Thanks to those of you who took the trouble to explain how this journal works, I appreciate it.
Got a 'short' signal tonight, and I executed it a few minutes ago, selling at 857.92, for a loss of 5.08 points, or -$254.
A couple of comments: first, I'm not 100% sure how I got that weird price, since I placed a limit order at 857.75, but I'm assuming my broker had some time of price improvement program working. I wish that happened more often!
Secondly, it is frustrating to me (once again) to get whacked by the change in price after the close. Profit 8 calculates the trade based on trading at the close, since that's how I have it set up. And, if I had traded at the close, which was 866.50, this would have been a profitable trade, +3.5 points. Nothing to brag about, but better than a loss. As it is, it has to go into the loss column.
I guess I'm going to have to bite the bullet and actually start trading at the close, which will be before I get my data feed for the day. I'll just put the prices in by hand. This was not a problem back in the days of 'normal' volatility, but these days that 4-hour difference can mean a significant move in the price!
One last housekeeping item: the value of the 2.5 x ATR(20) stop that I discussed at the beginning of the thread has finally dropped below 150 points (barely), so I'll be using that actual value for stops. I'm not going to bother posting it, to avoid cluttering up the thread more.
So our status is
Open Position:
S&P mini (ESZ8) - SHORT @ 857.92
Closed equity: $4,663.50
6 trades down, 24 to go.
W/L=4/6 or 67%
Got a 'short' signal tonight, and I executed it a few minutes ago, selling at 857.92, for a loss of 5.08 points, or -$254.
A couple of comments: first, I'm not 100% sure how I got that weird price, since I placed a limit order at 857.75, but I'm assuming my broker had some time of price improvement program working. I wish that happened more often!
Secondly, it is frustrating to me (once again) to get whacked by the change in price after the close. Profit 8 calculates the trade based on trading at the close, since that's how I have it set up. And, if I had traded at the close, which was 866.50, this would have been a profitable trade, +3.5 points. Nothing to brag about, but better than a loss. As it is, it has to go into the loss column.
I guess I'm going to have to bite the bullet and actually start trading at the close, which will be before I get my data feed for the day. I'll just put the prices in by hand. This was not a problem back in the days of 'normal' volatility, but these days that 4-hour difference can mean a significant move in the price!
One last housekeeping item: the value of the 2.5 x ATR(20) stop that I discussed at the beginning of the thread has finally dropped below 150 points (barely), so I'll be using that actual value for stops. I'm not going to bother posting it, to avoid cluttering up the thread more.
So our status is
Open Position:
S&P mini (ESZ8) - SHORT @ 857.92
Closed equity: $4,663.50
6 trades down, 24 to go.
W/L=4/6 or 67%