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Get Rich or Die Trying


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Get Rich or Die Trying

  #11 (permalink)
Wizard3ootz
Bend + OR/USA
 
Posts: 55 since Aug 2019
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Cloudy View Post
haha, aren't those subreddits a riot? Thank you for your appreciative attitude to the responses here. Congrats on your grants to Oregan state and getting your associates. I think your plan to practice is good and solid and you're well on your way. I'll add that maybe you might have heard of Al Brooks for a price action primer. Bulkowski (thepatternsite.com) also has books on patterns, and I've read books from both and think Bulkowski's books (can be any one of them, not his whole library) detail common chart patterns and price action better overall imo. Best of luck.



Yeah I actually just heard those names thrown around, when I was doing some research on price action trading! That’s definitely where I need the most improvement. I tend to get trapped a LOT. I’m starting to get better about placing tighter stops, so I can limit my losses, and am being a little more patient with my entries. And I certainly concur - spending more time paper trading has been invaluable thus far. I’m up about $300 on my simulated account today. I jumped on my live account just for a second, but I was keeping it to one lots, made a quick $35 and left it at that. So yeah, I’m definitely adapting.

I will check out Brooks and Bulkowski though for sure! (Edit: just picked up both of their books!) Thanks for the recommendation! And haha yeah, WSB is pretty crazy. I kind of feel bad for the newbies that go on there and are cut down pretty fast.

Hope you guys had some glorious shorts placed during the market today!


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  #12 (permalink)
Wizard3ootz
Bend + OR/USA
 
Posts: 55 since Aug 2019
Thanks Given: 51
Thanks Received: 148

So, in lieu of hitting the wall, I started to bring it back to the basics. I am reading Trading Price Action: Trends, by Al Brooks right now, and its been extremely helpful, in putting the framework of the market together, in my head. He's really good at explaining things in terms that are easy to follow, and the dynamic that is happening, between buyer and seller, when certain things happen within price action.

Apart from that, there's been an intense focus on identifying trends, of course. The introduction section has a huge bullet list, of close to 150 different properties of breakouts that you can look for - its pretty amazing. Some of the stuff that I picked up was:

-Bars with very little overlap (meeting end-to-end, or opening right at the close of the previous bar - or ideally, with a micro-gap)
-Bars with little to no wicks or tails
-A breakout test that fails (where the pullback that goes back to meet the initial breakout point doesn't pierce it)
-Not many trend-channel line overshoots appear
-Most of the correction is sideways, after trend-line breaks
-The pullbacks have weak signals-bars
-Lots of failed reversals that now become flags, in the direction of the trend

Also, I've started looking more frequently at the size of candles, and am better able to identify good signal-bars, as well as when a trend is losing momentum. Concurrently, an extremely important fact is learning to hold my position during a pullback; frequently, during pullbacks, I would close out my position prematurely, only to watch the security rally-onward. I've learned to become more patient (and to wait for the candle/s to finish developing), as a great number of reversals fail, and end up becoming bull flags in the other direction. I am definitely NOT a careless, or reckless person, so this is really contrary to my nature, and it’s something I will continually need to work on.

Also, I just got the TradeStation Desktop platform, which has been invaluable. I run Mac, so I had to use bootcamp to dual-boot Windows and MacOS on my MacBook (also have an extra windows 10 registry key if anyone needs it). Its incredibly nice to be able to place my buy orders, stop losses and sell stops, all in a second or two, rather than fumbling around on my phone, while price action is flying. Especially when you're trading against professional traders, and computers, you need to take advantage of every edge you can get.

As far as putting my knowledge into practice goes, I've been trading on sim, consistently, since my last entry. I've tried dipping my toe back into the market once or twice, but I'm still learning. I also think that it was in part to jumping on a new platform, and getting used to the interface/controls etc... However, I have only been trading 1 lots, and bowed out of the market after losing around $34.

Moving forward, my intention is to continue reading Brooks' book (all 450 pages of it!) and finish the two books by Thomas Bulkowski (thepatternsite.com). I purchased his Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns, and Visual Guide to Chart Patterns. Also, continuing to focus on finding solid trends, and how to capitalize on them. For now, I'm going to stick primarily to paper trading, although I will probably dip my toe back in, and test the waters on occasion, while only trading one-lots, and limiting my losses to $30-60 per day, max.

