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thanks for the encouraging words mike.although i am still simulating, this is how i will trade , starting with 1 contract.i hope to be trading cash soon.
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
4/25/2011
first day trading, with no distractions in 2 weeks
important day, as i had 2 weeks pos in a row in sim, a first
1)long, price popped, the anticipated macd cross didnt happen..bad entry -8
also, no trades between 8:50 and 9..take br break
2)long 123 macd cross, at this point , the 3min 5 starts to take control...+4
with the 3min5 taking the desc res role, pbs to that provided many shorts
3)long, anticipated 123 macd cross, not even close to crossing bob.........-6 bailed, knew i was wrong
4)long, macd allready crossed, went to +4, i bailed sideways consolidated action...-1
5)long, yep, still tryin...sideways, got a reverse 123..................................................-6
6)short..really?and WITH THE TREND?5/+4 activate...........................................+4
7)long 123 macd cross..had room.......................................................................+6
8)long, macd 123..full agreeement....................................................................+5
9)long., sideways, but agreed..5/+4 activate.....................................................+4
9 trades
+3 ticks..........-$15 after commiss
i will start, with things to work on, because today became a catch up day, instead of a nice , trade with the trend day:
first and foremost, the 3 min, really took the lead today, as you see.basically, the previous high a few weeks ago was 114ish, which we didnt reach...silly me, 113.50 is close enough..and they ran , for the exits.there were so many short entries, and by the time i started to look for them, the party was over
on days like this, they use all the long signals to sell into, and longs will not follow thru.the reason i say htis, is because just about all the short 123s(which werent set up to my likeing at all, went for 30 to 40 quick ticks, where the longs, even the good setups , struggled to get me 6.the 3 min chart i enclosed points out the obvious...the 3min5 was the boss..these days are not as common, and i need to pay tribute to the boss, if there is one..he likes that
good things
well, today was important, because after babysitting for 2 weeks, i managed to have 2 pos weeks in a row in sim, a first for me
mondays are traditionally tuff for me, but heres the thing...i worked hard to develop this method, and its time to work..plain and simple
at my worst , i was down 16 ticks, and one more full stop would have ended my day
ok , so i realized too late(really, it was obvious, right b4 my eyes)that today was a shorting day
the thing i am really pleased with , is i stayed focussed, and worked
the last 4 trades were winners, and i shut her down at 10:30, realizing i was happy with what i ended at
and didnt want to look a gift in the mouth
the point is, there are many opportunities from 8:30 th 10:30, and that is all i allow myself to trade , because of overtrading, in the past, and most of the time giving it back, or losing much more..i ended on a positive note, and went to the gym
I too had problems with consistency. Over the last few months I've really improved on this. Me being consistent, never! hah. But it really started to take hold when I did just as you said above, sit my ass down and get to work on one method. Stick to it and work it, refine it. Each day, every day. Little by little. I'm sure you'll find, if you haven't already, that this will improve your consistency in a drastic and positive way. Keep it up!
4/26/2011
only 2 trades today..i try not to trade between 8:50 and 9:05 eastern on the cl, because i think right around the open, price action gets whippy.too bad, as there were takable signals
today , was just weird for me.ive been focussing on the 3min chart to try to spot trend changes, and to keep me out of trouble.often, i will get into a 123 setup, say a long, only to realize, on the 3min, im bumping right into a descending 5ma, which has been the boss in a downtrend..usually, unless we bounce off an important pivot, this will stall price.also, this tends to create one of those chop zones, which have gotten me too many times in the past.anyway, the purpose of the 3min, is to help me recognize, when a potential trend change is possible.when price levels off, and the 3min 5ma crosses the 15 ma, this will coincide with a macd cross on the 3min(typically).this doesnt mean that we cant chop around for a while, but if price starts to move up, i will look for long entries on my 4 range ch that coincide with a rising support of the mas on the 3min.this can work niicely, but ,i have to be careful to use this in context correctly with the 4 range, which is my entry ch..i think feel comes into play here.also, my preferred setup, seems to work really well in range bound markets, but there needs to be a decent range(obviously)i dont think taking my setup blindly in all markets is necessarily the best thing, even if it works sometimes.these grindy trendy days are difficlt for me
1)long at 3min support, and 4 rng support.this just broke down, and blew me out.. -8
dropped 35 ticks, kinda out of nowhere 2nd trade was totally counter trend, where 1st, i was atempting to be with trend
2)same move, took a long did get a 123, and thought i had room +5/4 activate.....+3
total 2 trades
-5 ticks............-$60 with commiss
today as i said, was a little weird, couldnt really find anything i was really excited to take, spent most of the time sitting on my hands
actually , today was good tho, as i stayed out of some trades that were losers for sure, based on the 3 min
uploaded some more pics, and modified pic 1 original...
