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APEX 300K+: The Journey


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APEX 300K+: The Journey

 
 injpowwetrust 
San Francisco, CA
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NinjaTrader
Trading: ES
Posts: 205 since Feb 2023
Thanks Given: 1,221
Thanks Received: 414

03.16.2023 - Day 5 of 100 Day Challenged - FAILED - 2 trades: moved S/L, 1 trade: average down.

Man, it so tough for me to just not touch them. I'm able to do it when sim trading, but I just cant do it live. I had a trade that went MAE 27 and MFE 2 lol wtf, wow. This is a habit, I need to slowly break. I will start my day, by saying out loud what I wont do during a trade. I know that 7 tick is a tight S/L, and I should be using 2x ATR, but eh. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong.

I was able to hitch on a ride, 3 contracts at 100 tick plus. One contract went to my t/p at 136 ticks. I never had an issue with adding size, my issue always has been averaging down and moving stop loss. I just need to become a better loser, instead of being a sore loser.


03.16.2023_summary


03.16.2023_tradez_net


03.16.2023_chart

Stay safe, stay green friends!
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 Tymbeline 
Leeds UK
Market Wizard
 
Experience: Intermediate
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injpowwetrust View Post
I know that 7 tick is a tight S/L, and I should be using 2x ATR, but eh.


7 ticks certainly sounds tight to me. Have you actually backtested and seen what the overall, long-term effect would be of a 2xATR stop, instead?

Is your position-size maybe on the high side for the evaluation-size you're doing?


injpowwetrust View Post
I just need to become a better loser, instead of being a sore loser.

I agree - and I'm saying this to myself as much as to you: "you have to be able to take your inevitable losses."

Wishing you well!

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 injpowwetrust 
San Francisco, CA
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NinjaTrader
Trading: ES
Posts: 205 since Feb 2023
Thanks Given: 1,221
Thanks Received: 414



Tymbeline View Post
7 ticks certainly sounds tight to me. Have you actually backtested and seen what the overall, long-term effect would be of a 2xATR stop, instead?

Is your position-size maybe on the high side for the evaluation-size you're doing?



I agree - and I'm saying this to myself as much as to you: "you have to be able to take your inevitable losses."

Wishing you well!



Yeah, I have "goldilocks syndrome", I cant stick with something long enough, before I start looking at something else. The eval drawdown is $7.5k, I should be trading with /MES but I'm stubborn and sticking with /ES. I havent backtested it yet, but Im leaning toward 2xATR, lately. I just need to figure out how make myself kill "the hope" inside me, aka cut losing trades faster.

Stay safe, stay green friends!
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 injpowwetrust 
San Francisco, CA
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NinjaTrader
Trading: ES
Posts: 205 since Feb 2023
Thanks Given: 1,221
Thanks Received: 414

03.17.2023 - Day 5 of 100 Day Challenged - N/A - no trades
03.20.2023 - Day 6 of 100 Day Challenged - N/A - no trades
03.21.2023 - Day 7 of 100 Day Challenged - SIM - 1 trade: average down.
03.22.2023 - Day 8 of 100 Day Challenged - FAILED - 2 trades: moved S/L, 1 trade: average down.
03.23.2023 - Day 9 of 100 Day Challenged - FAILED - 1 trade: average down.

Things have been crazy lately in IRL, shit the fan. I didn't trade Friday or Monday. Tuesday was sim.

So, good news, I survived the FOMC meeting. I was adding to my winners, and I was able to rake in some good gains. The bad thing though, is that I went a bit too crazy. At one point, I was a max size (30 ES). I need to lock down via ninjatrader or rithmic pro. This will bite me in the ass eventually. Currently as of today, I'm about +/- 3k away from passing the eval. I'm just going to take it slow and let it come naturally. I have failed the eval many times before because I couldn't respect the max trailing stop losses. So if things keep the same, I'll probably pass and start my second phase in April. NO RUSH!

The bad news, I don't know why I keep "fucking" myself over, what is up with my smooth, pebble size brain. Honestly, how hard is it not to average down. I honestly didn't not expect myself to keep averaging down day in and day out. I even did it on SIM. Well, I'm not giving up on myself yet. I'm going to keep trying, fix this habit slowly.

Because I wasn't able to trade, I spent some time looking over my trading stats.

1) not cutting losers fast enough and or averaging down losers; trade MFE at 0 and MFA was like -$400.
2) letting green go to red. many trades were like this: trade would be green, MFE $1000 and it ended being a MFA -$800 trade ... lol wtf am I doing.
3) average MFE $238.


I need to have more B/E trades compared to losing trades. The more the better.

Anyone know how to limit contract size and have daily max drawdown on NT8 or RithmicPro? When I tried it, it didn't work, lol. I was able to continue buying more contracts.

Stay strong everyone, we are all almost there! Believe in yourselves!

