NexusFi: Find Your Edge


Home Menu

 





My Personal Combine


Discussion in Trading Journals

Updated
      Top Posters
    1. looks_one Sayounara with 65 posts (28 thanks)
    2. looks_two Pedro40 with 7 posts (1 thanks)
    3. looks_3 xelaar with 7 posts (4 thanks)
    4. looks_4 BeansTwoNiner with 6 posts (5 thanks)
      Best Posters
    1. looks_one BeansTwoNiner with 0.8 thanks per post
    2. looks_two MarketPilot with 0.7 thanks per post
    3. looks_3 xelaar with 0.6 thanks per post
    4. looks_4 Sayounara with 0.4 thanks per post
    1. trending_up 14,618 views
    2. thumb_up 45 thanks given
    3. group 14 followers
    1. forum 99 posts
    2. attach_file 100 attachments




 
Search this Thread

My Personal Combine

  #1 (permalink)
Sayounara
Yokohama South Korea
 
Posts: 120 since Nov 2012
Thanks Given: 100
Thanks Received: 81

I intend to take a TopStepTrader combine, but I think it's only prudent if I could first pass my personal combine, so I've decided to start one next week.

I use SierraChart with CTS datafeed. I'll post my chart and my trading stats after each trading day. At the end of every week, I'll post a combined trading stats for the week.

For money management I'll follow these simple rules:
1. daily loss limit $500 per contract;
2. weekly loss limit $3000;
3. maximum Drawdown is $4500;
4. if Profit < $2000, trading size is 2 contracts;
5. if $2000< Profit < $4000, trading size is 4;
6. if profit >=$4000, trading size is 6;

I'm hoping to find out about my risk tolerance and profit potential through this personal combine, to help me determine which one to take when doing the real thing.

my trading product is GC, and my trading method is completely discretionary. basically I buy when I feel that the market is going up, and vice versa for sell.

Reply With Quote

Can you help answer these questions
from other members on NexusFi?
My NT8 Volume Profile Split by Asian/Euro/Open
NinjaTrader
NexusFi Journal Challenge - April 2024
Feedback and Announcements
Request for MACD with option to use different MAs for fa …
NinjaTrader
ZombieSqueeze
Platforms and Indicators
 
Best Threads (Most Thanked)
in the last 7 days on NexusFi
Retail Trading As An Industry
58 thanks
Battlestations: Show us your trading desks!
50 thanks
NexusFi site changelog and issues/problem reporting
47 thanks
GFIs1 1 DAX trade per day journal
32 thanks
What percentage per day is possible? [Poll]
31 thanks

  #3 (permalink)
Pedro40
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
 
Posts: 564 since Jan 2013
Thanks Given: 33
Thanks Received: 379


I like your idea of running a test Combine before the real thing, after all, why pay for it, if you have no chance of passing? Not to mention getting to know the platform is also a good thing.

But I am not sure which Combine you want to try eventually? Your Daily Loss Limit and number of contacts indicate one of the smaller ones, but your max. DD says otherwise. You also forgot to set a profit target.

So my advice is, set the parameters like in the desired Combine, and go accordingly. There is really no point in making them much stricter than they already are. The DLL sounds too small. And I hope you are not planning to hit the DLL 5 days in a row, so there is no point in setting a weekly loss limit that high. (and there is no weekly loss limit in the Combine anyway)
I think you should aim for the 50K Combine 10 days or 20 days it is up to you, but since you are using probably the 2 weeks trial version of T4, the 10 days is more logical. So I would set the parameters for that one....

Also you might want to tweak your trading system according to the special Combine rules...

Reply With Quote
  #4 (permalink)
Sayounara
Yokohama South Korea
 
Posts: 120 since Nov 2012
Thanks Given: 100
Thanks Received: 81

Hello Pedro40, there is indeed no weekly loss limit for combines, thank you for pointing that out.

so here is my new revised money management rules:
1. daily loss limit $500 per contract;
3. maximum Drawdown is $4500;
4. if Profit < $2000, trading size is 2 contracts;
5. if $2000< Profit < $4000, trading size is 4;
6. if profit > $4000, trading size is 6;

I haven't decided which combine to take yet, I'm using this personal combine to find out. I limit my trading size for two purposes:

1. I don't want to suffer too much slippage. I've noticed in GC, the last trade size is seldom larger than 4, that means even institutional traders and algos are trading with less than 4 contracts for every single trade. of course they trade all day long, and usually accumulate much larger positions by the end of their trading. but still, the point remains. personally I think for individual traders like me it's best to trade with just 1 contract and scale in to get bigger, but I haven't been able to develop a successful method for scaling in.

2. I want to keep my choices open, so that if at the end of this test I found out that I couldn't make enough profit for larger combines, I could still try smaller ones.

Reply With Quote
  #5 (permalink)
Pedro40
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
 
Posts: 564 since Jan 2013
Thanks Given: 33
Thanks Received: 379

Just 2 more observations:

1. You still don't have a profit target. Without it, how would you know if you made the Combine at the end or not? So set one. But to set the profit target, you kind of have to know which Combine you are aiming for. Also, if you hit your profit target rather early, you can take it easy and just cruise for the rest, not risking much for no good reason...

