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That's some great trading! 10 weeks, and overall profitable is very nice.
I really liked that after you didn't check your ATR, you didn't chase the next trade. You passed up trades in CL and YM because they didn't fit your risk/reward rules. Trades will win. Trades will lose. But discipline is the hard part. I've been trading for 20+ years, and still struggle with it every day. Keep up the good work.
As for your goals, they are indeed ambitious. For the 59 days I've done my own journal, I have had 39 winning days and 20 losing days (66.1%). I'm actually a bit above my historical average, so 70% seems high to me. And 100% winning months would be very unlikely. I don't say any of that to discourage you - in fact, just the opposite. If you get even close to those you will be doing quite well. Strive to get there, and if you fall a little short, you'll be in great shape.
Today was my first day trading on NinjaTrader 8. I received the program courtesy of NT and @Big Mike's 10th Anniversary Contests. I paid the difference between the one-year lease I won and the Lifetime license, so it was a sweet way to make the move. It was a move I had been planning on for some time anyway. TradeStation was fine as far as the platform goes, but their commissions are higher and the customer service was sometimes lacking. That said, anytime you move to a new piece of software there are going to be things that are great and some not so great.
NT has a wonderful reputation among traders and has many features included and others that can be added. One of the things causing me the greatest pain in making the transition is that their workspace does not have a container. In TS, I could have 3 charts, a DOM, an account record and more on a workspace. If I brought up Google, or my mail, or FIO chatbox, I could simply alt-tab back into my workspace. Or, if I so desired, I could just minimize my workspace while I did something else and then pop it back up later from the taskbar or by alt-tab. NT's workspaces are made up of all the separate elements, just like TS, but they are not joined together in any way. So, if you try to minimize the workspace, all you do is minimize one element at a time. If you happen to bring up your browser or mail, it pops up over the top of all these separate elements and you end up with a piece of a chart peeking through here, part of your control panel peeking through somewhere else, and so forth. I did already add my name to the list of people requesting containers and got the standard reply you get from software development people. Anyway, I'm sure I'll learn to live with that, and all the other things are just a matter of learning how their system operates.
Last night I checked into the Asian session for awhile. I found a nice trade in 6J that netted 24 ticks and another in GC that I ended up scratching on because I accidentally deleted my targets. Still learning NT8, but I got +8 ticks out ot it. I did try CL again even though I previously said I wasn't going to trade oil in the Asian session. It looked good, but I should have followed my own advice as I gave up -13 ticks on the trade. Still, a positive session.
This morning I once again found too much volatility in my primary markets to trade my plan so I looked elsewhere. I found a small trade on 6E that netted me 9 ticks and was a nice start to the morning. After YM settled down a bit, I took a short trade there that hit my T1, but not for as much as usual. The reason? In NT8, unlike TS, whenever I tab over to a different screen, I have to change not only my higher time frame screen but also the ATM strategy. I had neglected to move the ATM from 6E to YM. Still, I took 15 ticks on the T1 and went on to hit T2 for +53, making a total for the trade +68 ticks.
By this time, CL had settled down some and I took one pullback there and hit my first target for +10, but then it backed up into my second stop for -2, giving me +8 for the trade. Finally, I took another pullback on CL, hit my first target for +10 and the second contract ran for a while. It never made it to my ambitious 2nd target, but by the time it backed up a bit, my second stop was good for +20, giving me +30 ticks for the trade.
I'd love to be able to start every week like this!
Today's results (net after commissions):
7 trades
6 winners: $992.09
1 loser: ($132.36)
Net P&L: $859.73
I hope everyone else got off to a good start as well.
Mike
NW Trader
There is no path to happiness. Happiness is the path.
Man got some beautiful entries there. Nicely done, especially for your first day on a new platform! And that’s great to hear about NT as well. I just used bootcamp to get windows 10 on my MacBook (PS, if anyone else needs a windows 10 registry key, let me know, cause my iMac only support windows 8). I also use TradeStation, and just started implementing the desktop app (which I wish I had done WEEKS ago), however, if the commissions at NT are that much better as you say, I’d definitely consider swapping over as well.
Thanks again for the fantastic posts. Love reading your content. Keep it coming, and grats on such a great start to your week!
I would not get too concerned about the commissions at this point. I used TS for a while and the fact is that an 80 cents difference per contract/per side is not going to determine whether or not you are profitable. It wasn't something I worried about while I was learning this craft. If I can make 10 ticks on an oil contract, that's $100 minus whatever my commission and fees are so there's still plenty left. Over the long haul, yes it is certainly something to consider. Over the 10 weeks since I have been back on live trading, I have placed 244 trades, most of those with two contracts, so that's almost 1000 times I have paid that difference so it does add up.
