My daytrading charts

2011-11-23T13:19:00.000-08:00

I managed a couple entries this morning...

A couple mistakes here.
The first trade I should not have taken. It was a marginal setup at best. I should not have taken it.

My main rule: "You know what it looks like... WAIT FOR IT!"

But then, my second entry, I might have moved the stop a little tighter than I should have partially, I think, because I was afraid of another full loss. If I had kept the initial stop where it was and trusted my setup, which was a great one, I would have had a good trade.

Life goes on. I will be back next week.
Off to the big city to have Thanksgiving with family... It's looking like the roads will be good, no big snowstorms predicted, so that will be nice.

2011-11-23T03:55:00.001-08:00

I was unable to trade in the morning but came in after lunch.
I was happy that I was able to sit through the see-saw, up and down stuff right after lunch...
I had orders in briefly a few times but pulled them right away when my setups dissolved.

I finally made one trade when price made a LL and looked ready to stretch out.
It ended up being a 4 tick gain. I should have gotten right back in on the next failed HH but I missed it. Not paying attention or something. That wouldn't have amounted to much either, a few more ticks, but it should have been taken.

Overall, I am feeling much more relaxed, (I know it's paper trading, but usually it hits me the same).
My breathing keeps me relaxed and focused. I'm feeling a lot better about sitting for an hour and not taking a trade...waiting for what I need to see...

This is probably a weird week, volume seems low. I will probably not try anything tomorrow.

Winter has set in here. A few inches of snow that seems to be staying which means the ground is getting cold. Some of the lakes are frozen over already...

The main rifle deer hunting season has come and gone. I don't hunt anymore and the idea of dressing up in blaze orange and going into the woods seems comical to me now. But now the dogs will be finding piles of deer parts and guts in the woods and barfing all over the floor at night. I don't like deer hunting season anymore.

My son started his hockey practice a couple weeks ago with the first games being over the coming weekend here.

The initial shock of winter has subsided somewhat but it seems to take a little longer every year...

...a little off topic, I guess. Here's my chart.

2011-11-22T03:46:00.000-08:00

I am finding time again to do some day trading. I have given it a lot of thought and I really feel I am in a better place now for this and I really need to make it work. I have a very simple plan now and, if I exercise the patience to wait for my set-ups, I should do just fine.

I am paper trading now, (for the NQ trades in my day-trading account). Hopefully by the first of the year I will have shown enough consistency that I can make the move to real. I am just trading one contract of the NQ. If I can make that work them I will think about increasing it, but, for now, just one contract.

Today started off with a particularly good trade, which is nice, but it's important not to think that's how things will always go. I exited because one of my management rules is to just take the profit if I ever hit ten points. This blew through the ten before I realized it so I was going to wait it out a bit, but once it started balking, I just bailed.

2011-09-02T03:21:00.001-07:00

2011-07-28T04:27:00.000-07:00

2011-07-26T14:36:00.001-07:00

2011-07-23T12:48:00.000-07:00

2011-07-18T13:40:00.001-07:00

2011-07-15T04:44:00.001-07:00

2011-07-13T03:56:00.000-07:00

2011-07-09T05:25:00.000-07:00

2011-07-08T04:15:00.000-07:00

2011-07-06T13:59:00.000-07:00

I'm just not able to trade much these days, I have to much other stuff going on, but I am going to continue to mark up charts showing the set-ups in my plan so that I can learn to recognize the nuances of the patterns.
Here are charts from the last couple days.

2011-06-29T13:44:00.000-07:00

I wasn't going to look at charts at all today, but decided to turn them on later. This was the only "to plan" setup that happened and I missed it...

2011-06-28T16:30:00.001-07:00

2011-06-27T15:09:00.000-07:00

2011-06-22T17:18:00.000-07:00

Looking back at all my charts over the last year...
I'm going back to my old way of looking at things. An 800 tick chart and a 110 tick chart.
I don't know why I keep trying to change, but this setup always seems to resonate with me and I need to stick with it.
Here is a trade from Monday:

...and here are a couple charts from Tuesday 6/21/11:

2011-06-08T06:01:00.000-07:00

I made a good trade today. I was just watching the charts on the side, not really planning on trading, but I saw a setup developing so i took the trade. It would have been better if I had taken the next on as well, but i was needing to get on with some other things.
I think my new setup will work, but I need to find time to trade it somehow. I am in the process of writing up the points for the plan so I can put it all down on paper. I think it will be much simpler than my last plan, (which I thought was pretty simple already). For me, simplicity is key. Then i just have to wait...

