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Just turned "Pro" and could use a little help, or guidance
To your first point i'm honestly still trying to figure out my tried and true system on that. But, overall i have an apprehension to intervene in my trades once they're put on. But today for instance i was playing a little looser as i was in the shit and it worked. But overall it can turn on me real quick so i have to be cognizant. And as far as i can remember i think it was only 50 points in my favor? I had my PT for the contract i ultimately got stopped out on at 70 points.
To your second point i took your advice to task a little bit today at least. And overall it did work in my favor, but not after a couple oh shit moments. In general i'd honestly just take the loss and then reenter with a better entry than move my stop, but it's kind of like tomato tomatoe at that point.
As far as i can tell it's correct. It's matching the sells to buys and i'm honestly not sure how.
If you want it in any other form let me know, but that's just a link to my trades 08/25 via google sheets.
And yup, i decided to take the morning off since i had a decent gain. One of my worst issues and also one that i'm most sensitive to currently is giving back a large portion of my gains through over trading. So, i'm working on it. If yesterday was any test i'm still failing but i'm working on it.
And yea man please do. I appreciate the outside insight; i don't think you're busting my chops at all. I personally like the mental exercise of "why" and to be challenged ib my thinking.
And yes it is take a lot of small losses but it's not necessarily "hope" in my opinion. I like to fade markets and play pullbacks and reversals in uptrends, and play the primary trend in downtrends. But you'll notice i have taken more long trades this week because i like trading two way markets as well. The environment we've been in the past few months is basically my worst one. So i'm making it work.
Haha i know man. But just because we're off doesn't mean Asia or Europe is. And I'm accustomed to playing those low volume environments by now anyways. But you're right, it's not a good practice.
And thank you, i appreciate that and the fact you're still following. Have a end of the week and a good weekend.
You asked at one point in the past couple of days something like "What's wrong with me?" I was going to give the obvious answer that you trade too much, but as I read along I decided I don't really think so. You do well with these large number of very short-term trades, sometimes, even most of the time. Then sometimes you don't.
I don't think you're doing anything "wrong" except that sometimes you will go on tilt (a gambling phrase, not coincidentally) and you apparently won't know it when it happens. Then you can snap out of it and recover, or at least you have done it lately. So your trading is fine, when you trade like you normally do. I think you understand all this, but I wanted to emphasize the emotional and impaired judgment issues, where you kind of forget how you usually trade for a while.
I think you're a good trader, when you manage these impulsive issues. I don't think this is anything you haven't also seen already, but maybe it will help to hear it from someone else.
Overall, you're still in the green, right? It's not all bad then.
Good luck.
Bob.
When one door closes, another opens.
-- Cervantes, Don Quixote
I appreciate you highlighting those points, especially in such a gracious form.
And you are correct - It's the impulsive, and compulsive issues i'm still working through, and i am conscious of it, which is the first step i think. Actually stopping my self from acting on it is the second. I did well today, actually walking away early afternoon after getting a substantial gain. So, i'm getting there.
I think i really need to define my actual trading style, because it really is almost entirely based on price action currently but i'd like to hone it into something more methodical as time goes on.
A few more days until I'm done with the combine, and then the second real test begins once more.
Ok thanks for that spreadsheet on the 0824-0825 trades. I assembled them in Excel, then got them sorted into a chronological basis. I then assembled a position column which more clearly shows the affect of your buys and sells, and where you were short 3 contracts, or even 4.
At 4:20am you shorted 3. At the low 7:30am the trade was up 53 points (not 70 as I was calling it). At 7:05 you covered one of them for 31 points, but after the open the other two got stopped out.
I get reports and logs more along the lines of the spreadsheet I made, with each trade entry getting it's own line and I guess I prefer that. In the end, if you bought and sold the same amount the total dollars won''t matter. And I assume (I hope) they are just using FIFO method to pair up buys and sells.
ETA: I didn't change the pnl column, so that is still whatever they assigned in their original pairing up.
Hey, this is awesome. I really appreciate it. And the layout you have for yours makes much more sense. The data compiled is from Tradovate and it's not really conducive to doing your own analysis on it.
Bias for the day: Undecided. Leaning bearish, was waiting for the inflation numbers.
Plan for the day: We were already up over 40-50 points going into open after we essentially just melted up in the overnight session. I was originally looking for a reaction to the inflation numbers but only beating by a marginal amount the market didn't seem too interested. But, regardless i was going to try and play any weakness i came into with decent trendline and horizontal resistance from the 15650's up for NQ and the monthly VWAP and horizontal resistance in ES from 4513 into 4520.
