ES Journal - 2023/2024

Laissez Faire said:
I don't mind a diversity in opinions and enjoy reading various comments here, but condescending comments and threats of using the ignore function just because of a question/remark isn't something I appreciate.



Keep bragging. It's all good to me. :)

Sunny can brag as well if he ever sticks his neck out and get it right. So far I haven’t seen it.

There's a lot of smoke and mirrors on EliteTrader, though. The truth is I have no idea about the performance of any of the posters on ET. There's a few I suspect may be doing really well, but at the end of the day I really don't know.

Personally, I have no desire to pretend or try to be a guru, so if anyone asks me about my performance I’ll give you an honest reply. Yesterday was a big losing day for me.

However, if I wanted to, like so many others, I could have kept my postings vague and pretended to be a big winner every single day. I have myself had long winning streaks and then given back a lot of profits on one or two bad days. So, I know how difficult this is.

I would easily have paid $1K if that gave me the full P&L history for every member on ET. I’m sure that would be very interesting.
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I can think of many other amazing ways to get rid of $1k, what’s the benefit? Curiosity? Some say it killed a cat ;)

I doubt that you come here for entry and exit signals. In my previous lives on ET, I used to get involved in all sorts of heated debates, but that’s such a time drain, you’re better off just ignoring ppl you don’t find beneficial to your trading.

I mostly swing trade nowadays, so I pay attention to some posters on ET, you included, when they see technical and fundamental reasons for the market heading in the opposite direction of my trade. If I see confluence of contrarian views posted, I start to get concerned:)
 
Master Pu said:
I can think of many other amazing ways to get rid of $1k, what’s the benefit? Curiosity? Some say it killed a cat ;)
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Curiosity, yes. It would be interesting to know if there's anyone here who's actually making really good money. My assumption is that most ain't making much or are net losers and I'm not even convinced there is anyone who's actually making a killing consistently. I may be wrong, so that's why it would have been interesting to know for sure.

I've often wondered if maybe I have unrealistic expectations about what's possible to make as a day trader. So, some real numbers would have been interesting.

I doubt that you come here for entry and exit signals.
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Correct. I only take my own short-term signals.

I do enjoy hearing where other people think the market is going medium/long-term, though.

I mostly swing trade nowadays, so I pay attention to some posters on ET, you included, when they see technical and fundamental reasons for the market heading in the opposite direction of my trade. If I see confluence of contrarian views posted, I start to get concerned:)
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Sounds good. And likewise by the way. :)
 
NoahA said:
Don't leave because of me. I'm simply backing my buddy @Laissez Faire up that the postings are rather incomplete or contradictory. But it doesn't matter to me what you post and I've learned long time ago that most of what people post on here is total shit, or fake, or cherry picked, or a whole list of other problems.

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One last reply here.

Not because of you but put it this way, I'm certainly not reconsidering because of anything you have posted.
 
Laissez Faire said:
Curiosity, yes. It would be interesting to know if there's anyone here who's actually making really good money. My assumption is that most ain't making much or are net losers and I'm not even convinced there is anyone who's actually making a killing consistently. I may be wrong, so that's why it would have been interesting to know for sure.

I've often wondered if maybe I have unrealistic expectations about what's possible to make as a day trader. So, some real numbers would have been interesting.



Correct. I only take my own short-term signals.

I do enjoy hearing where other people think the market is going medium/long-term, though.



Sounds good. And likewise by the way. :)
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I think you know the answer to your own question. About 85% are net losers, the others are breakeven and net winning traders. Also, I define 'making a killing' as a high return in proportion to a trader's net worth and not trading capital. Let's not forget that market behaviour is not systematic but variable and the future is always unknown, therefore systems' performance would also be variable. Some here say they win consistently 8/10 times, but you won't see them in any of the Forbes lists.
 
Master Pu said:
I think you know the answer to your own question. About 85% are net losers, the others are breakeven and net winning traders. Also, I define 'making a killing' as a high return in proportion to a trader's net worth and not trading capital. Let's not forget that market behaviour is not systematic but variable and the future is always unknown, therefore systems' performance would also be variable. Some here say they win consistently 8/10 times, but you won't see them in any of the Forbes lists.
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Its a good point from you both.

To be totally honest, I am happy to share my my overall performance metrics, but I am just not sure about sharing my overall P&L or even my trading process.