2011-05-28T17:54:00.000-07:00

So... I've been thinking about this whole conversation on Big Mikes about threads about teaching a method or whatever it is we know...
It occurs to me, (well, a few have mentioned it), that teaching might be a good way of learning myself.

I'm not going to suffer under the confines of that competition or anything, so I will not attempt to play by the rules. I will just keep going with this thread and then I can post if and/or when I want and not have to think about it.

I don't have a lot of time to trade right now, so most of my charts will be marked up after the fact with my setups and trade areas and comments, (I am still trying to work this out for myself). But hopefully here and there I will be able to spend some time actually hunting for a setup in real time.

I will discuss my plan as I go further, (it is really simple), but most of my text will be on the charts to keep it easier to follow rather than having to go back and forth between text and charts...

that said, here are some charts from yesterday...
...and again, this is more for myself than anything. There is really nothing new to learn here...

2011-03-13T05:51:00.000-07:00

I haven't been posting here in a while now.

It';s just too much work to post in too any place and I was trying to keep links going to the TL forum and... well, just too much work.
I have been posting a journal now at Big Mikes.
I don't know if I will have any further interest in TL forums. I think there is only so much one can get out of that stuff.
Ingot certainly added a bit of life there when it seemed to be dying fast, but I think is still on it's way down.
For me, it's not really about that, I just think at some point we need to take the bull by the horns and go on our own.

I don't post on any of the discussion forums at Big Mikes either. Just keep my journal there. Why? who knows?
I'm sure that will change at some point too.
I'm sure at some point I will pick it up here again, but for now, I am going for simplicity...

2011-03-03T04:08:00.000-08:00

2011-02-25T12:59:00.001-08:00

2011-02-24T15:11:00.000-08:00

2011-02-24T03:57:00.000-08:00

2011-02-22T14:24:00.000-08:00

2011-02-17T13:58:00.000-08:00

I missed a couple today...

2011-02-16T14:09:00.000-08:00

I have been busy and unable to trade this week till today. I came in for the afternoon session.
Here are some charts.

2011-02-11T12:51:00.000-08:00

2011-02-08T14:38:00.000-08:00

2011-02-03T03:33:00.000-08:00

I need to learn to just look at the longer time frame chard till something develops. My setups for entry on the 110 tick chart should only be considered if miss the preferred entry on the 800 and there is s strong move in the desired direction. Two trades today... two losers...

2011-02-01T11:30:00.000-08:00

I did not trade at all last week. Yesterday I watched charts later in the day but was not able to see a trade so stayed out. I was happy with myself for being able to do that.

Today I made a good trade. I was very happy with my performance, I felt confident and waited for it patiently:

2011-01-22T04:36:00.000-08:00

Felt good about my trading yesterday. The first one was not good. I need to learn to stand aside when there is just apparent congestion. The trend was up on the 800, but we were just stalling out here. I was basically trying to guess which way price would move out of it and jump in early:

The next trade was the right one, after price had shown it's intention. All I could do then was jump in on the 110 trend after a slight touch of the MA:

Another good one. Same kind of deal, price was in congestion after a long day of down, (that I wasn't there for), but this time I waited for the break and then jumped in on the 110 chart after it had shown it's intention and a PB to the MA. I was happy with myself for waiting this on out:

2011-01-19T14:20:00.000-08:00

A good trade today:

2011-01-14T14:06:00.000-08:00

I made one trade today.
It was a perfect set-up. the kind I am supposed to be waiting for. But it didn't work out.

I only lost a tick. I was very happy about this trade because I waited for it and executed it very well and managed it good. I had to leave after this so had no opportunity to take the next trade.

...and my equity curve looks no better. But I feel I am ready to turn the corner...

2011-01-12T14:19:00.000-08:00

I haven't yet learned how to avoid these. It doesn't look like that bad of a setup. The only thing I can figure is maybe I should have been more cautious because it had already been a long run and this was a good area for support:

I don't think I'll be able to trade much tomorrow.

