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)
One thing that jumps out at me is the average size of your winner's. In oil a 5 tick move is really just noise and so ideally your average winner should be closer to 15 or 20 ticks (or more). You had two days like that. They were also some of your lowest trade volume days. I think a big clue to future success lies is in these facts...
Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty. - Frank Herbert
I just trade the edge but you are right. And the keyword there is "ideally". On a lot of trades I book my profit if a trade hasnt moved my way in "X" amount of time. Without going into too much detail, I expect the trade to move my way right after I enter or soon after. I dont nurse winners. There were some good trades in there that I got out on my own for various reasons, some execution errors etc. Only 14 winners over 10 tics and 19 losers over 10 tics(this is what really gets me more than the winners). If you take care of losers the winners take care of themselves. 50% of the trades are within 4 tics. The spreadsheet might have some errors, I am not done yet but I wanted to see where I stand.
Had a family emergency last night --and when I came home sat on my computer and traded like a drunken sailor. At the end of it all I could think of what FT said in one of his webinars about trading thru life's major events. For now no more posts as of now I think I have failed the combine at least on my personal level. I posted yesterday that I wouldnt not exceed $500 yet I did and I kept on adding to losers instead of trading a setup.
I didnt want to leave you guys who visit hanging but once I am back I ll do a full analysis and if I will do another combine or not. But for now, no more posts on this thread from my side.
Thanks to those who visited and contributed. Your insight was very valuable. And Bigmike for having such a wonderful site.
The final stats on how the combine ended are shown below. The 950 negative day was really the one that broke the camel's back. I didnt get stopped out and still had another 1000 in Max DD and another 7-8 days I could trade but I was just not trading well. I traded 2 days after that day and both went well, not cause I was trading well but maybe cause the market went my way. My take from taking the combine so far is
It money spent well--I know people beat them up that its sim but I personally have traded the sim at the same time as the practice combine, In the sim there is no "real world" feel or pressure to it. I made 9-12k back to back days on 150k, so that basically means you could complete the 150k combine in 2 days but is it going to happen ? I doubt it.
On my losing days I need to stop before i do too much damage. Sometimes I make the money back but overall its a losing proposition. I am trading best when I take losses as easily as winners. I need to work on my patience too. For me personally all in all out works best. There is no attachment to the trade and I can see the market objectively, if I have even 1 lot position it skews my view.
You need to know the ins and outs of the platform. It is a buggy platform and has lot of shortcomings and with TST's restrictions such as using Auto OCO's or no fill until price has gone thru your level on exits(whereas FIFO in reallife) etc you need to have a strategy of how you are going to cover the shortcomings of either the firm,platform or other things that are not under your control but you are still responsible for them.
Gaming the combine's stats is a losing proposition in the longer term. Some of their stat requirements are questionable but you can request a custom combine.
Having the journal here is also adding to the pressure so if I do another combine I would pass on having a journal here.
I'm sure others have pointed out to you and Hoag, but your average loser is greater than your average winner. its only a matter of time before you hit your loss limits again.
Making blanket statements only shows what you "think" you know. I havent posted deeper stats which I do have but havent posted.
With a 62% win ratio and an avg win to loss ratio of 2:3 its still positive expectancy. Thats after all the bad trades, glitches with software, bad orders, not getting filled on FIFO etc. Might not seem much to you but I know where I need to improve and CTD (inspite of their constant push towards it-almost to the point of spamming) I doubt could improve what I need to improve.
BTW are you associated with TST in any paid capacity that you are benefitting from them?