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)
Just bumping this q in case it got lost in the shuffle... great work on this thread.
AZ - man, I've just caught up with your journal (reading from the start) - what a ride trading is, eh? THanks for sharing all this, its been helpful to read another's struggles and successes.
After the discussion a while back about Topstep, I looked into it a bit - I wasn't sure whether it made sense to get funded by them but it did look like a good way to practice in a more structured way and possibly get some coaching. I think you've been with them for a while now - could you share your thoughts on your experience and whether you'd recommend it as a structured practice program? (I think you're still with them, no?)
thanks again - this journal really has been helpful.
Surly
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
Today we had what I hope is a return to normal CL range days of 200+ ticks. Still the pace was slower than normal but no worries, it was enough to make money.
I ended +35 ticks and that was enough.
What I did wrong today:
1. I took a couple of trades that did not meet my entry rules perfectly but did meet my time based chart rules....
2. I bailed to early on three trades. This cost me quite a bit of money.
3. I moved my stop on one trade to account for the swing low. BUT I was already up and the trade moved in my favor pretty quick so did not feel bad about this.....and I got the stop to the normal tick size pretty quick once it was moving my way.
What I did right today:
1. I used size appropriately.
2. I was super patient for my entry....less so on the exits
3. I quit while I was ahead although in hindsight I should have kept going.
Plan for Monday:
1. Continue sim exploration of time based entries
2. Continue with normal game plan.
Cheers
I wont be around much this weekend.....got a huge one planned....
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Way to stay in the game and take some very solid entries. This was a very slow week and it was easy to pass on these trades completely due to the psychology of having to fight a very slow and frustrating week. And yes TGIF!
I can't recommend either way. It was a good experience for me is all I can really say about that. You need to make up your own mind. I wish I could be of more help...but I have found over the last couple years that one person's positive experience with something could turn out to be a complete bust for someone else....so do your research, make your choice and go with it.....
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Today was a "normal" CL day again.....and I made money. +27 ticks to be exact.
The early going was a bit choppy but managed to be positive in it. The trend escaped me for the most part but then again, I didn't really have a legit signal to get in. And then it just ran away from me. My trading buddy shorted and held for 200 ticks.....quite proud of him. Way to go.
At the same time, I refrained from chasing and instead, entered two long trades for which I had possible entry signal. Very bad trading.
Then I got back on the horst and entered two shorts with trend and bailed after only ten ticks each. No matter, profit target for the day achieved.
I also traded my time based chart in real time.
What I did wrong today:
1. I entered two longs that were unsupported by trading rules
2. I bailed to soon on my with trend trades
3. I did not exit the poorly planned longs as I was aware of their shortcomings.
What I did right today:
1. I was pretty patient for the entries especially early and toward the end.
2. I traded size when it was appropriate.
3. I stopped at my daily goal.
Plan for tomorrow:
1. Work on holding the trades to target.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Today in a 300+ tick sell off, I managed to hit my daily stop.
I made the same mistake today I made yesterday, taking a long against the short trend.
Only this time I did it three times not 2.....insanity and stupidity.....not sure what happened today. I knew logically that I could not do this. But I did it again. It seemed perfectly logical to take those trades and yet all prevailing logic was simply ignored.
I am stunned at my actions today. I suppose it just proves that our brain manufactures things for us to see that are not really there. Or there is something more nefarious at play here.
I am stepping away from the computer today and will not return until tomorrow. No charts, no analysis, no nothing. I need to clear my head before tomorrows trading.
I'm still positive on the week so thats a good thing but still, I should have made 80 ticks today based on the actual short opportunities my method showed me along with my 20 tick targets.
Cheers
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Today was a bad day but you should also remember all your wins on countertrend using vwap and SD, just erase and rewind tomorrow is another day, money management was wrong not the method.
Gonna have to disagree with that completely. As Az pointed out himself there was no long signal to take and yet he took 2 of them. Also you can't just blindly buy into a highly volatile and rapidly moving downtrend market and expect not to lose. No money management is going to save you when you are fighting the trend when the market is clearly on the tear. I can easily see being caught on the first trade (although pulling the stop is a major no no), but if you don't adjust to what the market is actually doing then you can never win. This week is totally different than last week.
BTW Az I'm not trying to bust you up. This almost reads like a note to myself that I have posted on my trading screen.
"If even your 5 year old nephew can point out the trend and you were on the other side of it the entire time then YOU DESERVE TO LOSE YOUR MONEY."
Thank yourself for having a daily stop and not averaging down like I did (twice blew out my account that way). Remember that all you need to do is adjust to what the market is telling you and you will make money.