Their data feed is included in the commission and their platform works just fine. Yes, I did have some issues with customer service and I've heard the same from others here at FIO, but then you may not even need customer service. And, keep in mind that getting a lifetime license (where the lowest commissions are) from NT has an upfront cost. I had been planning to make the switch at some point in the future, but winning a year's lease that paid for 70% of the lifetime license just sped up the transition.
Since you're already with TS, and since you're just starting out, my suggestion would be to stay there and not complicate your life paying out for a NT license, funding a new broker and learning a new platform. All that will come in good time. And you can learn this craft and find out if it's going to be something you pursue long-term with any platform out there.
Just my opinion, take it for what it's worth. Best of luck to you and happy trading!
Mike
NW Trader
There is no path to happiness. Happiness is the path.
One way to get around that is to use a VPS for hosting your trading platform. The main reason I use mine is to not have to worry about my computer crashing, the power or the internet going out, but I think it would also help in your case.
you can set up your station as you like and access it via remote desktop at anytime from any device (even your phone via an app) as long as there is an internet connection. This way, as far as your local computer is concerned, everything can be accessed via the remote desktop button in the task bar.
Yes, I know there are many people who set their trade app on a separate computer, and that's essentially what you're doing with a VPS. However, if you lose power, internet or your computer crashes, you still can't access the VPS (except maybe by cell phone). Some day maybe I'll buy a computer just for my trade app and then anytime I access Google, FIO, my mail or anything else it would be on a separate computer. In the meantime, just having containers for the workspaces would solve the problem. I'm sure what makes it especially aggravating for me is the fact that I am trasitioning from a platform that had that feature. I'll get over it.
Mike
NW Trader
There is no path to happiness. Happiness is the path.
I didn't trade the Asian session last night. I had put in so much screen time over the weekend getting NT8 set up that by the end of trading on Monday I felt like my eyes needed a rest.
However, I did go in last evening to update my screens for this morning's short session. I don't know what others have for a routine, but for me I update a screen for every market I think I might be trading in the next session. I set the day's high and low and check for any new S&R areas that need to be marked. In the mornings before the market I then mark the overnight highs and lows and get ready to mark the OR. I am still watching 7 instruments and, at about 5 minutes per screen, it takes better than a half-hour in the evenings to do this. Last night, just as I was finishing the last screen, NT8 crashed! Since I hadn't finished, of course I had not yet saved the changes. So I decided I'd just bag it, go to bed and update the two screens I would most likely be trading this morning.
When I brought the program up this morning, I found there was a bigger problem than just the loss of my work last night. NT8 had lost my screen setups. I usually have Volume, ATR and MACD on my screens and all I had was a big, blank chart.I do have NT8 backed up, but I was going to have to restore, close and restart the program and I thought, "screw it", I'll just re-do the couple of screens I need before the open. Fortunately I did have my screen setups saved as Templates so it went pretty quickly, but all of my previous structure markings, S&R, etc were all gone. Crap, I hope this isn't a common thing with NT8.
So I took a deep breath, tried to make sure the frustration was not going to color my trades, and was almost successful. My first trade on CL was on a pullback that looked good except that one of my higher time frame indicators was not confirming the trade. I looked at it, thought it SHOULD be confirming the trade, figured something was probably out of whack with it as well. (You know, just like when the fuel gauge says "E" and you tap on it, knowing that can't be right!) So I took the trade anyway. After a 21 tick loss I can assume the indicator was right!!
A little later I found a pullback in YM that WAS confirmed, so I took it and hit my first target for +20 ticks but then price backed up to my second stop which by then I had moved to BE. Trade total was +20 ticks.
I kept watching for another setup but did not find a decent one before I had to leave for work. Not a positive day on the P&L, but considering all the frustration coming into the day I'm not unhappy with it.
Today's results net after commissions:
2 trades
1 winner: $97.64
1 loss: ($212.36)
Net P&L: ($114.72)
Will spend this evening restoring all my screens and hoping NT8 does not prove to be an unstable partner.
Happy trading all!
Mike
NW Trader
There is no path to happiness. Happiness is the path.
I definitely suggest getting in touch with NT support about any problems, especially a crash.
They are good and want to help, but they will need to be told something is going on.
@NinjaTrader sometimes looks in on FIO and can steer you in the right direction if he sees this post. Particularly since you were a FIO contest winner and got the platform that way.
Getting a problem fixed helps everyone in the community who uses NT, and going to NT directly will also help you because it will get cleared up faster. Win/win.
Bob.
When one door closes, another opens.
-- Cervantes, Don Quixote
