This is actually the time in my life Iâve attempted day trading (hence the title of this journal). The first time, frankly, I lost my ass. No plan, and undisciplined with lots of "revenge trading" and wishful thinking. Not this time.
My plan: to trade the ES with small stops of 3 to 5 ticks, at least a 2.5:1 profit ratio on trades, and letting winning trades run until the trade premise is broken, opposing support/resistance is near, or a long trend appears to be beginning to reverse. Always flat at the end of the day, nothing held overnight.
Why only the ES? Well, I seem to be overwhelmed easily with too many charts/tickers to watch, and feel that watching a single entity help one to learn how it moves over time. There is enough money to be made in just the ES to satisfy me.
The goal is to build up account equity, and then to trade for income. I have other sources of income, so the pressure to perform is reduced in that respect.
Right now Iâm using 133 and 510 tick and 5 minute charts, though I almost exclusively watch the 510 tick charts to enter/exit trades.
A typically trade would be to buy the first pullback to trend support, using TradeStationâs OSO feature to enter both the entry limit price and the stop loss market price (pre-set to 5 ticks or 1.25 points). So if trend support is at 1312.50, I would set the system to buy at 1312.75, with a stop-loss at 1311.50 (1 point below trend support). When the trade moves +3 points in my favor, I move stop-loss to the entry price. When the trade moves +5 points in my favor, I pare out 1/2 the contracts (if >1) for profit, move my stop to at least entry +1 point and let it run until the trend is broken, or the pattern starts to get "toppy" after a big push up. Short trades, obviously are the exact opposite but the same trading rules apply.
I never open up a stop to more than what was originally set. I will, however, tighten it up if the pattern starts looking "hinky".
Currently Iâm dealing with mental jetsam from my last stint as a traderâ¦. Iâm too quick to take a small profit, especially after an earlier loss, or quitting the day early. Sometimes I donât pull the trigger on a good trade on miss out. I will paper trade each day afterwards to see what my system would have produced.
Iâll try to post my trades here each day before the end of the day, feel free to comment or offer suggestions.
My plan: to trade the ES with small stops of 3 to 5 ticks, at least a 2.5:1 profit ratio on trades, and letting winning trades run until the trade premise is broken, opposing support/resistance is near, or a long trend appears to be beginning to reverse. Always flat at the end of the day, nothing held overnight.
Why only the ES? Well, I seem to be overwhelmed easily with too many charts/tickers to watch, and feel that watching a single entity help one to learn how it moves over time. There is enough money to be made in just the ES to satisfy me.
The goal is to build up account equity, and then to trade for income. I have other sources of income, so the pressure to perform is reduced in that respect.
Right now Iâm using 133 and 510 tick and 5 minute charts, though I almost exclusively watch the 510 tick charts to enter/exit trades.
A typically trade would be to buy the first pullback to trend support, using TradeStationâs OSO feature to enter both the entry limit price and the stop loss market price (pre-set to 5 ticks or 1.25 points). So if trend support is at 1312.50, I would set the system to buy at 1312.75, with a stop-loss at 1311.50 (1 point below trend support). When the trade moves +3 points in my favor, I move stop-loss to the entry price. When the trade moves +5 points in my favor, I pare out 1/2 the contracts (if >1) for profit, move my stop to at least entry +1 point and let it run until the trend is broken, or the pattern starts to get "toppy" after a big push up. Short trades, obviously are the exact opposite but the same trading rules apply.
I never open up a stop to more than what was originally set. I will, however, tighten it up if the pattern starts looking "hinky".
Currently Iâm dealing with mental jetsam from my last stint as a traderâ¦. Iâm too quick to take a small profit, especially after an earlier loss, or quitting the day early. Sometimes I donât pull the trigger on a good trade on miss out. I will paper trade each day afterwards to see what my system would have produced.
Iâll try to post my trades here each day before the end of the day, feel free to comment or offer suggestions.
