Introduction
Everyone is a future millionaire with their best paper trading or back tested trading strategy until it blows up. So I’ll trade mine live and post weekly results until it Hindenburgs in a glorious fireball and you can hear me screaming “Oh the humanity!”.
Maybe people will find some useful info from the posts or tidbits I learn from it. Like all “golden” back tested strategies, results never come close to reality. Let’s see where this one falls short. Guesses on the cause of its eventual destruction are welcome.
My Background
44-year-old residing in the Midwestern USA. Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration – Entrepreneurship. Main source of income the past 12 years as an independent Management Consultant assisting information technology and professional services companies capture government contracts by creating strategic business plans and writing bid proposals. Before starting my home-based business, I had a career as an information technology project manager for a Fortune 100 company (5 years) and then as an independent contractor (5 years) working for Fortune 100 companies under 6-month contracts.
My Trading Background
3 previous periods of day trading stocks or futures in between independent contractor assignments many years ago. Those runs are best described as learning stints losing a few thousand dollars each time. Began researching some new approaches to trade futures in late 2016. Decided to go live again in July 2017 trading CL, NQ, and GC learning and trying new things while basically breaking even after 6 months. Then began trading a 7-future basket Dec. 18th, 2017. Went to the 8-future basket Jan 2nd, 2018.
Broker – Interactive Brokers
Starting Account Size - $50,000
Goals
1. Develop a profitable “No Screen Watching” futures trading approach that does not require live monitoring with automated trade exits leaving my account flat at the end of the day. I still need to work a my real job to pay the bills.
2. Develop a second stream of income.
Current Trading Approach
Trading an 8 futures basket every day using price action analysis to determine whether daily trades in each contract will be long or short. Entries are made at the same time each day in pre-market hours for all futures except HE and LE which are entered near the 8:30 CST market open. Exits are setup up with a paired stop loss and a “close upon regular market close order” when the stop loss is not triggered. I take about 45 minutes each night to review the completed trades, perform price action analysis, and determine the trades for the next day.
Futures Basket Traded Each Day
· CL – 1 contract with $1,000 daily stop loss
· NQ – 1 contract with $500 daily stop loss
· GC – 1 contract with $500 daily stop loss
· NG – 1 contract with $500 daily stop loss
· HO – 1 contract with $500 daily stop loss
· KC – 1 contract with $500 daily stop loss
· HE (LH) – 2 contracts with $560 total position daily stop loss
· LE – 2 contracts with $560 total position daily stop loss
2016 and 2017 Back Test Results
Back test included commissions and 1 tick of slippage for each contract round turn trade (get one fill on the time/bar print, get one fill off the time/bar print by 1 tick).
2016: +$234,460 per basket with -$7,680 maximum drawback
2017: +$155,160 per basket with -$9,200 maximum drawback
A typical too good to be true back tested strategy! The prop firm offers for my services will be coming in fast and furious for sure!
Weekly Updates
I started trading this basket on Dec. 18th, so I’ll include the last 2 weeks of 2017 to start. I’ll post a short weekly summary, noteworthy lessons, interesting tidbits, and NAV results including a screen shot of my realized gains/losses report for each week. If it blows up, I’ll stop trading it and stop posting.
Everyone is a future millionaire with their best paper trading or back tested trading strategy until it blows up. So I’ll trade mine live and post weekly results until it Hindenburgs in a glorious fireball and you can hear me screaming “Oh the humanity!”.
Maybe people will find some useful info from the posts or tidbits I learn from it. Like all “golden” back tested strategies, results never come close to reality. Let’s see where this one falls short. Guesses on the cause of its eventual destruction are welcome.
My Background
44-year-old residing in the Midwestern USA. Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration – Entrepreneurship. Main source of income the past 12 years as an independent Management Consultant assisting information technology and professional services companies capture government contracts by creating strategic business plans and writing bid proposals. Before starting my home-based business, I had a career as an information technology project manager for a Fortune 100 company (5 years) and then as an independent contractor (5 years) working for Fortune 100 companies under 6-month contracts.
My Trading Background
3 previous periods of day trading stocks or futures in between independent contractor assignments many years ago. Those runs are best described as learning stints losing a few thousand dollars each time. Began researching some new approaches to trade futures in late 2016. Decided to go live again in July 2017 trading CL, NQ, and GC learning and trying new things while basically breaking even after 6 months. Then began trading a 7-future basket Dec. 18th, 2017. Went to the 8-future basket Jan 2nd, 2018.
Broker – Interactive Brokers
Starting Account Size - $50,000
Goals
1. Develop a profitable “No Screen Watching” futures trading approach that does not require live monitoring with automated trade exits leaving my account flat at the end of the day. I still need to work a my real job to pay the bills.
2. Develop a second stream of income.
Current Trading Approach
Trading an 8 futures basket every day using price action analysis to determine whether daily trades in each contract will be long or short. Entries are made at the same time each day in pre-market hours for all futures except HE and LE which are entered near the 8:30 CST market open. Exits are setup up with a paired stop loss and a “close upon regular market close order” when the stop loss is not triggered. I take about 45 minutes each night to review the completed trades, perform price action analysis, and determine the trades for the next day.
Futures Basket Traded Each Day
· CL – 1 contract with $1,000 daily stop loss
· NQ – 1 contract with $500 daily stop loss
· GC – 1 contract with $500 daily stop loss
· NG – 1 contract with $500 daily stop loss
· HO – 1 contract with $500 daily stop loss
· KC – 1 contract with $500 daily stop loss
· HE (LH) – 2 contracts with $560 total position daily stop loss
· LE – 2 contracts with $560 total position daily stop loss
2016 and 2017 Back Test Results
Back test included commissions and 1 tick of slippage for each contract round turn trade (get one fill on the time/bar print, get one fill off the time/bar print by 1 tick).
2016: +$234,460 per basket with -$7,680 maximum drawback
2017: +$155,160 per basket with -$9,200 maximum drawback
A typical too good to be true back tested strategy! The prop firm offers for my services will be coming in fast and furious for sure!
Weekly Updates
I started trading this basket on Dec. 18th, so I’ll include the last 2 weeks of 2017 to start. I’ll post a short weekly summary, noteworthy lessons, interesting tidbits, and NAV results including a screen shot of my realized gains/losses report for each week. If it blows up, I’ll stop trading it and stop posting.
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because Size~ matters at this ET Extraterrestrial Trading Academy.