2011-01-11T18:41:00.000-08:00

First trade I jumped the gun a bit. I have been trying to watch the 4 tick range and taking the entry off the break of that, but my old 16 tick is still the ticket. I can't forget about that. It looked like a strong trend and I think I had the right idea, I just jumped too quick. A TL on the 16 had been broken, but no real LL there yet. If the entry is taken like that, I should have gotten out right when a LL couldn't be made:

My next trade, the formation wasn't the best, but it was good enough and the location was absolutely picture perfect. Only problem with this one is I got out to quick. That is a result, I think, of having a loss to begin with and wanting to break even for the day. In this case, I could have done a lot better. But still, with only on contract, all in and all out, I think being quick to not give back profits is important too.

2011-01-10T15:10:00.000-08:00

Three bad trades right off the bat. One stipulation in my plan is that if I make three trades the same direction in a row and they are all losers, I will quit for the day. Today, then, I was done trading after the first ten minutes. Very frustrating. I watched the market for another hour or so, then went off to do other things.

I got a demo account started. I said I wasn't going to do that again, but I need to get a grip on this before I do any more damage. I will work with the demo account and I am going to make one change, I am going to look more at range charts for my two bigger pictures and keep the 16 for now for the entry...

Here's my chart for the day:

2011-01-08T11:11:00.000-08:00

I don't know why, but I felt a little tense starting out today. I decided I needed to breath through it. It's just a little feeling in the gut. It might have more to do with thinking about other things I need to be doing. I need to re-focus on trading and think of it as something that needs doing.

At 8:59 I almost took a short that looked real good. Would have ended in a scratch or loss.

Then, at about 9:10, there was a nice setup for a long that I didn't take. I just felt jittery. Wasn't sure and there was a pretty good resistance line here. I felt we would be making a top here and in my brain, that's what I was looking for... a short... Here is that chart:

I took two shorts that were losers just a bit later for that very reason. The formation was good on the 110, but not so clear on the 800. I wrote on my pages at the time that this was a good formation, and it was... on the 110, but I probably should have held off. The trend was hard to read, but on a longer term range chart, we were in a wide range with more room to the upside. These were unfortunate trade though. It's hard to say if I could avoid these in the future... Probably just by somehow identifying this as congestion and sitting aside.
Here is that chart:

I almost quit after that, but decided I needed to work through this. I was right about price eventually breaking down, it just wasn't there yet and there was no clear signal at the top to get short...

Here's a chart that shows the optimal place to get short, with my 16 tick too, but there was no clear signal and it would still have been counter trend, but we did have my formations where I was trying to short, followed by a HH that faltered... A lot of times my formation that I am looking for is not the end in itself, but a warning sign for, in this case, a failed HH, so maybe this would have bee a good place to be considering the entry:

Here's where I got short and had a relatively OK trade, though probably could have gotten a few more ticks out of it if I hadn't been struggling with those earlier losses:

I stopped trading after that...

2011-01-06T13:52:00.000-08:00

My first trade was a long at 9:06 or so. I was happy that I had noticed that I should be looking for a long instead of the short that I had been focusing on. There was a longer term LL and I was thinking there would bwe a failed HH in here somewhere, but I suddenly realized the 800 was making HHs and HLs, and I should be looking long. I got in at the break of the high between the DB on the 110. I might have tightened my stop a little too quick, but it worked out for the best this time. Lost a tick on the trade.
Looking at it now, I can't see any reason why I wouldn't take this one again.

The next one is possible a little more questionable, but I still think it was a good trade looking at it frame by frame. Price had broken higher and I had no reason to think it wouldn't continue up, there was no visible resistance that I could see for a while. I managed it well, keeping damage to only one tick.

I felt I did a good job of staying relaxed and focused today. I sat back or upright in my chair and kept my breathing deep.

I quit trading at 9:45 today. Only an hour and 15 minutes...

2011-01-05T15:18:00.000-08:00

The first trade was a long at a break just before the open. I am still not sure if it is a good idea to trade before the open or to wait, but it seemed like the market was starting to pick up so I didn't think it would matter with a good setup. I could have kept my stop a little tighter but then on the next trade I was wishing I had kept it looser. That's a tough one. Once I get to 8 ticks profit, I want to be at BE+1 for sure, and I had 8 on this. It came down and would have hit my stop no matter where it was, so I was just aggravated I didn't get another two ticks out of it... The one I should have taken is the next one where we were failing a LL.

