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Here is my morning so far. 4 trades this morning cost me over 36 points! But grinding back up again.
I am not at my computer and should not be trading really. Still here it is. Trying to get back over yesterdays great equity close then maybe I'll switch to sim till I can get back in front of computer.
After thinking about it a drawdown start like that a year or two ago would have sent me changing my stops and targets and getting stupid with risk.
Confidence is really one thing you cant teach or force. You just have to do it and do it and do it until you trust it and yourself!
****UPDATE****
After looking at my charts I noticed here I missed the reversal setup after the first big push up where I was stopped out that I usually reverse to try to gain back some losses on an easier bet.
Instead I SHORTED AGAIN! I did the same thing later!!
The GOOD... UP 1.2 points above yesterdays close. Traded myself from -36 points in the AM up to 5 TICKS shy of that after some FULL stops hit.
The BAD... Lost -36 points in the AM due in part to ability to give full attention. Continued to trade distracted despite KNOWING this is just a bad practice.
The UGLY... After loosing -36 points in the AM I made it, almost, all back clawing back to just 5 ticks shy of my windfall from last evening. Just to give it back again near end of day!!! Again in part to being distracted.
I don't know why I have the belief that entries don't matter much but I do. But of course they are VERY important. They may not be important in the fact that you CANNOT pick great ones (for me) but they ARE unequivocally IMPORTANT as your exit is in direct relation to your entry.
Have to start trying to pick good spots on the chart vs trying only to fade myself and others.
ENTRIES
- Look for entries WITH trend OR buy-low/sell-high in trading ranges... DECIDE FIRST what regime your in
- STOP JUMPING IN RIGHT AFTER STOP OUT!
SIM/LIVE
- Switch to sim when you...
A) notice your going on tilt
B) cant get a good feel for market
C) at an equity high that your happy with
STOPS
- Start tightening stops after clearly not heading in my direction. Use price action. THEN also use normal procedures for better exit
- Still DO NOT shrink PT after trade is initiated. Like never!
Rest of day. Not terribly trading but still trying to climb out from some mistakes yesterday.
Mistakes seem to be the only thing really stopping me from breaking over that hump .
That last trade of the day was a doozie almost taking me out three times..in this situation I'm glad I stuck to it because that could of sent me into some bad trading.
Just adding my thoughts to your stop theory. When you enter a trade, you are willing to accept that level of risk with your initial stop, why then, are you contemplating reducing that risk if the trade starts off by not heading in your direction? If you started out with an acceptable risk why do you need to change it? Was that level of risk not acceptable to start with? These are rhetorical questions just meant to make you think about your stop theory. Not trying to criticize your methods.
Personally I don't reduce my risk until the trade starts moving in my direction or hits certain targets. I accepted that level of risk when I placed the trade, as that is the amount of risk my system required for the trade to play out in my favour. Just because it starts to move against me, doesn't change those levels of risk. I think you have to set a comfortable level of risk and believe in your system to give you the results over a longer time frame.
Hello and Thank you Medge91.
My stops are initial stops. Or at least meant to be.
Even though they are only initial stop they are STILL within my money management scheme.
My targets are usually smaller than my stops so I have to keep a high average of wins. Thats why I use wide initial stops.
The issue is of course twofold. One being the farther the stops the less often their hit but you take a bigger hit when hit and the second is the instances where you stop yourself out when it would have went your way. Both hurt performance.
Today is a breaking point for me after trading like an idiot all day yesterday and last night. I've proven myself WRONG. I hate constantly trying to dig out just to break even. I have to accept that and move on.
After 12 sessions I'm down $400 on THE MICROS!!! ALL in the last few sessions. Id have a drawdown. Climb back up... drawdown... climb back to break even. Ect ect..
Enough!
In my first post I said I'm partly here to prove that you can trade anyway you want as long as the math works.
I told TraderDoc007 that I'd eat my words if this did not work as he advised this was not a good way to trade. And what he said was you might be able to do this on the micros but go ahead and try to do this on the minis. Yeup! He was right!!!
TraderDoc007...
IM EATING MY WORDS!!!! If fact im choking on them!
I finally let this sink in AS IT'S the the psychology thats the issue. I DO want to do this long term. So if I can't be honest with myself I'll never make it.
The issue is the sim/live dynamic. Once you go live you ARE NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO TRADE LIKE YOU DID ON SIM. PERIOD!
I am switching my stops and targets but going to try to still going to trade the same.
I want to do this in public and live as I will never believe myself if I don't. This is about personal responsibility and it's HARD!!!
I hate swallowing this pill and admitting it. But thats the only way I'm going to grow.
So whats my strategy? Same as before except reverse. I'm going to try small stops with large variable targets. The idea here now is I might get stopped out a few times then catch move that'll recover loses plus some. Plus I find one contract trading very hard so going to add to account to be able to trade 2 contracts but no more. Then I can can scale in and out. Or at least scale out. So that's the edge Im going to try to exploit. We'll see...
In the spirit of total honesty. Trying to trade differently was the BIGGEST MISTAKE I've made since going live.
In ONE EVENING SESSION... I BLEW OUT!
To the point where I couldn't put up margin at least. I only put in enough in to trade one contract knowing full well I'll probably lose it a few times over anyway but it keeps loses down as I cannot trade without margin lol!
Not sure what my primate brain was thinking or why I went on tilt so bad. I think I was just pushing for faster results. The one thing thats clear to me now though...
JUST DO YOU.
I trade the way I trade. I hide my open P&L because its always been an issue. That'll be whether I'm trading one lot or 50! Its how I trade and Im comfortable with it.
I cannot trade risk 1 "R" to make "2". Im too impatient to wait for a "perfect setup" whatever the hell that means, to execute and hope that my stop thats TWO TIMES CLOSER won't get hit first... over many trades. That just doesn't fit my belief system.
New plan lol...
Trade the way I trade but add to account to be able to trade 2 contracts... but NO more yet!
The reason again is the way I'm comfortable trading is using wide stops and managing losses and letting winners take care of themselves. Sooooo back to trading the ORIGINAL way but going to use two contracts to be able to scale in and out to reduce risk. There is no way to do this with one contract.
With one contract, thats IT... your right OR wrong. With at least two you can average (theres a MASSIVE difference between adding to losers and averaging) and also being able to hold for more points once risk is mitigated.
Back to simming. Trading MY STYLE with two contracts.
I'll post charts again once I go back live again.
So on to chapter 12... (lol not sure what chapter this is)
