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 have seen a lot of traders cherry pick their trades and show the great ones but not the bad ones. My hat is off to you sir for having the intestinal fortitude to post a complete and accurate journal. It is a breath of fresh air.
I'm just a simple man trading a simple plan.
My daddy always said, "Every day above ground is a good day!"
Well, today was another test of my trade holding ability and unfortunately bad habits are exactly that... HABITS...
I will do some EFT's and break through this 'issue'. I was reading price action very well, but you can't tell from my trades.
The market seems to be figuring out what it wants to do in the early morning and then trending in the NY afternoon.
Also, just heard Tradestation is now charging 65.00 for ICE (Russell) so I am oh so happy I made the switch to Ninja!! That would be $330.00 per month just for Russell! I hope Tradestation wakes up...
TF Trades:
1. +10 ticks, I had a nice target set up with a Head & Shoulders matching a 50% fib retracement! Did I wait!!! NOPE. I moved my stop to be just above resistance and it hit me on the tick on the last contract or I would have stayed in for at least another 10 ticks (+3 average).
ES Trades:
1. +1 tick, Looked better on ES than TF in my opinion, so I took it, but it just sat there ranging for quite a while and decided to exit when TF was close to hitting my first target. Picked up a BE+1!
I can see from my trading that it is getting better. I have taken the pressure off myself financially to HAVE to make money from trading and I think that is why a lot of people become Vendors etc.. I am just back doing some Real Estate Development that nets me a hell of a lot more than trading most likely will for many many years (Unless I start trading dozens of contracts), so that is a nice feeling as well.
I am taking fewer trades, I am waiting for it to hit areas and I am setting up the story for the likely path of movement. Even though I am choosing to exit WAY TOO EARLY (Unlike my wife), I am not overtrading and I am focused.
I still fear a bit inside, hence the double arrows (showing sim sim trades)
I am choosing to get better. I imagine 1 year from today, I will be doing much better, and that is enough in itself.
What I'm doing, is going over the chart at the end of the day and seeing what my method "should" have done, then comparing that with my actual results.
I've found that my mistakes come in two varieties: Exiting a winning position too soon, and skipping signals.
These mistakes have cost my $400 so far this week.
One on monday when an otherwise crappy day would have been about breakeven if it wasn't for the fact that the one winner occured when I was making a phone call. (I just about wanted to break something at that point).
Then yesterday, I exited two trades at a point gain for absolutely no reason other than being.
My goal right now is simply to have my actual results match my daily "backtesting" of my system. That should be enough.
Ok, wow, what a day. I pretty much saw most of the pivots, but they were not long, and from a standpoint of wanting to trade a nice trend it could have been a bit dangerous. Days like today 6 months ago would have been not so good for me.
Trades:
1. +0 ticks, went for BE +1, but it didn't fill me. Anyways, I saw the pop coming, but felt the market was going to move lower.
2. +1 tick, hit the 76% retracement and I considered going in 5 ticks higher, but delayed and waited for bar setup. Barely kept me into the trade, then moved to BE as the MACD's seemed jumbled to me. I was not feeling good about any pictures and I could have chosen to just not trade.
3. +6 ticks, This was a decent trade considering the back-n-forth of the market this morning. It was at a deep pullback and MACD's looked good, but not an area at the larger timeframe. I scaled at the trendline and 61% retracement.
The highlighted box is where my entry could have been. I didn't have my retracements setup long term, so this was two areas, but next time will come. Learn learn learn.
Here is a video of the group I belong to. This is HORST trading and not his best day at all or even close.
He is the best trader I have seen trade live with the market. Henry, Roger, Judy, Horst, Danielle, Julia, Manny etc.. All great traders to watch and learn.
Another day of not following the technique! haha...
This day was very interesting as it was a day of "oh, just barely".
Lately the market seems to be ranging in an upward direction, but to a degree where I can not really read the great runs.
Trades: (forgot to label 1st trade which was a gift)
1. -2 ticks, this was fortunate as I had a 5 tick boundary. I think because volume was light it filled me lower than my normal stop would be?
2. +10 ticks, Took short at 50% on one pivot and 61% retracement from last pivot/pullback. I put a green arrow as this would be where I would normally scale due to panic and the thought of it coming back to get me. I did a great job of taking first take profit at 50% pullback. I am taking smaller TP's due to market ranging. I let it knock me out as I thought it was short on the last contract.
3. -6 ticks, This hit my area and then I hit short and it dropped 5 ticks right when I clicked the button. Moved my stop to 6 ticks from 5 ticks and it hit me on the head!
4. NO FILL, I took this trade but trading was in one direction and I chased it a few ticks but couldn't get filled.
5. +8 ticks, This came up fast to hit my area and I took it. However, right when I was setting my TP's my daughter came in screaming that she wanted CEREAL and started yanking on my arm. I grabbed my first TP and exited and then I just let the other one go as I figured I could walk away from that without concern. I took my last TP at a definite pullback due to market not moving much lately. That is normally where I would have taken my 1st TP of 2 contracts and let the 3rd ride at BE + 1.
These last few days have been interesting. I realize the amount of ticks I am getting is not great, but until I get more comfortable and consistent than I am OK.
Interesting video, but I was about to fall asleep. Kind of like watching Al Brooks. Probably a brilliant man and great trader, but not great with the speaking or teaching skills.