This next one was a good breakout of a breakout setup. This one I should have left the stop below last low on the 110. Maybe I would have done a little better if I were quick enough to get out at the failed HH. Maybe not.

I was a little excited at this point, trying to stay breathing deep. I got up and took a little break.
I was not comfortable taking any more longs here as I was thinking, with a LL longer term, that a HH would fail and the trend would stop. It never did while I was watching. At 9:21, I had to leave.

2011-01-04T16:44:00.000-08:00

I was ready to trade today and I think did a good job of staying focused and relaxed, waiting for the trade.
I could have gotten in a little earlier looking at the 16 tick chart, but was taking more the break-out entry after it broke the little LL on the 110 and after it made a failed break-out attempt out of the range to the upside. I was determined to get out right away if it couldn't make a new LL, and I mean blasting right on through, that is what I did. It looked to me like it was setting up to hang in this range.

My son walked in as I was making the trade and started talking to me. That was another reason I got out with out thinking too much. My concentration had been broken. It turned out OK, I had my stop moved by that time and likely would have been stopped out, but it's that next failed HH that I would have liked to short, though the setup was not as good.

2010-12-17T13:05:00.000-08:00

I thought these were both good trades. With the long term trend and at good support level. The momentum looked like it would carry it through the HOD again and at least make a try for the top if not bust through. Seemed worth the risk.

2010-12-16T13:46:00.000-08:00

I think this was a good trade. with the longer term trend on the 800, looked like and ABCD correction after a HH, then a HH on the 110 followed by a PB to the TL after a little HH. The entry was good and the management was good keeping the loss to only 2 ticks. Good waiting and good formation. I don't think there was any reason not to take this trade...

2010-12-11T04:18:00.000-08:00

What with fighting more snowfall and a 25 year old snow blower that needs constant repair and all the other work I needed to do this week, Thursday and Friday I did not trade at all. I managed to watch charts for a while on both days, but nothing interesting seemed to be happening and I couldn't stay focused...

As a result, of course, my equity curve has not changed much. Here it is anyway:

2010-12-08T16:28:00.000-08:00

I sat down and started right away. That is not necessarily a bad thing by itself, but if I would have taken time to just watch for a while, I probably wouldn't have taken any of these trades. The first two, however, are understandable, being a good resistance level, but I just tried to push it too soon. What I did right on those was to tighten the stop up so that the damage was minimal.
The 3rd trade, there was no excuse for. I was so focused on seeing a short, I jumped into that one blind. I saw it just as it started to move and got out with only a tick loss. Again, even though i made a mistake, I kept losses to a minimum and that is good...

2010-12-07T18:02:00.000-08:00

2010-12-06T13:08:00.000-08:00

I wasn't sure if I would be able to watch charts today, but after a couple hours in the shop I decided to take a break from that and take a look.
The real entry point I missed but I managed to get in on a little PB after the break to the downside seemed to be in place. I think my thoughts are all marked out on the chart. Here it is:

I felt good about that. Exit could have been a little better, but I felt good about how well I waited for it and then recognized the entry when it came up.

2010-12-03T18:05:00.000-08:00

I didn't manage to find time for the rest of the week to do any trading or even watching of charts. I am backed up on some projects that need to get done.
So, my equity curve didn't do much but here is it anyway:

I did mark up some charts this evening for what it's worth:

So that's it for now. Hopefully I will be able to get some hours in next week.
We have been getting a lot of snow here, so I have reconnected with my snow blower. Winter has definitely come for good. Between shoveling snow and getting a kid to hockey practices and games and doin the other stuff that needs to get done, (my job), I have been a little short on chart time. I'm sure it will come back, I just have spurts like this...

