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)
I have been mulling the benefits of posting thoughts and trades in real time. This would provide a record of my thinking in the moment. I would do this with a thread for each instrument for ease of reference and to avoid muddling my main journal. The main journal would be used for summary purposes, as it is currently. If the experiment is too cumbersome, or not enjoyable, or doesn't yield any benefit it would be discontinued.
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
In terms of marginal entry for your sim trades, how do you define marginal? Is it purely bad trade location or is it a case where it doesn't satisfy some of your pattern rules?
Usually the latter, sometimes the former. I rarely take impulsive trades that have little rhyme or reason anymore, not to say it never happens or will never happen again. This is an on going battle. In most cases, a marginal entry is where some part of my trade criteria has been satisfied but it is missing something: good context, energy in the market, poor timing, etc. Sometimes I will be correct about direction but enter when price is too extended and due for a pull back, because I don't want to miss out. Or I will enter too early anticipating a break. Marginal entries are usually obvious in review, not because they didn't work but because there was a distinct flaw. This is different from a good entry that didn't work, where even in hindsight it is clear that all the boxes were ticked off. I just chalk those up to trading not being a 100% game.
Some examples of marginal entries:
-direction not real clear. Usually trying to catch the 1st move out of an area.
-front running the trend line break
-its cousin, entering too late or at an area that is too extended for my stop. Wait for a pull back and resumption
-Trading into significant support or resistance.
-Taking a trade too late in a mature trend
I usually take marginal entries out of boredom (mostly in sim), or I am anxious to jump on board what I think could be a strong and long move. Most of the time it bites me in the ass. I am most vulnerable to a marginal entry when a lot of opportunity has gone by without taking advantage.
9/10/15 Thursday
Live Trades: 1 win
Day’s P/L: $145.40
One live trade today on NG. Long from the strong move after the inventory report. The trade took a while to take off so I am happy I stayed with it and decided to exit at 1R. Happy to get a win after some tough trading of late.
Total of sim and live trading:
9 trades
5 wins
4 losses
Max DD: -81.13
Total P/L: $495.55
Another good day of patient trading. Missed a few good trades but not complaining. Experimented with taking some screen shots and posting during market hours. It will take some getting used. I need to work out how this real time posting of analysis and trades will help my trading. If it doesn’t help there is no point. Intuitively I feel like it will, if for nothing else but to make me think and justify what I am doing.
ZN has been tradable to some extent. Missed out on the best trade of the day. Now waiting for a possible break of demand line and short opps. Long is a bit mature at this point unless a larger clean-out pull back occurs.
