I don't know how many contracts you are doing, but I suggest playing with 1 NQ for the time being, and attempting to lose no more than 4-5 points on any trade, and preferably less. For your trading to make any sense statistically, you should at the very least be making per trade what you are willing to lose per trade... trade carefully and don't jump blindly at every opportunity... be like a cheetah, stalk easy prey (preferably a young and wounded gazelle) and pounce on it when it is grazing on grass a few meters away from you... you can make a decent enough living even on 1 contract... I don't understand why you are doing more than 1 NQ in your initial period of trading NQ... another thing to bear in mind... maybe the fact that you are doing more than 1 contract is screwing your decision processes up... maybe trading 1 NQ will clear your head a bit, since the pressure of bigger losses won't be so high... remember 1 NQ is the same as 800 QQQ, and newbies shouldn't, in my opinion, be playing with the equivalent of 1600 QQQ or 2400 QQQ... sometimes "less is more"...
E-mini Rookie Trading Journal
- Thread starter bronks
- Start date
hi bronks,
the average high-low range on the 5min bar in the last days on the NQ was about 5-10 points...perhaps you have to pass by this high volatile environment and wait for calmer times...this is not the time for "testing"...perhaps wait for "the reversal day" and then just jump in and hold on 2-3 days for some 100 points...
trading
the average high-low range on the 5min bar in the last days on the NQ was about 5-10 points...perhaps you have to pass by this high volatile environment and wait for calmer times...this is not the time for "testing"...perhaps wait for "the reversal day" and then just jump in and hold on 2-3 days for some 100 points...
trading
If my perception from a casual read of this thread is correct you are entering a phase of endless frustration produced by a lack of methodology. You cannot play this game for very long without a proper, proven methodology/system that has a positive expectancy. It is the foundation. If you don't have one then you don't have an edge and are simply supporting those that do untill you run out of cash. You're in the steel construction biz I think, you guys must make jokes about hanging the steel from "skyhooks". That's what you're trying to do, build without a foundation to hold up the structure. You must create/ develope a method that signals you when to make moves. Without it discipline is meaningless as there is nothing to apply it to. Getting out when you're down X pnts. doesn't count as that simply tells you how much you're willing to lose on a trade all day long.
I think you have the guts , desire and tenacity to work thru it. It will take some time as the process of displacing assumed knowledge with true knowledge is generally a slow one.
Rob
I think you have the guts , desire and tenacity to work thru it. It will take some time as the process of displacing assumed knowledge with true knowledge is generally a slow one.
Rob
I agree with Banjo. There may be a few that can trade by the seat of their pants but the huge majority of us need to trade as mechanically as possible. You should not be trading until your methodology shows consistent profits on paper. I know one trader who is doing very well who papertraded his system for two years before his risked any of his money. This may be a bit extreme but I wished I had followed his example. I spent two years donating my hardearned money before I got the message.
bronks,
perhaps you nedd to make yourself a kind of "roadmap" for the session ahead. what do you expect ? what kind of market action ? consolidation, trend, range ?
here is some basic advice from teresa lo, and it also a complete trading plan:
"I think most people simply don't realize that the market only has two modes: trend (directional or grinding) and chop (trading range or consolidation pattern). The most profitable is the directional trend mode, and there are only two setups: retracements and tests.
New traders should attempt to trade the bread and butter setups, i.e. only the retracements and tests in the directional trend.
That's why the oldest piece of advice is: "The trend is your friend (trade retracements) until the end (test), when it bends..."
That's all there ever was, no matter what anyone says, and the key it to KISS. So many traders and educators make it seem like they have an "arsenal of weapons" for trading, but in the end, it's all moot, if they cannot identify which of these few conditions they are attempting to exploit, and I am sure that we can do this without even going into multiple time frame analysis by slapping on a few moving averages..."
you can think about, how to build a trading plan on the elements "retracements" + "test" for example...
perhaps you nedd to make yourself a kind of "roadmap" for the session ahead. what do you expect ? what kind of market action ? consolidation, trend, range ?
here is some basic advice from teresa lo, and it also a complete trading plan:
"I think most people simply don't realize that the market only has two modes: trend (directional or grinding) and chop (trading range or consolidation pattern). The most profitable is the directional trend mode, and there are only two setups: retracements and tests.
New traders should attempt to trade the bread and butter setups, i.e. only the retracements and tests in the directional trend.
That's why the oldest piece of advice is: "The trend is your friend (trade retracements) until the end (test), when it bends..."
