A 70k bet that I can't make a 50% gain in 2009
- Thread starter geez
- Start date
+1
Suhhaker: Your charts are a great addition to the discussion. Thank you for taking the time to post.
Geez: Fantastic journal. The best ever since I joined ET. Successfully calling trades in real time certainly keeps the flamers away. Thank you for sharing.
Great trading and continued success.
Quote from sudhaker:
If you are in USA, you need a minimum of 30K capital for this strategy. This is to avoid the stupid PDT restriction (patter day trader).
My current setup is 30K with IB where my round trip commission is as low as $2. My account got activated early this week and short term plan is to stick for max draw down of $40-50
So far I had 6 trades, 5 loss, 1 win, total loss $220, total win $120, net -$100 ; At least 3 out of those 5 losses were plain stupid mistake (i.e. entry based on 1 min chart only). Anyway, everyday is a learning
Thanks,
Sudhaker,
It is easy to see you are serious about learning, and you have helped out w/ this journal. Even though this is a journal, I see no reason not to make it into an open discussion about trades you (or others) take. Please feel free to talk about, or ask questions related to the trades that you took. As you can tell, I am by no means "a professional trader".......but, I think most who follow this thread are looking to take the slower, steadier (read: less drawdowns) approach to trading that I do.
-G
Hello Geez,
first, sorry if my english sucks, I am from Austria !
Second, congratulations to your journal, it is a joy watching you trading, so much to learn, you are so friendly and never tired to explain things, thank you very much, you are No. 1 !!!
Now after following your journal for so long time I would like to ask you something about your stops, I am not sure if this has already been asked and explained, I could not find it:
- I see that in general you risk around 200 $ and going for a target of about 360 to 400 $ (1,8-2 R:R). Now how do you choose your position size and the stop loss price ? Do you just jump in the stock with a position that seems reasonable (for example 2000 shares) and then you say: ok, with 2000 shares I must place my stop 10 cents over/under my entry for a stop loss amount of 200 $ ? This would mean that your stop is not really depending on a chart pattern and somewhat random ...
Or are you doing it like this:
lets say you shorted a stock at 20.30 and the last lower high (the last "peak") was at 20.44. You then derive the SL from the charts, placing it 1-2 cents over this last peak. With your choosen stop at 20.46 and a entry of 20.30 this would mean you risk 16 cents per share. To risk a total amount of 200 $ you are then shorting 1250 shares.
If you are doing it like I explained it in the second example, how do you derive your stops, what are you looking for in the charts ?
For me at the beginning a little disadvantage of this "calculated position" with the stop that is derived from the charts (second example) was that it took me a few seconds to calculate the correct position size which sometimes led to a worse entry, especially when trading fast moving stocks and/ or when trading in the session start/ end. The solution for me was a small excel "position calculator" that I have always open in a small window while trading. How are you doing this calculations, just with mental arithmetics or a calculator or some little program ... ?
Looking forward to your replay. Thanks in advance for your time and enjoy the weekend.
GREETINGS FROM AUSTRIA !!!
first, sorry if my english sucks, I am from Austria !
Second, congratulations to your journal, it is a joy watching you trading, so much to learn, you are so friendly and never tired to explain things, thank you very much, you are No. 1 !!!
Now after following your journal for so long time I would like to ask you something about your stops, I am not sure if this has already been asked and explained, I could not find it:
- I see that in general you risk around 200 $ and going for a target of about 360 to 400 $ (1,8-2 R:R). Now how do you choose your position size and the stop loss price ? Do you just jump in the stock with a position that seems reasonable (for example 2000 shares) and then you say: ok, with 2000 shares I must place my stop 10 cents over/under my entry for a stop loss amount of 200 $ ? This would mean that your stop is not really depending on a chart pattern and somewhat random ...
Or are you doing it like this:
lets say you shorted a stock at 20.30 and the last lower high (the last "peak") was at 20.44. You then derive the SL from the charts, placing it 1-2 cents over this last peak. With your choosen stop at 20.46 and a entry of 20.30 this would mean you risk 16 cents per share. To risk a total amount of 200 $ you are then shorting 1250 shares.
If you are doing it like I explained it in the second example, how do you derive your stops, what are you looking for in the charts ?
For me at the beginning a little disadvantage of this "calculated position" with the stop that is derived from the charts (second example) was that it took me a few seconds to calculate the correct position size which sometimes led to a worse entry, especially when trading fast moving stocks and/ or when trading in the session start/ end. The solution for me was a small excel "position calculator" that I have always open in a small window while trading. How are you doing this calculations, just with mental arithmetics or a calculator or some little program ... ?
Looking forward to your replay. Thanks in advance for your time and enjoy the weekend.
GREETINGS FROM AUSTRIA !!!
Guess I should wait for your explanation and then post the chart with your comment.
I'm using http://www.chartfu.com for annotation. Is there any other better tool for annotation?
Hello CALLumbus,
To answer your first question, the way I get my stops is in your second example. If I enter a short at 20.30 and the last pivot high is 20.44 I will put my stop above that. How much extra depends on the stock and attainable target. If it's a lower priced stock I would put the stop just a penny above (20.45) and have a .15 stop. If it is AAPL and I enter short at 130.30 and the last pivot is at 130.44, I will put my stop at 130.50 (20 cent stop) to give it some more wiggle room.
As for share size, I have simple sheet that I wrote out for how many shares I can buy (or short) for each stop size to equal a $200 MAX loss (before commission)...I do not like odd share lots like 1250, so I would move that to 1200 instead (trade in 100 lot sizes, they are easier to enter and exit with).
As I see my pattern starting to set up I get the order bar ready. With the style I use you have to wait for the stock to break a certain price before entering, so I usually have plenty of time to figure out what the stop and share size will be.
I would NEVER just enter a stock without knowing the stop first (and how many shares to enter).
Hope that helps...if not, please let me know.-G