This is because I am not trying to make lots of money right now. I am focused 100% on consistency vs everything else. I start with a tiny bit of money, then build it to a working capital amount of £3000. Then each week I withdraw anything above my working capital to protect myself and prevent me from adding more money in the future. I have done this for almost 2 years now. once I have done this for another year I will then go for the bigger cash. When I took the Al Brooks course I totally ruined myself and had to build back from £600 to £3000 in a few months, after a break, which was really difficult.

In terms of my process. I think this would make most people sick. I never use stops or profit targets ever. This works extremely well for me, but I wouldn't want to advertise this to new traders because I don't think it would work for them. Because I am spread-betting, I can keep scaling in with 0.1 NQ positions to control my risk.

I have also had several experiences where I have recommended trades to friends, which they poorly executed and blamed me for. So I try and discuss the direction overall instead of individual trades because I am perhaps scarred by this previous experience, combined with my own bad behaviors which work for me only.

Index Trading since Feb 2021
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Stock trading since Jan 2022 120%
upload_2023-1-11_12-23-24.png
 
c1rcle said:
To be totally honest, I am happy to share my my overall performance metrics, but I am just not sure about sharing my overall P&L or even my trading process.
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Very nice graph you got there. Great job!

This is because I am not trying to make lots of money right now. I am focused 100% on consistency vs everything else. I start with a tiny bit of money, then build it to a working capital amount of £3000. Then each week I withdraw anything above my working capital to protect myself and prevent me from adding more money in the future. I have done this for almost 2 years now. once I have done this for another year I will then go for the bigger cash. When I took the Al Brooks course I totally ruined myself and had to build back from £600 to £3000 in a few months, after a break, which was really difficult.
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Interesting. Can you elaborate on the Al Brooks course? Was your near ruin a result of trying a new trading style that didn't work for you or do you disagree with the teachings regardless of that?

I know Al Brooks is a controversial subject on these boards...

In terms of my process. I think this would make most people sick. I never use stops or profit targets ever. This works extremely well for me, but I wouldn't want to advertise this to new traders because I don't think it would work for them. Because I am spread-betting, I can keep scaling in with 0.1 NQ positions to control my risk.

I have also had several experiences where I have recommended trades to friends, which they poorly executed and blamed me for. So I try and discuss the direction overall instead of individual trades because I am perhaps scarred by this previous experience, combined with my own bad behaviors which work for me only.
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Interesting. Seems to work well for you for sure. However, with no stops I'm assuming your exposure is fairly small at any time? Or have you had positions on such that your equity was fluctuating greatly?

Personally, I also find discussions on where the market is going more interesting than actual trades. Because with the former I may be able to learn something or understand something about a process. Whereas with a trade I have no idea why that trade is entered or exited, so it's nothing I can learn from. Usually.

However, I know some people are sick and tired of "market talk" and only likes actual posted trades. We're all different.
 
Laissez Faire said:
Very nice graph you got there. Great job!



Interesting. Can you elaborate on the Al Brooks course? Was your near ruin a result of trying a new trading style that didn't work for you or do you disagree with the teachings regardless of that?

I know Al Brooks is a controversial subject on these boards...



Interesting. Seems to work well for you for sure. However, with no stops I'm assuming your exposure is fairly small at any time? Or have you had positions on such that your equity was fluctuating greatly?

Personally, I also find discussions on where the market is going more interesting than actual trades. Because with the former I may be able to learn something or understand something about a process. Whereas with a trade I have no idea why that trade is entered or exited, so it's nothing I can learn from. Usually.

However, I know some people are sick and tired of "market talk" and only likes actual posted trades. We're all different.
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I wouldn't like to say if it was the new style or the course itself. It would take more time and effort than it would be worth for me in my opinion. So I just went back to what I felt worked better after a small loss. I basically started trading through Algos. While after a year of testing from 2019 to 2020 I didn't find a reliable Algo, I did identify a number of things that I felt were so simple that they would work manually.

Some tactics I employ are as follows. I have 3 stages of hypothetical stops based on S&R, fib levels and pivot points. I start with a small position, instead of stopping out, I start a new slightly larger trade at the next pivot/fib or S&R. I do this up to 3 times before I give up. The common output is that if i am right I win a little and if I am wrong I win a lot. Its rare than the market will go through 3 of my levels without turning around enough to break even or make a profit.

Rather than using mechanical stops I tend to look at the speed of the move, as a super quick move often results a quick reversal so I tend to deliberately stay in trades and even add to positions when I see a fast move against me. I tend to close and reopen positions as often as I can around pivot points or fib levels to prevent turning a winner into a loser.
 
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