I think this will hurt you even worse. You are going to turing into a nervous jittery amateur! I remember Bolimomo in one of my posts saying that " avge 10 Pts per trade unless you got stopped out, you are scalping!" "you are not intra-day swing trading". Try to ride the trend at least 25-40Pts per trade. I am still not there yet. my avge $ per trade is still looking like a scalper... But I can tell you the whole idea of getting in and take 1 Pts profit then out is very wrong. You will say, no I am going to protect my account. But by doing so is not protecting your account. We are trading one contract, so we have to hold and stayed with some pullbacks. We have to learn to see the price get through the S/R level. We have to watch the profit turned into b/e or stopped out for a meaningless profit. Especially in a first leg move. All these excise are for us to trade 2 contracts. When you have 2 contracts, you will be out one at first major S level. Then scale the other on when move is approaching the end or move doesn't go on your way. Then you would at least get something.-really protect your profits. lately a lot of my trades. I watched it turning profits to tiny profit, b/e and losses. But most of time, it's because it's not the best entry or the setup isn't strong enough. Sometimes the direction is right, but I was scared of getting back in... That's probably why my PnL is so poor now. I hold postion not long enough, sometimes stopped out and didn't get back in. But you just learn from all these situations. And you know how ES usually react. At least that's what I am thinking I am getting now. But getting in and out for whatever 1 tick or 2 ticks, what are you learning? It's a gambler's behavior, you do not want that... This is so true. If you need to do it in SIM. Don't hesitate to do that! I still strong believe lots of nervous and anxieties are due to lack of trading the setups you are really confident with and lack of screentimes. It's like any new job. 6 mon in the job and 1 year in the job, you know the difference. We got to make sure we have enough fund to keep us in the game. If I say, "get used to it, dude", would you be mad at me? "When you lose, you doubt yourself. When you win, you are thinking of you are approaching your goal tomorrow. " I was pretty much about the same too. But now I learned to think everyday's result as random outcome. I focus on the trades. the chart, entry and exit. good trades, bad trades. Daily PnL doesn't mean anything. If my account get hurts to the level I don't allow. I stop. I go back to SIM. There would be less emotions involved if you just focus on your setups and trades and stop setting up a deadline for yourself. Take it easy. Look at a bigger picture! Take rest of week off if you still think of the losses... Next week everything will be very clear! And remember to remind me when I have those "depressing days"...
At any given point in time, there is a trading opportunity, a chance to buy now and sell higher or sell now and buy lower. Price charts offer clues that help you decide which opportunity has a greater chance of succeeding, an entry zone that is more likely to offer a positive reward:risk ratio, and a minimum profit target zone that is likely to be reached. For example if price is trending up you can buy when a pullback finds support at or above the trend line and target a new high, or you can buy at or just above the previous high and target a new high. Your initial target could be based on the average distance price has been moving each time it breaks to a new high. If the last two breakouts moved 2 points higher than the previous highs, target 2 points above the previous high. Another example is when price is moving in a range, you can buy the low of the range and sell the high of the range. The R:R will be better if you position yourself to take advantage of a move in the direction of the trend leading into the range. So if price was trending up and is now in a range, buy the bottom of the range, expecting to eventually catch a continuation breakout. This will help you set profit targets that are likely to be reached. It might be comforting in the short term to take very tiny profits just to feel some "green", but it's a recipe for ongoing frustration. Almost every day I have trades that come within 1-5 ticks of my minimum 20-tick profit target and then reverse to stop me out break even, but if I took profits at 10 ticks, I'd never experience the 30, 40 and 50 tick trades, and my R:R would also be skewed the wrong way.