2010-11-30T15:37:00.000-08:00

I thought this was a good trade nd looking it over, I can't imagine why I would not take it. I think I would do it again if it came up. The only thing is maybe it is the 6th wave in that run and maybe I should have been more leary, but it formed up real nice on the 16 tick at what looked like a good support level so I felt I had to take it.
A smaller issue is that it hadn't broken the TL on the 110, but I felt the formation of a bottom was worth overlooking that.
I think I did a good job on this trade. I watched for a while longer, but didn't come up with anything worthwhile. I turned the screens off about 9:50 and went to work.

I may not trade at all tomorrow, I have some other things to take care of...

2010-11-29T13:59:00.000-08:00

Iwatched charts for only about an hour and a half this morning.

I got short here. The trend was strong and I missed most of it, but price had broken a TL and dispite the threat of a dbl btm here, I felt it would continue downward, at least for a while. I watched the 16 tick chart for my entry and got an adequate formation there.

I still had my ATM set at an all out at 8 ticks and forgot to cancel that order, so I was out right away with 8 ticks profit. I would have made a few more ticks if I had managed it properly, thought it would not have been a home run, (which is not what I am really after, I'm just mentioning it).

Overall, I thought I did a good job of not getting flustered by the couple trades I missed and waiting out this one without being impatient.

I tweaked my back over the weekend and it was making me uncomfortable and I had some other work that needed to be done so I shut off the charts and took care of things elsewhere...

2010-11-24T06:20:00.000-08:00

I've decided if I want to pursue the life I desire, I will have to make this profitable somehow. I have been doing this a long time with no good results. I am not sure how to go about this but it is obvious to me that I have the ability to recognize the place where I should enter the trade and so I know it can be done. The reason I am not profitable is almost always one of two things; I get in early and get stopped out before the move and then don't have the guts to take the next entry or I exit voluntarily because I get scared and then the move happens without me. But for the most part, I am thinking the right thing at the right time I just miss it somehow.

I have a new simplified plan.
I will keep a journal of notes as the trades are happening so that I can remember how it went down and record a summary on my trade record journal.
I will maintain a positive attitude and try to recognize when I am not in the proper frame of mind and quit trading.
I will trade a real account with real money. I don't care about the money, I just want to trade consistently and profitably.

These are my thoughts for going forward. So far.

This journal is only for myself. Other people will look at it because I will probably post the link in chat rooms, but that is only to make myself somehow accountable, (even though I am not sure if it really does that at all), but I will not listen to advice from well meaning comments unless they conform with my plan. I know what I need to know and what I need to do, now I just need to DO IT!

2010-11-17T04:02:00.000-08:00

I decided to take this whole week off. I have too much other stuff to do and it's just too hard to focus on the charts...
Hopefully I can catch up on stuff and get back to it next week.

I think I need a little break anyway...

2010-11-13T05:07:00.000-08:00

I had to work the last few days so didn't even look at charts till after hours. I think i only made three trades this week, all losers, for whatever reasons.
The equity curve looks sick and dying.:

I always debate weather I should be trading on contract or two and take and early profit and let one run. I think I will take a third approach and trade one, but let it run as if it was the second in the pair. This will keep my losses on the full loss trades to a minimum. There will be those that are stopped near BE or whatever, but at least I will be able to take advantage of the big runners, which I often could have had on my 8 tick winners.

My full losses rarely see more than a couple ticks to the good before that fall back. My winners seem to be good ones that move pretty well after leaving the gate. In other words either I am right or I am wrong. Anyway, most of my entries are in the right place, just not in the exact point. I just need to keep plugging along.
I think my problem is in the management, not the execution.

No trades yesterday...two today

2010-11-10T14:26:00.000-08:00

2010-11-08T15:01:00.000-08:00

2010-11-06T04:31:00.000-07:00

Overall, I came out ahead this week by $4.80. I'm debating weather to go back to trading two contracts and taking 1st profits at 6 or so and then having one to let run. Then, when I do get that one runner, it would make up for some losses. But then, the losses would be twice as much... I think, until I establish consistency, I will stay with one contract and just take the 8 ticks when I get it. If I could manage to wait for the good trade, I would be right more than 50% and I should come out ahead. I'm not really thinking of making money here, just establishing some consistency with my trading using real money in a real account and hopefully not blowing out.

I have to say, I'm starting to get a lot calmer about trading real money. Thought the loosing days still leave me in a funk... I don't know if I will ever become successful at this. It might be just a huge waste of time. In my day job I generally bill out at $35.00 - 40.00 and hour. If I had worked all these hours over the past 12 years or so instead of trying to learn to trade...

