Brief History of Trade
I’ve been day trading since 2007 and I started in a trading room, not a prop firm more like an office that collects commissions and sets everything else up for you. No training at all, they gave you leverage and you were on your own so I just started hitting buttons. Most of the guys traded against the specialist until that went away so everyone in the office was trying to find a new way to trade. I discovered that good traders adapted, and some didn’t. I had a $5000 account and that lasted over a year. Then I would fund it with as little as $1000. I was rather good at trading for a long time on a small account. I had the mentality just stay in the game and eventually I will figure it out. That trading room went from about 15 guys to just me and I traded alone in that room for another year until they closed. A couple of guys made a lot of money in that room and two of the biggest that made over a million in a year don’t trade anymore. So it always seemed possible but I’ve never had a profitable year in 13 years of trading. I recently started trading again this February after a 2-year break and it’s the first time I’m up and still up. Reading through a lot of the posts I’m a little sad about the realities of 20% a year but I know deep down that’s the only thing that’s sustainable. This is the first time in my life I can actually ‘afford’ to trade. That’s why I took a few years off and built up some income and paid off all my debts being a real estate agent. I’m a west coaster so it’s early mornings and I’m in this for the long haul.
What and how I trade.
7-13 pts
ES and a little NQ
Retest of breakouts
Consolidation Breakouts
Trendline break
Trendline continuation
When I'm looking for a trade I'm usually talking out a story. If I don't have a good story it's not a good trade. "Bulls are defending this area pretty hard I'll look to get in if we a break lower that will weed out some traders playing the range and some momentum shorts could pile in too that drive it down real fast I think I'll look at getting in if if breaks about 2pts below the range because I also like all that resistance 2 pts below that so I like risking 3 pts and we got 10-15 on the upside and if this thing doesn't go back up pretty quick I'm out." So I'm always talking out these little stories and when the r/r looks right I take it.
This year I have been teaching a friend how to trade and he screen shares with me every morning and I talk out my trades so instead of these stories that used to be just in my head are out loud. Whenever I'm in a trade, especially if it's in the money, I'm looking at 'what if' scenarios constantly. 'You're up 5 pts what are you going to do if this trade goes to flat real quick? You've been in this trade for 15 min would you take a new trade right now? If yes what would be your new r/r? What are you going to do if it just hangs out a 0-4 point winner for 20 minutes?' Not trying to freak myself out but being ready to act and anything is possible and having the mindset I could be totally wrong about this trade but let the tape tell me I'm wrong.
How my accounts have always died.
I have a day when I’m down huge compared to account size 20%-30%. I’ve gone on tilt and can’t stop trading and by some crazy trading or luck I get back to even. Now all my daily stop limits in my mind are gone and one day soon usually in a few days I’m going to go down huge again and not come back this time. The damage is done and that account is over.
This year might be the first time I’ve broken that habit. Had 20K account and had gone down about $5k one day and got it back. I traded like a monkey since that day and I could tell this account was on its way to zero. It went down to 15K quickly and for the first time ever I started trading Micros. I had to stop the madness I’m trading smaller and I’ve been stopping with $100-$300 up days which is probably more in line with my account size. I always thought Micros were a rip off on commissions, but they are nice I can scale out of trades or go smaller on slow days. I had this belief micros were only for people with $500 in their account.
I’ve been day trading since 2007 and I started in a trading room, not a prop firm more like an office that collects commissions and sets everything else up for you. No training at all, they gave you leverage and you were on your own so I just started hitting buttons. Most of the guys traded against the specialist until that went away so everyone in the office was trying to find a new way to trade. I discovered that good traders adapted, and some didn’t. I had a $5000 account and that lasted over a year. Then I would fund it with as little as $1000. I was rather good at trading for a long time on a small account. I had the mentality just stay in the game and eventually I will figure it out. That trading room went from about 15 guys to just me and I traded alone in that room for another year until they closed. A couple of guys made a lot of money in that room and two of the biggest that made over a million in a year don’t trade anymore. So it always seemed possible but I’ve never had a profitable year in 13 years of trading. I recently started trading again this February after a 2-year break and it’s the first time I’m up and still up. Reading through a lot of the posts I’m a little sad about the realities of 20% a year but I know deep down that’s the only thing that’s sustainable. This is the first time in my life I can actually ‘afford’ to trade. That’s why I took a few years off and built up some income and paid off all my debts being a real estate agent. I’m a west coaster so it’s early mornings and I’m in this for the long haul.
What and how I trade.
7-13 pts
ES and a little NQ
Retest of breakouts
Consolidation Breakouts
Trendline break
Trendline continuation
When I'm looking for a trade I'm usually talking out a story. If I don't have a good story it's not a good trade. "Bulls are defending this area pretty hard I'll look to get in if we a break lower that will weed out some traders playing the range and some momentum shorts could pile in too that drive it down real fast I think I'll look at getting in if if breaks about 2pts below the range because I also like all that resistance 2 pts below that so I like risking 3 pts and we got 10-15 on the upside and if this thing doesn't go back up pretty quick I'm out." So I'm always talking out these little stories and when the r/r looks right I take it.
This year I have been teaching a friend how to trade and he screen shares with me every morning and I talk out my trades so instead of these stories that used to be just in my head are out loud. Whenever I'm in a trade, especially if it's in the money, I'm looking at 'what if' scenarios constantly. 'You're up 5 pts what are you going to do if this trade goes to flat real quick? You've been in this trade for 15 min would you take a new trade right now? If yes what would be your new r/r? What are you going to do if it just hangs out a 0-4 point winner for 20 minutes?' Not trying to freak myself out but being ready to act and anything is possible and having the mindset I could be totally wrong about this trade but let the tape tell me I'm wrong.
How my accounts have always died.
I have a day when I’m down huge compared to account size 20%-30%. I’ve gone on tilt and can’t stop trading and by some crazy trading or luck I get back to even. Now all my daily stop limits in my mind are gone and one day soon usually in a few days I’m going to go down huge again and not come back this time. The damage is done and that account is over.
This year might be the first time I’ve broken that habit. Had 20K account and had gone down about $5k one day and got it back. I traded like a monkey since that day and I could tell this account was on its way to zero. It went down to 15K quickly and for the first time ever I started trading Micros. I had to stop the madness I’m trading smaller and I’ve been stopping with $100-$300 up days which is probably more in line with my account size. I always thought Micros were a rip off on commissions, but they are nice I can scale out of trades or go smaller on slow days. I had this belief micros were only for people with $500 in their account.
