Nicely done.
How did the second week go?
How did the second week go?
Doubled my (small) account last week daytrading CL futures using PA for the first time.
- Thread starter zghorner
- Start date
got my teeth absolutely kicked in. still up but it was ugly...The Swelled head fucked me.
missed monday & tuesday had to go to the lake and help FIL reinstall one of the transmissions on his boat. It's for sale lol.
come Wednesday I was so eager to trade and so confident in victory that I ignored trading conditions/prerequisites for entry. I made 90 trades that day...about 5x my usual...quit trading 3 separate times...and absolutely shit the bed in every single way. Too tight a SL + Overtrading = getting faked out of ~$3k.
Looking back at Wednesday it was really a good day for making money...Thursday and Friday were worse IMO. Thursday I lost $300 trading extremely timid for obvious reasons. Friday -~$150.
over an hour of chop on thursday (15m) during liquid hours just killed me...I see what i did wrong looking back but still this shit is hard to trade.
Looking back at wednesday I get pretty pissed off. I thought that I had the composure and poise (and supreme skill because of course I am absurdly delusional), but was only lacking proper trading methods...Now it seems that my methods are more capable than I am...and that is a kick in the nuts. Oh well, can't use the past like a baseball bat to beat myself up with. Gotta remember that pain and weakness though, how pathetic it is...It can never happen again.
I'm still pretty pumped up, spending about 12 hours a day on this stuff and actually look forward to the work. Moving forward:
-> Lose the swelled head I can still suck.
-> For now setting a max trade # although I doubt it will be needed.
-> go back to prior SL (wednesday used more discretionary and i'm obviously not good enough for that...it was ridiculously tight...90 trades lol my god).
-> added a few other hard line in the sand rules concerning entry to prevent overtrading.
Be careful. Don't be fooled by randomness.got my teeth absolutely kicked in. still up but it was ugly...The Swelled head fucked me.
missed monday & tuesday had to go to the lake and help FIL reinstall one of the transmissions on his boat. It's for sale lol.
come Wednesday I was so eager to trade and so confident in victory that I ignored trading conditions/prerequisites for entry. I made 90 trades that day...about 5x my usual...quit trading 3 separate times...and absolutely shit the bed in every single way. Too tight a SL + Overtrading = getting faked out of ~$3k.
Looking back at Wednesday it was really a good day for making money...Thursday and Friday were worse IMO. Thursday I lost $300 trading extremely timid for obvious reasons. Friday -~$150.
View attachment 327259
over an hour of chop on thursday (15m) during liquid hours just killed me...I see what i did wrong looking back but still this shit is hard to trade.
Looking back at wednesday I get pretty pissed off. I thought that I had the composure and poise (and supreme skill because of course I am absurdly delusional), but was only lacking proper trading methods...Now it seems that my methods are more capable than I am...and that is a kick in the nuts. Oh well, can't use the past like a baseball bat to beat myself up with. Gotta remember that pain and weakness though, how pathetic it is...It can never happen again.
I'm still pretty pumped up, spending about 12 hours a day on this stuff and actually look forward to the work. Moving forward:
-> Lose the swelled head I can still suck.
-> For now setting a max trade # although I doubt it will be needed.
-> go back to prior SL (wednesday used more discretionary and i'm obviously not good enough for that...it was ridiculously tight...90 trades lol my god).
-> added a few other hard line in the sand rules concerning entry to prevent overtrading.
But best of luck to your trading.
Thank you for your honest reply, @zghorner.
Honestly, I was a bit worried by your first post as you seemed to read too much into one week of trading and because you doubled your account rather quickly which suggests both potentially too much risk and an element of luck.
That said, your approach with tracking statistics and back-testing seems worthwhile for learning more about the market.
Think I've said that to myself a million times, too. Then right back at it next week. LOL.
With discretionary trading one is always prone to behavior like this.
