Aphie's REAL Trading Journal

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janko,

Thank you. You are absolutely right. Every one of my trades in QQQ and SPY were profitable -- all three of them. I made one profitable trade in ES today and my first YM was a $20 profit. It was around 4:00pm and I was taking advantage of the spread by kind of making my own little market with YM.

I thought, "Hey, this is cool, the spread is kind of wide so if someone hits me while I'm sitting at the ask, I can go undercut the bid and make a few dollars -- it's nice and calm here"

Suddenly, the chart started moving and FAST. I had no stop order in place. I started banging keys and clicking shit on IB's TWS system and then I realized my cover order wouldn't go through because the software defaults to a LIMIT order.

"I want out of this market NOW!!!!" ... So by the time everything was said and done, I was looking at a $200 loss and thinking to myself, "How in the hell can a x5 multplier creme me like this!"

Damn I'm getting cut every way you can get cut.
 
I'd bet you'd trade 1000 of your posts for 1000 trades of experience now. That's why we were jumping on you before; paper trading and backtesting means NOTHING until real capital is on the line.

When i test a new trading plan I use 100-share lots to see how slippage and market conditions will really affect the outcome.

Swing trade small share lots and lay off the futures until you get your sea legs. It's not as glamorous but with a little chart reading skills you'll still have your account by Christmas.

Good luck -
 
Originally posted by uptik2000
IMO, you might want to avoid pre and post market hours.....especially when a giant tech company is about to report earnings.
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The daily range lately has sucked. All of the movement has occured afterhours.

The market is "weird" to me lately so I'm sitting the rest of this week out and goign over each of my trades this weekend and asking myself why the hell I took each of them.

This fly-by-night trading has got to end. I told myself I was done for the day and then I started messing around with YM, where I turned a $60 day into a $150 loss.
 
Originally posted by Tech Analysis
I'd bet you'd trade 1000 of your posts for 1000 trades of experience now. That's why we were jumping on you before; paper trading and backtesting means NOTHING until real capital is on the line.

When i test a new trading plan I use 100-share lots to see how slippage and market conditions will really affect the outcome.

Swing trade small share lots and lay off the futures until you get your sea legs. It's not as glamorous but with a little chart reading skills you'll still have your account by Christmas.

Good luck -
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I get three daytrades a week. I'll just have to make the best of them. I'm going to step aside from futures for the time being. Making $500 a day on a simulator is awesome but losing half that a day with real money is not.
 
This week has been murder for the daytrader. 25-point gaps up then 10-point rangebound days. And as an overnighter you don't know what the hell will happen tomorrow. Up 250 then down 200. Typical earnings week. Put up a multi-day 5-minute chart of the indices and it looks like a friggin' square wave: straight up, flat, straight down, flat etc. Next week will probably be the same shit since there's a lot of heavy earnings out too.
 
Aphie....the very first thing you should do is stop this journal.

There is enough psychological pressure from trading without having to add the pressure of performing for others.
If you want to post some trades for advice, that's one thing...
But the only thing on your mind should be trading, not posting. You're moving way too fast and I suspect part of the reason is
because you have been prodded into it. If you don't slow down you will be out of business within two weeks (if that long)

If I were you I would not trade tomorrow, or post. You need to catch your breath and you are underwater and you need to resolve that with yourself before you put on another trade. It's one thing to say you can handle the loss, it's another thing to actually handle it (not let it affect you)

When you do trade be as conservative as possible. I don't know how long you've waited to trade, but if you don't slow down and focus on your trades you will soon be out of business. If it means paper trading for a few days, so be it. Patience and discipline are just two of the many ingredients you need to be a successful trader, and you seem to be lacking both. While there have been some great posts to you, unfortunately to some you are a source of amusement. Best of luck to you, but slow down, because the market isn't going anywhere, there will be opportunities every day, but if you blow your account up, it will be all over for you.

Good luck
 
Swing trade the indexes DIA,QQQ,SPY

IMO, you are less likely to fuck up if you have to wait days or weeks for your setup.

I too went through 10% acct size in a couple of trades on YM. That was back in june. Now I strictly concentrate on swing trading the index. I don't crap my pants when I enter a position because there is no leverage, commissions are not a problem, holding overnight is not a big deal etc.

For you, an added bonus is that you can spend all day on ET. Only a couple times a month do you actually trade.
 
I started banging keys and clicking shit on IB's TWS system and
then I realized my cover order wouldn't go through because the
software defaults to a LIMIT order.
More...
You don´t use it yet ?
 
Aphie -

I lost over 8 grand on a 15k account when I first started trading, and that was w/out even touching the futures. Just daytrading stocks. I was a cowboy who knew everything and read all the books first. Then I took off a few weeks and learned the ropes, then came back slowly with slow trades before I dared step back into the daytrade arena.

Your 500.00 "tuition" is cheap by comparison.

Wait out this unusual volatility and hit the daily charts for awhile.

You're too strung up right now; asking for stress mgmt after one day was the key. Realx and take it slow.
 
Originally posted by FX-Trader
You don´t use it yet ?
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It is Jasper. However, Jasper only works with NQ and ES. I hadn't programmed it to work correctly with the multiples of YM.
 
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