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Catching Big Waves - a trader's journal of surfing the the markets


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Catching Big Waves - a trader's journal of surfing the the markets

  #1801 (permalink)
 
GaryD's Avatar
 GaryD 
Orlando, Florida
 
Experience: None
Platform: shoes
Trading: happy
Posts: 6,462 since May 2011

[img]https://nexusfi.com/v/9tgete.jpg[/img]


The area I initially anticipated would provide support was blown though without a lot of trouble.



[img]https://nexusfi.com/v/3snh5v.jpg[/img]


On the daily, this is deep in the zone...

Started this thread

Can you help answer these questions
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  #1802 (permalink)
 
GaryD's Avatar
 GaryD 
Orlando, Florida
 
Experience: None
Platform: shoes
Trading: happy
Posts: 6,462 since May 2011

I'm turning my phone off today for a few hours. I want to trade today.


[img]https://nexusfi.com/v/8bbfhf.jpg[/img]

Started this thread
  #1803 (permalink)
 
GaryD's Avatar
 GaryD 
Orlando, Florida
 
Experience: None
Platform: shoes
Trading: happy
Posts: 6,462 since May 2011


Net +59 Long

Started this thread
  #1804 (permalink)
 
GaryD's Avatar
 GaryD 
Orlando, Florida
 
Experience: None
Platform: shoes
Trading: happy
Posts: 6,462 since May 2011

I had some issues the past two days with NT performance reporting, which lead to discussions about "strategies" with NT support.

I don't use any automation, what they reffered to as strategies were the generic order brackets of 20/20 and 12/12, which i use to just bracket my order, and then I drag and drop, many times more than once as the trade moves along. We figured out together that the issue was related to the way I will do what I consider "trading places" in a trade. It moves against me but I see something that would make me take the same trade all over again. I will enter in, but then most of the time scalp one of the two positions and allow the 2nd to ride for a leter target. When I do that, I can't always confirm that my drag and drop results in LIFO accounting, and it was wreaking havoc with performance reports (Today said negative 130+ ticks, but the actual was positive)

Why don't I trade with my stop and profit defince in advance? I used to. I have had all kinds of ATM strategies that I named for various setups or chrart patterns. "GD3 BO 15p/12s" was one I remember, that was a selection I made before I entered that particular move. Having ATMs named for every setup I had allowed me to see what was working and what wasn't. It was a great filing system that was managed in real time.

But I now just go 20/20, and move them around at will, sometimes "holding one in my hand", moving the mouse to flat the exit order up and down, hovering over price. What changed?

Somehow, my mind has been conditioned over the years of experience, that I do better by trading with complete and instant discretion. So today, I have no idea which setup worked better this week, they are all 20/20 or 12/12. I know one was an original entry and the other, if present, was trading places or an add in. That is all I really care to know today.

To me, automated entries and exits are there to remove the emotion. There is a belief, and there may even be statistical proof, that over time it helps a trader have an edge.

I don't want my emotions removed. I want to be aware of them, understand them, be on the lookout for certain ones. But over time I have come to trust my overall interpretation of market movement, emotions and all. Sometimes a 20 tick stop makes sense, other times it is 23, or 29, or 31... and then rarely does it get hit anyway, I bail. Same with the proftit target.

When things seems aligned just right, I will wait stubbornly for my target, but more often than not all things are not perfectly in alignment when it comes to trading. There are varying degrees of quasi-certainty. Today I said out loud, "you should just get it over with, the high is going to be taken out..." as price fought it for what seemed like an eternity to me to break above the prior pivot, being in a long trade. A co-worker heard me and asked. "who are you talking to?" I laughed and said, "The entire trading community! The universe! No...that's not correct. My beliefs..."

I waited and my target was hit, as originally planned. But I had an order hovering just in case.

Strategy of the day: Think, feel, pay attention, finish up.

Another penny in the bank, and it would be very hard, but not impossible (I might have some system failure), not take the week and the month on this coming Friday. Net 511 ticks for March as of close today, less commissions.

I guess I could have a temporary loss of sanity...

Go in 10 contracts per trade tomorrow...

Or start with a couple losing trades and swear I'll get it back by doubling or quadrupling up, "just this one time..."

Or, I could say that there is no way the market could keep going in one direction all day...

Or decide to start my swing trading practice by going short with a stop above 110.00, turn the computer off and count my profits on Monday...

There are so many things that sound vaguely familiar! I may never lose the memories of some bad decisions I made in the past, but I have lost the behavior. I can laugh about those things today, that at the time might have made me cry.

"A penny saved, is a penny earned". Earned is far too mild of a word.

Started this thread
  #1805 (permalink)
 researcher247 
Chicago, IL
 
Experience: Advanced
Posts: 437 since Oct 2009
Thanks Given: 289
Thanks Received: 773

Gary,

I will reply with all due respect.

You are 'good to go' with small "size"--I get it. You have a pulse on the market.

I have been trading since age 18 (25+years) both short-term/mid-term swing and micro-day trading.

Of course intraday trading is most challenging: that is what makes it worth the effort.

