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)
I had previously written up an elaborate opening post to my journal, but then proceeded to accidentally exit out and erase all that I had written so I unfortunately won't be re-typing all of that. A little about me.. I currently serve Active Duty in the U.S. military, I'm married to my beautiful wife, and we have our first child (a little girl) on the way due in April!
I am a relatively new trader, starting learning as much as I could back in November 2019. I am currently in the red right now by roughly -$2000, but am getting better week by week. I'll call those tuition fees. I almost quit trading on Monday, February 10th due to my extensive and expensive losses. With a child on the way, on enlisted military salary (which isn't great btw) these losses are coming at a very un-opportune time. After talking with a couple of fellow traders, I somehow miraculously found some inner strength to continue my trading, and I put some extra funds back into my Ninjatrader 8 account to keep myself going. For now, I will be sim trading until I prove myself consistently profitable or until I build my confidence in my strategy to re-enter the world of live-trading.
As of Tuesday, February 11th, 2020, I have transitioned to trendline trading which has been working out very well for me. I net myself 3 profitable trading days last week using trendlines and support and resistance on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Wednesday I didn't trade. For Sunday yesterday, I strayed from the trendline strategy a bit and got caught up in a boredom trading / forcing trades mentality without realizing it until after the fact, all on a 30s chart. The market was super slow. I've been working on kicking that habit. I enjoy the excitement of trading on the lower timeframe faster charts, which obviously has not been working, as evident by my losses. I understand that the excitement feeling I get while trading is a positive but negative emotion. Makes me feel good, but the net results are harmful to a trader. Good trading is boring trading. So, I have decided to eliminate all lower timeframe charts from my tool-kit unless I am using them to pin-point an exit, not to enter. Today, those charts have been removed, and I have transitioned to tick charts. As recommended by a fellow trader, and some great personal trades that I have taken on them, I will be using 200, 600, and 1800 tick charts. I personally like how clean the tick charts paint patterns a bit better than minute charts, and since I am trading price action with trendlines, tick charts make sense. I don't really use volume in my trading (I understand it), so minute charts don't make sense to use for me.
Today I traded strictly trendlines with support and resistance, with no indicators besides Ninjatrader 8's order flow market depth map provided with the lifetime license, and came out with another profitable day. It's weird, but I seem to do better without any indicators at all, even moving averages. I feel like I am making great strides in improvement in my trading since last week when I almost quit a week ago. I feel much more organized and consistent since my mental reset.
Looking forward to future posts and regular updates! I welcome any and all constructive criticism on my journey to become a consistently profitable trader. As of last Tuesday I am also keeping a journal of all of my trades on a word document, as well as a leather-cased notebook that I will keep as a quick reference for daily and weekly profits and losses, entry and exit points, and overall numbers. Cheers!
Here was today's trade performance on /mnq on my first time trading higher time frame tick charts as opposed to lower time frame minute charts (30s, 1m, and 3m) I'll try to remain consistent with regular uploads of my performance and my charts, as well as things I may have learned. Again, I welcome any and all constructive criticism as I continually seek growth as a trader.
I have done this often. Since I tend to be long-winded, it isn't always a bad thing for me
As you have found, seeking excitement in trading is deadly. No one wins in Las Vegas except the casinos.
I do use indicators extensively, but I completely understand. Whatever the little lines on the chart are, they are not reality. At most, they may help you see what is reality. At worst, and probably usually, they will focus attention on them, rather than on price -- which is reality, btw.
Good. Trading is almost entirely mental, not technique. Some methods may be no good, but most of the common ones are fine. Most traders still don't do well with them. The reason is generally inside the trader, not on the chart.
Yeah, please do . I couldn't read your images well enough to make any sense of them (not a criticism, just a comment.) You could also embed them in the post itself instead of leaving them as a thumbnail. To do that, when you have uploaded the file, you will be able to see a button that says "Embed." Click that and your image will be inserted into your post wherever the cursor is at the time.
Good luck and good trading.
Bob.
When one door closes, another opens.
-- Cervantes, Don Quixote
Thanks Bob. I'm happy to be here. I think this is a necessary step towards my improvement, and it will be great to look back and see how far i've come and the people I "meet". I appreciate your thoughts and for stopping by!
