Hi futures.io (formerly BMT), not posted much since the first month - trying to get grips with futures for about a year (I have traded Forex, reasonably successfully, part-time for about 2 years). Here's some background....
I decided early 2014 to look at Futures as I felt Spot Forex was 'missing something' - Real transparency in volumes and my timing on a lot of trades needed refining - I delved into the 'Dark Art' of VP/TPO's & Order Flow.....
I started for about 6 months with NT, tried 10's (100's?) of bespoke indicators (thanks for all the fantastic futures.io (formerly BMT) support in this area) but found it to be a bit unstable and I never got around to using the GOMI stuff as I was conscious of my inability to manipulate the data and I was changing stuff (indicators) daily... Time to change..
I trialed Market Delta/Investor RT, MC and Sierra Chart ... I have chosen SC as my Futures (and now Forex) Platform. This is mainly because of stability, great volume options, a spreadsheet-type language for bespoke stuff (I'm not a programmer) and their great (if not abrupt) customer service...Discussions on this for another thread..
Anyway to the Journal.. I have been thinking about Journalling my trades for sometime and have been procrastinating basically because I've been; 1) Too lazy, 2) Not clear on my Futures Plan, 3) Scared of the ridicule when I make stupid errors and don't follow my plan (in hindsight this should be the main reason to do it as by correcting errors/screw-ups is the only way of learning/getting more profitable..)..and I see from all the posts that it takes a lot of time to keep an online Journal updated. So I left it to another day....
I decided in December to finalize my Methodology & Plan, set-up my workspaces etc. for a minimum of 1 month with no changes and trade against the TST Rules for a $150k Account (I trade some CL, min. 2xCars with Stops up to 36T). The 'new' Start was yesterday 2nd January. The aim is to try and get some consistency (minimum 2xmonths), fund my account and then give TST a go....
Anyway to this morning.. I reviewed my trades from yesterday...Wake-up Call :ahhhhh:, I was extremely fortunate to end the day up (a lot of close calls) and I broke my rules on three trades and over-traded by jumping on the CL RTH session..Only over time, by sticking to a plan will my results be consistently positive.
I have now decided to take the plunge and Journal all my Futures Trades as it's time to be accountable for sticking to my plan and I'm sure the feedback from futures.io (formerly BMT) will help me improve my trading.
I will stick to a maximum of two instruments per week, CL and one other from SI (Silver), 6J, 6A & 6E. I will fold yesterday into next week's figures.
I have enclosed my Trading Plan Summary, my Excel Sheet, Trade Stats (SC) and Screen-Shots (Note I'm on London Trading Hours). During the week I will post this stuff daily but I don't think I'll have time during the week to answer questions, but I'll try..
Here's yesterday;
Trade1: CL-Short; Small ($370R), early (07:36) Retest after strong downward (High volume) move - Set both targets to a 62% retract Level as I 'thought' the Trade was going to trade higher..Broke several rules (T1 was reduced and didn't trail T2..) but at least a positive start.
Trade2: SI-Short; Great entry on retest of LH, waited through ~2hours of slow grind, hit T1 (good, 2xC) but failed to trail stop and set a T2 Limit Target. Although this T2 Hit saved me about 10T ($250) it was against plan and the market could easily have gone lower.
Trade3: CL-Short; ABC Pullback - scratched on big wick & Large upward volume (absorption?) to retrade at better position
Trade4: CL-Short; Retraded (only 3T better!), choppy action, tightened stop, Stopped OUT
Trade5: CL-Short; ABC Pullback - Scratched on near VWAP move (I thought it was going to break the VWAP) to retrade..
Trade6: CL-Short; Retraded 7T better, Hit T1 (2xC) and should …