I don't have any advice for you (we are both about the same age) however--
--------------------
You have dealt with HUGE money before in real estate; in trading (after we have our method and trade it with fierce loyalty) I would opine very very consistent traders NEVER think about how much we can make today; but how stringently we stick to our trading plan.

I trade several markets per day; however--for those that trade 1 instrument--I really admire that.
--------------------
I have a long and extremely boring and weekly thread on ET that deals almost exclusively with trading (Friday review, if you will).

I think I speak for many members here in that we respect your 'WORK'--you have got it down.

You are trading 'small' now (nothing wrong with that); but what are you prepared to do about it {I believe you excel in larger timeframes}?

There is no need to overtrade or overleverage; there is none.

I appreciate your journey but with the right psychological push/shove/breakthrough you should be trading 5-10 cars and forget about the stupid money {work the 'cents'} w/your better than avg. reward to risk setups.

peace

Hedvig

  #1806 (permalink)
 
GaryD's Avatar
 GaryD 
Orlando, Florida
 
Experience: None
Platform: shoes
Trading: happy
Posts: 6,462 since May 2011


GaryD View Post
I'm turning my phone off today for a few hours. I want to trade today.


[IMG]https://nexusfi.com/v/8bbfhf.jpg[/IMG]






What I saw was an opportunity to buy, not sell. When zone 1 does not work, and I see very oversold indicators, I like to try zone 2, shown below in yellow.

[img]https://nexusfi.com/v/r34y8s.jpg[/img]

Started this thread
  #1807 (permalink)
 
GaryD's Avatar
 GaryD 
Orlando, Florida
 
Experience: None
Platform: shoes
Trading: happy
Posts: 6,462 since May 2011


researcher247 View Post
Gary,

I will reply with all due respect.

You are 'good to go' with small "size"--I get it. You have a pulse on the market.

I have been trading since age 18 (25+years) both short-term/mid-term swing and micro-day trading.

Of course intraday trading is most challenging: that is what makes it worth the effort.

I don't have any advice for you (we are both about the same age) however--
--------------------
You have dealt with HUGE money before in real estate; in trading (after we have our method and trade it with fierce loyalty) I would opine very very consistent traders NEVER think about how much we can make today; but how stringently we stick to our trading plan.

I trade several markets per day; however--for those that trade 1 instrument--I really admire that.
--------------------
I have a long and extremely boring and weekly thread on ET that deals almost exclusively with trading (Friday review, if you will).

I think I speak for many members here in that we respect your 'WORK'--you have got it down.

You are trading 'small' now (nothing wrong with that); but what are you prepared to do about it {I believe you excel in larger timeframes}?

There is no need to overtrade or overleverage; there is none.

I appreciate your journey but with the right psychological push/shove/breakthrough you should be trading 5-10 cars and forget about the stupid money {work the 'cents'} w/your better than avg. reward to risk setups.

peace

Hedvig



I really appreciate that.

I came to trading looking for a miracle, and that lead to the development of very bad methods, a lot of hope with nothing to base it on. That brought about a lot of losses, and I found the bigger the loss, the more it stayed with me and affected the next trade, or next 10 trades, or the whole week. So to turn my trading around, I had to eliminate that negative.

I am fine with a loss of $500.00 for the day, but above that I still have a fighter inside that wants to come out swinging, and gets his butt kicked most of the time. Small losses do no change my mindset, and so I can stay in mental control. But it requires constant awareness.

Because I do not use incredibly specific rules and choose instead to have a lot of discretion, emotion can be a much as 90% of my success factor. I have learned to protect it as the most significant tool I have.

I typed out a story somewhere on futures.io (formerly BMT), months ago, about a community of "clingers". One let go one day, and was viewed downstream as the Messiah. I can't even recall which thread it was in, maybe this one, but there are far too many pages now for me. But anyway, I am not yet ready to let go. The character in that story had no idea where the current might take him, and it would be wonderful if all I had to do was let what happens, happen. But at this point in my trading, I need just a little more confidence, a little more assurance from myself.

I am slowly becoming detached from the dollar amount, and I am working on it daily. It's coming, but it almost seems it will just have to happen on it's own. That pig is the best thing I have done this year.

Started this thread
  #1808 (permalink)
 
GaryD's Avatar
 GaryD 
Orlando, Florida
 
Experience: None
Platform: shoes
Trading: happy
Posts: 6,462 since May 2011

Watching for a break below 104.30. The next support is way down there. Up 81 ticks.

Started this thread
  #1809 (permalink)
 
GaryD's Avatar
 GaryD 
Orlando, Florida
 
Experience: None
Platform: shoes
Trading: happy
Posts: 6,462 since May 2011

got the break, conflicting volume

[img]https://nexusfi.com/v/vwc7pk.jpg[/img]

Started this thread
  #1810 (permalink)
 
GaryD's Avatar
 GaryD 
Orlando, Florida
 
Experience: None
Platform: shoes
Trading: happy
Posts: 6,462 since May 2011


Up 105 on the short side. Did not hold as much of the move as I believe I should have, but I guess being cautious and conservative is something I force myself to maintain, but can be a hindrance on certain days. I am going to walk away for awhile.

Started this thread

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Last Updated on May 23, 2014


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