ES/NQ Trading - looking for solutions

Well, 21 minutes in the market, but 2 hours elapsed time....8:31 am - 10:39 am.

Thanks for the encouragement.
Re: Journal documentation....the report comes from Multicharts....the graph comes from the TradeTracker software which is custom built by me. It audits every trade. It's a tremendous benefit I think....helps me to focus on my weak areas and bad trade tendencies. I still have this "short bias" problem so in this rip roaring market, I keep selling into support...which would be the pullbacks. However, crazy as it seems, I have a bigger net profit in short trades than long trades today. That's because the market was consolidating this morning before ripping higher this afternoon.
Thanks for response,

It is good to audit every trade. One of my weakness as a trader is don't spend the time going over my screenshot of previous trades. It is good you monitor yourself. I monitor me for everytrade as well.
 
Getting out early is absolutely KILLING ME....and well as selling into support. That happened a lot today.

Has it ever occurred to you that you too could choose to place your buy orders where you currently place your sell stops, and your sell orders where you currently place your buy orders?

I was reading an off-site trading blog tonight where someone remarked (complained) that the problem with trading the ES and the NQ is that no stop goes untouched, i.e. the market looks for those places that retail "hides" (lol) their stops. Every retail trader learns this is so within days of going live. And yet they do nothing to change their own behavior. :wtf:
 
the problem with trading the ES and the NQ is that no stop goes untouched,
Look, I mentioned before.....stop placement with ES and ESPECIALLY NQ is such an art form. NQ on the opening trades like a wild beast with this zorro-like price action...just up and down..huge range. I am getting used to this and that's why I was able to cope on Friday.
 
stop placement with ES and ESPECIALLY NQ is such an art form. NQ on the opening trades like a wild beast with this zorro-like price action...just up and down..huge range

You ought to take a look at the ES thread from yesterday around the open re: NQ trades
 
start here: https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/es-journal-2019-2020.328086/page-379#post-4836987

Neither stops nor entries are something to be left to "art." There is a level of objectivity, however, that might be accessed perhaps, only through the imagination.
I think you meant "subjectivity" in place of "objectivity"....no ? I've got 3 indicators to watch for both entries and exits. On top of that there are support and resistance levels and pullback status potential (hold or break-out) to gauge. The latter has been the most difficult and has been the source of most of my losing trades.
There is no objective way to measure all of this IMHO. There's a lot of intuition involved.

BTW: you've got quite a set of good traders over there on that thread.
 
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I think you meant "subjectivity" in place of "objectivity"....no ?

No. I mean objectivity.


The professional versus the amateur. That shot was not "intuition." Efren Reyes knew exactly what the final result should be so long as he executed exactly what he knew he needed to execute when striking the cue ball.

But first he saw the shot, beginning to end and everything in between from ball rotation to exactly where the ball would strike the rail and how that would affect the spin and so on in his imagination.

The amateur, on the other hand, even having seen it on video, struggles to recreate the shot even once. He could imagine the shot, but he could not see all the variables necessary to make the shot his own. You might say the pro knew intuitively how to strike the cue ball. But what matters most is he knew.

You know how to back your car out of a garage, down the driveway, and safely onto the street. You no longer have to think through how to turn the key or push the start button, you don't consider every adjustment of the steering wheel, feathering the brake, etc. But you know how to do it. Intuition is simply something we know so well we no longer have to think actively about it. "Subjectivity," intuition," "art" are all words we use to cover our ignorance or our ineptitude, or both.
 
to daytrade the ES is not easy..you are competing against the best trading professionals in the world..who spend millions on algo programming ( remember it is not their own money which is why they can do it)..so..in order to try and get a slice of the cake..or maybe a few crumbs would be more appropriate..one needs to step back and learn all about patience and waiting..it also helps to be able to see the key levels at a glance and if the last price is going off at the bid or the ask..as for multiple contracts..well..it is all relative to how much you have..as the golden rule of trading..no matter what or how you trade..is to never risk too much on any one trade..adding to winning positions is far better than risking too much from the start..but again..when to add is the key..this is the hard part that very few ever grasp..mostly due to inexperience with reading charts!
 
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