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Mighty's Plunge with TST/5 lot Combine


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Mighty's Plunge with TST/5 lot Combine

  #1 (permalink)
 Mightynorsman 
Albany, New York, USA & sometimes Central Florida
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: Tradovate+Jigsaw, TOS
Broker: Tradovate/CQG, TOS/Pony Express
Trading: Energies, Indexes, Grains
Posts: 160 since Mar 2016
Thanks Given: 547
Thanks Received: 361

Started Trading in 2008 when I hurt my back working construction. I went crazy sitting around the house so I was cleaning out all kinds of old boxes and found some stock trading books I had bought when I was in college in the late 90's I opened an account with TOS and worked up enough money to start a $5000 account there. I traded a solid year with some great days and some terrible days knowing very little but seeing what I thought was great opportunity. Went through periods of utter doubt and complete confidence that it was possible to become consistently profitable. Most around me think it's just gambling. For sure if you let it, trading can become that, but proper trading in my estimation is not pure gambling and should never become that as we are playing some type of edge either in entry or in trade management or hopefully both. Anyway after the first year I needed to figure some more things out. The main thing was how this was all supposed to work where I could make money. So since 2010 I have traded off and on, I've read and studied and worked at learning what it is that I need to be and do, to become a great trader. (Somehow I also started a grain farming operation that I am still trying to maintain and grow which seems slightly crazy right now.) Finally this past Friday (4/15/16) I plunked down my $165 and started my combine. I have tried 5 different platforms and at least for this combine I am using NT7.
I consider myself a micro-scalper as my risk dictates a short time frame. I mostly uses order flow and volume as my tell's for fine tuning entries. I like to enter all at once when I am confident or leg in when I am not (usually first couple trades of the day are legged in as I get into the flow) Without making this too long (to late) here is my first day stats.

*I started around 1pm because of some unforeseen morning happenings. I was going to wait till Monday but decided I have been putting this off forever so I just started mid day.

*Day 1
17 trades total +13 positive - 4 negative
33 ticks captured in CL
best streak of 5 winners
worst streak of 2 losers
using 1 minimum to 5 maximum contracts per trade

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  #3 (permalink)
 Mightynorsman 
Albany, New York, USA & sometimes Central Florida
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: Tradovate+Jigsaw, TOS
Broker: Tradovate/CQG, TOS/Pony Express
Trading: Energies, Indexes, Grains
Posts: 160 since Mar 2016
Thanks Given: 547
Thanks Received: 361


This morning things started out normally as I have a small routine that I do each morning. I was sitting at my desk by 7:05 am reading a few news items and answering some emails. At 7:25 am I entered a trade and exited a 7:26 for 7 ticks. At 8:06 I put on a trade that stopped out or a 7 tick loss. Then the internet went out. Where I live there is only one source of internet available (besides satellite) so I called and long story short 9500 customers had service disrupted and was told it wouldn't be back until tomorrow. Somehow though it was out only until 3:05 pm when I came back in from doing some field work. So I put on two more trades to finish out the day in the ES. Certainly my first two days are not typical as I plan to spend most of my trading time hopefully between 9am and 2pm and should produce some better results as that is usually when I do my best. So here are today's results

*Internet out from 8:30am to 3:05pm

*Day 2
4 trades total +3 positive - 1 negative
11 ticks captured in ES
Best streak of 2 winners
Worst streak of 1 loser
Using 1 minimum to 3 maximum contracts per trade

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  #4 (permalink)
 Mightynorsman 
Albany, New York, USA & sometimes Central Florida
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: Tradovate+Jigsaw, TOS
Broker: Tradovate/CQG, TOS/Pony Express
Trading: Energies, Indexes, Grains
Posts: 160 since Mar 2016
Thanks Given: 547
Thanks Received: 361

Tough to swollow my lack of discipline today. I have built habits and self awareness safety checks but they did not work and it seems I still have much to gain from study and work. I moved some stops making those trades much bigger risks and then started reaching for more with price targets to help make back those wrong moves. Several notes written during the day that I would do good to remember in the future would be:
1) Stay confident it what you have tested and worked out. Trade The Markets with The Plan
2) Remain Self-aware and vigilent in taking the right steps to protect your trading from emotional influence.
I "feel" like this issue will always be something I have to contend with. I'll continue to work hard to put habits in place that help me recognize when it's beginning to happen and how to set it aside.
3) No mistake, error, or lapse in judgment should be wasted. I will conquer!

