Charts on NT back up. Hoping to do some market replay of this past weeks cL this sunday.

Trying to get ready for a combine soon. I haven't set the date but I want to do it before summer doldrums. Looking at the 30k and 50k.
Leaning to the 30k.

Going to order more RAM tonight for my cpu. I want to have 16gb for my Ram hogging stuff.

I am going to sign up for the 30k TST combine this month.
Looking to start the TST next monday(2/16/15).

I will trade

CL and ES
Primary focus will be CL.
Hours of trading will be o900-1600 on NT, using chart trader. Looking to see if I can do the TST starting at o800 as there are some set ups I like that can happen then.
In general entries will occur between o800/o900 up to 1100 for CL.
If I trade ES entries and EXITS will likely be after lunch. These are in general and at my discretion.
I will usually not be able to watch or trade the afternoons, aside from post action aor replay.

I will use a combination of Market Structure, Price action, Fibonacci and Volume.

I will use Chart trader on NT thus I will have a Hard SL of 12 ticks. After my trade is inputted I will manually move the SL closer, often 4-7ticks. Accounting for slippage of +3 ticks against me.
The 30k Combine has a max of 3 lots.
In CL I will often move the first lot to take profit at approximately +15 to 20ticks. Then move my SL to BE or near BE.
T2/T3 will initially be 25-30ticks or so, until a decent buffer of equity is built. At that point I will use contract 3 for runners if it appears market structure will support it. In general trades will be exited before lunch.

I may post charts occasionally, but in general will not post a play by play, as it may detract from focus. I will be doing my own private journaling and logging. Hoping to work with the coaches and have a professional 3rd party perspective post Combine.
If I past the Combine I will consider my options then. I am considering moving an account with S5 for further growth after that to use their Trade Analyzer. One step at a time.
I need this to get out of a job everyone else wants to do and to help support my child's future.



RISK mangement will be my primary focus.

"Although the cheetah is the fastest animal in the world and can catch any animal on the plains, it will wait until it is absolutely sure it can catch its prey. It may hide in the bush for a week, waiting for just the right moment. It will wait for a baby antelope, and not just any baby antelope, but preferably one that is also sick or lame." Mark Weinstein, Market Wizards.

May the ticks be with me.

Let the next leg of this journey begin.

After reading some other Combine journals I have reconsidered and will stick to trading one product for this first Combine(as opposed to CL and ES).
I am awaiting contact from TST for this first combine.

Some parameters I will be self imposing are

1 product = CL
2 Losses in a row, = 30min minimum time out away from CPU, whether that's a walk, nap, read, game, other. Reset. When I get back a minimum 10minutes before taking another trade. Likely with my schedule, call it a day or just sim.
3 trades per day, Max. Streaks don't matter to me. Consistency and self management do.
$400 Daily loss limit (TST has $500 for 30k Combine)

Here's a chart of CL3-15 some areas I will consider doing business within the next few days.

For the week

55.00-55.75 look intriguing and the main spot where BEARS will make a stand. I will dial the composite in for further detail, but Price action, former S/R seem that zone to be the next logical magnet.
I have a 55ma pulling down for a quick visual reference on the Daily.
Looking further back the monthly shows former S/R in 2005 and 2007 between 56 and 58.
57.50 looks very interesting and the round number psychologically appealing for a lot of traders.
I expect a slight overshoot of 57.50, maybe up to 57.70-57.85 as big players will try to blow some stops.

Pivots
52.63 = Daily M3 yearly M2

CL early NY session
market was in balance ranging...

Took an early short back to daily balance.
Had a market sellstop at 52.45, got filled at 52.43, bah bad fill.
Felt some heat on this trade, it took longer than I preferred. This ended up being near the top of the session for the am. What I didn't like was the 12tick SL it necessitated, after it moved my way I moved SL to a 4tick SL, then +1. But that initial SL was larger than I prefer. Which is why I used 2contracts vs 3.

Scaled
+22 a little after daily vpoc
+38 at the bottom of the range.
Met my quota for the day. So was happy.

Market continued to drop atleast another 150+ ticks, from my entry. I haven't had a chance to dissect and look at the rest of the day. These days are why I like 3 legs on a contract. To let a runner do it's work. Having a runner is market dependant though (imo), a lot to do with daily atr and harmonics.

Unrelated to the markets my Snagit was acting up. It crashed 3x trying to screenshot. It might be the RAM as I mentioned in the other posts. I got some screen shots I will post tomorrow.

Listened to Ft71s HolyGrail interview by BigMike. Good stuff. Took notes and will make some adjustments.

Here's the shot of yesterdays trade. Was unable to trade today(2/11/2015). These are not my execution charts.
This is why I like to run 3 legs on a trade, it ran 150ticks(+).

KahunaDog 

CL early NY session market was in balance ranging... Took an early short back to daily balance. Had a market sellstop at 52.45, got filled at 52.43, bah bad fill. Felt some heat on this trade, it took longer than I preferred. This ended up being near the top of the session for the am. What I didn't like was the 12tick SL it necessitated, after it moved my way I moved SL to a 4tick SL, then +1. But that initial SL was larger than I prefer. Which is why I used 2contracts vs 3. Scaled +22 a little after daily vpoc +38 at the bottom of the range. Met my quota for the day. So was happy. Market continued to drop atleast another 150+ ticks, from my entry. I haven't had a chance to dissect and look at the rest of the day. These days are why I like 3 legs on a contract. To let a runner do it's work. Having a runner is market dependant though (imo), a lot to do with daily atr and harmonics. Unrelated to the markets my Snagit was acting up. It crashed 3x trying to screenshot. It might be the RAM as I mentioned in the other posts. I got some screen shots I will post tomorrow. Listened to Ft71s HolyGrail interview by BigMike. Good stuff. Took notes and will make some adjustments.