Lets see... If I say I average two hours a day on trading and go ten years to keep it conservative, (and I'm sure that would be conservative), that would be 520 hours a year, 5200 for the ten year period. Let's say $35.00 an hour would get me to $182,000.00. That is a conservative figure of what this education has cost me so far. That doesn't include books and paying scammers, probably several thousand more. Wow. That's a sobering thought... I wonder why I keep doing this? What makes me think I will succeed?

I wonder if I really care anymore weather I succeed? It seems like it is just something I do now...

I had no trades on friday, I had other stuff to do. Here are my trades for the week:

Here is my equity curve now:

2010-11-04T12:52:00.000-07:00

2010-11-03T14:27:00.001-07:00

2010-11-02T13:53:00.001-07:00

2010-11-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

2010-10-29T15:50:00.001-07:00

2010-10-28T18:40:00.001-07:00

2010-10-27T17:00:00.000-07:00

2010-10-26T18:10:00.000-07:00

I didn't make a trade today. I watched for a while. Maybe I'm a little gun shy now, but I really didn't see any set ups. I realized my setups don't occur that often and my losses come when I try to force them. I think I will just try to take one trade per day and then let it go.

I often make another trade thinking it will be the one but I often push that second one too. If I say I am only going to make one trade, maybe it will force me to wait for "the" trade rather than try to force trades that aren't there.

ARGHHHHHH!!!!!!

2010-10-25T14:31:00.000-07:00

2010-10-24T04:47:00.000-07:00

I only traded one day last week and it was a disappointment. It was a busy week with other stuff.
Hopefully this coming week I will be able to do a little more.
I still try to look over the charts every evening and see where I would have likely taken trades...

2010-10-20T16:53:00.001-07:00

no trades today... other stuff happening

2010-10-19T14:13:00.000-07:00

...and now for the two steps back...
I was distracted here with some other things. I should not have done this, although, even in hindsight, they don't look that bad.

Other stuff to do today,

2010-10-18T14:45:00.001-07:00

...so no trading.... Dang!

2010-10-16T04:18:00.000-07:00

No trades on Friday. I had too much other stuff going on.
Here is my equity curve after that past week. Nice little poke through the 20MA. We'll see if we can get something going now...

2010-10-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

I watched the charts for a long time today and eventually found a good opportunity. I was happy with how I stayed on the sidelines till something came up, though I did have a couple close calls...

Here is my one trade:

No trades today...

2010-10-13T14:22:00.000-07:00

I watched for a while but nothing came up. Even looking back over the charts now, there isn't much I would have been able to trade. The set-ups I watch for were just not happening. It's best I walked away.

2010-10-12T13:56:00.000-07:00

One winner today:

2010-10-09T04:42:00.001-07:00

No trades today....other stuff goin on.
Here is my equity curve after this week:

2010-10-07T14:11:00.000-07:00

2010-10-06T14:14:00.000-07:00

I should just take my 8 ticks when I get it. This turned from a good trade to scratch.

2010-10-05T13:06:00.000-07:00

Once again...too soon. Should have waited for a HH before looking for an entry...

2010-10-04T13:33:00.000-07:00

I think these were all good trades...I waited and managed them well. I don't know what else I can do...

2010-10-02T04:20:00.000-07:00

Another week and one step forward, two back. Can't seem to stop the slow bleed.
I think what I do wrong a lot is take the trade too early. Even on the days that I come out ahead, I have a looser first. I need to wait till I'm sure and if I miss it, just let it go. On this last day I took two trades that were losers. there was nothing really wrong with these two trades, but when that last one set up, it was really a good looking one. I was very confident that one would work out, but I had just come off of two losers so brought my stop to BE+1 a little to quick...afraid of another looser, instead of keeping it over the last high on the 110. And there you have it: stopped out before the move.... Whatever...

And my equity curve now:

2010-09-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

I got scared and bailed early on this one. Should have stuck with my normal management plan, it would have worked out well.

