cclsys, absolutely, my loss was steep and have been beating myself over it all weekend. I was doing really well, 3 winning days in a row ! probably the cause of my big loss on Friday.
Yes, RIMM and my other stock trades saved my account big time but I don't want to use it as an excuse for my poor discipline.
I appreciate replies such as your as this was the main reason I started to write on this board, I cannot hide my mistakes and I've noticed that writing about my losing day was harder then the other days ( WHICH IS EXCELLENT ) !!
I like you suggestions to change my account balance summary and will make the changes... I'm using this new format because I see it more like a "guide" to me... I'm forced to check it every morning before the market opens...
I'm strongly considering not trading tomorrow because of my Friday's loss (sort of like a punishment) ... PLUS, my wife is having her first ultrasound which is great news !
Hope everyone had a great weekend.
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sharp: I read someone somewhere who sounded very experienced that whenever he has three great days in a row, he takes a day off. And when he has three (or was it one?) lousy day like your Friday he also takes a day off. I think the point being that you have to keep emotions out of it.
I find that whenever I am taking a position personally, that is a very bad sign. Sometimes it's very straightforward, win or lose, and then sometimes it becomes a big deal - whether it's going in my favor or not. That is the emotional side of it that I am still working on, although right now since I had to stop for reasons beyond my control I am in pure analysis mode for at least one more month. Easy, but also doesn't have much to do with what really has to 'go down' in actual trading.
One thing you can do that will help you is set a profit target. And when you hit that shut down your charts, and go do something else.
If you sit and watch, you will end up over trading and give it back as you have already seen. I found watching and not trading the single hardest thing to do. Solution, is shut down.
Given my excessive loss on Friday my plan today was to trade 1 es and a maximum loss for the day of $250 (60% of my normal daily loss). It worked quite well and I was able to recover from my Friday's losses and put my account $800 (5.4%) above my initial balance. Now, back on trade but a lot more careful this time after last Friday's big loss.
How did I score today?
1. Money management (C), traded well, kept my trade and daily limits.
2. Impulse trading (B), had no bias and followed my signals.
3. Trade execution (B), had a great trade in the morning and held it until it fade it...
Market review ES started going strong overnight and opened with a very big spike. It then faded from 10:10am until the close... given the big spike at the opening I decided not to short. I had one long breakout trade around 2:45pm but it failed and it was a signal that the market would not lift for the day.
Hope everyone had a good day.
Plan for tomorrow is to continue trading only 1 ES and going back to my maximum loss schedule.
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I like that early long trade you got in on , I was sleeping lol . I got short near the major high / 930 - 1000 range around 1015 ish and managed to ride out most of it . I got long a little earlier than you in the PM and only got a little on one and BE on the other . Nice journal here , way to go getting back on the horse after getting slapped around the other day .
Hey Eric, agree my first trade was a little early :-) ... couldn't really sleep but my trigger was the strong bounce from support. I closed it at 10:00am and entered on a wait-and-see mode but my system never triggered another long until late in the afternoon.
Thanks , I sometimes watch the european session on ES at 300 EST . The volume is tradeable and seems to me that its a good time for big guys to start moving things where they want them .
Initial Balance $15,807
Today -$428 or -2.7%
Ending Balance $15,378
Week +$430
Nov09 +$378
Total +$378
Today was quite difficult to trade for me, the market had some wild swings at the opening, bull gained control after 10am but we had very deep pullbacks during the day. At some point I was +3.5 pts and gave most of it back as I was hoping a continuation of the up move after 3:00pm... buying activity quickly fade on the first test of the last yesterday's high. How did I score today?
1. Money management (B), mostly a losing day but didn't achieve my daily loss limit - cool
2. Impulse trading (B), today required some large stops but I managed to keep them in check.
3. Trade execution (C), was letting my profits run and paid the price for it... had +3.5 in 2 cars and gave back most of it, leaving only .5 on profit...
Hope everyone had a great day.
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Overall a slow day for, +$225 is not very much but I am happy because I have been having more positive days than negative while learning how to trade the eMini.
One of the things I've noticed is that the action between 6:30am and 8:30am is prevailing during the day. Over the last two days the market has been pushing to the upside early in the morning and closing almost at the high of the day.
How did I score today?
1. Money management (B), kept my limits, stops, didn't exceed my daily loss limit.
2. Impulse trading (B), was comfortable trading today.
3. Trade execution (B), let my winners run but they didn't run that much !
Again, overall I'm happy with my results so far. My stock trades results have been superb but I promised I wouldn't mix them here :-) as my goal is to make money on the emil (solo).
which is great news !
