Hi There,
Last week I spent working on getting comfortable with Sierra Charts and learning to code C++ because that is what SC uses. I am getting better with execution on Sierra Charts and grooving with the charts. It is now time to abandon the dual platform use, at least for futures. I will continue to use TradingView for my investments and stock screening but no longer will I trade futures there. At the same time, I am not yet ready to trade cash on Sierra Chart. I have made a requirement for myself. I must trade a sim account on Sierra Chart and be profitable for a month or have 10 consecutive winning days above a certain amount(being up 10 cents is hardly noteworthy) before I can trade real dough. I know this creates a certain type of nervous anticipation for when I swap to real money but I will have a loss trigger that will put me back on sim if I cant handle it. I am excited to try and grow a small 4k futures account as I start over in more ways than one. If I am unable too make this account grow one micro at a time then I will go back to picking stocks I hear about on the golf course. Who am I kidding, If I fail, I will continue to keep trying because I am one persistant fucker and at this age I refuse to go back to plumbing. So I will put my running balance on hold and instead record my sim results until I change back to the real deal. Thanks for listening.

P&L (SIM)-I will be using two different sim accounts. One for rotational type trades and the other for scalps. I find it very difficult to split the different types of trades I do because they are all essentially considered scalps but I must try to have some kind of dividing line.
1. RotationalSim-starting balance(4000)
2. ScalpSim-starting balance(4000)

Will report my results at end of week along with any good/bad trades

Hi There,
This past week was a return to form and clarity for me. How true is the quote "How can you expect a man who's warm to understand a man who's cold". Two weeks ago markets were a foreign language to me but now I see things so clearly and can never understand my previous state. This brings me to another problem. How can I temper my emotions, good and bad? I propose a sort of mental exercise and study where I attempt to build habits that will allow me to retain better control over my emotions. All the books are right, this is the biggest hurdle to making a career out of trading. Capture your emotions and you become a pro. Easy as that, right? Moving on. My sim accounts have done well(except the Scalpsim account). I have also been placing the odd trade on my investments account that has worked out well. I may have to face the facts that short term scalping may not be my strong suit at the moment. Looking back at old trade records, I can also see that the longer term rotational type trades were my best then as well. I will continue to try but it makes sense to focus on the rotational side for now. My tactic has been to set alarms and wait for price to approach very important key areas. My risk management right now only allows one or two contracts but when I can trade more, I will build into and taper out of trades as price gets closer to these areas. Below are a couple examples of these types of trades. Thanks for listening.


P&L (SIM)-Commissions included
1. RotationalSim=+263 with 28 trades(TOTAL=4263)
2. ScalpSim=(-156.25) with 19 trades(TOTAL=3843)

Best Trade

Entry@09:50=7433.50
Exit@10:16=7454.50
Profit=104

I usually dont trade from 0930-1000 but price was right at wednesday's naked value area low and holding. Once I saw price slow down near the open, I took profit. A textbook trade in many ways and always seems so simple after the fact.
What I did right=Waited for confirmation that price was unlikely to continue lower rather than just a quick bounce off of a key area.
What I did wrong=not much but probably could have waited until 10am like my rules state.


ESM26[MESM26 [CBV][M] 5 Min #1 2026-05-18 09~50~51.572

Hi There,
Last week was okay. I thought there would be great opportunity, especially with monday and tuesday being in a range that I had marked earlier, but I didn't make much in sim. I mostly gave up on the scalpsim account because it has now become clear that rotational trades are my strong suit. I started with two sim accounts because I wanted to split my strategy as I was not getting anywhere otherwise. They were not that different in method but worlds apart in my psychological process. Scalpsim was a "lets trade for the sake of trading" type of account where I would attempt to put too much trust into my ability to read price action and support/resistance areas. Naturally I gravitated to the strategy which brought more comfort and winnings. I think I will keep it for now even if it serves only as a reminder that I cannot trade well with high frequency. Also, when I switch back to cash, I will keep it as repository for my garbage ideas. Speaking of high frequency, my rotationalsim account had, what I would consider, too many trades last week. Ill blame it on NVDA I suppose. That's all, I forget now what rule I established for myself on when I could return to real cash. I suppose I should figure it out and write it down. Thanks for listening.

P&L (SIM)-Commissions included(1$ per micro round trip)
1. RotationalSim=+140.50 with 29 trades(TOTAL=4403.50)
2. ScalpSim=(-7.75) with 4 trades(TOTAL=3835.25)

Hi There,
Time moves so quickly the older you get or maybe as you mind turns to slush. This type of thinking always has me worried about making sure I am making money. And stressing about that tends to make me trade poorly. Last week was a bad week and I must pay attention to the good points. I adhered to all established risk management rules. Simply setting an alarm and remembering the past pain is enough to stop me. I have also spent so much time coercing myself to become a mostly long trader that I think I am too keen to catch every pullback and forget to look for rotation, not trend. Rare are the trend days and a short does not have to be a large trade. What I did wrong last week was to pick out the most likely key areas, and what might happen at those areas, only to enter before price reached those areas because I wanted to catch the assent to all time highs. So many times I made a plan and then just didn't follow it. This week is a new week then and I will attempt to make improvements.

P&L (SIM)-Commissions included(1$ per micro round trip)
1. RotationalSim=(-210.75) with 12 trades(TOTAL=4192.75)
2. ScalpSim=(-126.50) with 16 trades(TOTAL=3708.75) again this is now just a try anything sim account. Also what I switch to when or if I hit my loss limit.

Hi There,
Again, I feel like I never have enough time. The clock is always ticking and I need to make very good money yesterday. This is the worst mindset to be in and I know it, but it is so hard to ignore. I am no longer young and feeling like I have infinite time. It is hard to pinpoint exactly when I "started" trading. My interest went from 0 to 100 about 4-5 years ago but I would not be in a position to commit until spring 2024. So I guess the best estimate is 2 years although I was still working another job until December 2025. I still work here and there and have other family commitments but am able to wake up very early and put in about 6-8 hours daily on trading. I write this to help me understand better where I should be in terms of my career. I never expected trading to be an easy and quick path to success. Heck, I don't even know what success even looks like. By some standards I could be better than bad. I am not in the red at least but I cannot yet afford to support a family of my own or draw some type of income off of my earnings. When looking at it now, I can understand some of my shortcomings and attribute them to lack of experience. I can expect myself to extract a modest income from my profits by year five and think that not too hasty. I have a mountain of "if onlys" and should simultaneously learn from and ignore all of them. Slight profits this past week in my sim account. My investment account is okay but that's not why I journal here. It is to become a profitable futures trader and earn enough gold coin to get the princess out of the tower. Thanks for listening. I have no trades to share because not a single one was textbook for me but I have no time to complain about that.

P&L (SIM)-Commissions included(1$ per micro round trip)
1. RotationalSim=+51.25 with 12 trades(TOTAL=4244)
2. ScalpSim=+210(just luck and screwing around) with 16 trades(TOTAL=3918.75) again this is now just a try anything sim account. Also what I switch to when or if I hit my loss limit