ES Journal Archive (2011)

[Mins]

Quote from eudaemon:

I know you will.

So where is you equity curve i asked for HAHA - just as i thought pure bollocks.

I can smell the bullsh**t from a piker a mile away.

Post the curve you big swinging dick.

 

[eudaemon]

Quote from ammo:

why don't you show all us dummies how to scalp and use stops,live ,so we know your not just hot air,another common complainer on ET..

I could have given you a few tips on scalping, a very hard and intuitive endeavour, but learnable. But since you asked so nicely, I'm going to pass.

 

[Zr1Trader]

Quote from Mins:

This is just too simplistic - lets say you are extrememly bullish - the daily and weekly chart is screaming buy.

A lot of swing traders can have a little cushion on their trade - traders like me have a zone where we would like to enter. None of us know exactly where the market will turn each time.

As long as market is still bullish in my strategy and price is in my zone i will build my position. The market may take off straight away or it might still be trading in a range (daily range) - in this case if i am in the trade and if i get bullish confirmation then i will add even on the way up. Giving up 10 points for a swing trader is nothing.

However, if you think you are going to stop out and then re-enter every-time then that's okay but i can guarantee alot of those moves will never come back to your next entry point. Also, why would you stop out unless your system has given you confirmation that your original trade was wrong? That is just silly trading and common to the bottom and top picking traders.

As long as you have your buy/sell zones and you are well within your risk management parameters you can build a position. Markets rarely have 'V' bottoms on the daily and nearly always have fat tails.

You have to know how to trade of the daily and weekly charts and then you will realise why averaging in is not such a big deal. Only those on ET will dispute this - i can guarantee no matter what PTJ says most top traders average in to major positions.

Question,

What if you are only at the very start of building your position and price doesn't go any lower or trade in that range. You risk missing out on the move with your intended size right. How many times would you say this happens out of 10?

Personally I won't average down unless I run into liquidity issues trading at one price. Everyone has their own way and I respect that.

 

[aquarian1]

Quote from ammo:

averaging in won't work for scalpers,.... I've been sim trading ,scalping for the last 5 weeks and i'm down 13k,90% of the losses were on stops and the market came back to where the position would have been profitable and ran,..
..so far scalping takes me away from the market and into a frenzied w/l game,i can tell you where the market is going ,
...
but can't make any money with this method........

Good pts Ammo!

To add and support your theme of :
- "Have a plan, trade the plan and stay out of the chop-slop"

I too did an experiment on my sim.

I put on a long term short at 1347 - I perhaps could have got it in my long term account - which doesn't have the margin for the o/n but I decided against it.

Well I just (this morning) logged into the sim ac and I couldn't believe it :
I reduced the stop once to 1348.50 and this morning to
1338.50 (no that's not 10pts every day but I didn't log in to the sim and clearly its too high but that isn't the point).

1347.50 to 1288.50 =59 pts

One trade and wait.

---------

I believe your point is the aversion to too tight stops and I agree with you.

The mass-mind clap-trap is tight posted stops for the MM profit and delight!

Really the POSTED stops IMHO are for when your computer fails.
One can set a soft stop and then exit with it but the trader should choose the exit at:

- the target
- when the trade is turning sour.



and not with a posted stop.

 

[aquarian1]

Quote from klinckphilip:


I like being in a trade and that influences bad decisions, especially on a non-tradeable day. If I was to follow the strategy I would raise my winning percentage up much higher.

If you are intra-day trading you need to shoot for trades that should go for at least 5-15pts with 3-5pts stop. That is just how the ES moves. So taking 100 scalps in a day and making a little bit and letting your broker take the rest in fees is no way to trade. I would rather take 5pts a day on 2-3 trades if that.

excellent thoughts!

I would say the default stop should be 5-7pts
and the minimum target trade at least 6 pts

 

[Mins]

Quote from Zr1Trader:

Question,

What if you are only at the very start of building your position and price doesn't go any lower or trade in that range. You risk missing out on the move with your intended size right. How many times would you say this happens out of 10?

Personally I won't average down unless I run into liquidity issues trading at one price. Everyone has their own way and I respect that.

The way i work is in 4 units. My first unit is always at my buy zone. If the price on daily just sits there and we simply get a range then you wait. I have unit 2 waiting at my second buy zone.

If market takes of without you and you get your bullish confirmation. then i will add unit 2 - obviously i am paying higher price but for someone who has longer time horizon its not really that big a deal.

However, usually with my swing trading i rarely add unit 3 until i get really high probability of confirmation - i like adding to winners

You have to remember i am not looking to gain 1% range of the market - my trades are always positioned with the intention to get the decent % of weekly or monthly range- often the market is very volatile and i don't need to be in the trade very long while gaining significant % of the weekly range.

To answer your original question, if price just sits then i sit. If market is volatile then i will play with unit 3 on another buy level which was well below my original entry prices for unit 1 and 2.

In the last 3 years i have only used unit 4 only 5 times. Its rare for me but has happened in very volatile market environment. To me volatility is key to my trading and how i build a position.

I never have less than 2 units on any winning trade as 2nd add will always be on confirmation or as averaged in.

I don't trade against the trend on the daily charts - i am purely a trend follower. I will keep going in direction of trend until i have been proven wrong.

Also, i always have my stop zone or where my trade will be invalidated.

With swing trading you don't have to be perfect with your entry every time like day trading - i might be on the go taking care of my other business when i get confirmation at the end of day and will add at suitable time. You don't have to be hands on 24/7 with my type of swing trading.

 

[Laissez Faire]

Quote from Mins:. Only those on ET will dispute this - i can guarantee no matter what PTJ says most top traders average in to major positions.

I do believe there is a difference between "averaging a loser" as PTJ says and scaling into a swing trade like you just described within a predefined zone and even better - adding to a winner. Informative post, btw. Thanks.

What do you swing trade?

 

[PitchBlack]

Quote from eudaemon:

I don't know everything, I just know what's important. The rest I probably forgot.

I thought you wanted to hide your trades from your broker. Now I know that you want to hide them from your mommy. Ask jackson222.

The stupidity of your answers reflect your intelligence.

You probably are a professional with 17 years of experience but in what? Surely not in trading.
If i where you i would not show but hide those incredible profitable trades.

 

[JSHINV]

Quote from aquarian1:

excellent thoughts!

I would say the default stop should be 5-7pts
and the minimum target trade at least 6 pts

I agree with the stops and target - maybe even wider at times. You place you stops to tight on the ES like 2-3 points, its a death of a thousand cuts.

 

[Mins]

Quote from Laissez Faire:

I do believe there is a difference between "averaging a loser" as PTJ says and scaling into a swing trade like you just described within a predefined zone and even better - adding to a winner. Informative post, btw. Thanks.

What do you swing trade?

I agree PTJ is describing the gambling sense of averaging in.

Adding to winners seems dumb but for swing traders its not a big thing - i am never afraid to add to winners - markets trades in trends no matter what anyone says - if i can add in middle of move i am more than happy to do so with stops well below where the move started on the daily. I actually enjoy adding to a winner because these are usually the trades where my system is off the charts giving me high probability of success.

I trade ES and NQ primarily - i started with futures and remain with futures to this day.

I also trade silver and gold futures.

Rarely trade stocks apart from managing my some money for some family members which i diversified in primarily in stocks for the very long term.