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)
Decided to make today a day of experimenting. Why not.... wasn't really feeling like trading live anyway. I found that if I trade live when I am not in the right frame of mind, it gets expensive. LOL!
Tried some scalping... more like sort of scalping. I wasn't targeting 2-4 ticks I wanted to see what I could get out of a trade but do so from a lower time frame. The entry was basically the same as higher time frames with one small exception which is a new entry based on some work I did over the weekend. It showed promise as a way to get into a trade early after a change of direction and also to be able to get into a trade after a trend had started. Not ready to release it yet since I haven't proven it to be worthwhile on a live account. But it is so simple an Ogre can do it.
I haven't checked to see how many trades I tried mostly because I was playing with different ideas on how to stay in the trade longer without having to babysit it. I kind of liked trading this way since it kept me busy most of the time. Since I was on a lower time frame I could take a larger position size relative to the account size since the stop usually was pretty small. I had two losing trades that equated to about 2-3% loss on each one. It more than made up for it on the next trade so I am ok with the drawdown. Now, the question is...... can he duplicate it on a live account? I doubt that I would take as large a position size as I did in sim. No real need to in order to make some decent money. We shall find out tomorrow. Will probably start with just 1-3 contracts.
One of the things that seemed to work really well today was to enter a trade, wait for the auto break even to kick in around +15 ticks, then wait for one of the moving averages to move ahead of the stop and then I would assign that stop to the moving average. Found this by accident. Didn't know that you could do that in NT. Once I did that, I would just let it run. Sometimes I would use the 60 ema initially then after a decent move I would change it to the 21 ema. Normally I would set the stop 1-2 ticks behind the moving average. I would close a trade manually if I saw a potential reversal setting up. I only remember doing that twice.
I didn't take all trades since I was playing with the different settings but the results look good for 5 contracts:
Tomorrows game plan:
1. Trade the lower time frame trading like I posted above until a higher time frame set up shows up. One of the things I am finding very difficult on higher time frame trading is staying engaged and focused while waiting for a set up. I think this will help.
2. Monitor the 1000 and 2000 tick charts for longer term entries.
3. If I happen to be in a trade in the right direction when a higher time frame shows up, wait for the auto break even to kick in, then wait for the moving average on a higher time frame to get into position and assign that stop to the higher time frame moving average.
Today was choppy so trading this way was really helpful in grab and go style of trading. When it trends, as long as I leave it alone it should do well also since price should stay away from the moving average most of the time.
Yeah, I know my trading seems a bit A.D.D. I am ok with it. So, get in, sit down, buckle up and hold on. LOL!
It will all make more sense tomorrow. May even record it to help clear up some of the fog.
I trade manually. My screen has split screen. On the right, 5 minute candle since the opening of the day. On the left, my screen has volume meaning contracts executed.
I see no value in back testing since it is only a review of the past. I realize that the past is indicative of the future but only after many samples. I trade in seconds to minutes only, when i can. If my trade goes longer, I am on tilt and on the wrong side.
I am a registered nurse as a profession(90k): retired.. The ADD you refer to is actually, ADHD. An afflicted person is born with this. The DSM-IV, makes the distinction between adolescents and adults. The ADD is attention deficit disorder and the ADHD is adult deficit hyperactivity disorder. Often confused with TYPE A personalty. Only type A belongs here. I am type A, I belong here.
The screening test is long but the result is, do you start many projects and finish few and do you go from thought to thought rapidly. Once, again, I am type A.
We have a very similar method of trading I'm curious if you have thought about waiting to exit trades until ema's cross? The reason I say this is sometime's prices respect's all the ema's but needs a deep P/B sometimes to the 200 and as painful as it is to hold a deeper P/B its even more painful to close out only to see the trend continue once buyers found a cheaper price.
Now when I say ema's cross this would only apply to the 21/60 as the 200 would leave you in a deep deep hole.
For example look at 10:46 today if you were long say at 7693 @ 10:31 an ideal stop would of been 7680 area now if you look at the P/B and cross over that would of been a perfect chance to exit/reverse.
The NQ is a monster and sometimes it respect a 10 pt stop and then sometimes it seems like you need a 20 pt stop.
I'm starting to think it would be wiser to trade with wide open stops and only exit when price shows its turning but to be the devils advocate would this realistically be possible during a trade to not let emotions move that s/l +25 pts?
Thinking aloud!
on the ADD/ADHD topic, try listing to foreign music I have no idea why it helps but I've been listing to french/spanish/russian and it seems like I can focus much better.. no idea why!?
-P
"Truth is not what you want it to be; it is what it is, and you must bend to its power or live a lie"-Miyamoto Musashi
Interesting. I listened to Edith Piaf (French), and liked that. I have tried learning French but I seem to forget it as quickly as I learn it so I find just the background noise of unknown language relaxing without my brain picking up on and being distracted by the words. I do use headphones when trading though so that could be a part of it as I didn't like the feeling of people shouting in my ear when listening to singing in English.
Dr Steenbarger mentioned somewhere that he liked listening to the early minimalist music of Philip Glass, Music in Twelve Parts; I bought it as I like that kind of thing. I enjoy listening to it but again find it too intense for trading/or listening with headphones and it just makes me feel feel edgy, like drinking a very strong espresso.
(Drifting off topic I know but just for background noise to help avoid external distracting sounds and help concentration these sites are nice: https://simplynoise.com/ https://rain.simplynoise.com/
I like the sound of the rain but they recommend white or pink noise for aiding concentration, studying)
You do not win as a trader, you just get to play again the next day. If that game doesn’t appeal to you then you should not trade. Gary Norden