So I stopped keeping track of the trades when I made several large execution errors (which is in and of itself and error) but what I gleaned from my TST record is:

63 total trades +39 positive -23 negative
Ticks lost today 69
Best win streak was 9
Worst losing streak was 6

Greatest Error that I can see was moving stops. I have proven to myself that with a large enough sample of trades I can be profitable, so I must remember this and be happy to take a loss when I haven't moved my stops. I'm taking my shots and will succeed as I protect capital through proper risk managment and in doing so protect mental/emotional capital.

I am finally writing this on Day 5 as I hated to admit it here. I had to restart the combine. Spending money to trade sim seems foolish to me but it certainly has added to the pressure. In trading my own money I have felt pressure and made those same errors many times. Thought I had cleared them but evidently not yet.

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  #5 (permalink)
 
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 rleplae 
Gits (Hooglede) Belgium
Legendary Market Wizard
 
Experience: Master
Platform: NinjaTrader, Proprietary,
Broker: Ninjabrokerage/IQfeed + Synthetic datafeed
Trading: 6A, 6B, 6C, 6E, 6J, 6S, ES, NQ, YM, AEX, CL, NG, ZB, ZN, ZC, ZS, GC
Posts: 3,003 since Sep 2013
Thanks Given: 2,442
Thanks Received: 5,863

Did you ever give this another shot ?
Have you been able to trade your plan profitable outside a combine ?

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  #6 (permalink)
 Mightynorsman 
Albany, New York, USA & sometimes Central Florida
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: Tradovate+Jigsaw, TOS
Broker: Tradovate/CQG, TOS/Pony Express
Trading: Energies, Indexes, Grains
Posts: 160 since Mar 2016
Thanks Given: 547
Thanks Received: 361

Thanks for the question and the accountability attempt. I did re-up a couple times with topstep that ended with less than stellar results. When Spring time rolled around I went back into hiding from the trading community and spent my time in the fields getting equipment up and running and everything planted, sprayed, harvested, and sold. I am now headed to FL for about 6-8 weeks and although I have not posted anything on here I have spent about 70% of my spare time since last year reading, paper trading, and watching webinars. I will eventually gain enough knowledge/experience to trade very well. One of the hardest jobs of an aspiring trader, I believe, is deciding how to value the plethora of information you can read on the subject. There are so many paths to follow that lead to Futures.io has been a great place and pointed me towards some good resources.

For 2017 and beyond my process is focused on
1) Put in the time truly being focused on the Goal.
2) Do whatever it takes to gain experience as this is what will take my plan from theory to reality.
3) Define Risk and properly manage it so that I can achieve #2) gaining experience without crashing out.
4) Record and analyze each aspect of my process so as to learn what my weaknesses and strengths are to maximize them
5) Habitualize the good and delete the bad.

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  #7 (permalink)
 
rleplae's Avatar
 rleplae 
Gits (Hooglede) Belgium
Legendary Market Wizard
 
Experience: Master
Platform: NinjaTrader, Proprietary,
Broker: Ninjabrokerage/IQfeed + Synthetic datafeed
Trading: 6A, 6B, 6C, 6E, 6J, 6S, ES, NQ, YM, AEX, CL, NG, ZB, ZN, ZC, ZS, GC
Posts: 3,003 since Sep 2013
Thanks Given: 2,442
Thanks Received: 5,863


Mightynorsman View Post
Thanks for the question and the accountability attempt. I did re-up a couple times with topstep that ended with less than stellar results. When Spring time rolled around I went back into hiding from the trading community and spent my time in the fields getting equipment up and running and everything planted, sprayed, harvested, and sold. I am now headed to FL for about 6-8 weeks and although I have not posted anything on here I have spent about 70% of my spare time since last year reading, paper trading, and watching webinars. I will eventually gain enough knowledge/experience to trade very well. One of the hardest jobs of an aspiring trader, I believe, is deciding how to value the plethora of information you can read on the subject. There are so many paths to follow that lead to Futures.io has been a great place and pointed me towards some good resources.

