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Another brilliant day on sim. I traded two methods today. My normal method. +35 ticks today. And a time based chart. +45 ticks there. The time based chart has better structure but the entries are easier to see on the range chart.
Gonna be trading both for a while. I like the time chart but still struggling with the stop size. I hope with a week or two of winning I will be able to overcome the emotional issues I have with the larger stops.
My central overriding concern is risk control. I can see entries all over the place but risk prevents most of those. I think I will just take the best set ups on sim, ignore the risk for now and get comfortable with proper stop placement on the time chart. Then I will focus on identifying lower risk trades.
For now though, starbucks is pretty crowded and I need to get out of here.
Cheers.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
A couple more days on sim here at the corner Starbucks. I've switched from coffee to vanilla robius tea. Starbucks coffee is just to strong for my stomach to handle. I couldn't figure out why my stomach was so upset for a day or so and then I got it.....strong coffee. So over to tea I went and sure enough, stomach issues went away. Wish trading was that easy to figure out!
Anyway, another couple of days on sim and I should be able to go back to normal. The cable company swears they are almost done!
These last couple of weeks have been good for me. The total break week was great and then last week on sim revealed to me how much stress I put on myself. Getting rid of the fear of losing showed me how trading is supposed to be, boring and profitable. I had almost no trouble getting my ticks each day. I know sim and real money are different but the exact same price action played out for my sim trades as it did for someone else's live money trades with the exact same results. So I've decided that I put to much pressure on myself to be right 100% of the time. The sim trades were not 100% right and yet I got my ticks every day. Why not do this live?
Today was another simply brilliant display of trading prowess. +37 ticks on my 8range chart and +52 on the time based chart. Perhaps there was a bit of luck here. The early morning movement was near perfect for my signals and I took them all including a counter trend one that I highly doubt I would take with live money. Of course that one was the sole loser this morning.
I also increased my targets from 10 to 15 ticks and removed the tight trail stop. As long as I am on sim, I am gonna experiment with the removal of the tight stop. I didn't need it at all today but other days it has saved my bacon.
Anyway, I am done real early today. Time to head for the house.
Cheers.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Went trick or treating last night with the kiddo. Walked the neighborhood for three hours. Ouch! My back was killing me. Overslept this morning by an hour. Finally made it to starbucks around 6:00. Missed the open, then had a hard time connecting to the wireless network. Finally got the charts up and running just before 6:30 in time to make a nice trade.
Then a few minutes later, another nice trade and bingo, done for the day. Spent the remainder of the time skyping with friends and reading the news.
+30 ticks today on two trades.
Should have my regular connection back on Thursday afternoon.
Cheers.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Didn't trade last two days. I just didn't feel like driving to starbucks.
Yesterday I got my internet back and I spent a couple hours reconfiguring my network a bit. They gave me new equipment and sure enough it didn't work with my router so that took some time on the phone with the cable company to fix. Turns out it was a bad cable...my bad.
Anyway, stayed up late last night in an effort to force myself to sleep all night long. Lately I have been waking up several times during the night and not really sleeping well afterward. I hate that. So the effort paid off and I overslept.
Made it to the charts about an hour and a half past the open. Traded for 45 minutes, made 30 ticks and quit. Today was my last sim day. I will be back trading for real next week.
Spent some time playing with indicators as I had an overwhelming desire to change stuff around. After that desire was satisfied, I stripped them all away and went back to the same basic chart. I guess its ok to play around with indies as long as you treat them like a sickness, get rid of it as soon as possible!
Anyway, the idea of just relaxing, not putting to much pressure on myself, waiting for the opportune moment as Jack Sparrow puts it, is refreshing. I am not feeling the need to trade, nor am I feeling to impatient while waiting. This is all very new for me and I like it. Another thing I am liking is the slightly larger targets. It helps make up for the losers. I will probably leave it like that next week.
Cheers.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Just my opinion, of course, but I believe that this introspective exercise does more harm to your progress as trader than it does good. While it is helpful for a trader to look at his performance, he can also over-analyze it, which leads to over-thinking and second guessing his every move. You can't avoid getting into trades, because you are afraid to lose, for 2 reasons; missed opportunity to profit, and forfeiting the opportunity to learn from losing. I learn more from my losing trades(days) than I do from my winning trades (days), so I embrace them. Losing trades gives me insight into the market's, volatility, and direction. Think of yourself as a boxer - if you want to be an effective fighter, you can’t be afraid to get hit. In fact, you learn a lot about your opponent’s strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies, while you are getting hit. If you think about it, losing is one of the best indicators, and is an invaluable tool. So, look to learn from your losing, rather than the explanation you create about losing.
I agree with you regarding learning more from losing trades. However, seeing how this game is all about self discipline and working within ones emotions, I disagree that introspection is bad. This particular post was about risk and being rational about it.
The larger stop size on a time based chart is outside my emotional tolerance right now, so recognizing that, I don't put myself in the position of seeing a good trade, taking it and then stressing out over the larger stop and potentially doing something stupid with the trade. Instead, I look to practice it, learn from the losers as you suggested and learn to recognize setups that meet my rules but also fit within my risk tolerance. Nothing introspective about that. Just sane trading in my book.
All that being said, this is just an exercise in between my normal trading where this entire discussion is a non issue.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
No doubt, introspection is good- too much, is certainly counter-productive.
You want to be able to just pull up, and take the jump shot - without thinking about the proper mechanics of the shot, each time you shoot the ball.
Yes, acquiring market knowledge, methodology proficiency, and risk management skills, is a relatively finite process. Developing mental skills can become an internal struggle and an infinite process, but is the necessary companion to knowledge and skill.
You must be confident, but ego-less; objective, but subjective; mechanical but analytical; focused but relaxed; disciplined but flexible; and patient but decisive.
There are a self-defeating emotions in all of us that blocks our minds and clouds our decisions. Improvement begins with changes in how we choose to think, act and be. Positive changes that will only be realized when we make a decision to learn to let go of the selfish me.
If you are looking for "setups that meet your rules but also fit within your risk tolerance." there is going to have to be a "premium" paid, one way or another. The market will not allow you to lower your risk for free.
There is always a price to be paid when it comes to trading, and whether you realize it or not, you're paying it.
I think you are describing Mahatma Gandhi !!! No wonder 95% of traders fail
You start stalking a trade the moment the market shows you that trade might trigger within the next few bars, or whatever the basis of your method is. At the time of the trigger, if the risk is too large for your psyche, or for your method, you pass! Fewer trading opportunities is the statistical premium you pay. Watching some of those passed trades going on to be huge winners, that's the potential emotional premium you pay.
Exported using NinjaTrader 7.0.1000.8
This is a simple indicator that allows to display larger timeframe candles on any chart. For example you can display 30 min or 60 min candles on a 5 min chart.
The larger timeframe candles are plotted behind …
