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Hello, I've been trading the for the past 2 years and the DAX for one year, I thought I would share my process and hopefully improve my trading by taking screenshots at the end of my trading session and recapping the day.
I have a couple of rules to follow:
1. Trade from 9:30 to 11:30 and 13:00 to 15:00 before the us open.
2. Look for 2-5 trades per day.
3. Use the 10 min time-frame, nothing shorter!
4. Place the stop where you are dead wrong on the direction of the market, if that is a lot of points away size the trade accordingly or pass on the trade!
Today we opened right below yesterdays VPOC and rejected quickly, my bias was to short and i was looking towards the lower Weekly VWAP 2SD band as a potential target (Left chart is a 30 min, right 10 min).
Took two trades today,
the first was a bit impulsive and required quite a wide stop, I should have been more patient and waited for a pullback towards the daily VWAP to enter. Because of my entry I had to sit thru a lot of chop, which always makes me uncomfortable and made me reconsider my first scale out point. Once that was reached I was able to hold 1/3 of the position towards the intended target.
Entry:12509 Stop: 12524 Exit 1: 12504, Exit 2: 12495 Trade result:+8 Points. Should have been more if I didn't move my first target, or maybe just scale out 1/3 next time instead of 2/3?
The second was after the market continued to sell off, I was not interested in trying to find a bottom after we had the big gap on the 30 min chart, usually becomes an expensive habit This time I waited until price pull backed to Sen Kijun on the 10 min and the prior poke higher, because we where at the bottom of the range my stop and targets where quite a bit tighter, I was also aware that the morning session was ending. It got to my first target but I had a feeling I was late and it either needed to start breaking lower violently or it was going to bounce up, second scenario played out and i was stopped out on 1/3 at break even.
My next post will be about scaling in/out and pyramiding and pressing winners, all things im struggeling with and not really sure what fits my personality/instrument etc.. If you have any questions about my charts or method feel free to ask! I think I need to talk about my strategy out loud to see if what I'm doing makes any sense (to me and to others)
I've tried different methods for trade management and scaling in spoke to me because I usually take some heat after a entry however what I found out when trying to do it live (sim was no problem) was that I hesitated to add to losers until they at least showed some sign of working, and also as a side effect I became really sloppy with my entries which was frustrating.
I have also tried all in scale out which is what I'm currently doing, first scaling out 1/2 of a position at a first target but I felt like it didn't fulfill my purpose of laying off risk so i tried scaling out 1/3 at some fixed amount (4points), this was a bit better but I didn't like the added decision making of having 3 scale out points instead of two. What I'm currently doing is scaling out 2/3 at the first target (+1.3R) and letting the market take me out on the other 1/3, this makes it so that if the market reaches my first scale out point and then revers to stop me out It's for a tiny loss or a tiny win, If the market decides to break I can trail my exit and wait for a signal that the trade is over (VPOC hit, 2SD band etc..) and if I'm lucky catch a trend for a big win, I can also add a 1/3 back in to press the trade I've never done this but I would like to bc it makes sense.
I by no means have a set method for this yet and I'm still experimenting so would be happy about some input!
+6points today and 3 trades, should have been more my read was correct we traded below the daily VWAP all day and the trend was down but I couldn't hold my trades thru the chop in the morning, in hindsight I would say they were just pullbacks in a trend but at the time all of the tests up felt like reversals and I was exhausted by 11:00.
This week has been strange mentally, made some money trading but have felt completely bored outside of the market hours, almost like all I want to do is to trade all the time. Every time I try and leave the screen I'm pulled back within an hour just to watch. I do have the discipline not to place boredom trades but once I am done for the day I feel completely empty, like now what? Can anyone relate to this? I'm a single 25 year old living in the middle of Stockholm city yet all I want to do is be in front of my charts, I try and do other stuff but quickly start thinking about trading again and my method and risk reward studies, when I go to bed all that is running around my mind is trading and different ideas. I think I might need to find a different passion outside of trading because I don't want to force trades that aren't present by just sitting here waiting from 8:00 22:30 when the US markets close.. Anyway hopefully someone can relate.
I can absolutely relate. I tend to go all in and become completely absorbed when a challenge interests me. I’ve been this way since I was very young. My first interest was music, and guitar in particular. Next was exercise. Now, it’s trading that consumes many of my waking hours.
While trading is my primary focus now, I believe balance is essential to well-being. I find it nice to limit my trading hours - Once my session is over, the computer goes off and I go about the rest of my day. I often come up with trading-related ideas while working my night job. I jot these ideas down and test them on the weekends and before my session begins. I find that I have my best ideas when I’m away from the chart rather than staring at it.
I can relate. I always want to be trading. I used to (and still do) enter some bad trades due mostly to time-constraints with work. I want to make the most of the trading session while I can and I often end up forcing myself to get into the market while I have the chance even if the setup is questionable. Then I get that empty feeling you referred to, when I have to stop. My happiest days are usually Fridays because I've usually tied up all the loose-ends for the week and I can work from home and trade, I don't have as much time-pressure and I can let the market develop and wait for better opportunities (though I still make many questionable trades ). Ideally we could just do this for a living but I'm not good enough yet
I wish you all the best on your journey @veloxtrader!
You talk about scaling in/out of positioning. Though i do not do that myself I was wondering why you do not scale in to winning positions. That's what i have seen good traders do.
Second i also can relate to being glued to the screen. We are like trading junkies. However, what i have been told and keep telling myself is that becoming a succesful traders is not about working long hours. it's about doing the right things. And being disciplined. And you can not be focusssed and concentrated for 8 hours in a row. So get away from the screen and take up some other interests indeed. Though it may feel a bit uncomfortable in the beginning... wait until you see it improve your trading skills and trading process.
Hey Thanks Zimmer, yes that is exactly it, I too become obsessed and all my focus and attention atm is on trading, a couple of years ago it was video games ^^.
Yes having clearly defined session times might be a solution for me, perhaps I should limit myself to the morning session and if I still have a trade on in the afternoon come back to close it out or add to the existing trade.
Hey Snax thanks for your response! Nice to know people relate to this feeling ^^, and for me it is also leading to a bit of overtrading, I don't have time constraints from work but my thinking is similar to your's wanting to make the most out of a session, I might take a trade and the market doesn't move so I start thinking "well I'm a day trader so I better just close this out because nothing is happening" and thats inevitably when the market starts moving and I get back in and the cycle continues!
Writing my last post made me think about what I could do differently, I think If I had another goal or task to focus on during and after the market which was as challenging as trading but still separate, that would be great. I have no idea what that would be atm but will think about it, perhaps something related?
This time I waited until price pull backed to Sen Kijun on the 10 min and the prior poke higher, because we where at the bottom of the 
). Ideally we could just do this for a living but I'm not good enough yet 