I still have a lot to learn - that much is clear. I think I was overconfident, coming in from stocks. Its a far different dynamic, and I was in no way ready to trade at a "professional" level. That being said, when I was first learning to play guitar, I was down-right LOUSY. The songs and vocals I were putting out were horrendous, lyrically, tonally, and musically. It took me years to break through, but now, I can shred Hendrix like the best of em'. I'll get there eventually, with patience, dedication, and hard-work, just like I always have.

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  #13 (permalink)
Wizard3ootz
Bend + OR/USA
 
Posts: 55 since Aug 2019
Thanks Given: 51
Thanks Received: 148


Alright. So, although I am still fighting to become consistently profitable, I am definitely honing in my system, which is certainly a win. I'm trying to focus less on reading books/watching youtube, and more on reviewing trades, journaling, and offering up info for peer review. To be honest, I have been hesitant to post some of my more embarrassing days on here, for obvious reasons, but clearly, doing so would be of great benefit. With that, you’ll see some of my crappier decisions down below, but I’d invite everyone to offer up any constructive criticism they might have.



Today, I began taking screenshots of my entry and exit on every trade. I think that will help, in going back to review things. Concurrently, I created a new spreadsheet, so I will be able to keep track of my P/L and win percentages every day, which I haven't actively been doing in the past. Also, in reviewing a lot of my trades, it seems like most of my losers occur when I’m buying above the 9EMA. I am going to make a sustained effort not to do that in the future, hah.



I'm getting better at not buying overly-big breakouts at the high, and waiting for the pullback. Also, instead of jumping in head first, it seems like I'm waiting for signal bars more-often, and taking more quick scalps, rather than holding positions for too long. Also, because I haven't gotten windows installed on my iMac yet, I've only been trading on my MacBook; because the screen is so small, I had only been looking at one chart at a time (usually watch the 1min) which I think has been hurting my progress. I started watching the 5min and the 1min at the same time, and I think its helped to give me a greater understanding of what the overall market is doing.



I watched a great video on Market Profile last night. Trying to start implementing that into my practice as well.



I know a lot of these trades really suck, so please don't judge me too harshly, lol. I know I have a lot of room for improvement, but I AM getting there!!! Please note these are all simulated trades.

On the first photo, you can see where I initially tried to go short, in the middle of a bearish uptrend. After that, I bought at the top of two big breakouts, which instantly dropped afterward, and sold at a loss. After that, I went short, and it looked like it might reverse; had I held longer, I would have made out for a nice 7-8 ticks, but a closed for a small loss, out of impatience.

On the second photo, I faired slightly better, but my timing was somewhat off, buying above the EMA.

On the third, I made two nice scalps, but there was a huge volatility burst, and I got trapped, for a pretty big loss.

On the final photo, I got two pretty nice downward legs. However, when it looked like it might reverse, I placed a limit order near the bottom of the knot, but not quite low enough; I ended up getting executed, and the market reversed pretty hard and gave back most my profit.




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  #14 (permalink)
Wizard3ootz
Bend + OR/USA
 
Posts: 55 since Aug 2019
Thanks Given: 51
Thanks Received: 148

Man, great day to sleep in, right??? Ugh, what a huge boom. Oh well, maybe I can capture some of the downside after work.

I’ve been easing my way, very slowly, back into live trading. Although there are still some of my old habits I need to break, there are a lot of positives that I’ve undertaken since I transitioned out of my really awful phase a few weeks ago:

-My risk management is much better. I’m no longer diving headfirst with 4 e-micros, and instantly getting trapped
-Keeping it to one lots
-Spending the majority of my time in sim, backtesting my strategy and trying to get things honed in
-Utilizing my tools better, such as recently adapting order flow (still getting the hang of it)
-Keeping a log of all my trades
-Screenshots before and after each trade
-Journaling more frequently (and honestly)
-Posting content for peer review

I see it being like when I first started playing guitar, I was absolutely atrocious. When I go back and listen to those tracks, now, it’s like someone threw a cat in a blender, and then ran it over by a garbage truck. Seriously, hahah. Then, 5 years later, I was touring the entire west coast, playing 50+ shows a year. 10 years later, running sound for major label bands at sold out venues and festivals.

It’s a process. It’s gonna suck, probably for a really long time. I love it though, regardless. My brain was meant for this kind of stuff.