Stay safe, stay green friends!
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 Bonem4nWalkin 
Phoenix Arizona United States
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: Ninjatrader, ThinkOrSwim
Trading: Options, Futures
Posts: 13 since Feb 2021
Thanks Given: 12
Thanks Received: 19

You can set risk management parameters in rithmic trader pro, you will need to root around in those menus for a bit. I think canadian futures trader has a video on how to do it.

I am working on that same evaluation, I got it for an 80% discount and have had several resets as well. 20,000 is a big goal, I don't think JUST sizing down will help you, I think for all of these evaluations, there is an ideal trade size that works. For me I have found the most productive days trading between 5-10 contracts. when I trade less, I over trade, or hold on to stuff that eventually turns into a loser, which you really can't have in this eval because of the high watermark trailing drawdown.

If you trade less, (like aloooott less) with something like 10 contracts, the trades that move in your favor will get you further in your eval. Scaling out I think is fine, I usually trim down to 3-5 contracts once I get a couple points in my favor. Recognize everything I am throwing out comes from someone in the same boat, fighting for consistency and funding, in the spirit of collaboration I will throw out a couple things that (i perceived) to have helped me.

Adding some type of orderflow visualization to your trading I think is super important, not looking at orderflow is like driving a car without looking at any of your mirrors, most of the time you will be fine, but sometimes you will get pummeled. This could be as easy as opening up a super DOM and adding the gemify free trade lader add on from the ninjatrader user app share. Reading orderflow is a discretionary skill, and although people have Ideas and like to talk about "how" to do it the only way to understand and get better is to sit there and stare at it for a long time, eventually you will start to see how participants are positioned and it will help you make better trading decisions that will give you the confidence to sit in a trade longer. Watch a couple videos of peter davies Jigsaw daytradr seminars, basic ideas, but makes you think more deeply about what you are seeing. In addition to a superdom, if you are interested in looking at more orderflow type ideas, find a way to get NYSE TICK data. Look at it on a 5 second chart, line on close, not candlestick... I know it sounds like a crazy small time frame, but NYSE ^TICK is like watching the pulse of the stock market, it cant tell you everything, but used in conjunction with other inputs from your charts, it can show you in a narrow window when there could be a bounce or when a breakout might slow down, I feel like it has helped me stay out of getting into a trade and immediately within a tick moves against you huge. A couple other charts/windows that help me in a similar way building a trade idea out are time and sales, I have one with everything, and then one only showing block trades greater than 20 contracts, as well as an intraday chart of AAPL and MSFT. AAPL and MSFT are like 12% of the stock market, when they move, you better believe ES will move too. try it see if any of those help, if not throw it away! haha trading is an individual skill, I have picked up bits and pieces from other traders and thrown out just as much that didnt work for me personally.

But yeah, I blew up today looking for a bounce ouch. Not sure if I will reset right away, maybe next week. Good Trading to you, and thanks for sharing your journal!

 
 injpowwetrust 
San Francisco, CA
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NinjaTrader
Trading: ES
Posts: 205 since Feb 2023
Thanks Given: 1,221
Thanks Received: 414


Bonem4nWalkin View Post
You can set risk management parameters in rithmic trader pro, you will need to root around in those menus for a bit. I think canadian futures trader has a video on how to do it.

I am working on that same evaluation, I got it for an 80% discount and have had several resets as well. 20,000 is a big goal, I don't think JUST sizing down will help you, I think for all of these evaluations, there is an ideal trade size that works. For me I have found the most productive days trading between 5-10 contracts. when I trade less, I over trade, or hold on to stuff that eventually turns into a loser, which you really can't have in this eval because of the high watermark trailing drawdown.

If you trade less, (like aloooott less) with something like 10 contracts, the trades that move in your favor will get you further in your eval. Scaling out I think is fine, I usually trim down to 3-5 contracts once I get a couple points in my favor. Recognize everything I am throwing out comes from someone in the same boat, fighting for consistency and funding, in the spirit of collaboration I will throw out a couple things that (i perceived) to have helped me.

Adding some type of orderflow visualization to your trading I think is super important, not looking at orderflow is like driving a car without looking at any of your mirrors, most of the time you will be fine, but sometimes you will get pummeled. This could be as easy as opening up a super DOM and adding the gemify free trade lader add on from the ninjatrader user app share. Reading orderflow is a discretionary skill, and although people have Ideas and like to talk about "how" to do it the only way to understand and get better is to sit there and stare at it for a long time, eventually you will start to see how participants are positioned and it will help you make better trading decisions that will give you the confidence to sit in a trade longer. Watch a couple videos of peter davies Jigsaw daytradr seminars, basic ideas, but makes you think more deeply about what you are seeing. In addition to a superdom, if you are interested in looking at more orderflow type ideas, find a way to get NYSE TICK data. Look at it on a 5 second chart, line on close, not candlestick... I know it sounds like a crazy small time frame, but NYSE ^TICK is like watching the pulse of the stock market, it cant tell you everything, but used in conjunction with other inputs from your charts, it can show you in a narrow window when there could be a bounce or when a breakout might slow down, I feel like it has helped me stay out of getting into a trade and immediately within a tick moves against you huge. A couple other charts/windows that help me in a similar way building a trade idea out are time and sales, I have one with everything, and then one only showing block trades greater than 20 contracts, as well as an intraday chart of AAPL and MSFT. AAPL and MSFT are like 12% of the stock market, when they move, you better believe ES will move too. try it see if any of those help, if not throw it away! haha trading is an individual skill, I have picked up bits and pieces from other traders and thrown out just as much that didnt work for me personally.

