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Hello, lancelottrader. This is my very first post here at Big Mike's and I want to thank you for clarifying a lot of doubts I had. Your videos, comments and pictures have been VERY useful to me.
We don't necessarily know when and if we help someone with what we write. Well, you have helped me.
Again, thank you. Much continued success to you and all.
Hi there. I am really happy if you found some useful info in my thread. That's the only reason I post on here. I spent so many years making terrible mistakes, and if I can help someone possibly avoid some of these errors and save themselves from losing as much money as I did .then I have done something worthwhile.
Thanks for your nice comment and feel free to ask any question you may have..either on here or through a PM.
I like your idea of targeting 60 ticks a week. When I quit keeping score daily and targeted 50-100 ticks a week is when i started making money. The idea that I had to capture some large percentage of the daily move or had let runners run forever and a day just didn't really work to well for me.
What did work was taking good set ups, get some decent percentage of a leg or a move and be done for the day. The longer I traded the less money I made.
Funny thing is I've been trying for larger daily wins lately and my profitability has decreased on a weekly basis....
Good luck, looking forward to hearing more from you.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Made this video of today's session. Along with a bit of analysis, it also shows my actual live entries taken from the recording of today..which is different than my previous videos.
Since resuming live trading trading 5 weeks ago, I have continued to be profitable each week. However, because of a few breaches of my system rules, this week I only made 45 ticks..which is a bit short of my minimum 60 ticks a week goal.
Also, I found some of my entries to be a bit sloppy and due to the small stop loss I employ, the entries have to be 100% precise. Some of those entries occurred after a strong move was underway..and a small pullback took place. Now, my system has specific rules for pullback entries that involve waiting for a particular single fail..or double fail . Then a re-entry into the direction of the trend.
Instead I found myself overwhelmed by the emotion of "I'm missing this incredible move" and I entered before the specific pattern I look for. Needless to say, this resulted in a few losses I shouldn't have taken.
I also became aware that on Wednesdays, when the Oil inventory report comes out, i would take several losses..on average. One of the reasons is that the market can be quite choppy before 10:30 am est. That's probably because Big traders won't commit to a position until that report comes out. That lack of commitment causes the market to not move in a directional manner. Now this isn't always true, but often is. So my plan this week was to stay out until after 10:30. Now the market can be extremely volatile and bouncy for close to 20 or 30 minutes after the report. A 10 tick stop is almost impossible to use under those conditions.
So I decided I would only allow 1 loss on Wednesday..instead of the multiple losses I often take on that day. Well, I broke the first rule and traded before 10:30 am..and lost 10 ticks. Then when the report came out, I went in too soon and got hit with a nasty bounce. ..lost another 10 ticks. Obviously, had I followed my new "only one loss allowed rule"..I would have quit right then. I did initially switch to SIM..but then saw something that looked so obvious and went in. I realized that the post oil report conditions require a bigger stop..so I increased stop loss to 20 ticks. I lost that one too. Now I was 40 ticks down on day. Started getting that terrible adrenalinized feeling I used to get in the past..that caused me so many problems.
Usually my max drawdown is 40 ticks for the day..but I decided to trade again...Boom..another loss. Now 50 ticks down. Finally , I got out of the trading room for a bit. Could feel my heart beating fast..blood pressure up..the whole bit. I composed myself, came back in..saw one of my textbook setups. I noticed the market conditions had calmed down..I had calmed down..Took the trade and won back 30 ticks. I decided to quit there at 20 ticks down for the day.
What I learned was that even after months of successful SIM trading..and 4 weeks of winning over 60 ticks a week live..one can never get too confidant. You can't for one second abandon your rules or fail to have discipline. You will get beat up..no matter how good you are.
Anyhow, looking forward to this upcoming trading week..and winning the battle against the Market..and Myself.
First I need to change the name of this thread..or start a new one. I don't trade Tf anymore and my strategy isn't always about catching runners.
In the last few weeks, I have made many great trade entries..been up quite a bit .just to see them reverse..and break even..etc. In my journal I also keep records of how far each trade initially gets..and overwhelming almost all my entries get to 10 ticks. This is due to my ability to perceive short term momentum..and through my thorough mapping of all small pockets of support and resistance.
So today, I went back to scalping..except using the new techniques I've learned. The important thing is to wait until some sort of definite move or momentum has shown up. It doesn't matter if I catch the beginning of the move or not. All I care about is where the next mapped out price congestion area is. Then finessing the entry..usually a shallow pullback of some sort. Anyhow, today I made over 80 ticks..just from 10 tick scalps. There were a few I could have held for 20 or more..but I just wanted to try this technique I have been practicing on paper for a while.
I actually enjoyed the fast wins..much more than sitting stressfully in some trade as it oscillates back and forth.
I will be doing more of this the next few weeks. I have seldom made 80 ticks in a day with my other system..