as i was driving to the gym, i had this nagging feeling, that i was starting to get off ttrack..there are days where my simple method wont work,today was one.
keep it simple..2 trades are
1)123 with macd cross and agreement
2) pb in a trend where price pulls back to a trending 14 ma, and watch for them just after a 5min 5ma/15 ma cross
so i couldnt wait to get home, to see where i could have got a few trades...there were none for me..the only decent setups were right at the open
on pic 1, just look at the desc aarrow on macd
pic 2, that 2nd short was ok, i missed 1st
pic 3 was pre market, that pb was the 1st pb after the 5ma/15 ma cross on the 3 min, and actually pb to 15ma
hold on , not true, the other pbs were to the correct 5ma, which gave a few decent shorts
im searching today for reasons..today just didnt work..one of those days
thurs, 4/28/2011
sat thru the 8:30 to 10:30 shift, with no trades.most of the action wasnt that great for me, but towards the end, we got into a decent size channel, with decent range,the only problem, is with my method, the 123 entries on the pbs(ross hook), i like for the 3ma to cross the 14 ma.well, this has been on my mind for a while, and today, i just said, enough.i have missed too many good trades waiting for the 14ma.i switched it to a 8sma.yes, i know.....first of all , that might get me some shaky signals, but i still take my entries with the macd, and am watching the 3min and 5min for sup/res.went to gym, came back, to find the market was really movin, so as i was skyping with my friend ray, got off 5 trades, for a total of +120
the changes i have made in the last month, have been to make my charts easier to trade with the cl specifically.most of the bells and whistles are long gone, leaving price action and sup/res.so much easier, and i am happier.i took the day yest because bernanker was blabbing, so i figured it would be a dudd..oh well, i was wrong, but i needed to get some stuff done.
the focus now is the same, just be patient, wait for my entries, and try to avoid chop.
for the longest time, i said to myself, i just want to show up, work a few hours, and go home, without thinking about this 24/7.with some adjustments, and alot of hard work, i finally am relaxing more, and pondering less.i think this is because i finally have a method i believe in, and its just a matter of time.see you tommorrow
friday4/29/2011
no trades , vol was lo, ranges were bad, and wasnt getting anything to really believe in..the sup/res were all over the place, they can fight over the scraps
of course , ill shut it down, and it will go to 114
8:30 to 10:30 trading, works best for me
week total
16 trades
+ 10 ticks
+ $20 after commiss
didnt trade wed
5/2/2011
monday
took 3 trades today.
i just dont have a trade for these types of days...the breakout, grind to new highs
im aware of this, and not thrilled
my method works well when the market is rangy.i did get some good ones, after the grind to the highs.
although the 1st trade, didnt surprise me when it failed.
its hard to watch the market moving like this, with no trades, but until i devise one, this is what happens.i hesitate to take 123 sigs at the days high, nevermind yearly highs, but the market was charging
ok
1)you see i didnt take that 123 at daily highs..i got caught , but no regret, as we were at highs -6
2)nice setup, no grind.5/+2 activate, should have reentered under white line............................+3
3)another 123, nice run, atm strategy followed me up, best trade to date, should have probably exited so close to 2oo ma.......................................................................................................................................+15
4) lookj at this beautiful db diverg, w a 123....oh, .......i didnt take that..bob gets the rolled up newspaper slap to the backside...these are too good to pass up
total
3 trades
+11 ticks
+$95 after commiss
like i said, these are difficult days for me, the stops need to be much wider, and im just not comfortable with that..will continue to assess , and possibly in the future, look for entries, probably pbs to the 8ma.i shoud be happy i suppose, after all, it was a pos day..we rarely see this type of trend movement, and it bothers me to be on the sideline...ok, no more complaining
till tomorrow
5/3/2011
tuesday
4 trades today
1)went to +7, stopped at +3..200 ma right there, should take profits.................................................+3
2)short, did have overlap res, lowered stop, trade was having trouble..good stop.............................-4 pic 3, i just want to point out a possible long.not the 1st one, as that was at a doub top.the 2nd one
looked ok
3)that short just before my 3rd trade was a trap door.long went 5/+2...............................................+2
4)nice diverg doub bot, finally got a runner, and wisely closed at 200 ma............................................+12
things to work on....continue with 123 with macd setups, and the divergences are nice
also, look for trap doors, which are with trend
just another day, really watching macd, to avoid chop, i shut it down after trade 4 , as i was content..went to gym
5/4/2011
wednesday
0 trades today, the setups ive been takin g, just didnt setup the way i like.
ism,at 10, and inventory at 10:30 , price was jittery.i looked over the morning, and i have no problem with the decisions.a couple of the 123 setups i like just ran a little too far.oh well, tomorrow is another day.
still observing, and looking for a breakdown/breakout trade