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Zen & the Art of The Small Account


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Zen & the Art of The Small Account

  #581 (permalink)
 
PandaWarrior's Avatar
 PandaWarrior 
In the heat
 
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Twiddle View Post
Are you still trading with a small account AZ?

The daily profits you have been attaining over the past little while are pretty impressive if this is the small account you started with.

My account is still relatively small.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci


Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
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  #582 (permalink)
 
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 papa15 
Wake Forest, NC
 
Experience: Intermediate
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AZ
I think you caused a light bulb to go off for me. My primary trade for the last 6 months has been the inside bar on the 15 min chart. It has a very strong winning percentage, but the issue has always been stop placement. Using a time limit has helped. What I have noticed on a lot of the IB trades is the price will exceed one end of the IB and then retrace back into the IB. From there it may go in the original breakout direction or it may chop around a bit and then reverse direction. If I take your idea of using an associated range chart (or perhaps a tick chart or much smaller time chart) and use that to look for a refined entry point, with an appropriate stop based on the price action of the lower chart, I think I get the best of both goals...the IB is the trigger bar although the entry is not mechanically set one tick outside the IB bar and I get a valid closer stop based on price action. I sim traded it this morning and it gave good results. I know one trade does not a strategy make nor does it prove anything of long term significance, but it is loosely cloned from your strategy (which you believe in and have proved) and from the YTC course strategy. Further testing on my part can prove this concept and help refine it more. Thanks.
Papa15

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  #583 (permalink)
 
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papa15 View Post
AZ
I think you caused a light bulb to go off for me. My primary trade for the last 6 months has been the inside bar on the 15 min chart. It has a very strong winning percentage, but the issue has always been stop placement. Using a time limit has helped. What I have noticed on a lot of the IB trades is the price will exceed one end of the IB and then retrace back into the IB. From there it may go in the original breakout direction or it may chop around a bit and then reverse direction. If I take your idea of using an associated range chart (or perhaps a tick chart or much smaller time chart) and use that to look for a refined entry point, with an appropriate stop based on the price action of the lower chart, I think I get the best of both goals...the IB is the trigger bar although the entry is not mechanically set one tick outside the IB bar and I get a valid closer stop based on price action. I sim traded it this morning and it gave good results. I know one trade does not a strategy make nor does it prove anything of long term significance, but it is loosely cloned from your strategy (which you believe in and have proved) and from the YTC course strategy. Further testing on my part can prove this concept and help refine it more. Thanks.
Papa15

This actually works. It did today again....BUT....for the full BUT...read my next post

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci


Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Started this thread
  #584 (permalink)
 
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 PandaWarrior 
In the heat
 
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Wow.

I did nothing right today. I had a long bias today.....but the charts kept saying short. Should have listened to the gut. Then I finally got long, but with a HUGE target....ok, not so huge but for me it was huge, 30 tick or something like that....and it was realistic given the range, BUT, I failed to notice the DT on the 5 min chart and it failed to reach my target and it failed to break through my upper fib line. In fact, it did not even reach it. But hey, I was long and it was like 20 ticks in my favor. Stop was in the right place.....which got hit AFTER the short signal fired and I missed it.

Then I simply could not see the shorts, the chart said short, but I was long biased and kept fighting it. I did have several trades go my way and some by more than 10 ticks.....but they all turned into losers.

Then I finally got short, went in my favor 15 ticks and then reversed, a long signal happened and sure enough it went into my stop but not all the way, a level of resistance (a weak one) was approached, it was at a long term trend line and it started back in my favor. I added a contract there.....with the original stop.....mistake. That got hit as well. The spot where I added a lot was 1 tick above where I had entered originally.

So today I reached a milestone. 100% loser trades. 10 in all.

What I did right today:

1. No indicators....damn....I can't blame them this time....I think I will put them back on so I can blame them for the next time this happens......ok, not really, just me trying to have some dark humor on a bad day.

2. I quit when I reached my daily stop loss. Even though I really wanted to keep trading.....

3. I hugged my kid today before she went to school.

What I did wrong today:

1. Every thing else. Well not so much. What really happened was this. I failed to recognize the narrow range today and adjust my targets accordingly. In fact, had I done this, my targets would have been inside S/R and it would have been a decent profit day.

2. After the first one failed, that should have been my clue......I am not blond....but I sure acted like it today. (Sorry for the stereotype but it's the best one I have).

Yesterday and today showed me what I am doing works, I just need to adjust to the ranges as needed and use the correct targets. And after today, I think I can hold for them even if they are further away than I used to. Even with the full stop out today, I did use bigger targets and was not freaking out when I got some profit on the screen and then watched it retrace on me. Tuesday and every day prior to that, I would start freaking out if I saw ten ticks of profit and then it would retrace even a little bit.

So if I can adjust to the ranges each day...no guarantee of this at the moment....I think I can start hitting some doubles and triples instead of just singles each day.

Lastly, using T4 has been an exercise in frustration. It is very rigid in how it handles orders. I suppose for the pros its fine but for me, I LOVE the ATM's in NT. Last night I decided if I wanted to trade size, I needed to be able to take some off early enough in the trade to be able to allow me to have a "free trade" on the runner portion of the trade.