2010-09-29T11:44:00.000-07:00

2010-09-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

I watched for an hour or so but missed the trade when it happened. I clicked but for some reason my trade strategy was set to 0 instead of 1 contract.... By the time I fixed that, it had moved past my entry price. I thought of getting in anyway but no...
After that, I had some other things to do so went out in the shop for a while...

Dang again...

2010-09-27T13:37:00.000-07:00

On the above chart; I had no business trying these longs. Unless there was something else setting up, I should have been interested in shorts, though probably would have been waiting for a better PB.

2010-09-25T04:46:00.000-07:00

I don't know if this way will work, taking profit at 8 ticks every time, but it's the only way I can see to practice entries and keep losses to a minimum and use real money. This week, since I started this approach I have had three trades that hit target and 6 that missed. Total winnings are 24 ticks, total loosings are -14 ticks. So a total profit of 10 ticks. Unfortunately this is NQ so a tick is not much more than commission so a profit of 10 ticks on 9 trades gives me a total profit of only about 6 bucks.... still, I had some mistakes and if I can get my hit/miss ratio to somewhere near 50%, I should be able to show a profit.
Here are my trades for the week and equity curve as of this morning.

2010-09-24T12:32:00.000-07:00

No trades today...

2010-09-23T13:41:00.000-07:00

Meetings all day, didn't get back in till 2:30... So, no trades...

2010-09-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

2010-09-21T14:31:00.000-07:00

That first one was a great entry but I moved my stop to BE+1 instead of leaving it over the last high on the 110.
The second two trades, I would take again, I think. I don't see any reason why I wouldn't;t take those again...

2010-09-20T12:20:00.000-07:00

2010-09-18T04:48:00.000-07:00

I think I have it figured out now, I just need to keep going forward. The idea of having definite rules and a system is OK, but, as I always suspected, all is ultimately discretionary. So may subtleties and things you just see from experience. You can see it in all of the experienced traders charts...even guys who say they take every set up, you could look at their charts and find ones they didn't take and the reason would be something they couldn't quite put their finger on. I think the key is using real money and just keeping losses to a minimum and just keep plugging away...

The only thing I might try differently going forward is to take eight ticks profit every time and just let it go at that. Since I am just trading one contract, I need to maximize the profits on that one and it seems like, in trying not to let a profit turn to a loss, I am stopped out very often with only a tick or two and my good trades when I could have taken the 8 and let it go. Sure there are those that go and make a big sudden move, but they are rare and the ones where I already gave back the 6 or 8 ticks far offset them.

I am really not trading for profit here, but for consistency. Once I can get that down, I could trade 2 contracts and take the 8 ticks on the one and have one left to try for the larger move. Most of my stops are 5-7 ticks so if I can keep my success rate at 50% or more I should at least maintain and possibly show a steady small profit....

Anyway, here is my equity curve as it stands now. The orange line is a 20 MA.

just one trade today...

2010-09-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

No trades today...

2010-09-16T18:53:00.001-07:00

No trades today. I came in later in the day and watched for an hour. Just didn't see anything...

Wednesday.... 9/15/10

2010-09-15T13:03:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 9-14

2010-09-14T13:03:00.000-07:00

Two trades today. I think they were both good trades...I waited well and executed properly and managed the stops well. But, in the end a scratch day:

9/13/10

2010-09-13T14:09:00.000-07:00

I watched in the morning a bit and didn't see anything... Came back in the afternoon and found this one.
Again... trading only one contract, I am getting out at the first sign of trouble. Soon, hopefully I will trade two and then I can sell one at a first target, which would have been the resistance point here and then hold the other one and see what happens...

no time for trading today

2010-09-09T19:04:00.001-07:00

Other stuff to do...

Wednesdays trade...

2010-09-08T14:22:00.000-07:00

Keeping the stop way looser would have netted a bit more but not much. When I am only trading one, I am going to keep things tight. I think this one worked out real well...

Tuesday september 7th

2010-09-07T13:39:00.000-07:00

I didn't have a lot of time to watch charts today, but I managed one trade and then watched the good one go by...

Two trades again today...

2010-09-03T14:20:00.000-07:00

Two trades again today.
I keep thinking I should wait for the 2b, but you don't always get that.
Still, maybe it would be good to wait for...
Anyway, I came out ahead today, though not by much:

9/2/10

2010-09-02T15:26:00.000-07:00