Welcome to NexusFi: the best trading community on the planet, with over 150,000 members Sign Up Now for Free
Genuine reviews from real traders, not fake reviews from stealth vendors
Quality education from leading professional traders
We are a friendly, helpful, and positive community
We do not tolerate rude behavior, trolling, or vendors advertising in posts
We are here to help, just let us know what you need
You'll need to register in order to view the content of the threads and start contributing to our community. It's free for basic access, or support us by becoming an Elite Member -- see if you qualify for a discount below.
-- Big Mike, Site Administrator
(If you already have an account, login at the top of the page)
A big thank you to Big Mike, TopStep Trader and all traders who followed and voted for my journal in the February Journal Contest! Because of you this journey into a $150K TST Combine is possible. My start date for the Combine is today, Tuesday, March 7th. As you many of you know, I have an indefinite amount to time to reach the Combine goals but not a deep pocket book, so my goal is to qualify for Funded Trader Prep within 1 month's time. What is required?
To achieve my goal of qualifying within 1 month, basically I need to earn between $500 and $1,000 daily with the expectation that there will be some losing days. I will take trades in the following products:
ES
CL
NQ
YM
6E and
6J
Although, the Combine doesn't require it. I plan to exit any trades before major news events, and not enter into any trades 5 minutes before major news and until 5 minutes after high impact news events. Depending on the setup, instrument traded and the number of contracts traded I hope to achieve my daily goal with 2 successful trades. As most of you know, who have followed my journal I like to take some profit quickly (if not all) so T1 is usually between 10 and 16 ticks unless I am trading the ES then I like to take profit between 1 and 2 points (4 - 8 ticks).
A typical journal entry will look something like the screenshot below. Yellow dots represent my entry point, red squares mark my stops and the green diamonds represent where I took profit.
The majority of the time, I trade with a blank chart, but as seen above I may add pivot zones, sometimes I use the hourly pivot zones (using the 12 hour) or I will use the daily floor pivots. Occasionally, I will put a moving average on the chart and when I do it will be 1 of 3 moving averages: (1) a 20 VWMA, (2) 89 EMA or (3) a 21 EMA. The only other indicators that you will see on my charts are bar counters or range bar finders.
I will do my best to post all trades taken in the Combine and keep you all up-to-date on my progress.
Don't be controlled by GREED, Led by FEAR, or Puffed up with PRIDE!
I got a late start this morning. Just took this trade on 6J. It was a counter-trend trade, a little riskier, so I only used the 3Ks. Stop was 4 ticks and target was 10 ticks. Trade just filled as I was typing. A good start to the morning.
6J
Don't be controlled by GREED, Led by FEAR, or Puffed up with PRIDE!
Had to leave the computer and missed several setups that would have met my goal for the day. We are coming into the lunch hour now which usually is a little riskier trading. I may take a planned break this time and come back. I was hoping that I might get 1 more setup before 11:00am EST.
Don't be controlled by GREED, Led by FEAR, or Puffed up with PRIDE!
Been back at the computer for about an hour and the markets are dead this afternoon. I am going to call it a day. I am nowhere near my goal but with all the interruptions and late start I am thankful for the 1 trade and to start my Combine on a positive note. Unfortunately, I will not be around the computer tonight when the markets re-open at 6:00pm EST. I am usually able to get 1 good trade then.
Don't be controlled by GREED, Led by FEAR, or Puffed up with PRIDE!
I took a small loss by entering early and closed the position as soon as I realized it and then I reentered on the next signal. However, I was just a little late and ended up 2 ticks beyond the trigger signal. As a result I elected to closed the trade at +10 instead of +12. The trade did fill at +10.
6J
Don't be controlled by GREED, Led by FEAR, or Puffed up with PRIDE!
I saw the 2 bullish bars open and close above the 89EMA and assumed my normal stop would hold and definitely the SL. However, what I didn't notice was the retest of the 2S without establishing a new high (essentially a DT) and where I was expecting a deeper pullback to occur the chart was telling me that it failed. No fun!
CL
Don't be controlled by GREED, Led by FEAR, or Puffed up with PRIDE!