Honestly, I was a bit worried by your first post as you seemed to read too much into one week of trading and because you doubled your account rather quickly which suggests both potentially too much risk and an element of luck.
That said, your approach with tracking statistics and back-testing seems worthwhile for learning more about the market.
Think I've said that to myself a million times, too. Then right back at it next week. LOL.
With discretionary trading one is always prone to behavior like this.
Thank you for your honest reply, @zghorner.
Honestly, I was a bit worried by your first post as you seemed to read too much into one week of trading and because you doubled your account rather quickly which suggests both potentially too much risk and an element of luck.
That said, your approach with tracking statistics and back-testing seems worthwhile for learning more about the market.
Think I've said that to myself a million times, too. Then right back at it next week. LOL.
With discretionary trading one is always prone to behavior like this.
Yea of course 1 week is nothing, I just couldn't help but to get excited about the changes that were taking place. Definitely got lucky more than anything but god its good to be lucky too lol. To lose consistently for so long even a small V is cherished...especially after if follows copious labor.
My problems are still aplenty: i naively gain confidence far too easily...and now that im putting in real work this effect is supercharged. Super swelled head lol. Also, I poses the weakness of having to make the mistake myself to learn the lesson. I have a hard time reading about someone else's screw up and then avoiding it for myself. My behavior Wednesday is so incredibly embarrassing I can't stand it...should have seen it coming a mile away. This is all the proof needed that I'm still not shit. But once something burns me like this I won't forget it.
Just have to focus on improvement. I feel like I'm getting closer.
"Things will get better for you...when you get better" - Jim Rohn.
Sounds to me like you forgot the a-ha's that got you to think differently and take different actions. You haven't said anything about how those things worked or how you are building on/refining those things. More like the opposite... Back into your comfort zone.
I'm curious... did you even apply your new findings? Or did you find a market situation you have no usable method for, and took the trades anyway? When in doubt, stay out?
Either way, good trading to you.
If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking until you do succeed.
I'm curious... did you even apply your new findings? Or did you find a market situation you have no usable method for, and took the trades anyway? When in doubt, stay out?
Either way, good trading to you.
If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking until you do succeed.
Just going to give a quick update. Its not good to only post when you are kicking ass so here we go.
cant seem to do shit this week. Not losing money or making money (barely up this week not enough worth mentioning)...lukewarm pee water. Operating out of fear will slowly bleed me to death I am certain of it.
Not seeing the follow through on my entrances like the first week. whereas before scaling in really benefited me in a big way, now it almost guarantees i scratch the trade. One of my hard line in the sand rules is I never let a significant win turn into a loss. So I scale into a solid winner (~20 ticks in my favor), the few times I have done so this week Have ended up a scratch. Price behavior really feels different and I dont have the experience to know if I should stick to the program or simply lower profit target for the time being or even explore a second market to trade.
I am excellent with my stops...zero reservation or emotion when cutting them. But still some issues here. I've moved away from an engulfing stop to a set tick amount with detrimental results...I've missed a few solid trades because of this.
Probably The smartest thing for me to do would go back to micros until i get back on track...there is no doubt that I am trading too much size because I am overly nervous anytime it moves against me even slightly. I've accepted a 5 tick loss before entering but I cant hardly stand anything beyond that. average MFE this week on trades with "good" timing (go in my favor almost instantly) is only about ~10 ticks. When it moves back to BE I get out +/- 1 tick. I just havn't been able to get behind any of those sweet sweet point moves.
cant seem to do shit this week. Not losing money or making money (barely up this week not enough worth mentioning)...lukewarm pee water. Operating out of fear will slowly bleed me to death I am certain of it.
Not seeing the follow through on my entrances like the first week. whereas before scaling in really benefited me in a big way, now it almost guarantees i scratch the trade. One of my hard line in the sand rules is I never let a significant win turn into a loss. So I scale into a solid winner (~20 ticks in my favor), the few times I have done so this week Have ended up a scratch. Price behavior really feels different and I dont have the experience to know if I should stick to the program or simply lower profit target for the time being or even explore a second market to trade.
