Traded the breakout lower. Sames as today's trades; I placed the sell stop below the trend line and waited the for the breakout. I traded 2 contracts.
I exited the trade early because there was hesitation in the bars. I felt a bounce back could occur. Plus, I freaked out because I was holding 2 contracts . After I exited the trade it hit my target 5 minutes later.
Still pleased with my identification of the trade and the entry.
nosce te ipsum
You make your own opportunities in life.
Last edited by Silver Dragon; October 10th, 2012 at 09:09 PM.
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One of the things I am considering is trading the Yen so I can trade at night. Most days, there is more movement between 8pm & midnight than there is on the Euro. Reason is I find time in the morning to trade the euro but I have to work it in.. At night between 8 and 12 I am free to trade no distractions other than posting on futures.io (formerly BMT).
I have been watching it the last couple of days. I may give it a try tomorrow night or next week.
Robert
nosce te ipsum
You make your own opportunities in life.
The following 3 users say Thank You to Silver Dragon for this post:
Hi,
First, are you trading the actual 6E, and second what would be the yen symbol?
I'm in Australia so trading the yen may work better for me in the day.
Do you know what the details are or point value etc.
Got my but kicked today. Majority of it was mental mistakes and the other was learning mistake with the new software.
First the learning mistake; Unlike NT when your position is flattened it does not cancel the attached orders which were part of the OCO. There is a separate button for removing orders. So, as I flattened my position just as my price was surging it closed and then the price hit my stop, which is now a buy order and of course the price went the other direction right after execution. Before I realized what happened the price had dropped 7 ticks. I was holding 2 contracts- loss of 14 ticks total. Lesson learned.
From a rule stand point I followed them, taking breaks of the trend and support lines. But what I didnt count on was the strength of the up trend. Normally I can get some scalp ticks with break of minor trend which lies inside the major trend line. but today it did not happen. The same thing happened with the support levels. The uptrend was too strong the breakdown did not work.
First trade was the break of the minor trend line. It failed.
Second trade was the execution of my stops which turned into buys.
third trade was a break of minor support. The trend was too strong and the trade failed.
fourth trade was the breakout of the support level. This was a decent trade. There was a breakout to the upside on a major resistance. I didn't see the follow through after the break. I should have closed it at that point when I was up a few ticks. The price ended up pulling back to my stop level and then continuing on to my original target level. Even if I would have held I would have been stopped out.
I marked on the chart the trade I should have taken. It was the break of major trend line.
What did I learn? I need to determine trend strength and consider only trading the major trend lines and support and resistance levels.
I tried to trade two contracts today and failed. Not ready to give up on it though. Need to have a good day for comparison.
Even though I lost big time today it was a good day from the stand point of learning. I am one step closer to my goal.
What was the best thing to happen today
After my final loss I stopped trading. I stayed away from revenge trading.
I reduced my position size to 1 after the first two losses.
What was the worse thing that happen today:
Trying to go short in a long market. Did not recognize the trend.
nosce te ipsum
You make your own opportunities in life.
Last edited by Silver Dragon; October 11th, 2012 at 12:44 PM.
Reason: missing words... my mind works faster than my hands can type!
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Missed the best moves on the Euro last night and this morning but saw a opportunity in the Yen so I took it.
The trade was a breakout of a major trend line. It stopped at the resistance. I didnt see any real follow through. Not surprising for a Friday. I still think it has the possibility to go higher but for now I took what the market gave me.
what was the best thing that happened today?
I managed my stop as the the price moved up.
I exited the trade when I realized it was not going anywhere.
what was the worst thing that happened today?
I missed the moves on the euro.
I liked the move in the Yen today. It was smooth with less volatility. I have noticed the Yen trends more than the Euro. This could be beneficial to getting more ticks out of a trade. I will be watching it closely.
This will probably be my only trade today. I have stuff to take care of.
Robert
nosce te ipsum
You make your own opportunities in life.
The following 3 users say Thank You to Silver Dragon for this post:
Great journal indeed. The fact that you do not over trade and stick to only trading your trade setups is very positive. You just need some time with it, get more in tune with yourself and your trading style and you will make it happen. The hardest part for a lot of traders is staying out of the market but you seem to have that down very nicely.
Ian
The following user says Thank You to iankotze for this post:
Thank you for the feedback! I have been working hard to learn just a few setups and be the best at executing those setups. I know when I trade them it feels right. My confidence is growing!
You are correct about staying out of the market. It was a difficult lesson to learn why it is important to know when to stand on the sidelines and watch and when to be in the game.
For the record; watching from the sidelines can be harder than being in the game.
Robert
nosce te ipsum
You make your own opportunities in life.
The following user says Thank You to Silver Dragon for this post:
I spent about 4 hours between last night and today practicing market replay for the Yen. My best trades were breakouts where I put a sell stop or buy stop on the other side of the line and waited for the breakout. My worst trades was where I tried to time the reversal or continuation of a trend. I should stick to breakouts!!
I am testing / using 2 types of breakouts
First is a breakout which will move 5 to 10 ticks. This is what I am using now
Second is the quick hit breakout which will be a 2 to 3 tick gain with a tight stop.
The Yen tends to move at least 5 to 10 ticks on a break. This fits well into my trading style. In addition it trends very well. Sometimes 50 to 80 ticks in a day.I found a lot of stops and reversals around 50 SMA.
Last week:
First week with Top Step Trader was good. I like the accountability it brings to my trading. This without a doubt make me a better trader. I will probably sign up for the combine in the next few weeks. Waiting for NT to be supported by TST. Below is last weeks results for the Euro.
The T4 software has definite learning curve. It also eats up a lot of memory. The one thing I like about it is the ability to place to stop orders, one above, one below, where I think the price will breakout. I tried this in NT but it will not allow me to do it. I can do one or the other but not both.
This week:
I have been playing around with calculations on what I need to make profit target for TST. Based on my trading style I will need 10 ticks a day @ 3 contracts. I took 1.5 the amount needed (5000) to calculate the ticks needed. This should help cover my losing days and get me used to trading size.
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I plan on trading the Yen this week as well as the Euro. We will see what shakes out.
Robert
nosce te ipsum
You make your own opportunities in life.
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After I exited the trade it hit my target 5 minutes later. 
