ES/NQ Trading - looking for solutions

[syswizard]

Just complete stupidity with trading against the trend.

 

[syswizard]

Here is the blow-by-blow showing all of those stupid short trades.
The earlier trades are not showing due to a bug in Excel...that I am working on.

 

[murray t turtle]

View attachment 202749
Another sucky day full of mistakes.

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I like to milk a trend for all its worth, SYSwise;
but as far as exit to early or late ??Prefer late, but not so late, as to take away profit.,

I would never ever have that many choices-you may in May, if you want. A trend is either uptrend, downtrend,or lately in QQQ cash sideways= slop/chop trend/with dividends.So really its one of the 3 choices; its not rocket science. Good thing about one day;put 200 days together+ 200days can really add up or down.

 

[syswizard]

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I like to milk a trend for all its worth, SYSwise;
but as far as exit to early or late ??Prefer late, but not so late, as to take away profit.

Yeah, but easier said than done...especially when ES or NQ are moving at the speed of light.
I mean if I'm quickly up 10 ticks, I usually get flat immediately....rather than take the chance the market will wipe out half those profits in an instant. And no, I don't use trailing stops....they tend to dilute profits.

 

[murray t turtle]

Yeah, but easier said than done...especially when ES or NQ are moving at the speed of light.
I mean if I'm quickly up 10 ticks, I usually get flat immediately....rather than take the chance the market will wipe out half those profits in an instant. And no, I don't use trailing stops....they tend to dilute profits.

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True, more true than sell in May + stay away= as IF quitting is good work habits. As Dave Ramsey says ''staycation more than >>vacation.

NOTE the cash SPY or ES ,QQQ ,SQQQ will have up trend days some times in a month;+ have few+ shallow pullbacks. Actually the exchange gave you helpful hint=ES is designed for trading. that one of reasons they pay no dividends.
True on trailing stops; they dilute profits short term but can capture >> more % in a good trend, medium term, long term or even in a good weekly trend[if fairly smooth-many are not LOL.,

 

[syswizard]

What a day. Started-out disasterously....of course, because I wasn't in at 8 am....I was still sleeping. There's no sleeping in these markets. Today I got stopped out way too often...many were top-ticks or bottom-ticks...and you know how badly that sucks.

 

[syswizard]

A terrible win/loss ratio.....natch given tight stops. I gotta widen my stops when the volatility picks up.
A few big winners today saved my account from depletion.

 

[syswizard]

I've now inserted commentary on some of the trades. Whew, that large, early loss hurt....obviously my stop was too wide. Sometimes too narrow, sometimes too wide....it can drive a trader crazy. Setting stops is so much an art-form.

 

[volpri]

Thanks for that Matt. I'm a former IT engineer. I knew to even a chance in this game, I needed something "special". The standard indicators were not going to "cut" it.
Also, I've got a heck of a hardware set-up. Quad core processor, wired 1 gig internet connection (I would NEVER even consider wireless), 2 24"monitors, and most important is the Evoluent vertical mouse....it's the most comfortable mouse I have ever used.
On the software side I've got Multicharts with an interface to IQFeed for the data. My brokerage connection is to Interactive Brokers using their IB Gateway which handles all of the API calls from Multicharts.
Initially I was having API failures so when Multicharts made a trade, the gateway would fail to send it along to the exchange. So I created a start-up script that puts the gateway into high priority mode in Windows. Since then there have been no failures. Rock solid.
But as the flavor of this thread goes, all of this great tech"stuff" does not guarantee success.
The most important component is between your ears.

Hillarious...and to think I fly down interstate at 70 MPH (wife driving) and daytrade off a hotspot from my Ipad to my laptop.

 

[volpri]

Look, the micro futures are not going to work...the returns are puny....I may as well go back to programming....which I don't want to do.
I am a hybrid trader, part scalper (1-2 points) and part day swing trader trying to pick up some trends for 4-10 points.

Um..micro’s can work if a body is willing to average down 2x2x2...etc as far as their billfold and heart desires...get loaded with 20 or 30 40..50..micros then market pops ones way for 5 to 10 points...do that 3x day and you got at least your 500....oh but that breaks the rules of the gurus...forget it....that is, that I ever mentioned it.