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BenG's trading journal - STIRS markets

  #11 (permalink)
 
BenG's Avatar
 BenG 
London/UK
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NT7 and MT4
Trading: Dax, ES, FX, Gold and Oil but what Bund and Bobl also.
Posts: 106 since Jul 2012
Thanks Given: 108
Thanks Received: 126

Today I wasn't able to trade as I was waiting on my new TT sim details. Unfortunately TT doesn't allow you to sim for free more then 1 month, this means I have to apply for another sim again each month. Usually I get it in time as I apply for it 2 days before it runs out. However this time i received it a bit later. Tomorrow we'll be all back up and running as I've received my new logins late today.

Don't let money control you, control money!
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  #12 (permalink)
 
BenG's Avatar
 BenG 
London/UK
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NT7 and MT4
Trading: Dax, ES, FX, Gold and Oil but what Bund and Bobl also.
Posts: 106 since Jul 2012
Thanks Given: 108
Thanks Received: 126

Today I can finally continue trading.

My first trade of today with an example of what I look for in the orderflow. This is really helpful for small sized trades, and usually I don't really need to look at the yield curve and how that is behaving. When you look at ER3 you can see there is a large queue waiting to be filled on the bid, and if you compare this to ER5 here you can see a lot of orders waiting to be filled on the offer. For me this is the main criteria for small sized spread trades.


Prices do move and things do change, however trades can be adjusted accordingly. So as an example priced moved in both contracts in a relatively short time, away from what I would prefer. I didn't get any fills in ER5 yet so rather then getting filled at a less attractive price, I moved my spread to another price within the same contract. I also could have change the contract all together, which is more often the case in my trading.



I'll keep posting some examples, and at some stage show some large quantity trade examples.

Don't let money control you, control money!
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  #13 (permalink)
 
BenG's Avatar
 BenG 
London/UK
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NT7 and MT4
Trading: Dax, ES, FX, Gold and Oil but what Bund and Bobl also.
Posts: 106 since Jul 2012
Thanks Given: 108
Thanks Received: 126


Today's trades

1 - ER3ER5 spread 20 lot clip each on initial entry.
2 - ER4ER6 spread 20 lot clip each on initial entry.
3 - ER7ER8 spread 20 lot clip each on initial entry.

reason for entry

1 - ER3 and ER5 had opposite orderflow readings. Upon initial entry this looked good, however shortly after entering this changed. I readjusted my position and added another 20 lot clip to ER3 and a 4 lot clip to ER5.
2 - ER4 and ER6 where in a similar position as ER3 and ER5 upon initial entry. Both contracts moved out of position so I added another 20 lot clip to each.
3 - ER7 and ER8 looked really good, these are the more volatile of all the contracts as the expiry moves further away. So ER8 is 2 years from now. These also moved away from the initial good entry position, so I added a 20 lot clip to both contracts.

Results
1 - ER3ER5 = total 80 ticks, ER3 = 60 ticks, ER5 = 21 ticks.
2 - ER4ER6 = total 40 ticks, ER4 = 20 ticks, ER6 = 20 ticks.
3 - ER7ER8 = total 80 ticks, ER7 = 20 ticks, ER8 = 60 ticks.



total result of 201 ticks for the day with all positions closed at 4:30pm GMT time.

Despite the initial moves against my positions I managed to correct each of them, and 2 contract ER3 and ER8 I managed to take to the initial target even with the added positions. Today was a fairly quiet day, but that's no surprise as there is a major news announcement coming up this week. All in all not a bad trading day, and I'm happy I managed to close my positions at a reasonable time. 4pm is ideal, but 30 minutes later is not a big deal to me. I felt relaxed today even though I haven't been able to trade yesterday. I didn't feel I needed to make up for not being able to trade. During this one month of journaling I don't just want to write my trades etc, but also see where I can improve my trading style, explore some options to my trading style, and overall learn more.

EuriborSpread_Day43.csv

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  #14 (permalink)
 
BenG's Avatar
 BenG 
London/UK
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NT7 and MT4
Trading: Dax, ES, FX, Gold and Oil but what Bund and Bobl also.
Posts: 106 since Jul 2012
Thanks Given: 108
Thanks Received: 126

Today's trades

1 - ER3ER4 spread 20 lot clip each on initial entry.
2 - ER5ER6 spread 20 lot clip each on initial entry.
3 - ER7ER8 spread 20 lot clip each on initial entry.
4 - ER4ER5 spread 20 lot clip each on initial entry.
5 - ER4ER6 spread 20 lot clip each on initial entry.

