Keeping a journal seems to be helping those attempting TST's combines and so I'm going to give it a try.
My goals for this combine are (in order of priority):
1. Never hit my daily loss limit ($3000).
2. Curtail the total number of trades I take during the day.
3. Follow my position sizing and risk guidelines.
4. Take only trades that make sense given the context of the market.
5. Meet the basic requirements to roll-over the combine deposit.
6. Meet the requirements to get funded.
I'm going to use NT so I plan on posting my 1m chart each day with trades taken in the combine.
I may or may not get to explain my reasoning for each trade. If you're curious how I trade, do a search for "a surly trade journal" or something like that and you will get the general approach I'm using.
My position sizing and other risk guidelines for the combine are as follows:
Position Sizing:
1. I will begin the day trading a 2-lot with 10 tick stops. I will adhere to the following position sizing rules (see attached)
2. After each trade I will update my PnL and adjust my Position Sizing Stage to reflect my new PnL.
Winners and Losers:
1. I will take no more than 2 trades from the same location with the same premise. Once Ive tried to catch the same trade twice, I will STOP and wait for another trade area and/or trade premise.
2. Once I have 3 losers in a row I will take a break for 30 minutes to 1 hour to review my trading guidelines, risk plan, and trading goals.
Trade Frequency:
1. I will take no more than 3 trades per hour unless the market is trending AND I have no more than 1 loser in a row. I must be consistently picking good trades and the market has to be behaving consistently to justify taking more than 3 trades per hour.
2. Once I take more than 3 trades per hour without the above conditions being met I will take a break for 30 minutes to 1 hour to review my trading guidelines, risk plan, and trading goals.
The intention behind these rules is to minimize the damage I do on days when I'm not trading well and maximize my potential on days when I'm trading well and the market is presenting good opportunities. The position sizing is a bit of an experiment, tailored to meet my goals above - one thing I'm not sure of is whether they will allow me to get big enough to meet the profit goals for the combine.
I used the T4 platform for my first combine with TST. Also, I'm going to be moving offices this week or next. Consequently I'm going to trade in SIM for some period of time in NT before starting my combine - once I complete the first day I will post the results and then I will post each day I trade.
Please feel free to comment on any of the above. I will try to reply to all questions or comments but please look back through this thread for an answer before posting questions. thanks for reading.