Happy Friday everyone. I hope you all had a successful trading week. I absolutely crushed the market this week! (I was trading sim all week so i'll check myself right here at the door lol) I am extremely pleased with my performance, and for not quitting last week. To say that I am excited for the future is an understatement. I feel like i'm on top of the world, but i'm checking myself, and not letting myself reach a state of euphoria to make stupid decisions. I believe I have breached the wall that separates unsuccessful traders and successful traders. Monday through Friday were all profitable trading days. This week was my largest streak of winning days yet, and it really inspires confidence. I feel completely organized with a plan in place every time I enter the market on every day and every trade. I seem to have instincts that are kicking in now which has kept me out of a lot of bad trades. But, again this was sim trading. I am a bit of a perfectionist, so i still even get hesitant in sim sometimes. Fear of loss isn't really there, but the fear of making a stupid trade is, so I really believe that sim trading right now is super beneficial until payday, when the funds arrive to transfer back into my account.
First off, some changes that I have started to implement in my trading. I have decided to swap over from mainly 2 contract MNQ trades, and have started to mostly trade the full size ES contracts. I will continue to trade the full size ES contracts, and not the micros when I get more cash deposited into the account, hopefully in the beginning of March. I will be putting enough back into the account to get me back over the 1000 mark, and will start with 1 contract. Now, I fully and completely understand the risks involved with this, and it may sound silly to some, but I will include my observations and reasons for doing this in the next paragraphs.
First reason. If you take a 2000 tick NQ chart and place it side-by-side with a 2000 tick MNQ chart, and you do the same for ES and MES, you can clearly see that MNQ and MES are squished up, much messier versions of the full size ES and NQ. This is due to MNQ and MES following the same patterns of the full size contracts, but with a lower trading volume. The chart patterns are not nearly as clean and "drawn out" and I have found that for me personally the micros are more difficult to trade based on price action alone. That doesn't help me out, since I consider myself a price action technical trader. I want the nicest charts I can get and I think anyone can say the same. NQ is a bit volatile, and ES is quite a bit more stable it seems, so i'll be sticking with mainly the 2000 tick ES chart.
Second reason. You need a healthy state of mind when you trade. Everyone is making the full size ES and NQ contracts out to be some big, scary, hairy monster. But in reality they are just charts like everything else. Yes you can lose more, but you shouldn't be losing more if you are placing your trades on your edge and your strategy. I have already lost enough money, so losing a bit more really shouldn't hurt that much. What's the saying again? "If you beat a dog enough, it just doesn't hurt it anymore." Excuse the visual image I just painted there, but that is basically me at this point. As long as I trade my strategy, i'm pretty sure i'll come out on top just fine.
Third reason. Satisfaction, or lack thereof. I have found myself dissatisfied with whatever gains I can get with the micros, which has led me to over-trade. Over-trading for me is not good, and I argue that this concept is the same for everybody. Also, sitting on the computer all day and trading is the complete opposite of why you trade in the first place. You are trading so you don't have to sit in front of the computer all day, so you don't have to go to work a 9-5 or longer day job (or worse, two jobs, and three jobs like I used to), and so that you can do what you want, when you want, because you want to. Freedom! You don't want to sit in front of the computer all day for meager gains. I have a baby on the way, and I am planning my separation from the military in a year and a half, so what good is it to me if I only make a couple bucks a day. Yes I may make a profitable day trading the micros, and yes any profits are good profits, but let's be real here. The monetary gains aren't enough to personally keep me satisfied. I will never be ready to trade full size contracts unless I dive in on my live account, and get used to the $12.50 dollar increments moving on my chart. I don't have an issue with this, and I more than welcome it. I have always been known to take risks, and it's proven well for me so far. It's one of the reasons I thoroughly enjoy trading, and why I have taken this time to learn this skill. The amount of money you can make in a short amount of time is crazy, so why spend more time in the market. You don't need to trade longer, you just need to scale up. One guy in my discord group made half of my yearly salary in 2 hours, so why on earth would I continue to trade micros, or continue working for somebody else's dream? I am not here to sit in front of the computer all day, so I want to get in and out. More time in the market is definitely not a good thing, so this is something I am looking to change. I was trying wayyyyy too hard in the micros to make any decent kind of profit, which is also not good because that leads to me becoming stressed out even more. On the emotional level, I believe I am making the right choice, and am eliminating a whole host of other personal negative emotions that have no place in trading.
After Wednesday, I traded the same setups all week long mainly on a 2000 tick ES chart, and rarely a 200 tick chart when the market was slower than usual due to low trading volume. That's it! I was finishing days with really high win-rates. Wednesday through Friday I wasn't any lower than 83% win-rate which is astounding to me. If that isn't motivating, I don't know what is!