I had already taken a decent drawdown overnight, not trading but just having contracts at resistance levels that got hit as we got into the morning session but as soon as we got into the cash session i hit a long in NQ, and then was able to catch some decent short contracts around the 15660/75 level which proved to be the move for the day. going 10:2 in NQ for a $5500 gain and 2:2 in ES for a $637 gain before noon.
On the counter trend I had originally tried to faded it and was starting to get chewed up, and felt myself going to that place where nothing good happens. So, i got to what i learned later was the top, cleared out my book and was done by 1:30 EST for the day.
Finished up some work, hung out with the girlfriend, and finally checked my phone to see that the god damned move i had originally been trying to play in the first place started taking shape as i walked away. So, naturally i hate sold a few contracts for like 0 net gain and ended the day higher by about $4025.75 net only taking 78 trades for the full session.
I was silently stewing inside missing that break of resistance in both indexes as i had been wanting that scalp for a while. But it was worth it cutting when i did not only to preserve capital but to prove to myself i could. So I'm personally proud of that.
That put me above the profit target for the combine with 4 more sessions to go. I'm still going to be trading till the end of it, but will most likely tighten my risk limits back up to the defcon 3 levels of the $450 soft stop and try and not blow this before i get to the finish line. If all goes well i should be wrapping up my second combine on Thursday, and hopefully funded by the end of the month. But, have to make it to the finish line first. The rational behind still trading is the same rational i had going into the second combine; trade this like you would your live account.
I'm currently sitting at a 2:1 R:R with a 39% win rate. That is only trading ES and NQ the entirety of the combine.
I'll post a full report between both steps when/if i get there.
Ok, so. I was essentially dreading do this because i'm generally a proud person and no one likes admitting they failed, especially in a public forum. Especially hen that failure was avoidable for all intents and purposes. But, it would reflect more on my character if i just shrunk away from it. Plus, it's a story.
Ok, so rewind to middle of last week and i believe it was Tuesday or Wednesday morning my girlfriend's cat gets out at like 2-3 in the morning. My girlfriend loves this cat and is hysterical and runs back in the house like someone got murdered. So doing what any loving boyfriend would do i got up and ran outside with her while currently in a 5 lot position. I had been practicing putting on more size the past couple weeks as it's something i need the practice on and i figured even in the combine account it's less risk than a live account with still the butt pucker effect. Also were ranging in somewhere like a 15-25 point range and it was a slow night.
Well, long story short we were looking for that cat until about 5 am when we finally collected it and after i came back inside and took a shower i remembered i was in the position, and as i got back to the computer i had just gotten stopped out and it seemed as if we were about to breakout to the downside. So, impulsively i tagged the sell button a couple times and bam, 7 contracts down the pipe. Immediately take that to the face and get stopped out. Which in turn put my below the profit target, and also over the weekly loss limit.
Shit.
So, i put my game face on and strapped into the computer to try and grind it out to get back above both the profit target and weekly loss limit. Another long story short, i did. I hit a solid 100 point trade in NQ at open bringing me back to green on the day. All was well.
Well, until it wasn't.
I was trading the next night and honestly can't remember the details at this point but was also practicing with putting on decent size. Around 5 lot trades working with different bracket orders. Something happened i can't remember if it was at the EU session open or not but i switched back over to my combine account and was sure to change to lot size. That is until i switched to a diff chart. After getting stopped out i smashed the limit button and sure enough i was staring at 10 short contracts with a price that was going the opposite way. I was able to manage this one a little better but still took it on the chin. Again, above the weekly loss limit, and the profit target.
At this point i was only down about $2k on the day and normally would have just walked. But, with the combine's these counter intuitive (to the trader) rules put the trader between a rock and a hard place. It's either i stop trading and take the reset due to hitting the weekly loss limit, or keep trading and risk taking the daily loss limit in order to not hit the weekly loss limit...
More stories that aren't short i ended up taking the daily loss limit. At this point i was up in my head again because it was just so stupid. This was literally the day before my tenth day, where i would have gotten funded...
It honestly was pretty demoralizing at this point and it's almost like i was proving anyone who had doubted me right. That and i fucking hate losing. And i hate failing. Especially when it's something i'm passionate about.
So with that Thursday and Friday i was essentially wallowing and up in my own head trying to decide what to do.
I had told myself that i was going to give it one more try, and if i couldn't cut it then i was done with the program. Also, that i would only do it within one month. My tenth day was last Thursday, my rebill date for the account was (supposed to be) Sunday, the 19th. So i literally was assed out. The whole entire point was to not spend anymore money on resets or the program in general. But, the entire point was to trade the combine as i'd trade a live account as i feel like not doing this is a detriment when you finally get funded. So i traded every day and every night like i would normally.