I am excellent with my stops...zero reservation or emotion when cutting them. But still some issues here. I've moved away from an engulfing stop to a set tick amount with detrimental results...I've missed a few solid trades because of this.
Probably The smartest thing for me to do would go back to micros until i get back on track...there is no doubt that I am trading too much size because I am overly nervous anytime it moves against me even slightly. I've accepted a 5 tick loss before entering but I cant hardly stand anything beyond that. average MFE this week on trades with "good" timing (go in my favor almost instantly) is only about ~10 ticks. When it moves back to BE I get out +/- 1 tick. I just havn't been able to get behind any of those sweet sweet point moves.
Yes, come join the small time amateur retails club.
Instead of scaled up from day trading for a Big Mac to a steak dinner, I scaled down to trading for a cup of senior Mac coffee every day.
That allows me to try all sorts of crazy harebrained ideas like no indicators, no bars, just trade... based on gut feel.
I usually post negative, absurd, even depressing content so why not throw some excitement into the mix just for balance? I've also been writing and reading nonstop for weeks so I will enjoy pecking all of it out...I put this in the Journal sub as this is about to be novel length lol.
Disclaimer: Honestly I know this will look, to many of you, what seems to be some peanut account nobody trying to lecture but i promise you I am humble and know this is only the beginning. Just wanting to share some positive experiences that might help someone struggling.
I Think for the first time since i started in june 2019 I am trading out of skill and not hope, and winning by design not accident. It's really kind of crazy the night and day difference to only a month ago.
Starting Tuesday, (monday i traded demo), I traded my live account at AMP which had a $4,881 balance. Friday I ended at $10,076.
I entered the Energy trading contest posted here by Cannon 3-4 weeks ago. Prior to this I had not traded at all for ~4 months. I was unable to make money trading micro futures using a rudimentary system and essentially reached the breaking point of failure. So I saw the competition and thought it would be the perfect way to get back into trading. I ended up doing pretty bad, the account was down to around $92k at the end as i threw some hail marries the final day for the contest's sake...but it allowed me to trade some size and with almost obsessive effort I made some critical changes.
So during the contest, i developed and scrapped 1 complete system and modified the second beyond recognition as it was improved. The first had semi-refined, clearly defined entry, exit, and stop signals (the best/most creative i had done up to that time)..."body breaker" lol. The system was ass and i used zero PA BUT, What i did that was supremely beneficial was study the move more than my trade using performance metrics. Example:
which morphed into this:
I started inventing more creative performance metrics to track:
like this
and this
So anyway, What this forced me to do was focus on the move. How do I capture the entire move...not 20% of it. My original system had zero value...my entries were super sucker class, placing me in mid-late move most of the time And was scrapped immediately. My stops and exits both had some potential but have since been replaced.
I started to focus on liquidity/volatility/price movement when the move happens as well as how to create an accurate as possible directional bias so as to be positioned AS THE MOVE HAPPENS, often just before. NOT after it moves a point+ and there is a retracement... I Always need to strive for before the first big daily move happens as this gives me instant play room to scale into.
Obviously this might sound stupid to some of you as it is not suited for all types of trading...but day trading crude futures I will not be convinced otherwise by anything except my account balance.
Currently my system essentially has a handful of bias signals, an extremely refined stop based on aggressiveness of movement more than a set place...my stops have become much tighter compared to weeks ago BUT, I have way more trades taking place. I will enter and exit on a doji multiple times in a few minutes until it jumps in my favor -> then scale in with an additional unit almost immediately with that momentum. Losing trades are minutes long now while my winning trades can span over an hour.
I am now entering and exiting with zero hesitation based on price action alone...with directional bias coming from past study of movement behavior as well as a series of indicators (that, believe it or not are extremely helpful if used for what they are: derivatives/secondary). Friday alone i grew my account from $6,482 -> $10,076 and I had zero losing days last week...I did make some mistakes this week and it still gets frustrating when you get stopped out of 4+ entries. I see plenty of room for improvement and will continue to hone this baby into a full blown symphony.
