Welcome to NexusFi: the best trading community on the planet, with over 150,000 members Sign Up Now for Free
Genuine reviews from real traders, not fake reviews from stealth vendors
Quality education from leading professional traders
We are a friendly, helpful, and positive community
We do not tolerate rude behavior, trolling, or vendors advertising in posts
We are here to help, just let us know what you need
You'll need to register in order to view the content of the threads and start contributing to our community. It's free for basic access, or support us by becoming an Elite Member -- see if you qualify for a discount below.
-- Big Mike, Site Administrator
(If you already have an account, login at the top of the page)
Yes Mike your observation is right. Thanks for your kind reminder that a 100% profitable system never exists. It's part of the trading business and I will tame myself to accept it, ie love it anyway when it's good and bad!!
It occurs to me that I went through that as well as I'm sure everyone has. I wasn't able to collect any data on my plan because I was continually messing with the stops and targets after I entered the trade. I didn't know what worked and what didn't. That caused havoc on my psyche and confidence in my plan. Once I decided to rely on my entry rules and leave the stop, trailing stop, and target alone after entry, I started to have some success. I could then actually measure my plan's performance and gain confidence in it's capabilities. That also gave me data that I could analyze and get some sense for what I might do to improve.
May or may not apply to you but just some thoughts...
I am mapping out the weekly results to see if I may detect any improvement:
1st week -12 (2 losers with full SL got hit)
2nd week +1 (1 winner and 1 loser)
3rd week +4 (2 winners and 1 BE)
4th week +2 (+7) (2 (3) winners and 1 loser)
Note: This morning was really choppy. I'm glad that I survived.
My realization:
1. The first 3 losing trades were due to human operation error (me).
2. The fourth losing trade was a legitimate signal and simply not working out. I'm glad that my full stop was not hit.
Sooo, what's the reward for completing the assignment (even not with flying colors)?
I bought a publishing package (50% discount + a complimentary promo package) and am going to write a book with a tentative title "My Roller Coaster Ride". It's always my dream to write a book on what I went through (my father passed away when I was 6 and it's not easy to get to who I am). Maybe someone will be inspired/motivated .. smile .. It may take me months or years to complete and ends up to be my biography .. will see.
My heartfelt thanks for sharing your experience and strategy with me. Yes, panic/fear has been the number 1 emotion that surfaced when a trade did not work for me immediately. I messed up many many times before. Now that my system has a small SL cushion (often starts @6 and to be moved to BE when it's 4 pips in my favor), I have the leisure to look at different check points (incl a quick glance on the DX chart) to decide my next move, ie stay on or bail. Certainly, there're occasions that it worked out after my exit or I made a good decision.
Trading is all about making the most sensible move on the spot .. no regret .. no look back .. and no IF. When I am uncertain on a trade anymore, I prefer an early exit than staying in. It's my goal not to have the full SL got hit. Guess it's also my scalper personality. I often comfort myself that there will be high probability signals waiting for me. Having said that, review/reflection helps moulding me .. still in progress.
2. Chart Timeframe: 3-Range + DX to validate a signal most of the time
3. No of Trades/Day: Minimum 1 "ideally" and Maximum 5 (very likely to be 3)
4. Trading Hours: 8:00 am to 11:30 am EST excl at least 5 minutes before/after high-priority news and US market open
5. PT/SL @6 for the first contract (Plan to do occasional 2-contract ones starting mid Jan. If yes, PT/SL @10/6 for the second contract.)
6. Recap/Review to be performed on a weekly basis. That way I won't be too focussed on my daily performance though I continue striving for 8-10 pips/day.
I would like to thank all of you for your on-going constructive ideas so that my Trading business has started to look brighter these days/nights. I have not been dreaming about too many indicators/charts/systems for some weeks as I finally get more settled with the current set-up.
Thanks to Cory for sharing your Courage lion with me. You maybe aware that it's on my Vision Board .. smile .. I love the trade recording experience which helped releasing my tension + visualizing the signals. The checklist really helps me to validate a signal before diving in. I will continue using it for post-trade logging and the items are now ingrained in my petite head.
Thanks to Jungian for preparing some charts/trade record (+ more) to motivate me that smaller winners/losers are acceptable in this business. Persistence is the key!
Thanks to Big Mike for the occasional reminders so that I continue learning on the right track.
Thanks to Mike W for sharing your trading experience/strategies with me whenever I tripped over some obstacles.
Sorry that it's impossible for me to name all of you (from A to Z) while I know you always have my best interest in your heart. Thank You .. Thank You .. I'm very lucky to have all of you accompany me in developing my Trading business!
Congratulations Beth. So on the basis of your 10 trade experiment you've decided to continue with live trading and have mapped out a plan to do so. If you can now reduce execution errors and develop your trade management you will take things to a higher level. What kind of win percentage do you expect with your method over the first 50 trades?
Lindsay