FastTrader Futures-Trading Journal

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October 22nd (Wednesday)

Followed Trading Plan:
4stars.gif


Total trades: 2 (2 Longs) 2 Winnders, 0 Losers

9:59 AM - Long 1 ES 1032.75
10:03 AM - Exit 1 ES 1034.00
Result: +1.25
Notes: Early exit. Should have just moved stop to BE + 2 ticks. I was getting a weak sell signal, and took it.

1:46 PM - Long 1 YM 9565
1:56 PM - Exit 1 YM 9567
Result: +2
Notes: Another early exit. Aside from that, I should have added another contract when it dipped to 9557. That way, this could have been a 12 pt trade.

Overall:
ES: +1.25
YM: +2

I don't take all the signals my system gives me, probably because psychologically, I'm not confident enough yet. If I had actually taken every signal, today would have been an awesome day. We had some very nice moves.
 
Dear Fast,

"I don't take all the signals my system gives me, probably because psychologically, I'm not confident enough yet. If I had actually taken every signal, today would have been an awesome day. We had some very nice moves."

I enjoy your journal and have recently did some soul searching on my goals and my progress.

I too now have a method that I have tweaked and tweaked for over a year, thats fits me personally.

I went over my trading and kept asking myself what has enabled me to last for 3 yrs? Don't get me wrong, over this time I have not made nearly the money I feel I am capable of, and like you, I hesitate too much on my entries. ( I'm not trading with scared money).
Then it hit me, my trading strength was my stop loss discipline, I could recognize beyond a shadow of a doubt what a stop loss trade EXIT looked like. And I executed immediately.
So right then and there, I decided to apply my strength in reverse, upon recognition of an entry signal, execute..... because it is the right thing to do, the same as executing a stop loss when it is recognized.
Mentally I have no conflict or hesitation now since I have adopted this paradigm

Stop loss signal.. execute to save money
entry signal.....to make money
Mentally admit that your entries should be as automatic as your exit.

I know this is long winded, but it has worked for me. Think about it the next time you exit a trade automatically and without hesitation. There should be no reason to differentiate between a clear exit or entry.

Hope this helps, let me know.
DTP
 
DTP, thanks for your reply. I will try this.

Also, I think my trading will really improve once my account is net positive and I'm playing with money I've made in the market.

-Fast
 
October 23rd (Thursday)

Followed Trading Plan:
3stars.gif


Total trades: 3 (3 Shorts) 2 Winners, 1 Loser

9:48 AM - Short 1 ES 1026.50
9:53 AM - Cover 1 ES 1028.25 (Stop-loss hit)
Result: -1.75

9:58 AM - Short 1 ES 1029.50
10:02 AM - Cover 1 ES 1028.75
Result: +0.75
Notes: Early exit.

2:15 PM - Short 1 ES 1034.25
2:21 PM - Cover 1 ES 1033.25
Result: +1
Notes: Early exit. ES is at 1021.25 as I type this :(

Overall:
ES: 0

I should've stuck to my instinct and hit the ES on the Long side this AM. I was expecting a pop, even if only from short-covering. I need to trust myself and my signals more. Another idea I had was that I should only exit a trade at the point where I'm willing to reverse the trade. For example, on my 1034.25 Short, I didn't get a Buy signal til 1029.
 
How do you get your exit signals, you leave more money on the table then a blind poker player :) Also you havent told us your trading strategy...or at least i missed it...
 
Quote from jpomerenke:

How do you get your exit signals, you leave more money on the table then a blind poker player :) Also you havent told us your trading strategy...or at least i missed it...
More...
I don't really follow my system for exits; just take profits depending on how much time I have. For example, if I have to leave for the office and I'm up 1.5 pts, I'll just exit and leave.

-Fast
 
October 23rd (Thursday)

Followed Trading Plan:
1stars.gif


Total trades: 5 (5 Shorts) 2 Winners, 3 Losers

10:48 AM - Short 1 ESTX50 2494
10:48 AM - Cover 1 ESTX50 2493
Result: +1
Notes: This was just a test to make sure my IB acct was working with Eurex.

3:22 PM - Short 1 ES 1022.75
3:25 PM - Cover 1 ES 1024.00
Result: -1.25
Notes: As I went to move my stop up; it got hit. I wanted to ADD at 1024.25 so I could cover the entire position at the 1023 level.

3:27 PM - Short 1 ES 1023.00
3:29 PM - Cover 1 ES 1022.75
Result: +0.25

3:47 PM - Short 1 ES 1024.50
3:52 PM - Cover 1 ES 1026.00
Result: -1.50
Notes: WTF...wasn't expecting this up move, especially this late on a Friday afternoon.

3:52 PM - Short 1 ES 1026.00
3:58 PM - Cover 1 ES 1027.00
Result: -1
Notes: This was a revenge trade for sure. I was so shocked at this up move that I didn't even think and shorted again...I was kinda angry :mad: In the future; I should just STOP as soon as I get either too happy or too ticked off at the market.

Overall:
ESTX50: +1
ES: -3.5

Today was quite possibly my worst day ever. I'm not really down or anything...it's only money. I'll be back at it on Monday :D Have a good weekend all!
 
Ye stated in a (much) earlier post how 'paper trading didna mean much' for ye. It seems, to me, that yr PT results are telling ye a lot... when PTing, ye score 5 or 10x bigger gains than yr achieving in RT. This is definitely some *useful* feedback/information worth paying attention to, imo.

I notice that ye frequently use the reasoning "I had to leave for work" as an excuse for taking a clip. Wouldn't it be better to just place a STP and then go about yr business? I think that many times ye'll be pleasantly surprised by the result when ye return.

Yr often lamenting about 'getting out too soon' or 'taking profits too early'. It seems to me, that the reason for this is because, ye havena studied any trend-following methods nor any target-setting methods. Yr always 'flying be the seat of yr pants' - which is fine for a sclap trader. Sclap traders do not lament over missing de bigger moves! So, praps, ye need to consider if sclaping is really de right approach for ye?

I notice that ye've now started dabbling with EUREX. Ye havena even come close to mastering ES/NQ/YM - d'ye really need to start looking at yet another mkt at dis point in time? What's dat all about?

Anyway, tanks for sharing yr evolution as a trader :)

Success!
gruff

P.S. Imo, ye are *definitely NOT* ready to start doing some 'serious size' :eek:
 
gruff, thanks for your feedback.

I'm looking into Eurex because I have time in the morning to trade, and one of my problems right now is my schedule limits my trading in the US markets. Since Eurex opens much earlier, I will have more time to trade it and I think this may be beneficial. The same rules and methods that I apply to ES/NQ for trading apply to Eurex. They're not much different; technically.

We'll see how this goes. Enjoy the show :)

-Fast
 
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