For 2017 and beyond my process is focused on
1) Put in the time truly being focused on the Goal.
2) Do whatever it takes to gain experience as this is what will take my plan from theory to reality.
3) Define Risk and properly manage it so that I can achieve #2) gaining experience without crashing out.
4) Record and analyze each aspect of my process so as to learn what my weaknesses and strengths are to maximize them
5) Habitualize the good and delete the bad.

What is your edge ?
You are in farming ? Does that give you any insight compared to the crowd out there ?

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  #8 (permalink)
 Mightynorsman 
Albany, New York, USA & sometimes Central Florida
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: Tradovate+Jigsaw, TOS
Broker: Tradovate/CQG, TOS/Pony Express
Trading: Energies, Indexes, Grains
Posts: 160 since Mar 2016
Thanks Given: 547
Thanks Received: 361

Yes I started crop farming after my first year of trading my own money ended in losses and doubt from those around me and myself. I never could walk away from the idea of trading, as I can see the achievable possibilities and know of some who truly do a good job trading. I am a college graduate, worked in construction as a carpenter, started my own contracting company that lasted 3 years. Hurt my back which allowed me to become re-interested in trading. Traded some borrowed money ($5000) for a solid year (several things not good about that but . . .) Initially I had some very good months, (Account value near $12000) but over time my lack of a well designed process and discipline brought an end to that after one year.
Crop prices were very high and the opportunity was there in my opinion, so I bought some old equipment, did a lot of repair and started farming just under 200 acres. All three of my last endeavors have been great learning experiences. I have experienced both failure and success at times in all three.

I would say that my knowledge of farming might give some better context for trading the grains. That possible slight edge is limited though by my lack of knowledge and experience in trading the futures products imho. My small knowledge of the markets did however help me market my crop better than 90% of the farmers around me, which has allowed me to help some of them get better prices.

I would say my trading edge while not specific (not wanting to be vague but . . ) is a combination of knowledge, experience, and my psychology or attitudinal approach. I will be a short time frame trader "scalping" small numbers of ticks using a process orientated approach. Pre-market scenario definition, risk definition, and post market evaluation. I will use orderflow tools to help define market action hopefully bringing more clarity and reasoning to why I should/can enter and exit.

Sorry this is so long. Thanks for your time.

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  #9 (permalink)
 Mightynorsman 
Albany, New York, USA & sometimes Central Florida
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: Tradovate+Jigsaw, TOS
Broker: Tradovate/CQG, TOS/Pony Express
Trading: Energies, Indexes, Grains
Posts: 160 since Mar 2016
Thanks Given: 547
Thanks Received: 361

Today I am starting a new Topstep Trader Combine and will start a new thread I guess. I am disappointed in my repeat failures and am committed to recognizing my errors and changing them. Thanks to Big Mike for a great forum and to the many who provide great input and record their many experiences.

New thread will be called "Mighty's Trading Journal 2017" . . . very original I know, here goes . . .

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  #10 (permalink)
 
rleplae's Avatar
 rleplae 
Gits (Hooglede) Belgium
Legendary Market Wizard
 
Experience: Master
Platform: NinjaTrader, Proprietary,
Broker: Ninjabrokerage/IQfeed + Synthetic datafeed
Trading: 6A, 6B, 6C, 6E, 6J, 6S, ES, NQ, YM, AEX, CL, NG, ZB, ZN, ZC, ZS, GC
Posts: 3,003 since Sep 2013
Thanks Given: 2,442
Thanks Received: 5,863



Mightynorsman View Post
Today I am starting a new Topstep Trader Combine and will start a new thread I guess. I am disappointed in my repeat failures and am committed to recognizing my errors and changing them. Thanks to Big Mike for a great forum and to the many who provide great input and record their many experiences.

New thread will be called "Mighty's Trading Journal 2017" . . . very original I know, here goes . . .

What instruments will you trade ?
What is your edge ?

Knowing your weak points, recognising them, actively working on them, is a already have of the cure
to address the issue I think.

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Last Updated on April 17, 2017


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