I started this journal with a hope. My hope is to become more disciplined and to strictly follow my money management rule.
Background:
I started day-trading Asia index futures (K200, SGXNK, STW, SPI, HSI) Aug 2006 and did about 1K trades since then. My overall results were mixed. I consistently lost money on trading K200, about broke-even on SGXNK and STW, made a little bit on SPI, and did well on HSI. I started with 45K Cnd$. My equity was at low about 32K in Feb 2007, was at peak about 67K in Oct. 2007 and is 55K now. I got several big hits, relative to my account, last year. Each of them cost me about10K. After the latest hit at the beginning of Nov. 2007, I decided to take a break. I haven¡¦t put a single trade until today.
Method:
I haven¡¦t found a systematical enter and exit setup yet. In other word, I am unable to computerize my setup. So I discretionary enter and exit my trade based on my observation on charts and price action. I use a kind of stop limit order to protect my trading capital.
Rules:
1. I trade one contract of HSI. If my daily profit exceeds 500 points (very rarely), I¡¦ll trade 2 contracts that day. (One point of HSI equals 50 HK$ and round trip commission is 1.2 point).
2. Stop trading if my daily loses exceeds 150 point. My lose in some cases may be bigger than 150 points since a stop limit order may not get me out of a bad trade. I¡¦ll try hard to limit my daily loses under 250 points.
Goal:
1. 40% net profit by the end of 2008,
2. Constraint my maximum drawdown to under 25%.
I¡¦ll focus more on limiting my drawdown rather than my profit target.
Your comments/advice on my trading side are more welcomed than on my English side. I apologize for my poor English skill in advance.
Background:
I started day-trading Asia index futures (K200, SGXNK, STW, SPI, HSI) Aug 2006 and did about 1K trades since then. My overall results were mixed. I consistently lost money on trading K200, about broke-even on SGXNK and STW, made a little bit on SPI, and did well on HSI. I started with 45K Cnd$. My equity was at low about 32K in Feb 2007, was at peak about 67K in Oct. 2007 and is 55K now. I got several big hits, relative to my account, last year. Each of them cost me about10K. After the latest hit at the beginning of Nov. 2007, I decided to take a break. I haven¡¦t put a single trade until today.
Method:
I haven¡¦t found a systematical enter and exit setup yet. In other word, I am unable to computerize my setup. So I discretionary enter and exit my trade based on my observation on charts and price action. I use a kind of stop limit order to protect my trading capital.
Rules:
1. I trade one contract of HSI. If my daily profit exceeds 500 points (very rarely), I¡¦ll trade 2 contracts that day. (One point of HSI equals 50 HK$ and round trip commission is 1.2 point).
2. Stop trading if my daily loses exceeds 150 point. My lose in some cases may be bigger than 150 points since a stop limit order may not get me out of a bad trade. I¡¦ll try hard to limit my daily loses under 250 points.
Goal:
1. 40% net profit by the end of 2008,
2. Constraint my maximum drawdown to under 25%.
I¡¦ll focus more on limiting my drawdown rather than my profit target.
Your comments/advice on my trading side are more welcomed than on my English side. I apologize for my poor English skill in advance.