Reason for entry

1 - ER3 and ER4 had opposite orderflow readings. Upon initial entry this looked good, however shortly after entering this changed a little. Because I wanted to enter both position passively, I only got filled with 5 contracts in ER3, I did however managed to take 2 ticks out of ER3.
2 - ER5 and ER6 where in a similar position as ER3 and E4
3 - ER7 and ER8 looked really good, I wanted however to test something, so rather then entering in the usual place, I did the opposite so that I could get filled on both of them very quickly, and then didn't have to worry about legging. All in all I managed to take profit, however I did have to add to my initial position.
4 - ER4ER5, after my initial ER3ER4 trade I managed to closed my ER4 positions positively fairly quickly. This gave me another opportunity to trade. As it was in the low of its range I was able to use if for some buy positions.
5 - ER4ER6, Nearing the end of trade 4 ER4 was close to finishing, and as ER6 was finished already this gave me another good opportunity to enter another trade. This was the last trade of the day.

Results

1 - ER3ER4 = total 30 ticks, ER3 = 10 ticks, ER5 = 20 ticks.
2 - ER5ER6 = total 43 ticks, ER4 = 23 ticks, ER6 = 20 ticks.
3 - ER7ER8 = total 48 ticks, ER7 = 28 ticks, ER8 = 20 ticks.
4 - ER4ER5 = total 43 ticks, ER4 = 20 ticks, ER5 = 23 ticks.
5 - ER4ER6 = total 40 ticks, ER4 = 20 ticks, ER6 = 20 ticks.



Total result of 206 ticks today doing 5 trades. I had all my positions closed by 7:10pm GMT time. I'm trying to keep it no longer then 5pm, but as I still need to improve my timing I didn't manage to do this today. I'm happy though with the end result, which is always the most important factor. I noticed that if I enter trades early they tend to go against me by a tick or so. Ideal entering times thus far I have found to be between 9:30am and 10am. Today was a very quiet day with even ER8 only ranging 4 ticks. The largest range was ER7 with 5 ticks overall.

EuriborSpread_Day44.csv

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  #15 (permalink)
 
BenG's Avatar
 BenG 
London/UK
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NT7 and MT4
Trading: Dax, ES, FX, Gold and Oil but what Bund and Bobl also.
Posts: 106 since Jul 2012
Thanks Given: 108
Thanks Received: 126

Today's trades

1 - ER4ER6 spread 25 lot clip each on initial entry.
2 - ER5ER7 spread 25 lot clip each on initial entry.
3 - ER4ER5 spread 25 lot clip each on initial entry.
4 - ER7ER8 spread 25 lot clip each on initial entry.
5 - ER3ER6 spread 25 lot clip each on initial entry.
6 - ER5ER8 spread 25 lot clip each on initial entry.

Reason for entry

1 - ER4ER6 I saw a good trading opportunity with each contract strong on opposite sides.
2 - ER5ER6 where in a similar position as ER4 and ER6.
3 - ER4ER5 after my first trade I managed to use ER4 again for another trade.
4 - ER7ER8 These are not all that often in opposite direction, but I saw a good opportunity.
5 - ER3ER6 slow moving ER3 with relatively moderate movement on ER6.
6 - ER5ER8 I only managed to get filled on ER5, by the time I was filled ER8 had moved dramatically. As I had several positions open that where waiting to get filled for exits, I decided to not enter on ER8 aggressively.

Results

1 - ER4ER6 = total 50+ ticks, ER3 = 25 ticks, ER6 = 25+ ticks.
2 - ER5ER7 = total 50+ ticks, ER5 = 25+ ticks, ER7 = 25+ ticks.
3 - ER4ER5 = total 50+ ticks, ER4 = 25 ticks, ER5 = 25+ ticks.
4 - ER7ER8 = total 50 ticks, ER7 = 25 ticks, ER8 = 25 ticks.
5 - ER3ER6 = total 40 ticks, ER3 = 9 ticks, ER6 = 21 ticks.
6 - ER5ER8 = total 25 ticks, ER5 = 25 ticks, ER8 = 0 ticks.




Overall considering it was a fairly quiet day I managed to make 255 ticks with 6 trades. This is good in terms of walking away with profit. Execution wise I think I can improve lots. I need to pick up on my hedging, as well as get better at picking better spots to enter or exit, especially enter. If there are any other spread traders here I would love to hear your comments. I understand these are only sim, but if it was real money I would do the same or at least similar. I might consider taking less trades, and waiting a little bit longer before entering several at once. However generally speaking this is how I would do it.