So I sat in front of T4 last night for an hour and just stared at it, thinking about the problem. I did not try to solve it or come up with a solution. Instead I just let it sink into my subconscious. Then I went to bed, said my prayers, and then to sleep. When I woke up, the answer came to me while I was soaking in the shower.

Then the master of stupidity set in. I failed use that solution today. Had I done it, the day would have been a scratch day or maybe even a small profit.

Wow.....writing all this, I realized how fully I walked the road of just plain old out and out failure to use any of the wonderful stuff I have learned on this journey......I am an employee of one in my multimillion dollar business. Had an employee of mine done what I did today, I think I would have either fired them or at the very least made darn sure how unhappy I was at the failure to utilize the proper tools they had been given to perform the job.

Now enough negative talk. What is the positive take away?

1. Be flexible. Adapt to the ranges.
2. Don't be afraid of extending targets, just be reasonable about them in light of the S/R
3. The trading method works...now skill is required
4. I like my naked charts....I got rid of the macd today as well.
5. Even though it was a losing day, it is just another day. There will be more winning days than loser days. Don't take it personal.

Now I have pontificated enough. Time to go do something non trading related.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci


Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Started this thread
  #585 (permalink)
 soumi71 
Toronto
 
Experience: Intermediate
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Trading: CL , 6E
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Never keep a bias , trade what you see and you will get close to perfection

"Risk more than others think safe.
Dream more than others think practical.
Expect more than others think possible.
Care more than others think wise"
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  #586 (permalink)
 
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 lemons 
Tallinn, Estonia
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: SC
Trading: NAS100
Posts: 959 since Nov 2010

Good luck aztrader with COMBINE. I hope that you will get hired.

I am on third try. I have try different instruments, chat types and time frames.
I found what works for me and made little progress :

12/01 : + 450
13/01 : + 488
14/01 : + 763

I also know what to do :
- follow the plan
- trade what you see

I know where is the problem. I am the problem. At my 9-5 job there is no problems I am disciplined and do what boss tells.

But how to find boss within my ?

  #587 (permalink)
 
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lemons View Post
Good luck aztrader with COMBINE. I hope that you will get hired.

I am on third try. I have try different instruments, chat types and time frames.
I found what works for me and made little progress :

12/01 : + 450
13/01 : + 488
14/01 : + 763

I also know what to do :
- follow the plan
- trade what you see

I know where is the problem. I am the problem. At my 9-5 job there is no problems I am disciplined and do what boss tells.

But how to find boss within my ?

Wow, someone from Estonia is reading my thread.....very cool.....

I was in Latvia in 2009....Riga....Had a blast, ate some great food then back to Stockholm......It was a toss up between Estonia and Latvia and the overnight cruise from Stockholm was cheaper to Latvia so that's where we went...

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci


Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Started this thread
  #588 (permalink)
 
PandaWarrior's Avatar
 PandaWarrior 
In the heat
 
Experience: None
Posts: 3,165 since Mar 2010
Thanks Given: 6,329
Thanks Received: 13,404

Well, I got down big early. -$800....then clawed my way back to zero plus a tiny profit....missed all the great moves to....But I traded really well after the two big losses....

End of week. I am really tired. Pulled a muscle in my shoulder/back area and it hurts like crazy..its my mouse shoulder as well......headed for a hot jacuzzi soon to see if I can get it to relax a bit.

Noticed some stuff on a 5min chart today.....gonna spend some time this weekend looking back at the charts to see if the pattern I saw repeats enough to look for it on a regular basis.

What I did wrong today:

1. I went large on two trades I did not have real strong conviction on. Both stop outs .
2. I failed to pay attention to the resistance areas at times. This cost me one stop out.
3. I took a couple of break outs in places I think I should not have. As I am not a "breakout trader", I am not really sure if they were good trades gone bad or just dumb trades.
4. I failed to really capitalize on the support areas that were totally apparent on the chart today. Instead I traded them haphazardly.

What I did right today:
1. I traded support much better than yesterday but it could have been better
2. I did not quit when I got down.
3. I kept size on when in recovery mode.
4. For the most part, I had my stops in much better locations today. The risk was somewhat bigger than I like but it was the correct place nonetheless and when I had them positioned properly, they worked real well.
5. I held trades MUCH longer than I normally do. Considering the slow pace of CL today, this was a necessity if you were going to make any money.
6. I did not freak out with larger targets although for the most part, I played small ball today. It would have been better to hold for the resistance areas but I took my money when I had it.
7. I resisted the urge to just be in a trade today. I did not feel guilty about missing certain moves.
8. Overall, I was much more patient today in both trade selection and staying in them.

Life is good....

Cheers.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci


Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Started this thread
  #589 (permalink)
 
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 tderrick 
Nashville, Tennessee
 
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AZ, I try to time my trades with bounces off S/R... So that I can leave my stop just on the other side of either...

Is this similar to your mindset? (the stop placement, that is)


as always, thanks for your time given.


AJ
Nashville, Tennessee


"Life On The Edge of SR"
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  #590 (permalink)
 
PandaWarrior's Avatar
 PandaWarrior 
In the heat
 
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tderrick View Post
AZ, I try to time my trades with bounces off S/R... So that I can leave my stop just on the other side of either...

Is this similar to your mindset? (the stop placement, that is)


as always, thanks for your time given.

Yes

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci


Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
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