That's all there ever was, no matter what anyone says, and the key it to KISS. So many traders and educators make it seem like they have an "arsenal of weapons" for trading, but in the end, it's all moot, if they cannot identify which of these few conditions they are attempting to exploit, and I am sure that we can do this without even going into multiple time frame analysis by slapping on a few moving averages..."
you can think about, how to build a trading plan on the elements "retracements" + "test" for example...
ladyluck
i think it is simple. take the NQ today on 5min. assuming that there will be a uptrend that day, you had a retracement after the swinglow at about 890 at 11.00 (you could have entered with a buy stop order at 895 perhaps?). a test (in the direction of the trend) came in at 13.15 at about 900. another retracement at about 915 at 15.00...
it just says, to enter only in the direction of the trend, thats all. to enter on a test in an uptrend means, i think, when the market is entering a range or consolidation, only enter on a test on the downside of that range...
seems that she do not count breakouts as a valid setup.
trading
i think it is simple. take the NQ today on 5min. assuming that there will be a uptrend that day, you had a retracement after the swinglow at about 890 at 11.00 (you could have entered with a buy stop order at 895 perhaps?). a test (in the direction of the trend) came in at 13.15 at about 900. another retracement at about 915 at 15.00...
it just says, to enter only in the direction of the trend, thats all. to enter on a test in an uptrend means, i think, when the market is entering a range or consolidation, only enter on a test on the downside of that range...
seems that she do not count breakouts as a valid setup.
tradingI agree with Banjo,
I worked my system for over a year in 1999 before I put real money on the line and I am thankful that I did.
I relate it to an Jet taking off. I must first gather enough speed before pulling back and is able to take off and maintain flight. If you pull back with not enough ground speed, then you will just fall right back down on the runway over and over.
I also trade about 75% mechanical and 25% discretionary, with the latter telling maybe to just set tight for the time being because it just doesn't look quite right.
I also agree that Discipline, stop losses etc... don't mean a whole lot other than a death by a thousand cuts unless one has a system that you can rely on to produce winners at least 6 times in 10, and have those trades that do win be expected to average bigger that your average loss. There Must be a specific "SIGNAL" that is reached in the price action before entering, not just some cross over etc.....
Sean
I worked my system for over a year in 1999 before I put real money on the line and I am thankful that I did.
I relate it to an Jet taking off. I must first gather enough speed before pulling back and is able to take off and maintain flight. If you pull back with not enough ground speed, then you will just fall right back down on the runway over and over.
I also trade about 75% mechanical and 25% discretionary, with the latter telling maybe to just set tight for the time being because it just doesn't look quite right.
I also agree that Discipline, stop losses etc... don't mean a whole lot other than a death by a thousand cuts unless one has a system that you can rely on to produce winners at least 6 times in 10, and have those trades that do win be expected to average bigger that your average loss. There Must be a specific "SIGNAL" that is reached in the price action before entering, not just some cross over etc.....
Sean
Wow, lots of replies. Thanks guys, I'll get to them in a minute.
As for today. Like I said, being conservative will be my thing for awhile. Because of this, I left some money on the table since I had gotten so used to giving back gains in the afternoon. No regrets though. My pattern continued of being up at a certain point but this time I kept the gains. I will continue to try and keep this style of trading so as not to flip-flop methods and make myself dizzy.
+7 points / 4 RT's
As for today. Like I said, being conservative will be my thing for awhile. Because of this, I left some money on the table since I had gotten so used to giving back gains in the afternoon. No regrets though. My pattern continued of being up at a certain point but this time I kept the gains. I will continue to try and keep this style of trading so as not to flip-flop methods and make myself dizzy.
+7 points / 4 RT's
Banjo-- You are either an ex-ironworker or very close to one that is. Man, I haven't heard that one since I was an apprentice some years ago.
Foreman: "Eh Kid, go up to the working floor and ask the raising gang for some sky-hooks. And while your at it, grab a beam stretcher out of the shanty. And hurry up!!"
Took me a trip to all foremen, up and down the gang ladder several times and a trip down to the street to figure it out. Even the manlift operator was in on it as he told me to check a box under the superintendents desk. <GGG>
I'm trying to build a positive expectancy model. For the most part I think I'm headed in the right direction. Today for example I had 2 winners and 2 losers. However I cut my losers quickly and let the winners run a bit. I know I can do this because I've done it about everyday. Problems arise when I try to do either too much or something different. So I will stick with what I know. And thanks for the analogy, it's a good one.