Hit it and Quit it VS. Trading the whole session

J

Jdesey

Just looking for what you guys do. I struggle with this one. I used to trade the whole session and my attitude was that I would trade if my setup lined up. But, lately I have quit when or if I hit my daily goal which is 6 points on the ES. Sometimes (2 times this week) I have 2 winners in a row, hit my goal and done by 11 CST.

But then we get a day like Friday and there's many setups that I miss because I hit my goal and I am done. On the other hand, how many times have I been at my goal, kept trading and ended the day at 0 or -2 and very mad at myself (that happened on Monday)
 
I'm not a fan of "goals" or "targets". The best traders make the most of whatever opportunities the market offers up. Then again... if you just want to make what you can in the morning then go to the golf course, that's cool.
 
(As you might have already surmised,) The market behaves one way between cash-open and the European close, and another way for the next 90minutes, and a third way through about 15:40hrs, and then a fourth way from 15:40 to 16:00 or 16:15. The only way to know how these later segments trade is to spend lots of time in front of the screen.

Two ways to handle "Goals met" scenarios that I can think of: paper trade, or shrink stops. As much as I appreciate live trading in paper, when goals have already been met, it's harder to keep up the ego-investment that makes truly *working it* at that point to be worth it. Then, sloppiness and rule-breaking come in, and you are now *re-enforcing* badness, rather than practicing/cementing goodness. "Blech!" On the other hand, shrinking stops seems costly and (in that way) *very* counter-productive.

I guess I would still trade, but with more study, more question-asking, more examination and navel-gazing, quality-seeking, technique-sharpening..... I had a lot of practice at this, ancient years ago..... I guess that's what I did.
 
easy bro! okay you have your opinion, but to call me an idiot... chill out... I am just trying to be the best trader I can be

Okay, here's kinda a hybrid strategy.... I do not trade from 11AM CST (this is the ES from CME) till 13:30 CST...then if there is a setup I go. I am gonna look at my journal tonight, but I suspect many of my trades during that 2.5 hour crappy zone are losers or break even

any thoughts?
 
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Jdesey said:
Just looking for what you guys do. I struggle with this one. I used to trade the whole session and my attitude was that I would trade if my setup lined up. But, lately I have quit when or if I hit my daily goal which is 6 points on the ES. Sometimes (2 times this week) I have 2 winners in a row, hit my goal and done by 11 CST.

But then we get a day like Friday and there's many setups that I miss because I hit my goal and I am done. On the other hand, how many times have I been at my goal, kept trading and ended the day at 0 or -2 and very mad at myself (that happened on Monday)
More...

Just use statistics to your advantage.

Analyze your trades going back several years or more to determine what time of day you tend to lose money and what time of day you tend to profit. For example, if your stats show you tend to lose money from 12pm noon - 2pm...

Don't trade 12pm noon - 2pm even if you get valid trade signals during that time. :D

Thus, don't worry about profit goals and such. Instead, let your stats guide you concerning when you should be trading and when you should not be trading.

So yeah, review your trade journal but do it in a statistical way going back as far as you can and then compare your overall results versus your more recent results of 2017 or prior few months.
 
There was a nice article on this by Austin Passamonte:

http://tradingmarkets.com/recent/applying_black_jack_principles_to_intraday_trading-639943.html

http://tradingmarkets.com/recent/ap...ciples_to_intraday_trading_part_2-768146.html

"Stock market “decks” are shuffled by known and unknown events. But there is a limit of shuffle of decks played intraday. When the closing bell rings, cards are dumped and the dealer walks away. Players can deal their remnant cards amongst one anther (globex session) but nothing of consequence will usually happen until the dealer returns with full deck tomorrow (cash session) to resume play. Pure intraday traders do not have unlimited favorable profit potential… the upside is capped with finite time restraints. No different than a three-deck shuffle in blackjack. There are only so many face cards in a deck, only so many dollars at work in the market from start to finish of the individual game (session) sequence. Any given game (session) may have biggest price swings (face cards) distributed early, middle or late in the session (game). But there is a fat part of the bell curve that states, over the long-term time frame, a limited number of profit opportunities will be present on average. Equally rare are the occasions with no opportunity and massive numbers of opportunity per individual session (game)."

It of course depends also on your style of trading, it is not the same for everybody. I have a (hard) daily loss limit, and a soft daily target. Once I reach my target, I usually stop trading and enjoy the other nice sides of life. I think especially if you want to do this in the long run and stay sane and healthy, you should keep your life balanced.
 
Jdesey said:
Just looking for what you guys do. I struggle with this one. I used to trade the whole session and my attitude was that I would trade if my setup lined up. But, lately I have quit when or if I hit my daily goal which is 6 points on the ES. Sometimes (2 times this week) I have 2 winners in a row, hit my goal and done by 11 CST.

But then we get a day like Friday and there's many setups that I miss because I hit my goal and I am done. On the other hand, how many times have I been at my goal, kept trading and ended the day at 0 or -2 and very mad at myself (that happened on Monday)
More...

It's not a question of opinion, rather a personal statistic of your own trading. Your own stats should show you if you should quit or not, and whether your over trading leads to losses. Keep some sort of a journal. It will reveal your strengthens and weaknesses.
 
today is another example for myself why I need to hit goal and stop. early on i have two trades on ES, both winners and I am up 6 points. I then do nothing till 13:30 CST... end up hitting 3 trades for a 0, -2, and +1...net -1.... it just seems for me to have the goal, hit it and be done. It is not worth the added risk and stress to go for more. Plus like a baseball player, the more often I step up to the plate, the higher the likelihood that I will have a loss. Isn't that basic statistics?
 
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