EuriborSpread_Day45.csv

Don't let money control you, control money!
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  #16 (permalink)
 
BenG's Avatar
 BenG 
London/UK
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NT7 and MT4
Trading: Dax, ES, FX, Gold and Oil but what Bund and Bobl also.
Posts: 106 since Jul 2012
Thanks Given: 108
Thanks Received: 126

Today's trades

1 - ER3ER4 spread 25 lot clip each on initial entry.
2 - ER6ER8 spread 50 lot clip each on initial entry.
3 - ER5ER7 spread 50 lot clip each on initial entry.
4 - ER3ER4 spread 50 lot clip each on initial entry.


Reason for entry

1 - ER3ER4 = good orderflow reading to pair these up against each other. I prefer to keep the spreads nice and tight, and two consecutive months work the best for me.
2 - ER6ER8 = I had good orderflow readings on this pair, however I didn't realise that the French Industrial news would have such an impact, so this rapidly changed.
3 - ER5ER7 = same as trade 2. I had to readjust all of them to make the most of them.
4 - ER3ER4 = after finishing the initial trade very quickly when the French news came out, I managed to put on another good position.


Results

1 - ER3ER4, total = 79+ ticks, ER3 = 50+ ticks, ER4 = 23+ ticks.
2 - ER6ER8, total = 226+ ticks, ER6 = 63+ ticks, ER8 = 163+ ticks.
3 - ER5ER7, total = 149+ ticks, ER5 = 99+ ticks, ER7 = 50+ ticks.
4 - ER3ER4, total = 127+ ticks, ER3 = 100+ ticks, ER4 = 27+ ticks.



Overall a good result of 773 ticks for today. I made 4 trades and most of the movement was during the morning, during and after the French Industrial news release. The remaining of the day was very slow, so I'm glad I managed to get a few decent trades in.

EuriborSpread_Day46.csv

Don't let money control you, control money!
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  #17 (permalink)
 
BenG's Avatar
 BenG 
London/UK
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NT7 and MT4
Trading: Dax, ES, FX, Gold and Oil but what Bund and Bobl also.
Posts: 106 since Jul 2012
Thanks Given: 108
Thanks Received: 126

Today's trades

1 - ER3ER4 spread 50 lot clip each on initial entry.
2 - ER5ER6 spread 50 lot clip each on initial entry.
3 - ER7ER8 spread 50 lot clip each on initial entry.
4 - ER3ER4 spread 50 lot clip each on initial entry.


Reason for entry

1 - ER3ER4 = good orderflow reading on both pairs. However during the morning ER3 position went against me, so I added another 20 ticks on the low of the range 99.90.
2 - ER5ER6 = I had good orderflow readings on this pair as well, and made the entry shortly after trade 1. This trade took a little bit longer to complete, but it got there at the end.
3 - ER7ER8 = same as trade 2. I had to readjust this spread.
4 - ER3ER4 = after finishing the initial trade reasonably quickly, I was able to put on another trade with the same pair.


Results

Total = currently 485 ticks, but still have one position open.

1 - ER3ER4, total = 140+ ticks, ER3 = 90 ticks, ER4 = 50+ ticks.
2 - ER5ER6, total = 100+ ticks, ER5 = 50+ ticks, ER6 = 50+ ticks.
3 - ER7ER8, total = 100+ ticks, ER7 = 0 ticks (still open overnight trade), ER8 = 100+ ticks.
4 - ER3ER4, total = 100+ ticks, ER3 = 50+ ticks, ER4 = 50+ ticks.





Overall a decent trading day in which I managed to make 4 trades. I could have made a few more but as I had still a position open, I didn't want to open another one. I still have one trade overnight, which I was trying to get out of, but didnt close it in time before the market close. Thus far I made 0 ticks on that specific trade. We'll see in the morning how it played out. 485 ticks out of 4 trades, which is not bad at all. As a rule I want to start implement something which I think will help me in my trading. Because this is a very different contract to trade in comparison to some others. This market is very very liquid, so not much volatility. This means that when a position goes against you, you can add to this position. This happens all the time, however what I don't want to get into is the habit of keep adding to a position. So I have established a new rule for myself, to help me in my trading and that is to only add to a position once and that's it. This should help me to cut my loser sooner, and to have a specific methodology to deal with it. At first I struggled to find a way to handle it, and do it in such a way that I know it will work. We all know we're going to have losers, this in itself is not a problem. The problem occurs when you're trading something this liquid, and you can add to a position very very easily, and turn the loser into a winner. In a more volatile market I don't struggle to cut the loser, as I'm aware that if I don't it will hurt me more. We'll have to see how this new rule will help, but I think it's better to have a system in place to deal with it, instead of having nothing concrete in place. I will update tomorrow with the final result of my overnight trade.