That being said though, I’m still chasing, somewhat. I made one trade on a strong Russel 2000 downtrend today without waiting for the pullback, and of course, it instantly bounced and I took a small loss. And on the other side, during the EXTREMELY strong uptrend this morning, I was too nervous to jump in instantly (probably cause I had literally just woken up) and by the time I got in, it had nearly topped.

I’m getting better at identifying trading ranges, though, and generally not losing money. Although today was a net-loss, only lost $24 in total, including commissions, which is significantly better than the massive numbers I was putting out weeks ago.

I was able to capture a couple of decent scalps, and I think, once I’m able to utilize order flow better, it will help me to see breakouts more frequently, and hopefully prevent me from getting trapped so often.

Anyway, hope all of you know how much I appreciate all the feedback and encouragement I’ve gotten here. Hope I can repay the favor, in time.


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  #15 (permalink)
 
Massive l's Avatar
 Massive l 
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Are you using a 1min timeframe? I've given that a try a few times and never did well. I've traded almost exclusively on a 20min for years now. Max risk per contract is $400 trading. I never hope it comes back or think it's still good. I admit I timed it wrong and exit and wait for the next.

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  #16 (permalink)
Wizard3ootz
Bend + OR/USA
 
Posts: 55 since Aug 2019
Thanks Given: 51
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Massive l View Post
Are you using a 1min timeframe? I've given that a try a few times and never did well. I've traded almost exclusively on a 20min for years now. Max risk per contract is $400 trading. I never hope it comes back or think it's still good. I admit I timed it wrong and exit and wait for the next.



20mins??? Wow! How long do you hold your positions? Do you have pretty wide swings/have to have deep pockets? I feel like I would get pretty nervous, not being able to watch what was going on.

I definitely have considered trying to trade something other than the indexes; I heard there’s a lot more whipsaw than in treasuries, for example. Sadly, there’s very little liquidity I’ve noticed in a lot of the other small contracts.

But yeah, I will try increasing my timeframe and mess around with it on SIM tomorrow (or at least enter on 1min and then ride it out at a higher timeframe). Thanks for the suggestion!


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Massive l's Avatar
 Massive l 
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Wizard3ootz View Post
20mins??? Wow! How long do you hold your positions? Do you have pretty wide swings/have to have deep pockets? I feel like I would get pretty nervous, not being able to watch what was going on.

I definitely have considered trying to trade something other than the indexes; I heard there’s a lot more whipsaw than in treasuries, for example. Sadly, there’s very little liquidity I’ve noticed in a lot of the other small contracts.

But yeah, I will try increasing my timeframe and mess around with it on SIM tomorrow (or at least enter on 1min and then ride it out at a higher timeframe). Thanks for the suggestion!


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Most of my trades are pretty quick. I trade 20min no matter how much money is in my account. I trade GC, RTY/NQ/ES/YM, CL as they've always had the highest expectancy in backtests / live trading.

Here's my trades last night / today in CL. 6:20p entry exit 7p (+50 ticks) and 5:50a entry exit 6:15a (+70 ticks)

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  #18 (permalink)
Wizard3ootz
Bend + OR/USA
 
Posts: 55 since Aug 2019
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Massive l View Post
Most of my trades are pretty quick. I trade 20min no matter how much money is in my account. I trade GC, RTY/NQ/ES/YM, CL as they've always had the highest expectancy in backtests / live trading.

Here's my trades last night / today in CL. 6:20p entry exit 7p (+50 ticks) and 5:50a entry exit 6:15a (+70 ticks)



God damn! Beautiful entries!!! I’m envious!!! Need someone to clean your garage? Will do grunt work for mentorship just teasing.


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  #19 (permalink)
 
Rrrracer's Avatar
 Rrrracer 
On the road
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Trading a M1 chart can be tough business since one is often missing out on the bigger picture in terms of overall direction and rolling with the market instead of trying to fight it.

To some, a 20 minute chart is far too short LOL. But as intraday traders, we need to find the timeframes that fit well with our methods and our instruments.

Edit: Your trades look a lot like mine did when I first started out LOL. Keep at it my man, it's a long ride!

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  #20 (permalink)
Wizard3ootz
Bend + OR/USA
 
Posts: 55 since Aug 2019
Thanks Given: 51
Thanks Received: 148


@rrracer and @massive I what kinds of indicators do you guys use?

And I definitely hear ya, about the larger picture. I tried trading on the 10 minute chart this morning. It actually worked better than I thought! I will definitely need some more practice though.


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