E-mini Rookie Trading Journal

Bronks,

My advice for you is to not to listen to the advice of others. I've been following your journal and most of the time you get burned when you try something new. When you stick with your own discretionary ways you seem to alright. I am sure your personal discretionary way will evolve with time and get better, just give it a chance.

Brutus
 
hey bronks, i too was trading the nq, simply because i was comfortable trading the qqq's and kinda had a feel for the flow of the techies if something like that exists, so i traded it a bit and one bad experience for me caused me to stop and re-evaluate. So i looked at the es, i didnt know why there was so much chatter about the S&Ps and not too much on the NQ, so i looked at it, and quite honestly the s&p is much smoother and doesnt wiggle as much as the NQ. I know its been said here, but tommorow just for the hell of it, if youre going to just sit and watch, take a look at the ES and try to apply your strategy. In my opinion the Es is much better as far as stop placement goes and certain retracement leves, and other patterns. It cant hurt to take a look. give it a shot.>>> good luck.
 
Some quotes from Trading Rules by William Eng.

"A good trade is profitable right from the start"

"The human side of every person is the greatest enemy to succesfull trading"

" The job with the highest stress rating is commodity trading"
 
Bronks,

You seem to be hitting my point home. You need major work on your exit strategy. To just say i will wait for 5 points then exit is not sound. Market doesnt care about your 5 points.

THe best exit strategies in my opinion are the ones that adapt to the market. So here is what I think you should of learned today:

Your exit strategy needs to be worked on. Putting up a random profit target is not ideal. Use something like a trailing stop or somehow allow your profits to be a function of the market movements not arbitrary.

Also, if you were trying something new today.. why not paper trade it and see how it goes. Why put your $ behind it right away?

You can ignore everything the pro's are telling you and go your way with being totally discrectionary.. its up to you!!!

--MIKE
 
Originally posted by Trend Fader
...You can ignore everything the pro's are telling you and go your way with being totally discrectionary.. its up to you!!!

--MIKE
More...

Mike,

Are you a discretionay trader?

Interesting point. This is what I've realized about most traders:

1) Traders have a difficult time understanding why something doesn't work if it's working for someone else...not knowing it's not the system itself but how a trader applies it.

2) It's easier and more exciting to develop it "as we go" via learning from our own experience (trial-n-error).

3) Traders will often abandon or put aside what had worked to explore other trade setups or methods in the disquise we are trying to broaden our horizon.

Thus, I'll repeat...if it ain't broke (making consistent money)...don't fix it.

Simply, ask yourself an honest question...

was the prior system (discretionary or mechanical or hybrid of the two) making me consistent profits?

4) Traders find comradre in others in the same losing situation. Thus, we are uncomfortable being around those making a profit.

"Getting a trader to do something that's uncomfortable with his/her money on the line...is a mountain of a task to climb no matter how profitable the other guy is that's making suggestions."

5) Traders rarely follow what's written down as criterias to their trade stups (exits/entries).

Thus, it's all in their heads getting mixed up in all those emotional thoughts.

"Write it down...print out charts examples. Then..review them after the market closes and before the market opens...every trading day."

6) Traders aren't perfect...they have bad days where they break many rules. Those that are breaking rules consistently or not following a successful trading plan...should not be trading...at least not with real money.

"We all have our bad trades or a bad day...what or how we respond to such will decide if we fail or succeed."

7) Telling a trader how to trade...is almost a waste of time and energy...too many outside influences from other posters.

It's better and has more impact to show him/her how its done. That is my definition of a pro.

"Lead by example"..."Walk the Talk" and so on with such sayings.

P.S. The internet has many free live-realtime communication options. Why don't you two (Bronks and Trend Fader) get together in realtime communication to see if one can be helpful to the other.

"One watches and the other takes notes...then reverse seats the following trading day."

Try ICQ or mIRC...do something before these posts turn into a direction we don't want to see it go.

If you guys don't know how to do this...private message me...I'll set it up for you two.

Note: I'm not putting anybody down...I truly think there's a more productive method to be helpful with suggestions and getting feedback from others.

NihabaAshi
 
NihabaAshi,

I agree with what you are saying completely. Perhaps, my insight in some ways is a waste of time to some traders.

The only reason that I posted on this thread to begin with.. was to try to give some advice to a struggling trader. Bronks was down 20% in his account.. and it reminded me of myself when I just started.

Apparently, this is backfiring. I have seen so many people come and go in this business (especially in this bear market) .. and I noticed that the ones that are still around.. have methodology similar to mines. I was born and raised in NYC.. so I have a first hand account of sharing ideas with some really heavy hitters.

Bronks, I did not mean for my advice to be a disservice to you.. I wish you all the best.. and I hope your determination will guide you to a profitable future.

--MIKE
 
Bronks,

FWIW I would ignore everyone's trading advice, and focus all your energy on watching the market and developing your own style.

Stick to what is working best for you, and try to improve your results very gradually by making very minor adjustments/improvements over time. Avoid making drastic changes from day to day (eg scalper one day, swing trader the next).

Good luck!
 
Originally posted by Trend Fader

The only reason that I posted on this thread to begin with.. was to try to give some advice to a struggling trader. Bronks was down 20% in his account.. and it reminded me of myself when I just started.

Apparently, this is backfiring.

Bronks, I did not mean for my advice to be a disservice to you.. I wish you all the best.. and I hope your determination will guide you to a profitable future.

--MIKE
More...

Ditto

I guess the key lesson to be learned from all of this is to develop your own style that suits your personality. Ultimately you have to prove to yourself what works for you. While the suggestions I posted have been working for me and my trading style, they may not work for everyone.
 
Mike and Woody--

I think trying to do this thru a message board, some context is lost in the translation. Please understand that I value your folks' input greatly. It's just very hard to implement unless you're there over my shoulder actually seeing what I'm trying to do, and me actually seeing what you are trying to teach. I think we all learned something in the process, I know I have. I hope both of you will continue to post in this journal.

Nihaba-- well stated, as usual.


Chart for today (please remember it's in the 5 min. time frame but I actually trade off the 3 min.):
 

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