Futures Challenge Sub 2k account to 20k and then quit job?

[heavenskrow]

Ironic you say this considering that in the post above, its the ES that cost you money but MES made you money.

But never mind that. Can you really tell us what it is that you are trying to achieve with this chart? I don't want to be the guy who criticizes someone else's trades, but I fail to understand what you are doing. There are a shit load of trades here that perhaps easily work for making 5-10 points, but you're in and out like a jackrabbit and changing direction like the wind.

It seems like holding longer and less trades would do you good, but if you want to be a scalper, fine. But where is the consistency with this? Are you following a set of rules that you apply religiously? I would even be happy if you say you enter based on just how you feel, but that you at least use solid trade management. But I'm not really sure if this is the case. How would all these trades work out if you used a 1 point stop and 2 point target, or maybe a 2 or 3 point stop and 5 point target? Would the results be better than what you are getting?

Hey Noah, thank you for your comment!
So with my "need to make money", that's when I started trading ES because I wanted to make back up for the loss which led me to not not being selective/scalping, and making all kinds of errors like chasing. Instead of being rationale and trading ES on high selective trade that came to me, I went out trying to get back green. MES on the other hand I was trading disciplined early on in the day.

Due to trading a tight account, I have a harder time of letting the trade run. Thus you are right and I am in and out like a jack rabbit. And yes, holding longer and less trades is definentely the way to go for myself. My main problem is breaking my discipline at times and not obeying my own rules. It's kind of like "nofap". Sometimes you end up breaking it.. due to impulses.

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Due to yesterday's loss- due to myself breaking my own discipline and rules, I've decided to officially stop trading my personal account and stick with long term portfolio in equities and crypto. The $725 was not in the account this morning so that also made me rethink. An old trading buddy of mine recently DM'd me here and talked about him doing the combine. After thinking about it, I decided to attempt the Gauntlet with Earn2Trade. Instead of putting the $725 back into my own account, that would give me 7+ tries to see if I really have what it takes to be a consistent futures trader. Thus I started the 25k challenge - to see if I can trade within their metrics. The ultimate goal of this journal was to see if I can trade and add size. Upon reflecting on my losses, I think the small amount I make from micros doesn't seem rewarding enough to me to be worth it. To break out away from that psychology, I want to trade a bigger account and this will be the correct step to prove to myself I have what it takes.
Day 1:

 

[NoahA]

Due to trading a tight account, I have a harder time of letting the trade run.

So why are you even touching the ES? I understand you want to make your money back, but jesus, at 10 times the size of the ES, its nuts.

I find it difficult to see what is going on in your chart, and it would be much more helpful if you can show it on a 1 minute, or even lower time frame since you are in and out so quick. But just looking at this first trade, my comments would be as follows.

If you enter short on that green bar at 3931.75, why on earth are you getting out 3 ticks higher? IMO, the stop has to be above the recent swing high, and that high looks like it only broke by about a tick on the subsequent pushes up (in your full chart). Any exit below this high is simply noise in my opinion. So often levels are tested several times before price eventually breaks down. With your exit, you don't even get to find out if the trade is successful or not because you bailed too soon (and this short of course worked very well in the end). Of course if trading ES, then that 3 ticks might be too much money, but this is where the MES comes in.

The rest of the trades can't even be analyzed, but do you see my point? You need a reason to enter, and a reason to exit. If you had this for all the trades, you can quickly start to figure out what is working and what isn't working.

Upon reflecting on my losses, I think the small amount I make from micros doesn't seem rewarding enough to me to be worth it.

If this is your conclusion, god help you. Its not about the money, its about the consistency. If you can make 3-5 points per day, why does it matter if its on ES vs. MES? Don't you think that you after 2 solid weeks of trading MES, you would build confidence to trade 2 MES exactly the same way? Then maybe 5 one day, and after this work up to a full 1 ES?

You have to start trading with an amount you are not scared to lose even if 5 trades hit the stop. The stop of course has to be in an ideal area where your trade is proven wrong, and then you have to not hesitate to take the next trade. And you have to also not care about the losses so that when you're in a winning trade, you don't cut it short just because you had a few losers. You will never make progress if you don't change your thinking.