Your ES comments are exactly why I trade the "accordion" trade management with the ES (dynamic position) and I trade fixed position size, entries, and stops on the ER2/NQ/DAX. My discretionary trading account is up 3.6% for the month of November. My automated accounts are beating my discretionary accounts so far this month as usual.
This volatility requires larger than usual stops, but then that requires smaller than usual size (at least if one wants a steady equity curve!). The way I see it, if I keep my stops the same for all market conditions, I'll get chopped (or should I say, STOPPED) to death on days like Friday (Thursday was not a walk in the park either, and neither wasthe previous Friday). I'll admit it: I really DON'T make more on choppy and highly volatile times than I do on choppy and less volatile times. Contrary to all of the spam emails that flood my Yahoo account, smaller size is sometimes a good thing!
Volatility is the day traders dream. If you can not make the money in a volatile market then you should give up trading. I trade future S&P e-min and up over 120% this month and in July and August I went over 200% for each month. Also those 2 months were very volatile. Volatility will bring out more of your best signals. Best signals shows up less in lower volatile market. That is why many pro traders, like a volatile market better than a normal market.
Over 200% in July, over 200% in August, and over 120% so far this month......Great % gains, but they're meaningless without also mentioning your account size. So how much are you trading with?
Exactly. Early November has been an almost exact replay of mid-August. Since we are talking ** Zero Sum Game **, a lot of people made windfall profits in August. The same people cleaned up last week. If you lost money in August - you should have evolved enough to be making money in November.