Things I have learned this week: I have had a major focus this week on my patience with entries. On several occasions, if I had waited anywhere from just 30 seconds to 5 minutes longer, I would have had much better entries, and would have reached my target sooner. Less time in the market equals less stress, and less time in the market is a good thing, so patience has been my #1 priority. This extra patience has also led to a much better risk to reward ratio, as I could move my stop a lot closer. My trades only kept getting better and better after this focus. I have also had a large focus on a probabilistic mindset. Nobody on the planet has any idea what the market is going to do at any given time unless you are one of the very few people or a bank that has the capital to move the market. If I see my setup on a trendline bounce, I have been trying to eliminate the thought from my entry, enter, and just let whatever happens happen! This has worked out great all week since I have been focusing on this. My wins greatly outweigh my losses here. If I am patient and just make sure it bounces first before entering the trade, and just enter without any crazy thoughts about the trade, I will do just fine. This is the grand emotion i'll be working to tame. I have found it helpful to be playing a computer game while I trade to take my mind of the trade. Playing the computer game takes my mind off the market and in a sense gives me patience to wait for my setup. If I enter a position, I have already accepted my potential gain and loss, so swapping over to one of the games I play or simply walking away really helps me to take my mind off the trade, lets the trade play out properly based on my edge, and distracts me from the negative emotions that can result from watching it. (The needs to exit early, move my stop, the what-if's, etc.)
Because of my trading on the ES, I am getting more and more familiar with the speed of the market, as well as the visual of the $12.50 change per tick. That's a lot for an account of my size, so I will be spending the next week or two getting used to it. It's much different than the $0.50 or $1.00 changes I was getting on MNQ. Whenever I get started with trading on ES on the live account I will take it slowly and more cautiously at first until I start getting some wins under my belt, but then after I get that confidence in my trades live, it'll be game on!
My trading setup / plan:
Contract:
- ES
Charts:
- 2000 tick 90% of the time.
- 200 tick for low volume, slow days for scalps only.
- 600 tick for a different viewpoint
- 1800 tick for a slightly different viewpoint from 2000 tick.
Indicators:
- 21 EMA
- Fibonacci Pivots - This is just here as quick reminder that i'm at a certain area to pay attention to. Half the time I forget i'm even using it.
- Ninjatrader's Order Flow Market Depth Map that comes with the lifetime license to help identify support and resistance levels, as well as entries and exit points.
-I have found that alot of my success has been from keeping it as simple as can be, and this also resonates with my personality. I don't want or believe I need this crazy chart setup with a gazillion indicators and screens everywhere. There is no reason why I can't be successful with a single screen, a single EMA, and sometimes a market depth map. My high win-rate on the latter half of this week says it all and only encourages this train of thought.
Strategy:
- 4 tick / 1 point scalp on a single contract for now. This will be temporary. After I reach a certain account size somewhere in the $3,000 - $5,000 area, I will move over to 2 contracts in order to leave one contract on the table as a runner to play with the market's money and see if I can grab an extra point or two out of the market. Why not? It's free money and will really help me close in on my potential profit gap!
- Trend-line plays, mixed with support and resistance levels. Strictly price action! I have had great success with trend lines thus far, and have been working on my patience when entering as price approaches or touches a trend-line.
Sorry for the long post. If you read through this the whole way you are a trooper! I'll be making additional posts with pictures of the weeks trades (hopefully larger this time, i'm working on it I promise!)
Here are some screenshots from some trades I took this week. Very pleased with my overall performance. Unfortunately, I am not on "forums posting mode yet" and had deleted all of the trend-lines after the fact to clean up my charts a bit. Most of these trades were taken based on trend-lines that I had drawn or with momentum as the market got extra volatile. I was sim trading with paper money here, so I could afford to take whatever losses come my way, so I wanted to see what happened when I traded without thought like a robot on trend-line bounces. In the wonderful words of Borat, "Great success!" I will try to eliminate the entering thought process on my live account and just take the damn trade regardless. Worked out well i'd say. I'll take that 86% win-rate.
02/20/2020
This was today's trade. I had slept straight through my early alarm and didn't get to the computer until late. I guess this sleep deprivation thing is starting to get to me. I then waited for nearly an hour for a trend-line bounce thinking about a patient entry the whole time. Paid off well i'd say, and in just 2 minutes after entry. Even though it was only a 4 tick scalp, my patient entry helped me keep a 2 tick stop-loss for a very nice 2-1 risk reward. $50 for 2 minutes worth of being in the market is something I can live with, even if it means waiting an hour for a proper entry. Hell, $50 is like 7 hours worth of work for my military servitude anyway.
02/21/2020
I'll try to remember to screenshot and save more pictures before i delete my trend-lines and my market depth map gets reset. Hopefully embedding the photos into the post itself helps you guys to see them better. Cheers!
. I couldn't read your images well enough to make any sense of them (not a criticism, just a comment.) You could also embed them in the post itself instead of leaving them as a thumbnail. To do that, when you have uploaded the file, you will be able to see a button that says "Embed." Click that and your image will be inserted into your post wherever the cursor is at the time.