But yeah, I blew up today looking for a bounce ouch. Not sure if I will reset right away, mowaybe next week. Good Trading to you, and thanks for sharing your journal!

Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate your thoughts! I don't mind at all for others to post here.

Yeah, I did try a few times with 5-10 /ES contracts, it didn't work for me. (failed a few apex accounts trying it out) I also tried limiting myself to 1-3 trades, especially during the days I was trading the options/stocks due to PDT rules. It was difficult, it didn't feel natural to me. Again, the same issues I'm facing now, were present then. My issue basically boils down to me rushing things, and not cutting my losers. I need to stay small and keep it small to slowly fix it. I agree with your approach of scaling out, its something I already do in away now and have done in the past with options. Only difference is my starting size is 1 contract, and I add up to 5. I haven't kick the habit of averaging down on my losing trades.

I did try out order flow and bookmap, granted I only gave it a few weeks off and on to try it out. At the time, to me, it didn't seem like I was doing any better. I would of made the same trades/decision either way. I believe its my "reckless" nature that is hindering me from being consistent. Without a doubt, I think there is an extra edge using orderflow/bookmap. I guess I'm not at the point of my journey as a trader to utilizing it efficiently yet. To me, it felt like info overload, and another item to add on the check list. I already struggle with just a few things on the list already as is. haha. I'll take a look at the YouTube videos. Thanks for sharing your insights, Ill look into it further. I agree, trading is an individual thing.

I'm sorry to hear you failed your eval. Today, was difficult for me as well. I agree, take a break, don't spam the CC like I did. I was an idiot and reset like three times a day. It hurt my wallet a lot, lol. Don't rush it! Honestly, my main regret was moving from a failing 25k to 300k. Big mistake on my part, 25k-50k, is much more favorable, to the trader. Anything else is a marketing scam, to farm unseasoned traders imo. I hope one day I can farm the shit out of those 80% discounts. Actually, its on my todo list. I've already lost a lot to from resetting, I plan to earn it all back next time around, haha!

Sending you good vibes and positive energy, wishing you all the best on your next attempt!

Stay safe, stay green friends!
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 injpowwetrust 
San Francisco, CA
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NinjaTrader
Trading: ES
Posts: 205 since Feb 2023
Thanks Given: 1,221
Thanks Received: 414

Today was tough, my avg. MFA exceed my avg. MFE. I was able to somewhat keep my cool today, a few times the market flushed up after I exited out of my position. Lol, that sucked, but I was able to keep my FOMO under control, so that was good.

Stay safe, stay green friends!
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 Tymbeline 
Leeds UK
Market Wizard
 
Experience: Intermediate
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injpowwetrust View Post
MFA exceed my avg. MFE. I was able to somewhat keep my cool today, a few times the market flushed up after I exited out of my position. Lol, that sucked, but I was able to keep my FOMO under control, so that was good.


Sounds ok ... I found yesterday very difficult.

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 Tymbeline 
Leeds UK
Market Wizard
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: Tradovate
Broker: Tradovate
Trading: MES, MNQ
Frequency: Several times daily
Duration: Minutes
Posts: 644 since Apr 2015
Thanks Given: 2,342
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injpowwetrust View Post
Honestly, my main regret was moving from a failing 25k to 300k. Big mistake on my part, 25k-50k, is much more favorable, to the trader. Anything else is a marketing scam, to farm unseasoned traders imo.


I think you're right.

The only way I'd try a $300k one, myself, is by qualifying for a small account and winning the $300k entry-fee out of it first. As people (rightly) say, and I keep reminding myself, if you can't trade a small account safely and profitably, then for sure you won't suddenly be trading a big one safely and profitably. Sobering thought, but realistic, IMO.

 
 sienna 
Melbourne, Australia
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Ninja Trader
Broker: Ninjatrader Brokerage
Trading: Many
Frequency: Several times daily
Duration: Minutes
Posts: 162 since May 2012
Thanks Given: 274
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I agree with trading a smaller Apex Eval (Evaluation) account. I have a few 50k eval accounts, which I trade using replikanto trade copy software. I find that the 3k profit target with $2.5k drawdown is the better deal for my psychology.

Making $200 per day on one contract (as a goal) per Eval account x a few accounts is better for me, than shooting for large moves on one larger account. Although having multiple accounts is more expensive (unless I go for new accounts when they have 80% off, which is the case at the moment), it's really a personal preference based on trading style/personal psychology. Note, I am NOT an affiliate of Apex


 



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