ER2 void trading

M

marketpath

I have been toying with starting a journal for a while now, and I guess I have finally decided to give it a spin. I figure I can't do much worse than some I have seen on here.


"When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber" -Winston Churchill

To try and keep the ET trolls from filling this thing up with a bunch of nonsense, I will try and tackle the usual stuff up front:

1. Yup, first post on ET. Been visiting for years, but frankly, haven't seen too much worth responding to. A few exceptions of course: Anekdoten, Stealth Trader, Proflogic and a few others have shared some really great stuff, and my hat is off to them.

2. Take what you want from this thread - frankly, I don't really know what direction it is going to take at this point. If there is something valuable in it for you, great. If there is something you would like to contribute to it, by all means please do so. If your purpose is to show your ass, please move on elsewhere.

3. Lastly, remember we are all trying to do the same thing - succeed in whatever way we define success. Respect that.

OK, now on to what this is about. I am going to be posting some information about how I trade, results, parameters, etc. Specific details about my "method" will come later on, if there is an interest. Frankly, it will not help any of you. Why? Because there are dozens of threads and "systems" on this site and others that are consistently profitable. Yup, you can make money with them, but you won't because THEY ARE NOT YOURS! Those who have been trading long enough, who have found some manner of success, who have blown out accounts, searched for the grail, screamed at your monitor, spent 1000s of hours tweaking and testing, understand this. Those who haven't...well, go ahead and send another bank wire to your broker and give it another shot.

I don't have the answers, and I am not a guru or any crap like that. Why the journal then? Frankly, because trading can sometimes be boring, and even a little lonely. I have a life, but unless you trade, you don't understand what it is. So hopefully, maybe I will come across some like minded individuals. Maybe not - we shall see.

More to come......
 
Quote from marketpath:

I have been toying with starting a journal for a while now, and I guess I have finally decided to give it a spin. I figure I can't do much worse than some I have seen on here.


"When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber" -Winston Churchill

To try and keep the ET trolls from filling this thing up with a bunch of nonsense, I will try and tackle the usual stuff up front:

1. Yup, first post on ET. Been visiting for years, but frankly, haven't seen too much worth responding to. A few exceptions of course: Anekdoten, Stealth Trader, Proflogic and a few others have shared some really great stuff, and my hat is off to them.

2. Take what you want from this thread - frankly, I don't really know what direction it is going to take at this point. If there is something valuable in it for you, great. If there is something you would like to contribute to it, by all means please do so. If your purpose is to show your ass, please move on elsewhere.

3. Lastly, remember we are all trying to do the same thing - succeed in whatever way we define success. Respect that.

OK, now on to what this is about. I am going to be posting some information about how I trade, results, parameters, etc. Specific details about my "method" will come later on, if there is an interest. Frankly, it will not help any of you. Why? Because there are dozens of threads and "systems" on this site and others that are consistently profitable. Yup, you can make money with them, but you won't because THEY ARE NOT YOURS! Those who have been trading long enough, who have found some manner of success, who have blown out accounts, searched for the grail, screamed at your monitor, spent 1000s of hours tweaking and testing, understand this. Those who haven't...well, go ahead and send another bank wire to your broker and give it another shot.

I don't have the answers, and I am not a guru or any crap like that. Why the journal then? Frankly, because trading can sometimes be boring, and even a little lonely. I have a life, but unless you trade, you don't understand what it is. So hopefully, maybe I will come across some like minded individuals. Maybe not - we shall see.

More to come......
More...

Yes, good luck to you.
 
in light of this weekends happenings, I am holding off on continuing this momentarily. Too busy watching the bloodbath right now.

And no, I am not long in anything!:D
 
6 trades today

L 646.20 exit 656.20 +10.00
S 654.20 exit 650.50 + 3.70
L 651.70 exit 650.50 - 1.20
S 648.00 exit 650.00 - 2.00
S 652.80 exit 649.80 + 3.00
L 648.90 exit 658.90 +10.00

6 trades - 4 winners, 2 losers
+ 23.50 points for the day

Some details of how I trade:

250 volume chart of ER2
Indicators are VWAP reseting at midnight and TRIX set at Close, 5
I keep volume up on the screen just so I can see when the bar is nearing completion.

Basically, just using a trend following system (HH, HLs, etc) determined by the TRIX with a slight twist. The TRIX itself determines the pivots, not price, which leads to a few odd charts where the price may have actually gone higher, but the actual pivot high is at a lower point. A little difficult to explain, and I will see about posting a chart later if I can.

Entries are based on the TRIX crossing over/under the zero line under the right conditions/setup and and the stop loss - an example is if a signal is generated at a point that will require a bigger stop loss than allowed, one of two things happen:

1. A limit entry order is placed and price will have to retrace to hit it.
2. The trade doesn't happen

Exits are based one of three things:

1. stop loss is hit. Stop losses are 2.00 points, and are set at the previous price pivot high/low +/- .20
2. a previous pivot high/low is breached if a trend has been established (basically a trailing stop)
3. +10 points is reached.

I have struggled with not setting a fixed profit target, but I have not found a way to get away from it. I have traded dozens of methods, and entries are never the problem, but exits are. My daily goal is 10 points, so there are many days where the first trade (like today) gives me that. But, I am not afraid of trading throughout the day as it usually (I say again USUALLY) stays above my 10 point mark.

To be continued...
 
Thanks Silver, Increase.....

2 contracts on the russell right now.

I will increase that at some point, but I have ugly skeletons in the closet from back in the day of trading too big and losing even bigger. It all in the old brain bucket - seeing -$400 nearing on the old P&L screen is a lot different than seeing -$2000 on a trade, no matter how well capitalized. Of course it is nice when it is in the other direction! Plus, 2 contracts is enough for me right now. I believe "comfort level" is something that most traders ignore to their detriment.

I have traded the ES and NQ alot over the years (not with this method), and am in the process of "tuning" this for them. It is just trying to figure out the right time/volume/tick increment for the market.

250v on the ES? Never work - I would have to be on crack to be able to handle that. Right now it is looking like somewhere in the 2000v range.....

And why the ER2? Biggest bang for the buck, when it trends, it trends hard and fast, and just become comfortable with it.
 
Void just refers to nothing, emptiness, etc - no expecatations or bias. Look at today - I was expecting (like most I assume) to put in a short order this morning and come back in a few hours to check on it. But there was the long trade at around 8:40....not going to lie, I was nervous as hell for about ten mins after opening that one, especially with a retrace threating my stop!

Just flow like water grasshopper...:D
 
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