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bbdsan, I happen across your thread and read some of your post only because I trade the ES as well. In your last post you mentioned that you plan to start trading live again and that your goal is to have 2 - 3 winning trades and then switch to sim trading. I would humbly say that your goal should not be focused on the number of wins for the day, but on the execution of your trades. If you have tested your system and it has an edge in the markets, your focus should be on its execution. The markets have no concern for your goals, and trying to reach a certain number of winning trades daily is putting undue pressure on YOU to perform. Which then make you take bad positions in trying to reach that goal. The key is to wait for you parameters to be met, and if they are not, then you sit on your hands, and if that means sitting all day with no trades, then so be it. Think in terms of 1000 trades not the 2or 3 winning trades per day.
I appreciate your post and agree with your thoughts. If my system works (positive expectancy), why not trade it all day every day? I certainly could do that. However, there are a couple factors that hold me back.
I want to have a life outside of trading. If I can, I'd rather be finished with my day's trading after the first 2-3 hours of the regular session. Then I can spend the rest of the day on other things I enjoy. So far on the simulator, I'm usually able to accumulate 2-3 winning trades within the first hour or two. Any mistakes I make tend to come later in the session.
I have noticed that the price action is easier for me to read, and more predictable between the hours of 5 and 9:30 am PST. This tendency is corroborated in many of Mack's daily chart lessons (PATs Trading on YouTube).
I'll see how it goes trading just 1 contract for a while. If I'm winning consistently, I'll bump up the number of contracts. If I reach my goal for the day and I still want some more practice, I'll continue on the simulator (with live data or even replay data).
Thanks again for reading and posting your comments! I really appreciate it.
I totally agree with your times to trade, my specific point was really on having the 2 or 3 winners. Some days you will not have that and must be willing to walk away and come back another day.
bbdsan, $311 on 55 trades is $5.65/trade, you may need to re-evaluate your system to not trade some of the noise. $5.65/trade will not allow you to be successful long term
That's giving a lot to commissions. Nothing wrong with scalping, but it is hard to be profitable on a small scale. I scalp some when it's slow, but even then, I keep an eye on my MACD, a few different time frame charts, and a few moving averages to help pinpoint bigger moves of the day. It can be hard to stay zoned in on that goal looking at all the noise of 5 minute chart or an order book/DOM. I do use an order book, but I really only read it looking for areas of support and resistance. I am sure you already doing some of this, as you mentioned in your first post, but I just thought I would share some of what I have found.
Yes, true. The way I trade the price action, I'm only scalping out 4 ticks. So even on a very flat range-bound day, there's going to be at least 5 or 6 entries minimum.
Yes, I am scalping 4 ticks. I'm looking to enter with the trend after two-legged pullbacks (i.e. second entries) or failed countertrend moves (i.e. failed second entries). You can watch hundreds of free videos about the strategy I'm using on PATs Trading YouTube channel. I also bought Mack's Price Action Trading Manual for $99 (which was well worth it) and signed up for a year subscription to the premium section of his web site, priceactiontradingsystem.com. That was also well worth the $99 for a year.
I am not affiliated with PATS in any way, BTW. Mack is a saint as far as I'm concerned so I plug his web site whenever I can.