ES Journal Archive (2011)
- Thread starter Buy1Sell2
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Based on your posts in the thread, I think the above is definitely something you need to address. You seem indecisive even when you are in a trade at times, and I find it hard to decipher what your bias is, even when you are currently in a position.
I use the TICK for bias, and I have hard lines in the sand that help keep me biased one way or the other. It is definitely not fool proof, for if I took signals blind (like most "indicator" based strategies), I would get creamed. However it helps me feel like certain trades are more likely to succeed than others.
I also have minimum expectancy for each trade, so I know exactly where my targets are based on the setup. For instance:
1. We test above yesterday's high
2. We "fail" and now start trading below yesterday's high
3. TICK closes below -600
4. Look for a pullback to sell. Ideally against yesterday's high price exactly (give or take)
5. Expect at least X points from this type of setup, so target is set accordingly.
Maybe a journal would help, but I'm not sure?
Quote from crazyAtrader:
Party is over
Crazy A
Replacing my arrow with the actual bar.
Crazy A
sounds way too familiar :]
if youre scalping for a couple points why worry if you have a defined stop loss? are you picking more winners than losers? nothing wrong with 8tick:8tick ratio if scalping (imo).
if you have an idea of where price could go that day and youre looking for 5-10, just be patient.
-ie when 80 broke down this afternoon, good chance theyd sell until 55 on big swing (news/event/whatever) day.
no, that target is around 1040 ish
Create a new personality in your head. Call him/her "risk manager", "circus manager", "internal manager", whatever floats your boat. He/she is in charge of starting "trading" and stopping "trading". Your first priority as a scalper, which you are one, if you didn't notice, is to sleep a winner every day. As soon as the "circus manager" feels you want to make "another trade", "another drink", "go for a swim", "go whoring", etc. It is time to stop "trading" and do something else. Run 50 miles, whatever.
The scalpers that last years, got there by sleeping as winners every day. 0 tics, 1 tic, 1 point, 3 points, 6 points, 50 points. It really doesn't matter, at the beginning.
Great advice, and a big part of what I am working on these days.
After being down after several trades this morning, I put on a trade after the FOMC meeting, which I don't normally do. The reason was, I needed to be positive at the end of the day, because I know what going to sleep a loser does to me.
Long story short, it worked, and I finished up about four ES points for the day. Not much, but enough to keep me from dwelling on it all night.
This is a mental game, and we need to do what works for us to stay in the game.
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