Tlow, don't beat your self up. I am a perfectionist and it took me a long time to accept the fact that I don't have to catch the exact top or bottom to make money. Last night I was short 37.75, closed it for a minus 1 because I wanted to see confirmation of a right shoulder at 38-40. I felt no emotion by closing it as a loser. I reentered short at 39 on a bracket order to cover at 1128. We hit 1129 and I did not get filled. I still covered at 31.75 and made a profit but it did not bother me that I missed the exact bottom when before that would have ate me up emotionally. Like Nodoji, said, there will always be another trading opportunity. Trading ES is not about how many points you can make, it is about consistency. Trading just one contract is hard because you can't scale out so your choice is to scalp, or let the winner run and risk being stopped out at break even. Average 2 points a day consistently and you will kill it. Please read this book before you trade anymore live money. It will help you conquer the demons within. Good luck http://prismintraday.com/readings/Disciplined_Trader.pdf
Hey guys, THanks for all the tips...pretty cool to see the variety advice given. As a couple of you mentioned I am going to stick to the plan today and not go crazy changing things. Didn't do anything after 3pm yesterday, slept in a bit this morning...feeling better. I think like you guys said, I need to focus on the set-ups and what its giving me and things should work out. Ok..off to go trade. Vol...I've gotten almost through that book you recommended...you gave it to me earlier. Thanks!
Got back on the horse today...a little jumpy but managed ok. I slept in a bit and didnt stress about getting in front of the computer right away. I wasn't watching the market till almost 7:30 so I missed all of the run up. No big deal...today is a recovery day...a new day. I was a bit jumpy today but not as bad as the past couple of days and also felt more relaxed. I took regular breaks during the day, even fell asleep for about 20 mins I realized a couple things over the past 24 Hrs, 1.) I think I focus/concentrate better when Im not sitting in front of the computer for 7 hours straight and 2.) I can't force winners and I especially can't force runners. So with that mindset, I went into the day sticking to my normal game plan...not change anything just pick good set-ups, try and get good entries, and if targets are(n't) going to met use the PA to dictate the path. Today wasn't and amazing trading day by any means but I feel like I turned it around a bit. Here are the trades for the day: Trade 1: 10:18- Long 1128.25 Stop 1127.25 Target 1131.50 10:47- Stopped out 1127.50 -1.00 pts Not a great trade, I was looking to stick with the trend but the problem was I anticipated a midday flat channel forming and that was a mistake. I should've either waited for the channel to actually develop or see what the PA was going to do if it didn't develop. Also, my entry was a bit late, entry should've been at 1128.00. Trade wasn't terrible but really not that good either...I was fine with this trade not working out, really didn't have any emotion towards it other than thinking about what I should've done differently. Trade 2: 12:16- Short 1121.25 Stop 1123.50 Target LOD of 1117.50 12:43- Buy to cover at 1117.75 +3.50 pts So I was away from the computer when price broke down around 11:40, so I was bummed I missed the entry. But I was looking for places to enter and got that similar feeling that I did the other day when I missed a big move...is a pullback going to come? Is another good entry going to show up? How do you guys handle this if it just keeps heading in 1 direction? Do I tell myself, hey, I missed the train, get over it and wait for a good entry? Anyway, there was a slight pullback and then price broke below the previous low so I took that as my entry. Then I started getting super nervous because price turned against me, but I had my stop in place and I told myself I would stick it out. I almost hit the buy button, but instead, I walked away from the computer for 5 mins to chill out and it really helped. Price eventually did hit my target but I got out about 2 secs prematurely. Price was jumping around a bit and I just wanted to take my profits since it was so close to the target. Im still not feeling all that confident but Im glad I was ok with my losing trade and also felt good about the way I handled my emotions when the price turned against me on the second trade. I give myself a "B-" for the day since I didn't go crazy and kept my emotions in check. Total Trades: 2 Winners: 1 Losers: 1 B/E:0 Total Points: 2.50 Avg. Win: $175 Avg. Loss: $50 Total Win: 50% Total Profits: $125
