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Apology accepted. I'm probably a little over-sensitive right now because of the timing of start of this journal. Had I started it on 1 July, you would see that net for the month was +22pts. But I didn't and I don't expect anyone to take my word for that. I could just as easily say +50 or +100. The whole point of this journal is to give readers confidence that I did what I say I did. Like Lincoln reportedly told the portrait painter - "warts and all".
I'll try to add to this later, but we're in my trading window is open and I need to devote my attention to the mkt.
About the stops - After I determined the best methods for determining entry points, I tested quite a number of potential stop levels. I settled on 3pts. as being optimal. However, I quickly observed that the market virtually always traded through my entry price by a point or so. So I adjusted my entry to .5 better than the system indicates. The effect has been that I make .5 more on the winners and lose .5 less on the losers. The extra .5 per trade has much more made up for the 1 or 2 trades missed by extending the entry price.
11:29 I've been watching all day. The market took off around 8:30 and has been one direction, for the most part, all day. There was a borderline sell given around 10:00 but the volatility filters were flashing no-go, so I didn't enter the orders and I didn't report here. As it turned out, the trade would have been entered and stopped out within 30 minutes. Thank you volatility filters!
I couldn't edit my Monday pre-trading window comments due to time restrictions, so I'll do it now.
Sunday evening I was looking forward to Monday morning like I'd be looking forward to a prostate exam. At the time, I was thinking the 9 consecutive losses was the longest run of losers I had had. So I decided to check the circumstances at the time of my biggest drawdown, about a year ago. That drawdown was mercifully interspersed with a winner or two here and there. But I only had to go back to last May to find a string of 11 consecutive losses. It was May 24 - June 7 and new equity highs were reached on June 19. The agony of painful periods fades so quickly. It was encouraging to be reminded that I have been through tough times before and survived to trade again. Keeping losses small and letting profits run, when you get them, is the key to eventual success.
10:14 entered orders to buy ES.U @2858.25 and sell 2856.25 stop
10:47 filled on the buy
10:49 already stopped out
are you paranoid if "they" are really out to get you?
11:11 entered orders to sell 2860.5 with 2862.5 stop
11:55 filled on the short
1:21 entered orders to go flat at 2856.5
1:28 raised exit to 2857.5
1:45 covered short at 2860 and entered new order to sell at 2861.25 stop 2863.25
I don't consider the small .5pt winner to be a break in the losing streak. After the short position entry, market movement generated a new, slightly higher selling level with a slightly higher stop. We were getting close to that level and there was no reason to believe it would not be reached. I've watched most of the trades since I started this journal go from +2 to 4pts. to -2 before time to change the stops, only to have the mkt turn back in the direction of the original position. So it made sense to exit and re-establish the short at the better level.
Around 1:30 I entered buy orders for ES.U at 2826.0. I was watching it so close that I didn't have time to report it here. Within 5 min. it was already 3-4pt higher. This late in the day, and as crazy as this mkt has been, If it got back down there, I wouldn't want it. So I canceled.