2. The difference between your DLL and the max. DD is too big. There is no Combine where the max. DD is bigger than twice the DLL, so either your DLL should be at least 2K or your max DD not more than 1-1.5K. There is a logic in this. If you hit too many times close to the DLL, even if you don't hit the max. DD, your winning day% is going to be most likely less than 50%, thus you won't pass. So there is no point in having a large max. DD with a small DLL....

So since you are not planning to use more than 4-6 cars, as I said, try to mimic the 50K/10days Combine. The max. number of contracts there is 5, profit target is 3.5K, max. DD is 2K, DLL is 1K.

Also, there are 2 set of rules in the Combine, one for getting funded and a little bit less strict ones for getting a refund.

Good luck and good speed.

Reply With Quote
  #6 (permalink)
wnannang
Newark, NJ/United States
 
Posts: 1 since May 2013
Thanks Given: 0
Thanks Received: 0

Hello Sayounara, this might be off topic. But I cannot help noticing you user name is in Japanese, and Yokohama is a city in Japan. However your profile says South Korea.

Reply With Quote
  #7 (permalink)
Sayounara
Yokohama South Korea
 
Posts: 120 since Nov 2012
Thanks Given: 100
Thanks Received: 81

Just 2 more observations:

1. You still don't have a profit target. Without it, how would you know if you made the Combine at the end or not? So set one. But to set the profit target, you kind of have to know which Combine you are aiming for. Also, if you hit your profit target rather early, you can take it easy and just cruise for the rest, not risking much for no good reason...


I don't set a profit target for 2 reasons:
1. I want to see what the market gives me each day instead of setting a fixed profit amount;
2. I'm not going to take it easy even if I hit profit target for the largest combine, after all, my goal is to become a consistent winner, passing a combine is only of secondary consideration.


2. The difference between your DLL and the max. DD is too big. There is no Combine where the max. DD is bigger than twice the DLL, so either your DLL should be at least 2K or your max DD not more than 1-1.5K. There is a logic in this. If you hit too many times close to the DLL, even if you don't hit the max. DD, your winning day% is going to be most likely less than 50%, thus you won't pass. So there is no point in having a large max. DD with a small DLL....


$500 is my DLL per contract, and the $4500 DD is my worst case max drawdown. I start with 2 contracts, so my initial DLL is $1000. it's indeed less than 1/4 of my max DD, because I want to survive and keep trading even if I would have 3 losing days in a row. the only thing I can do about my winning day % is to take only high probability trades and try to have no losing days at all https://nexusfi.com/images/smilies/ammo/sarcastic.gif



So since you are not planning to use more than 4-6 cars, as I said, try to mimic the 50K/10days Combine. The max. number of contracts there is 5, profit target is 3.5K, max. DD is 2K, DLL is 1K.

thanks for the suggestion. the purpose of this test combine is to find out about my profit potential and risk tolerance by trading. if this test goes well, I'll decide which combine to take according to my test result.


Also, there are 2 set of rules in the Combine, one for getting funded and a little bit less strict ones for getting a refund.

https://nexusfi.com/images/smilies/animated/becky.gif I think I'll concentrate on getting funded

Good luck and good speed.
thanks! you too!

Reply With Quote
  #8 (permalink)
 
COTtrader's Avatar
 COTtrader 
JACKSON, MICHIGAN
Legendary Market Wizard
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: TS and Trading View
Broker: TS
Trading: ES Awesome!
Posts: 955 since Jul 2009
Thanks Given: 406
Thanks Received: 648

Go for it. Pedro provided great input. Very helpful.

By the way, your forum name means "farewell" or "goodbye." Hope this isn't the end for you.

Ken

Follow me on Twitter Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Reply With Quote
The following user says Thank You to COTtrader for this post:
  #9 (permalink)
Sayounara
Yokohama South Korea
 
Posts: 120 since Nov 2012
Thanks Given: 100
Thanks Received: 81

here is the test account I just got from CTS for my personal combine. it lasts only 2 weeks.

Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	initial account.png
Views:	341
Size:	815.0 KB
ID:	113828  
Reply With Quote
  #10 (permalink)
Sayounara
Yokohama South Korea
 
Posts: 120 since Nov 2012
Thanks Given: 100
Thanks Received: 81





Reply With Quote
The following user says Thank You to Sayounara for this post:





Last Updated on August 3, 2013


© 2024 NexusFi™, s.a., All Rights Reserved.
Av Ricardo J. Alfaro, Century Tower, Panama City, Panama, Ph: +507 833-9432 (Panama and Intl), +1 888-312-3001 (USA and Canada)
All information is for educational use only and is not investment advice. There is a substantial risk of loss in trading commodity futures, stocks, options and foreign exchange products. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
About Us - Contact Us - Site Rules, Acceptable Use, and Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy - Downloads - Top
no new posts