Man what a crappy week. Today was rather unexciting...which I guess isn't such a bad thing. I missed the first breakout trade in the morning, I am still fairly uneasy about trading the first 5-10 mins of the day. Kinda of a bummer I didn't take this trade because it took off pretty good, but oh well...need more experience and screentime to become comfortable with the open. The second trade I missed is my mistake for the day...it was such a slow grind up that there werent a whole lot of breakout opportunties. Around 8:47, I looked to stay with the trend and go long off the bottom of the channel that had formed at 1140.25 with a target of 1143.00. I put in a limit order because I want to get a good entry but I was a bit late putting in the order so I didn't get filled. I didn't chase the trade, I figured I miss out on the entry in a slow moving market so stay out and see what it does. Of course, it grinded up and hit my target. My 1 trade today: 11:46- Short 1144.25 Stop 1145.25 Target 1141.25 12:04- Move stop to B/E 12:47- Stopped out at B/E at 1144.25 +0.00 pts This trade I took as price kept finding resistance in the 1143-1144 range. Again, I wanted to be close to the top of the channel on my entry with a pretty tight stop since if it broke above the HOD it would probably go higher. The choppiness was really hard to read all day. I moved my stop to B/E once the price started going in my direction but I eventually got stopped out, missing the target by 0.50 pts. Kinda a bummer. Not bad though, again, Im going to have to keep track of moving the stops vs leaving in place. So far my stops moving to B/E have been ok, the problem has been more exiting 0.25-0.75 pts early before hitting the target. In the end, Im glad I left my target and held so I can get in the habit of doing that vs just exiting because price is close and I want to lock in profits. I think not letting price go to my targets will definitely hurt me in the long run so I want to break that habit. Here are the stats for the week: Total Trades: 11 Winners: 2 Losers: 5 B/E:4 Total Points: -5 Avg. Win: $55 Avg. Loss: $58.33 Total Win: 30% Total Profits: -$250 Looking at the stats, the thing that hurts are those B/E's...on one of the trades I exited b/c I was jumpy and the other I just watched price reverse and I knew I should've exited, but I hoped/prayed/whatever that it would come back and didn't. Those 2 trades alone would've put me positive on the week. I view this as a positive sign because even though my mistakes were huge on monday, tuesday, wednesday... I really was only 2 trades away, or 2 less mistakes away from making it a positive week. I have to remember its all about singles and the marathon and 1 or 2 bad trading days shouldn't effect my excepted profit over the long run. As I said when I started this journal, I think its still all about the mental and emotional game for me. Bad emotions=bad decisions. Thursday and Friday, I did different things to help control the emotions a bit...like taking regular breaks, walking away from the computer in the middle of a trade (even if for only 1 minute), things like that to give myself a mental break. Here are the stats since starting this journal about a month ago: Total Trades: 50 Winners: 21 Losers: 20 B/E:9 Total Points: 5.75 Avg. Win: $56.20 Avg. Loss: $37.83 Max single trade win: 3.75 pts Max single trade loss: 3.5 pts Total Win: 33.33% Total Profits: $287.50 Still a bit of a roll coaster...thats ok, Im still learning...a lot. I had my max loss this week because of a crappy trade/stupid/emotional mistake. Still haven't caught a nice runner...thats ok also. Again, need to keep reminding myself that runners dont really matter in the long run, consistency matters. I can't force anything and that is what I did this week. On to brighter days next week.
Hey Guys, Im not sure if this is a general question to you "seasoned traders" or just a question for myself. So far, I have 1 trade this morning that went for a B/E, I was up 2 pts and really debated exiting b/c price got stuck but I wanted to stick around and see what happened. Im not sure if its my inexperience not letting me pick the right targets, emotions telling me to get out before my target or what. I guess what Im getting at is I have a bunch of B/E's the past week and half or so. The times I have done well is when I just take the profits of 1.5-3.5 pts, even if it keeps going and if I catch one that runs, great. I feel this is essentially a scalp type program and not what I set out to do originally. However, it feels much more comfortable walking away with 1-3 pts then 0 pts. And my (albiet small) sample size shows more profitability when i take those 1.5-3.5 pts. My current line of thinking is take the 1-2 points and exit with some profit and if the trend/entry signal/whatever shows up soon after I exit, then go back in... My goal is still 3 pts a day. What do you think? Am I more comfortable as a 1-4 pt trader or is it just my inexperience showing through? Or maybe my current lack of confidence?
Hello again! I think you should base your profit target on the time frame that you are trading. Can you backtest your setups and look to see if you can derive an average profit from each? For instance, every intraday double top on lower volume leads to an average 4.25 points profit (not an actual stat, just an example). If you can derive an average, then you might be able to decide on a comfortable place to take the trade off. I know from my own research that my favorite setup averages 3.5 points per trade. Sometimes it's less and sometimes it's more, but through backtesting I have come to expect at least 3.5 points. Down the road when you get to a point where you are trading multiple contracts, you can use your average target as a scale out point, and then hold the rest for more if you feel like the market has more gas in it.