Don't let money control you, control money!
Attached Files
Elite Membership required to download: EuriborSpread_Day47.csv
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  #18 (permalink)
 
BenG's Avatar
 BenG 
London/UK
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NT7 and MT4
Trading: Dax, ES, FX, Gold and Oil but what Bund and Bobl also.
Posts: 106 since Jul 2012
Thanks Given: 108
Thanks Received: 126

I'm not sure why this keeps happening, but for some reason my laptop still hibernates or sleeps after x period, even though my settings are set to never. This happens even while TT is still running, and for one reason or the other TT doesn't like it at all. When I came back this morning to check up on my trade, I had to restart TT. Although I deselected the fill button in the simulation section, it still deleted everything. Luckily I managed to record every trade I made last night, but I hate open endings. 99.835 was my break even point, the price is currently trading at 99.84, so I would have made another possible 96 ticks.

Don't let money control you, control money!
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  #19 (permalink)
 
BenG's Avatar
 BenG 
London/UK
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NT7 and MT4
Trading: Dax, ES, FX, Gold and Oil but what Bund and Bobl also.
Posts: 106 since Jul 2012
Thanks Given: 108
Thanks Received: 126

Today's trades

1 - ER4ER7 spread 50 lot clip each on initial entry.
2 - ER3ER5 spread 50 lot clip each on initial entry.
3 - ER7ER8 spread 50 lot clip each on initial entry.
4 - ER4ER5 spread 50 lot clip each on initial entry.


Reason for entry

1 - ER4ER7 = good orderflow reading on both pairs.
2 - ER3ER5 = I had good orderflow readings on this pair as well, and made the entry shortly after trade 1.
3 - ER7ER8 = same as trade 2. However I consider myself acting to hasty and lost patience by entering several position too early, and before a news release.
4 - ER4ER5 = after finishing the initial trade reasonably quickly, I saw a good trade opportunity in ER4ER5.


Results

Total = currently 171 ticks, but still have one position open that's currently -36 ticks.

1 - ER4ER7, total = ticks, ER4 = 18 ticks, ER7 = +/- 50 ticks.
2 - ER3ER5, total = 125 ticks, ER3 = 75 ticks, ER5 = +/- 50 ticks.
3 - ER7ER8, total = -42 ticks, ER7 = -42 ticks (still open overnight trade), ER8 = 0 ticks.
4 - ER4ER5, total = 50 ticks, ER4 = +/- 50 ticks, ER5 = 0 ticks.




Overall not the best day. Sure I've still managed to walk away with some result, however my trading wasn't focused and my entries rather rushed and sloppy. This worked against me and my performance and it took most of the afternoon to get out of the initial bad entered trades. It's not very often I have a losing trade in Euribor, as most of the time you can add to a position and walk away with it. I still added to my positions y'day, however as I've made a new rule recently to cut out possible risk, I can now only add to a position once. This I did, but it took a while to see the price move back into my favour again. 50 lot clips entered, and on several positions an additional 50 lot clip added.

Don't let money control you, control money!
Attached Files
Elite Membership required to download: EuriborSpread_Day48.csv
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  #20 (permalink)
 
bd92154's Avatar
 bd92154 
San Diego
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NinjaTrader/Think or Swim
Broker: TDA/Interactive Brokers/ Data Feed TDA & IBK ( Dropped Kinetick)
Trading: Stocks NASDAQ
Posts: 1,058 since May 2011
Thanks Given: 1,542
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BenG View Post
I'm not sure why this keeps happening, but for some reason my laptop still hibernates or sleeps after x period, even though my settings are set to never. This happens even while TT is still running, and for one reason or the other TT doesn't like it at all. When I came back this morning to check up on my trade, I had to restart TT. Although I deselected the fill button in the simulation section, it still deleted everything. Luckily I managed to record every trade I made last night, but I hate open endings. 99.835 was my break even point, the price is currently trading at 99.84, so I would have made another possible 96 ticks.

Ben,

Even though you are not turning your monitor power off your "Screen Saver" may be kicking in.

Also with a laptop I have found it helpful to set the hard drive and Cooling FAN to never turn off as well, but to each his own.

So three values you want to set to never turn off are Hard Drive power, Monitor, and Set Screen Saver to NONE. That is the safest for not getting kicked off.

Hope this helps.

By the way the easiest way to get to your Screen Saver is to type SCR into your search window after clicking window icon. These GUI interfaces seem to be everything but friendly.


Lastly since you are leaving the laptop on what sounds like 24/7 are you also sure it is not a heating or power issue?

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