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I am not new to trading, but hopefully new to consistent profits.
A little background about me.
I am an engineer, and have always had an interest in trading. Like many I have blown and account. although it was a very small. Been through the revenge trading phases and the feeling like the market is just 100% against me and knows exactly where my stops are and takes me out every time before going on to hit my targets later. So with that in mind knowing that the mental part of trading is a weakness for me I have developed a method that is rigid and doesn't allow for discretionary entries or exits.
My Methods
I am trading just the ES/MES on sim for now. Technically its not even sim trading just yet, as I don't have the time during the day to monitor my trades. However my trading plan is very rigid which allows me to review the trades after the fact. I mark them with the "Ruler" tool in Ninja Trader. I know hind sight is 20/20, but the trades I believe can be 100% programmed and I tend to do that in the future. Currently I am all in and all out, meaning that this method can be traded with a single contract or multiple contracts. I do plan on adding a method in the future that allows for up to three different exits, for trading with multiple contracts.
A few close trades that didn't hit my entry points, while the system struggled to get above water and eventually ended up with a small 0.5 loss for the day.
A thanks out to Bloodhound for the license. Looking forward to seeing what I can do with it. I have written my own indicators however I am far from a skilled programmer. Love the opportunity that you are providing with these journals Bloodhound.
I hate days like today. I have a rule that stops me from trading when I have three losses in a row. There are days when it has saved me and other days when it has cost me. I do think that it probably evens out in the end. But the reason I have the rule is because I know after three losses my emotions usually get the best of me. So, for today the rule keeps me from the 8 point trade at the end of the day and leaves me with a 2 point loss.
The red vertical region signifies that three losses occurred in a row and no trades were taken after that point.
I managed to actually take the first two trades live in the late morning today. There were no trades after about 1pm. Very slow trading so far this this week, hoping the market allows for some good trades soon.
Week ended with a small loss. This is where my "stop trading for the day, after 3 losses in a row" comes into question, because with out that rule I would have taken two more trades for the week that would have added 14 points. However that is "shoulda woulda coulda", and I still believe that I am better with the rule. It has saved me from some from larger losses in the past, not to mention how it effects the mental part of my trading. I know after 3 losses in a row it becomes harder for me to stick to rules and not succumb to revenge trading. I am sure that in the long run the profit and loss difference of having the rule might even out, but the benefit it provides to my mental trading is worth it.
Things I focus on for days like today are the fact that there were 6 trades today and only one hit my target, all 5 others were stopped out, some at a loss and some at a small profit. This is important to me. A day that really wasn't a good trading day and yet I managed to keep the loss small.
Now I need to spend some time playing around with Booldhound to see if I can my signals automated.
Medge91, would it be possible for you to make an additional chart with your trades showing a closer up shot. Its hard to make out the surrounding bars on the chart. Thanks
Here are two images of the trades closer. I'll try to focus in on the trades closer in future postings. The trades in the later part or the day are not actually taken and only trades I would have taken based on my trade rules.
I have been struggling with my rules. They allow a situation where if I am currently in a trade it sets a stop at a price, but at the same time a new trade indicates that same price as a new entry point. That exact situation happened a few times today. I have thought of a way to stop that form happening and maybe allow for some smaller profits in those situations. I really like have rigid rules that take allow me to just take the trade based of some exact set of criteria rather than relying on me to 'feel' or 'see' a situation develop.
As for today's trades there was 6 trades, all hit stops stops again except for 1, leaving a loss of 2.25 points. I am hoping that this new rule might allow for some smaller profits when my system doesn't conform to what the market is doing. And starting tomorrow my new rule will be effective.
I am a day late with this post, but Tuesdays trading is a continuation of last week. Trades that are resulting in small losses. The change to a rule lead to more frequent trading in the morning. It has helped my situation where the system would tell to get back in where I had a stop set form the the previous trade.
The last trade of the day is one that I don't like to take based on discretionary choices, but I am following my rules based trading and still mark it as a trade.