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- In a considerable price change, looking to enter the rally or pullback. Do not enter if there is at least a minimum of 10 ticks of price change in the reverse price change;
- Always expect for at least two candles to hit the same "low" or "high" of the considerable price change, in order to get a confirmation;
- Go for at least 8 ticks of profit;
- Avoid choppy prices change;
- Do not pass the 2% loss rule.
Trade 1:
Contracts: 10
Market direction: Sell short
Stop loss: 8 points
Spread: 2 points
Expected profit:€80
Trade result:€90
Trade 2:
Contracts: 10
Market direction: Buy
Stop loss: 8 points
Spread: 2 points
Expected profit:€80
Trade result:€80
Trade 3:
Contracts: 12
Market direction: Buy
Stop loss: 8 points
Spread: 2 points
Expected profit:€96
[B]Trade result: €96
Trade 4:
Contracts: 10
Market direction: Buy
Stop loss: 8 points
Spread: 2 points
Expected profit:€80
[B]Trade result: €0
BALANCE OF THE DAY: €74
Trade 3 analysis: Althoug I feel I was not lucky (the market fell only 3 points of my stop loss, and then rose 50...), I should have waited for the next clandestick formation.
Trade 4 analysis: The market didn´t rise as I expected. It fell some points instead. So, I got out as soon as I could. I closed the position with €5 profit, but slippage made the trading result as €0.
Any critics and suggetions would be welcome, guys!
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
I followed my rules. However the market went up. Like I wrote in another thread, I´m starting to see that indicators are that reliable for my day trading.
Yes. I trade for about 18 months. So far I´ve lose some money in my learning experience (trading losses and books bought). I intend to be sucessful in the future. Slowly and gradually, I´ll achieve my goals!
I have paper trade before. The last time I did, I had about 87,5% profit in two weeks. If my tactics worked there, they should work with real money. The thing is the pressure of risking our money and that the account I had for paper trading was almost 4 times bigger than my actual real account.
From the time I started, my trading losses are near €1700 (about 18% of the total money I invested). I was able to have 2 consecutive profitable months (the previous to this).
But I guess SIM trading would be good to test my tactics and strategies.
Trading Experience: Beginner
Platform: None, at the moment.
Pardon my ignorance, is Portugal time the same as London? If I look at your charts it appears most of your trading is in the afternoon "your time." Was wondering if you have a "real job," and trade in the afternoon (3-7 pm) by necessity. Wondered why you don't trade one of the European indexes?
What exactly is the Wall Street Index, a CFD of the Dow? The charts you're using, are they supplied by the "broker" you use, and the data too? I assume the commission is buried in the spread. How do you enter trades, from the chart, or is there an order entry (DOM) window? How about volume data, do you have any idea of the number of participants in this market (wall street index)?
Trading is a tough task, making money is ever harder. IMO, you're running a foot race with concrete blocks tied to your feet! If you're serious about trading, and making money, I invite you to re-evaluate the Market you're trading and the Tools you're using. At the risk of being obtuse, I suggest getting a proper broker, data feed and charting program. Look at several markets, maybe the Mini Dow (YM) is a good fit, that's up to you. I'm partial to regulated exchanges.
There is a tremendous difference between sim and cash trading. I suggest you repeat your sim with exactly the same size account size you intend to use real cash. Also, that you achieve a sustained profitable performance level in sim for at least 3 months using an approach that will be duplicatable in real cash. For example, if you are in sim and at week number 3 and decide to double up and take a loaded up trade, then will you really do this if you are down in cash? Will you double up a loser to fix it, and will you trade beyond your loss limit?
One of the most deceptive things about sim trading is that we tend to bend the rules and fudge a lot. You need to have some kind of accountability and stick to a strict approach technically while in sim. This includes strategies and money management.
Also, in sim, there is no point to trade with more than 2 contracts. Trading 2 contracts would enable you to include a runner money management. Trading 5 contracts in sim is pretty much pointless and it will paint a false picture .... one that with a 5 contract drawdown will do little to portray the real pressures of real cash loss.
Also, until you are stable in cash, I suggest you reduce your risk per trade to under 1/2% so you can weather the learning curve drawdown.
I trade with IGMarkets. The charts you see are from the IGMarkets platform. IGMarkets is a CFD broker. Yes, is a CFD of the Dow. The commission is a 2 point spread. And yes, Lisbon and London have the same time zone (GMT).
I enter trades from the chart. I use Level I real time data, no DOM window. Unfortunetly, my broker doens´t have volume for futures, just for stocks. I can acess Level II data, but I´ll have to pay for it.
From the futures markets, mini-DJI is the one I prefer, because it has a good daily range and de spread are not that high. Sometimes I trade Light Crude, but a 6 cent spread is not has good as the 2 point spread of DJI for the type of trading I do. DAX 30 and FSTE 100 is also available for 1 point spread. Mini-Nasdaq 100 and mini-S&P500 are 1 point and 0.5 spread, but the daily range is smaller than the DJI.
At the moment I´m testing Ninja Trader platform. It seems to be very interesting. It would give more information than I have with my broker. However, it´s a bit hard to give about $1000 for the software. I know there are others more expensive.
I trade in the US market. Even the few stocks I traded were from the Nasdaq Index. Honestly, I was thinking about open an account with a US broker. I have two brokers (one for trading, other for investing). Both of them allow CFDs. For you to see, any operation for stock trading is beetweem $14 to $20 with this two brokers.
One great problem I have is my trading account. Is small (about €6000). I heard that to open an account with IB, the minimum is $10 000. Plus, commissions for stocks are way lower, from what I´ve seen.
I think that my following step should be to get a good trading software. I´ve seen e-Signal, CQG, Tradestation and even Metastock. All of them are two expensive for me. It´s hard to have a profit each month, so how can I pay for monthly use of software? It´s hard.