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For now I am putting my focus on a pure scalping strategy on YM. High probability small wins, and lot's of them. Actually, look, I just need 2 baby one car scalps per day to double my account in one month. I HAVE TO DO THIS or I will be off the team. I'm confident it can be done and I can do it.
When I have the capital to trade 2 cars of 6E within my risk limits and according to my 2car intraday strategy, I will trade both vehicles according to a four session day.
Eastern Time
330-530 - 6E
700-900 - 6E
945 - 1145 - YM
130-345 -YM
Four sessions. Looking for one good trade in each one. Taking a break for some exercise at lunch this week. Will sign off at noon, go for a long walk and calisthenics, cleaned and back to the desk for the afternoon dealing.
Will probably sim the rest of the week and absorb the wide range of ATM order types available on CTS T4. Possibly going live later in the week, excited!
Last week of getting the trading space ready for execution.
The main chart of my setup is a range chart. The edge is to get ahead of the curve and never use market orders. I just need a two base hits per day to doubt the account in month one. That's it. So letting some get by is no big deal when there's an endless stream of pitches.
So objective one is to get order rules down hard before handling the DOM against real ticks.
Rule 1. Limit orders within 2 pips of chosen ADX edge.
Will see if I can do this over this week in SIM and get my two scalps per day. Should not be hard to do if I can find the energy to stay focused and not miss the moves.
Simming is good so far. Today was a small net gain of 8 ticks but the experience developed was worth way more. My basic entry is to trade around the moving average in the direction of the trend. Looking forward to trading real money on T4 possibly this week.
I'm a bit behind on forum threads, sorry for delay.
While I understand where you are coming from with this post, I would caution against trying to remove all emotion from trading. I've been there. Ridding yourself of emotion and trading "ice cold" is not the answer. As Dr. Brett said, without emotion you have no feel for the market. I view it as a short cut, and there are no short cuts in trading.
Instead, and what makes it hard, is you must find the perfect balance of gut/instinct and mechanical precision/emotionless trading. There is a balance between not letting a bad trade effect you and trading blindly without emotion.
One thing that helps remind me of this is to think of what you are truly trying to do with each trade. Yes, you are trying to make money. But more than that, you are trying to beat everyone else in the market. In order for you to win, someone else has to lose. That means that ultimately what you are trying to accomplish is to trade better than the majority, or to trade better than the person on the other side of your trade. I find thinking like this helps me because it puts things into context for me, it helps me see the current market and price action better. Maybe it will help you, too.
Does this mean you've altered the initial plan of using X-Trader? What were the reasons behind this change? I do not disagree with it, I just think its important to write down things in your journal that are as important as this decision.
I highly, highly suggest you stay sim for at least two weeks. Post the results of every sim day in your journal. The accountability will help. Then take a look at the end of two weeks and decide if you are truly ready for cash.
I make the suggestion because of the recent changes you've made to your plan, I want you to have the best chance for success and I don't think you should rush into the live market just yet.
Thanks so much for your excellent insights and feedback Big Mike. I've been so busy I've been neglecting my journal.
First, the previous post about gut instinct and mechanical precision. Perfect. I've developed a new system that I've never used before and it is awesome. I was 10 for 12 today. It's a two car strat, risk 13 for 13 on car 1 with a runner. When it sets up it's now I'm feeling my instincts, not emotions, it's coming from the fire in the belly now. I love it, the competition. My setups give you about 5 to 15 seconds to execute, what a thrill.
Regarding X trader and change to the game plan. I thought about what you said earlier about costs. X trader is too expensive. I went with Dorman Direct. Why. I don't want to be routed through a brokers server to theirs. I want as few steps to the exchange as possible. CTS T4 is the platform I am using and it is super cool. Dorman has white labeled it as Dorman Direct and they say it's as fast or faster than TT or Zen when going directly through their server. There is no license cost and commission are the same as Zen. The Dom is way more advanced howerver as it is designed for institutional users. It has all the order types you get from a broker like IB but it is really easy to use with the DOM toolbar. It also as market profile studies built into the Dom which is space saving and helpful.
I switched to trading the Dow for a few reasons. One, I have developed some very good analysis tools using NYSE and CBOE indexes. It allows me to be far more precise which is the name of the game in this new 13 tick strategy. And second, the 5$/tick price point allows me to use two cars comfortably with a 3K account. That account would be more like 4K if I had been live today. Yesterday I was 11/14 in a bar by bar backtest. Today I executed it. I will be going live maybe tomorrow, maybe Monday...
I might sim for a few more days but it is hard to do when I feel so ready. It feels like the longer I sim the more time the nerves have to work their way in. We'll see. I am going to start printing money here shortly. If my account drops to 2300, I am closing it out and going to get a job driving a car. I am ready and motivated. Let's do it!
Just a note I wrote to some fellas in my trading room. I need to remember it so I will put in the journal as well.
We are going into production mode now and we have to be smart about our state of being while trading. Since switching to the Dow and turning off all other instrument charts I have found myself conserving a ton of mental and physical energy. Also, I am sleeping regularly for the first time in almost a year. In fact I don't care about Asia or Europe hours and I can get up as late as 9am est trading the dow. Well, I guess I am still sitting here now, but I'm not working like mad. I’m just taking it easy. I'm definitely not watching any markets right now and I will be going off to sleep the moment I feel the slightest yawn. I'm going to get a great sleep and then kick some market ass tomorrow. Honestly, I have been the worst offender up to this point, burning it at both ends and trying to do it all. But the truth is you really are working against yourself if you are burning it at both ends. There is a reason long haul pilots only fly four times per month. You are going to make mistakes if you are tired. If you make one mistake in every ten trades and you are a 70% shooter, guess what, you are never going to make a dime. So this we just gotta get right. Choose the hours you are going to trade and then spend the rest of your time preparing for them. Good luck everybody!