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Catching Big Waves - a trader's journal of surfing the the markets
I have been reading your journal for a while and I am puzzled why you are making big changes to your style. It seems you have had many consistent weeks in the past averaging well over 50 ticks a week..often over a 100..unless I am mistaken. If someone can consistently make over 50 ticks a week and can work themselves up to decent leverage...they will make serious money. That comes out to 10 ticks a day.. Can't you average 10 ticks a day with your previous style? Why become a swing trader ? Are you really able to predict world events ? Why would you consider holding a position overnight given all the instability in the global economy. Anything could happen. You seemed to me to be on the right track. Also..speaking of today.. why let yourself have such a strong bias on the direction. You said you missed some trades because you were expecting certain things to happen. Since when does "Predicting" have any bearing on Day trading. Your supposed to respond to what the immediate market conditions are. You have already proven to be great at that. It seems to me you should be reviewing all the things you were consistently doing right instead of making radical changes. Yes, some psychological issues arose when you tried to increase your position size....but your overall system seemed to be a winner. I hope you don't take offense to my comments....I just would hate to see you abandon what appeared to be a winning CL trading system.
You have an interetsing point, and I'm going to just allow myself to run with this, sitting here with my third beer for the evening...
Somehow I may have missed what you just said, believing that larger size requires something different than what I have been doing?
For years now I have obsessed over spotting larger moves, like 200-500-1000 ticks, believeing it would give me an edge on trading. What I did with it though, was to feel like believing in the correct direction, but only to use that as a background to base smaller trades off of. And it started to work quite well for me.
I would guess my average trade is 15 ticks over a years time, but I occasionally hit up to 50-60, on a rare occasion 100+, but those are very rare and very far between. But for some reason I keep in the back of my mind that those are the trades I would prefer to take, offering the best R/R by far, and seeming to sit better with my personal logic. But not my personal experience?
So what I have done, is learn to profit by being quick, nimble, flexible, and then decided to step up... but believing that required better R/R, and looking to magically change my average trade size... ??
I believe that is exactly what I did. I have had so many trades go 10, 12, 15 ticks in my favor at 4 contracts strong, and then close at +3 for example, when if I were trading 1 contract I might bank the 12 and then wait for another bite.
What changed for me, was 1 contract at a time I was willing to be aggressive, change my stance often, lock in profits quickly, not care what the outcome was sometime if I thought the conditions were favorable. But step up the size and I morphed into a position trader? That was a question to myself...
Perhaps the trader I am and the trader I want to be, which I think I have blown out across these pages somewhere months before, is the root of the issue with my increase in size. "I am finally ready" carries with it the belief that I am now a different trader than I am? I am embarrassing myself possibly here, but I am just typing truth...
I was working through an issue months back about how I would do all this chart analysis and then have it come to fruition, but not have taken the trade for what it was worth, and that bothered me. Still bothers me.
The risk to reward that is offered by some of these swings is phenomenal. But have I really made a lot of money at that? No.
I have made money by being ready for anything, and being quick to accept that I was right. Why does size change that? It should be no different.
Sitting here with a 93 mnute chart to my far right, seeing my brightly colored zones and how the market obeyed them as if they were the law, possibly seeps into my thinking and makes me feel like that is the way to trade.
But when I look at my personal background and what I have proven works for me, it is almost 180 degrees. But in some way maybe I despise that I will not make the effort to become the trader that I long to be, and in the process cast aside the trader that has proven to be profitable?
You may have nailed what I am doing. I kind of saw that recently, and that is why I allocated funds specifically to swings, to get that separated from my other trading. I wanted to allow both styles to exist, almost like I needed it to allow both to exist, if I am going to make it past being a single-contract trader.
Very good observation, and very humbling post for me. Thanks for the comments.
I took a swing trade once, QM to feel "safer" about it, it went as planned, I did nothing other than pick the entry, the stop, the target, and got lucky. I think it was a 5WM completion but can't really reember that detail now. What I do remember, I actually had the biggest part of the move while I was not even watching it, and afterwords I felt like a trading god. That feeling infected me to some degree, and I have possibly dreamed of living in that space day after day, while I know that is not reality.
Reality is, tiny little moves over and over, and hoping to come out ahead. I want to be the dominant predator, but survive by being the constantly on-alert prey...
Add 1 contract for every $5,000 added to my account
Minus 1 contact for every -$5,000 lost from my account
With this idea and rules.....i managed to grow my account safely and responsibly and i am now trading happly 10 contacts with a 1% risk per trade
Once you can make a method work with 1 contract there is no reason why you can trade 100 the exact same way, as long as the liquidity is there for you within reason
Also i didnt feel fear about adding the size because i knew my rules were there to protect me so i just got on with it and didnt feel a thing.....fear less but at the same time controled and responsible
Hope this idea helps
Regards
Ryan
" I will follow my rules, I will take my stops, I will be disciplined and i will work with the market....NOT AGAINST IT! Professional mind control is the key"
Sounds like the OP just needs to take a break from the mkts. Come back and reasses the real reasons why he wants to change a very solid system. In my limited experience it usually comes down to stimulation rather than a system flaw.
Maybe I do need a break, but what I am leaning towards is less stimulation. The way I trade is so intense sometimes. Meanwhile, I watch these S/R levels day after day after day, and see incredible risk to reward trades setup, but they require a lot more patiance than I have taught myself to have.
I watched a recent interview with Mark Cook on Youtube recently. He said something that I found interesting; "You are either an innie or an outie". Some people are more comfortable being in a market, others want to be in as little as possible. I seem to enjoy tha analysis that benefits being in and a trade style that prefers being out. TRying to let go of a stytle that has worked for me seems crazy, but I see something I feel is better, if I can get my mind to accept it. But until I find acceptance in that style, it will not work for me.
I am preparing to take a decent swing as soon as I get the right opportunity.