The two most important things are 1) that I am actually enjoying the work. Even when I was losing the contest i was still happy because of the rapid progress. It's become an obsession. and 2) This is a product of my own creativity. My own effort and work that is authentically myself.
P.S. the current system can be purchased for only 10 installments of $100,000.
Well done.I usually post negative, absurd, even depressing content so why not throw some excitement into the mix just for balance? I've also been writing and reading nonstop for weeks so I will enjoy pecking all of it out...I put this in the Journal sub as this is about to be novel length lol.
Disclaimer: Honestly I know this will look, to many of you, what seems to be some peanut account nobody trying to lecture but i promise you I am humble and know this is only the beginning. Just wanting to share some positive experiences that might help someone struggling.
I Think for the first time since i started in june 2019 I am trading out of skill and not hope, and winning by design not accident. It's really kind of crazy the night and day difference to only a month ago.
Starting Tuesday, (monday i traded demo), I traded my live account at AMP which had a $4,881 balance. Friday I ended at $10,076.
I entered the Energy trading contest posted here by Cannon 3-4 weeks ago. Prior to this I had not traded at all for ~4 months. I was unable to make money trading micro futures using a rudimentary system and essentially reached the breaking point of failure. So I saw the competition and thought it would be the perfect way to get back into trading. I ended up doing pretty bad, the account was down to around $92k at the end as i threw some hail marries the final day for the contest's sake...but it allowed me to trade some size and with almost obsessive effort I made some critical changes.
So during the contest, i developed and scrapped 1 complete system and modified the second beyond recognition as it was improved. The first had semi-refined, clearly defined entry, exit, and stop signals (the best/most creative i had done up to that time)..."body breaker" lol. The system was ass and i used zero PA BUT, What i did that was supremely beneficial was study the move more than my trade using performance metrics. Example:
which morphed into this:
I started inventing more creative performance metrics to track:
like this
and this
So anyway, What this forced me to do was focus on the move. How do I capture the entire move...not 20% of it. My original system had zero value...my entries were super sucker class, placing me in mid-late move most of the time And was scrapped immediately. My stops and exits both had some potential but have since been replaced.
I started to focus on liquidity/volatility/price movement when the move happens as well as how to create an accurate as possible directional bias so as to be positioned AS THE MOVE HAPPENS, often just before. NOT after it moves a point+ and there is a retracement... I Always need to strive for before the first big daily move happens as this gives me instant play room to scale into.
Obviously this might sound stupid to some of you as it is not suited for all types of trading...but day trading crude futures I will not be convinced otherwise by anything except my account balance.
Currently my system essentially has a handful of bias signals, an extremely refined stop based on aggressiveness of movement more than a set place...my stops have become much tighter compared to weeks ago BUT, I have way more trades taking place. I will enter and exit on a doji multiple times in a few minutes until it jumps in my favor -> then scale in with an additional unit almost immediately with that momentum. Losing trades are minutes long now while my winning trades can span over an hour.
I am now entering and exiting with zero hesitation based on price action alone...with directional bias coming from past study of movement behavior as well as a series of indicators (that, believe it or not are extremely helpful if used for what they are: derivatives/secondary). Friday alone i grew my account from $6,482 -> $10,076 and I had zero losing days last week...I did make some mistakes this week and it still gets frustrating when you get stopped out of 4+ entries. I see plenty of room for improvement and will continue to hone this baby into a full blown symphony.
The two most important things are 1) that I am actually enjoying the work. Even when I was losing the contest i was still happy because of the rapid progress. It's become an obsession. and 2) This is a product of my own creativity. My own effort and work that is authentically myself.
P.S. the current system can be purchased for only 10 installments of $100,000.
i have always believed 100% win rate was possible