the TopstepX platform and not a chart on my other screen. It is 8:41, and other than that error, I will not enter any trades until after 9 AM at the earliest. MES and MNQ I'll probably wait for RTH to open.
$97.05 in profits, which would be a $970 day if trading full size contracts. Traded like $hit, tbh. Here is my issue and it is the exact reason I am doing this exercise. I am a scalper, 1 to 2 points in gold, 2 to 6 points ES, 10 to 15 points NQ. Those have been my targets. The market offers so much more, and it does it in such a simple way. But I'm finding that as simple as it is it sure isn't easy for me to follow the new plan. My problem is I still "see" the scalpy set ups. I react to them, which means I let them affect my trade management for the new planned set ups. Better +97 than -97. But better yet would be to be only +50 but with A+ sticking to my process. For those unfamiliar with TopstepX, the above screen grab shows the following. BAL = balance of the funded account. This starts at $0. As profits or losses accumulate, this balance will increase or decrease. If ever it drops to -2000 from the previous end of day balance, I lose the account. MLL = Max Loss Limit. this is the exact negative balance below which I lose funding and have to go back to a combine and qualify all over again. This level will increase until it reaches $0, at which point that will become my fixed max loss limit. RP&L = Realized profit and loss for the day PDLL = Personal daily loss limit. I set this myself. If I lose $1000 in one trading session, the system will lock me out to force me to stop tilting myself to blow up. I have this set to $1000. This is the level I keep it set for when trading 1 full sized mini in 1 market. Since I am trading 3 markets and trading micros, this level should be set to $300, which I will fix after I finish this post. PDPT = Personal Daily Profit Target, I also set this myself. If this level of profit is reached the system will close my positions. It will not lock me out, but given my current trade size, if I reach that level I should be made to look at the time, has the market moved beyond its daily average range, and maybe I should count my baby chicks as hatched and stop for the day. UP&L = Unrealized Profit and Loss on unrealized positions I don't have to wait for the daily loss limit or the daily profit target to be reached. I can stop anytime I want. now I really sound like the degen gambling addict I may very well be lol My grade for the day is based on procerss, not profit. Therefore, my grade for today is a solid big red F
Fixed the PDLL - Personal Daily Loss Limit to $300 from $1000. This way I'd have to go on tilt for 6 whole sessions before blowing up. One final thought about today. I may have overestimated my ability to manage three positions at once. My usual has been to monitor just two, the ES and NQ, and then once one started setting up, I focused on that one to the exclusion of the other. Now I'm trying to do 3. I didn't think it would be difficult since I am not looking for quick scalps. Though some trades might be quick. I might have to cut one of these. I'll see how the rest of the week goes, and if I'm still f*cking up I'll reduce the instruments to 2.
Who am I to say anything, but I just don't understand why you completely changed the strategy that you were using before. You might call it a small change, but before you were showing $1k profits, and now you're showing $100 profits. The idea when going from Sim to Live trading is to trade exactly the same, because then there are less variable to worry about. But it seems like because you are live now, you want to be more "careful", or whatever you call it, but this in my opinion will introduce many unforeseen difficulties. This is another worry. You've proven to be profitable trading a certain way, but you're getting distracted by profits you are leaving on the table. Its like you're not happy with the small profits, so you want to hold for the bigger profits, but we of course know that sometimes you lose the small profit and get nothing. But if the plan it to take the small profits, why torture yourself with how much more you could have gotten? It just seems to me like you are making refinements as you go, and if you happen to hit a roadblock, you won't know what the problem is because you've changed too many factors now. Just my humble opinion that isn't worth much.
Good comments but don't be too hard on him. In reality, it happened to most of us. Been there done that myself. With sim, there is no pressure, allowing us to develop our method. Then we start small and scale up gradually. This way, it is easier on the emotional side of trading by gradually ease into it. I day trade stocks, went live with trading 1 share, then 10, 20.... and hope to reach X shares per trade if everything continues to work.
His comments are shit and so is he. I had to click on the "show ignored content" button to see who you were replying to. Too bad ET doesn't just block ignored users from infiltrating the trading journals of those smart enough to ignore them. When he starts showing anything that shows he makes consistent profits trading, then maybe he'll be worth listening to, but for now I suspect he's a non-trader. At any rate, one trade and done for the day, which is what this approach should be. 1 to 3 trades on 3 instruments. Yesterday was scalpy scalpy and probably hit 100 trades lol I'll be sticking with micros in this account for a while. The poster you replied to is deficient in reading comprehension skills and doesn't understand what is going on here. That's to be expected, as he really should give up and join a knitting forum instead of a trading forum. For anyone else who is too dense to figure out the math of what is going on here, I'm aiming for $50 to $150 gross per day on 1 micro across 3 markets. Once I prove to myself that that is a reasonable expectation and that I am comfortable with the strategy, that will be scaled up to $2500 to $7500 per day gross on 5 mini's across 3 markets.
He is actually one of the good guys, usually meant well. You need thick skins to be around ET. There are lots of pontifications because it is an anonymous forum and some folks are living in their fantasy on ET. I have been called a lier, a loser, an asshole.... Doesn't matter as long as I can learn something and keep on improving. No one needs to know how good a trader I am. Best wishes.