Well, a little background - I got laid off during COVID. Got a job across country. Made the move, only to get laid off again last January do to company downsizing. I blew up my last account in May. Without getting into the weeds of it i never received unemployment due to two states not being able to communicate with each other, and i also never received any of the stimulus payments. Not because i made too much money. But because the government is themselves and for whatever reason i fell through the cracks. I found another job a month or two after getting laid off from the second one but at a decent pay cut and it was mainly commission based. In which the program itself was a nightmare. More long stories - I was struggling financially. Not to mention i still had not received my tax refund (this comes in to play a little later)
After i blew up my last account i was literally devastated. But, it was my own fault. That's about the time i found Tradovate and shortly thereafter Topstep (i was trading futures on Tastyworks beforehand).
You guys know the rest.
So back to current times.
At this point i was leaning towards just funding my own small account again and grinding micros from there till i could get back to mini's.
This got more real when i got an email form H&RT block saying my refund was on the way, ecstatic, i went to go check what the hold up was, and... it was 1/3 the amount i was expecting. Plus the $250 i owed H&R for the pro tax services. Fuck... And at this point i was expecting a bonus check from work as well.. That was two weeks late.
I had some appreciating assets that i decided to put on the market to try and help raise funds as i had decided i was going to fund the account come hell or high water.
I had just gotten rid of one of these assets and had deposited the cash in the bank when i wake up on Saturday to an email from Topstep, who had just hit my card for $375. A day early. Literally making the decision for me.
Honestly i haven't looked into this but i'm assuming it's a function of the subscription date landing on a Sunday, as i knew it was the 19th as i had checked a few days earlier.
I know i can pass the combine. If anything i'm more confident now than ever. And that may be my problem. But i've never been more comfortable in the market than i am right now. I feel like each week i'm maturing more and more and just overall learning. Deciding to not trade the evenings as i had been before as i honestly didn't see a point as the more trades you take the law of averages bring you down (i have about a 40% win rate with a 3:1 R/R which obviously fluctuates). The longer i do this the more i'm finding value in the less you do the better. in which some of you here have told me as well. On top of that i had spent those few days not trading developing and refining and actual definable trading system. Adding into my tool belt a more rules based confirmation system to help me filter trades and entries instead of just literally going with my gut and head every time. It's obviously far from perfect at current but A. it gave me a project to, in my opinion, better my trading and me as a trader and also building anything is fun and i'm looking forward to refining the system and actually getting the indicator up and running.
That same day i went to go check the mail for the IRS letter explaining why in the F*ck they were doing with my money and there was a second letter there, from the U.S Treasury.
I opened the IRS letter first, and honestly it made no sense.
Until i opened the second letter. Which happened to be at least one of the stimulus payments for $1400 i hadn't received. It turns out i had overpayed by more than i had thought, and they for some reason separated the stimulus payment from my return without notating that and it through me for a god damned loop. I literally almost teared up. So, this plus the return i did get, plus the stuff i sold, and the stimulus check put me in a position to do both the combine, and fund my own account again. Albeit a lot smaller than i'm comfortable with but regardless, i'll be able to hold positions overnight, trade anything i want, etc. I also on a wim last week enrolled in a program called Try2Bfunded.com with a buddy. Which is just like any other funded trader program but it's equities instead of futures or FOREX. The overhead's low at $100/month for a 50k account and the rules are fair with a 4% drawdown and a 2% daily loss limit and 4% max drawdown. And trading equities is like playing Senior Softball compared to ES and NQ. The only net negative is it's a 60/40 split. So i currently have two combine's going and have the wire out to Tradovate to be funded by tomorrow.
Also, i hit my profit target in the Topstep one today as well. On the first day, again . I have about $300 left in the Try2b program before i can advance to step two which is just trading for 10 instead of 5 days.
Ok, sorry about the Days of Our Lives bit but i felt like i owed it to the community and myself to be able to come here and admit what happeend. I'm going to post the trade reports from Tues-Wed last week and then i'll Journal today.
I just want to take a second and point out how epic this part of the trade report is, at least to me. I had taken the account to -$2909 at my largest drawdown with at least a 3 lot trade on, that turned out to be a 100 point trade. Mostly luck, but i like to think i had some role in it as well.
. I have about $300 left in the Try2b program before i can advance to step two which is just trading for 10 instead of 5 days.