Did this on my phone later in the day, was-
+17
+38

Starting TST 30k Combine monday 2/16.(next week) Wish me good fortune.
Writing a few more notes and comments in my personal journal and SOPs for my upcoming combine.
Process Goals.
*meditation
*things to do routinely every x minutes
*accepted behaviors in each part of the trading environment - spotting, stalking, engaging
*post day - trade review:location of zones, price action, actual entry location, exit(S)
*market analysis
*engagement zones
Trade Journals.
Hours of Business(meditation/premkt zones refinement from ont o815-o859, execution o900-1200, market analysis/potential price action/zones set ups 2100-2200)
Max contracts per capital.(on top of TST) Contract scaling. Thinking of only using 3rd contract after + $900
Daily Max loss.(on top of TST)
Weekly Max Loss.
Max trades per day.3trades. Max4 total trades if I trade afternoon.
Errors.(Defining errors, good decisions vs bad decisions)
Defining trading rules of engagement
Defining spotting, stalking and engaging
Meditation - breath counting, price action visualization, self visualization stalking, execution,
Locking in profits. BE point.
Pre market rituals.
Post day actions.
Time Out rules. 2 losses in a row. 30min timeout. On top of adhering to loss limit.
Maxims, NLP, etc for specific situations. stalking- "patiently wait in the bush", execution "one shot, one kill", profitable trade "professionalism", hesitation "good decisions, bad decisions", low fruit "cheap trades", good trade turns to loss "good decisions, bad decisions", mental mistake "focus, breathe, bring it in"
Quota(daily profit target) 35ticks +$350, exceptional daily target 50ticks +$500

I'm still juggling a quota to make per week to meet the standards. With the Profit target of $1500 and Daily Max limit of $500.
With my targets(t1,t2) and market(CL). For my primary set up Three trades "up" will put me at $1500. T1 is often 15-25, and t2 is often 20-30 depending on market rotation, time of day and several other factors. Hard Stop Loss is set at 12ticks, meaning -24ticks if my hard SL is hit. Essentially that means I can BreakEven with 1winning trade(t1+t2) and 2Losses.

Part of a matrix I've worked out for my Primary set up using 2 Contracts trading CL. 1win=+50ticks 1loss=-24ticks
W=wins, L=losses. (note I am not an ALL IN, ALL OUT trader, but this is for a generic outlook and mental fortitude)

0W-7L = BLOW UP(forfeit Combine)
0W -6L = -144
0W-5L = -120
0W-4L = -96
0W-3L = -72
0W-2L = -48

**1W-2L = BE**

2W-2L = +52
3W-2L = +100
3W-3L= +78
4W-2L = +150
4W-3L= +128


I am also debating on when to use the 3rd contract as it is a double edged sword. I am leaning to profit of + $900-1000. A third contract as a runner often produces outlier results. I am looking to show consistency, not the streaky nature of a gambler. I am also looking to show consistent risk management that every professional demands of them self.


If I don't make it succesfully this Combine I'd like to figure out some specific actions to take to improve. I want to get some solid advice no matter what from TopStep.
I have 2 primary purposes for this Combine
1. Prove I can do it, to possibly get funded by rolling over to the 50k and possibly 100k combine
2. Improve and Enhance my trading in a competitive and supervised environment by professionals who've seen hundreds of traders across the spectrum. Then to receive feedback from them which I will implement.

When doing my TST trial I had trouble setting up demo on top of my multi broker NT account. Hopefully I can be up and running ASAP and be ready if Monday(2/16) provides opportunities.

Off topic post combine I'm looking at other platforms. Sierra Charts and Market Delta are the primary ones. My NT keeps crashing and seems unstable.
Stability in a platform is of utmost importance to me.
I've run other products over the years, Qcharts, Esignal, Fibonacci Trader. NT has some great features, but it hogs so much memory and seems unstable as how many times it has crashed, especially minutes from a trade. I have literally been in positions where I was in my position for entry orders to have NT crash.

Sierra and MD are the ones I am looking at because of the profile stuff, but the price of SC and number of people using SC seems higher.

Changed Combine start day to Tuesday 2/17 due to President's day.

2/13/15 Missed the Lunch sell off in CL, I was waiting for a final push of 5-10more ticks just under 53.50 vs the 53.44 then drop on CL3-15(buyer weakness). The Valentine day weekend and Friday has sent traders home early, creating some lower volume. It turned into a 100tick drop, unmanagable for me to enter safely(R:R)
I usually like to flow with the volume, thus trades on Friday I am looking for the weekend cover if the week ran a trend. A lot of my trades, I try to use peoples tendencies against them. I'm a clock watcher. People like to trade, eat, leave early, go home.

Got my log in for TST NT. Inputted some of it. Waiting on the Rithmic trader. I think it needs to be the date of my Combine start to allow me to go on.
Using NT multibroker.
This weekend I updated and cleaned several dozen drivers on my cpu. This should've been done at the beginning of last week in case there are a few bugs. It took a lot of time to update my drivers. CPU seems to be working smoothly at the moment. For NT I deleted old marketdelta data that my charts needed. It only needs to store a few days of data for the footprint. I think this should free a lot of the CPU ability up.

Ready to ROCK.
Started some pre market analysis on CL. Need a bit more for the rest of the week.
News- inventories on thursday this week at 1100.
Going to try to sleep early for an early rise. Schedule like clockwork.