Hi guys. So I've been studying under the wing of Al Brooks for about a year now -- doing a lot of trading in sim, which can only get me so far. I lurk this forum because it's a fun place; very helpful people and killer additions for NT. I decided to get a tad more active here and make a journal to see what kind of responses and advice I'd get. Plus it's a fun place to hold my data to look back and review. I typically do my journal with Snagit and I also have stuff archived there in my trading pc.
Story since beginning trading with cash:
I started using real money about a month ago. I did okay scalping in sim, but when I went live I noticed that it was much more tough due to emotions coming into play more and sometimes getting poor fills on stops, then there's commissions, etc. I was scalping with 100 shares, and maybe I would pull through and carve out a profit over time, maybe not. The stuff I looked for took a lot of patience (could not scale in). I was taking 1-2 tiny trades a day and I sat on the sidelines a lot (was kind of tough to do..). I was up $30 after week 2 of going live (100 shares per trade), but I felt like this wasn't the way to start. I sat on the sidelines so much that I figured I should start getting more involved --- probably by swinging & managing trades like Al suggests for beginners.
I decided to work on my swing skills first and foremost, then work on my scalping and scaling in trades later. I wanted to be in the market more, so I started swinging with 100 shares, but then I began to lose a few times. I went from $30 profit to about -$70 for the account. Not terrible but I had 4 swing losses in a row and I think the emotions were getting to me. I began to have a harder time holding to targets and I wanted to take partial profits at 1:1 RR more often - an okay thing to do in the right context, but I noticed a few of these trades hit my initial 2x target anyway.
I decided to force myself to have to swing -- starting with 25 shares per trade. You can't scalp with 25 shares (unless you're some kind of trading god w/ supreme accuracy). Commissions will eat you alive. You need some distance on your targets to offset commissions. That's an advantage that forces me to get into the habit of holding. Also, 25 shares isn't typically too much risk for me so I feel okay with losing. I can stomach losing $15 a day or so at my worst, spending about $330 a month on learning. I don't think I'll be losing that much, but that's worst case and I'm comfortable with that.
Let's see how it goes.
Goals:
Big Goals:
-Manage a profitable account, even if profits are very small
-Use trading as a healthy practice of stoicism, mindfulness, and opportunity to acknowledge that I cannot control everything
-Always do the right thing at the right time in the market, my opinion of what these things are will constantly evolve
Smaller Goals:
-I am looking to swing trade as Al suggests for beginners, this means I will always try to take profits at around 2x initial risk. I will take actual profits if the condition permits it. I will also just close the trade if always in changes or if there is a credible reversal against my current position.
-On an average daily range of 100-150 cents aka $1.00-$1.50, I'll look for trades with a good chance of a 40 cent or more swing, and exit some or all at 40 cents. With experience, I can scalp out part for 20-40 cents and then swing the balance. If I focus on these setups, I am giving myself a reasonable chance to become a profitable trader. If I find that I am exiting too soon, I will then walk away and come back in an hour and then look at the results. (excerpt from instructions in book, translated from emini to SPY)
That's pretty much it. I'll add to my goals later I'm sure. First trade entry starts today.