Part 1: Introduction

Hi, all - I just wanted to start my trading journal to help document my trading journey moving forward. I'll probably break down the first few posts into a handful of topics so that this isn't one long post.

My Background / History
I have been interested in the markets all of my life. I started trading actively in 2005, after which I grew and then blew out my account during the 2008-09 crash. From 2009-2014, I was in school and was disengaged from trading. In March 2014 my interest was rekindled after talking with a friend who had become a full-time trader himself. From March 2014-today, I have been actively trying to learn how to become a profitable trader.

When I got back into trading earlier this year, I was like most new traders, trying to find that one "holy grail" indicator that would allow me to know exactly when to enter the market and exit the market. I first started by learning more about the futures markets, and after learning about the leverage and liquidity offered, I knew that was the market for me to trade in. After much researching, learning, and analysis, I thought that I had found the "holy grail" indicator in the Vervoort Crossover. I "went live" in trading the Vervoort on the ZB contract using a 4 hour chart. I subsequently lost 30% of an account using this indicator.

I always have tried to diagnose what goes wrong so that I can course correct and not make the same mistake twice. After thinking, I found some potential causes to the issue: my settings on the indicator were not correct (should I have used 1 hour or two hour charts, should the indicator only collect data in the RTH session or all throughout the day?), I was not able to monitor and execute when the signal fired buy or sell, etc. Searching through NexusFi (formerly BMT), I found that Ninjatrader allows you to program and automate trades in the markets, so that you are able to stay very mechanical.

So I then began my next phase of my trading career, which was to learn how to program NinjaTrader to be able to have mechanical entries and exits using the Vervoort Crossover indicator.