Volente, I'm somewhat knew to futures trading and YM trading. I think the 20 point stop is a good idea. Through my practice in the past few months using real money; the YM sure likes to take people for a ride and wipsaw them. I really dont understand but thats just the way it is. My shorter stops have had me wipsawed many times. And I often reversed then had the YM reverse back in the original direction so I'm double downed. I'm still working on my trading strategy; I really didnt have a stop loss; like a 20 point stop. I would use T.A. to determine a stop. You said you went from a 40% to a 80% win ratio when you implemented the 20 point stop rule. I might try something like that also see how it works. I'm still trying to figure out which time frame works the best for me; seems like when I play the 5 min time frame or less; thats when I get wip-sawed and faked out. But then again when I play the 10 or 15 min charts I miss on some of the explosive moves the 5 min charts give If you dont mind volente what do you use to determine entry exit points? Trenlines, candles? mov avg? rsi? 2b tops and bottoms?
JMowery1987 , Thats cool JM you want to get into trading at your age; I didnt even know what stock or futures trading was when I was 18. Really good thing about posting trades R/T (and if you put why you made the trade also). Is even if you are wrong which well most people are wrong most of the time; (I think volente must be one of the rare ones because not many people can get a 80% win ratio). Is that you can learn alot from your trades even when you are wrong and having them out there for people to see tends to make it even more so.
I cant day-trade right now else I would be putting trades down here (to help learn). I did make 2 option trades; ie I just wanted some money in the market and since I cant trade the YM; why not some options I need to refine my trading strategy; ie in the past month I saw some nice option plays but; got out too soon. And I could of ended up making a killing on them if I would of stayed in. But live and learn.
Exactly. I'd consider this the equivelant of posting on your own personal blog website. Why lie to people, unless have a lot of people viewing your stuff, and are trying to sell a product. More scams. I can't say I will have a good % win ratio, but with the help of my mentor, I know I will be successful. It's just hard being limited to 45 to 50 minutes of the last hour to trade. I am beyond fortunate, and even more greatful to be able to trade as young as I am. I don't think it is actually in the rule book for someone that is so underfunded to take these risks. But so many people around here, would not be willing to do so, so I'm doing it for real. A mentor, has completely changed the way I trade and really shown to me how much more simple it is to identify good trades, but it is the emotions that really have to be under control to be a good trader. So i'm axious to start trading. Monday after next I SHOULD be set-up. I can't imagine how many 18 year olds can actually say they trade in any market. It's the best thing to happen in my life so far, it's something I enjoy doing and can see myself doing. I'm still in highschool, and my weekends are miserable because no markets are open
Well even thou you cant trade for the full day; least you are getting your feet wet. I think most people cant trade the full day (ie job) unless they are so good trading is their job. I dont know if its advised (you can ask your mentor); but you could hold overnite and set a stop. But that could leave you open to more risk then perhaps you want. ... just trying to come up with some ideas What program are you going to use to trade JM; did you say esignal? Mind sharing some things your mentor is showing you?
Quote from ripcat: Traders . How many pts do you most of you guys use for stops? Is 5 to tight for YM? Anyway tips would be helpful. I try to keep a hold on my risk factor but at times I seem to get bumped out too soon. [/QUOTE] I find YM has average noise of 10 , so thats what I use. Anything smaller and the stopout frequency increases considerably. This is how I trade the YM. Lets say based on extraneous market conditions I'm looking to go long. First, I look at where the Major support level is below the current price. Then I use the distance from the current price to (support+noise) to calculate how many contracts I should trade. If the price is close to or at support, I'll scale in with large number of contracts. If the price is far away from major support and close to a major resistance I'll wait. and see what happens at the resistance area. Demand will mean a new consolidation at the R area which turns into a new short term support, so I'll go long with less contacts.
How is it possible for the noise be 5 10 15 20 points? Isn't noise depend on a time frame? 10 points for 1 min time frame is not a noise.
Exactly. Use statistical "detrended" analysis to adjust your stops and also you might "loosen" your stops as profit accumulates(Risk adjusted). But on entry I like tight stops. It helps me psychologically and also my entry system is not a single contract.