Today I tried to do 2 new things at once: Test out a new trade entry strategy and play with NinjaTrader's chart trading. I placed many trades today, and at one point was down over 100 ticks, but ended up the day +43 ticks. This was entirely due to dumb luck when at the last trade of the day, I tried to take a 26 tick profit on a short and ended up selling another contract right before the big drop.
In real life, I would have quit trading after the 3rd stop out on Trade #4. I omitted the other 20 trades I made because I was just rolling around in barbed wire and goofing. The 7 trades here are ones I was trying on, and I threw in the last short just for fun.
I didn't see any trades in the morning, and with lots of news coming, I just watched.
Trade #1
Against my better judgement (trading close to news), I saw the 05:40 and 05:45 bars form a 2 bar reversal, and I went long at the close of the second bar. -11 ticks.
Trade #2
I saw price topping out and when the 05:55 bar came down and then back up, I drew the trend line and put OCO stop sell orders in at 83.05 and 82.85. When price dropped on 06:00 bar, I was filled and my auto trail moved me to BE+1 after 8 ticks where I was taken out right before the drop. This all happened very fast. I was in and out within a second or two. Maybe I should either drop the auto trail or put my stop sell a little higher. I put it 1 tick below the lows of the two previous bars, but maybe I should have done it at the end of the body. +1 tick.
When the 06:05 bar retraced up from the bottom, I was ready to put a stop sell under the close, but either NT froze, or CL stopped trading for awhile. There's a gap between 06:05 and 06:10.
Trade #3
I was waiting for the pullback to the EMA and when the 06:20 bar touched it and came back, I put a stop sell under the close. I was filled on the next bar, got a couple of ticks, then was stopped out. -11 ticks.
Trade #4
I drew the trend line after that stop out and saw the 06:35 bar touch it nicely. Expecting the trend to continue, I went long on the close of the bar and was stopped out. -11 ticks.
Trade #5
Price came down on 2 strong bars and closed well below the EMA. I waited for the open of the next bar, and when it started back up to the EMA, I placed a stop sell under the 06:45 bar. The 06:50 bar came back down and filled my order, then stopped me out on the high of the next bar. -11 ticks.
I made about 15 trades during the next 30 minutes, just experimenting. Almost all of them were losers.
Around 07:25 it looked like the barbed wire was over, and I waited for the pullback to the EMA.
Trade #6
Went short on the 07:40 bar and moved my stop up after getting some ticks to the good. Price didn't follow through. +2 ticks.
Trade #7
The 08:35 and 08:40 bars made a failed attempt to go higher, and after the weak 08:45 bar I placed a stop sell under that and was filled on the next bar. The 09:00 bar stopped right at the LOD. I had my stop set on the top of the 09:00 bar and watched price come almost all the way back up, then retreat. At the close of the bar I moved what I thought was my stop to the close, but it wasn't a stop. It was some default strategy that got loaded when I place my trade. Before I knew it, I was short another contract and then the bottom fell out. Total accident. I should have only gotten 26 ticks, but ended up riding it all the way down. If only life was really like that!
Still need to work on some things.
but It wasn't really that pretty. I wasn't looking for 82.40, or even 82.46 (yesterday's low) I wouldn't go for, since I would not expect a full retrace of that. As we talked earlier, I was thinking that this was prolly the last of the down-ness getting done, so In my mind I know I am looking for a bit less that maybe 400 a car...
