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I felt (feel) the same way. I see a lot of similarities between your combine and mine. I too had alternating winning and losing days and then a big 100 tick day and I passed the combine. I knew I was not ready to trade live without any consistency but I still started my live trader prep and lost on the first 3 days and that crushed my confidence. At that point I just stopped trading the LTP account. Since then I have been practicing on a different combine while my consistency and confidence builds back. There is no point getting funded otherwise.
Sorry I rambled without anything constructive but just wanted to say that I can identify with your current situation. I guess the only solution is to refine, practice, rinse and repeat until there is consistency.
Wish you the best.
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
Thanks for chiming in; I read your journal and remember your post at @mfbreakout's thread after you passed with a bang! I might trade the next 4 days conservatively and try to get a rollover unless I get layup-like setups everyday.
1. Loss control...Never lose more than around 1/2 what you normally win...but in no case should you get close to your loss limit...seeing that on your pnl is tough mentally. Quit at around -250 to -300. Easier on the emotions for the following day.
2. Hold your winners....sounds easy, hard to do sometimes....you are trading CL, it moves in 50-100 tick legs....with around 30 tick smaller legs before pullbacks and when its in a trading range...not always but often enough you should be looking for 30-50 winners. No exception.
3. And the third key...yes I said two but there are three....stop trying to kill it every day. Make 200-500 a day and keep it. They want to see you can hold onto your earnings.....not that you can make $1000 a day. Be smart about this. A combine is a numbers game that's rigged against you. By winning early and holding onto your gains, you win the mental battle. Do that several days in a row and sure enough you start thinking like a winner....
without being a snob or a know it all here, you should really listen to me on this one.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
After alternating win-loss for the first six days, I finally had a streak, losing one that is. Two more losing days essentially eliminated me from the combine as 55% or greater winning days are required. To get a free rollover would’ve been nice. I signed up for another 10 day combine with starting day on Nov 25th.
I knew adjustments had to be made; so I printed out, thought long and hard and implemented most of it from @PandaWarrior’s post:
Today marked the halfway point of my combine.
First the positives:
I put together five small winning days in a row averaging $200 a day. Despite the meager amount and trading sloppy for last two days, it did wonders for my confidence. Mathematically, I need to make $500; for which I have 5 days to trade; to have the required winning percentage, I need one more winning day.
I had been disciplined and followed my plan for the “most part.” With the exception of today where my draw down was over $250, most days’ draw-downs were no more than $120.
With the exception of the second day, all of my winning trades were between 8 to 12 ticks. I know it is considered scalping the noise but I did not take those trades because it had only 12 tick potential setup; most of my winning trades went a lot further without me and I was fine with that. Panda’s #2 is next on my improvement list.
Now the negatives:
With the first combine while I alternated winning and losing days for 6 days, now I find myself doing that “intra-day.” For past two days, I had taken more than 5 trades per my plan; traded 2 contracts, then switched to 1 contract after losing trade to not hit daily “mental” limit; then switched back after a winning trade. End result, most of my losing trades were with 2 contracts while the winners were with 1 contract. I feel confident going into every morning to eke out a small winner but this grind-out days and winning ugly, which I brought upon myself is getting to me. I must admit that I was a little carried away after seeing some of the funded traders’ combine how they had some break through days.
Anyway, I don’t want to lose pretty either but I need to slow down, and not chase every swing. Slow and steady wins the race.
Just trade one lot. You don't need to trade more than that to win the combine and more importantly, you shouldn't trade 2 lots until you can afford to take two-three trades with a 2 lot on and have them all be stop outs and still be above your threshold for winning the combine. Winning with one and losing with two is suicide.
I know, I tried that plan as well.
I didn't trade 2 lots until I was over 2k in profit and those were loser trades.
Good job on the rest though. It's tough to win and your close.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris