I Can Only Make Money In One Market

Fundlord · Nov 23, 2015

I looked over my account for the past near 3 years and it was a string of big wins and small losses in currency trades and once I started deviating to stock futures my account piled up losses until 70% of my capital was wiped out.

It felt like trying to make a bad relationship work and ignoring all the red flags.

Anyone else have the same problem ?

I had success in individual stocks because I like the big moves that take place similar to the currency market. However in stock futures the 1% this way 1.3% the other way just ended up killing me.

Maybe I am just a volatility/momentum junkie, I hate slow moving markets and stock indexes rarely have those huge moves.

I am going to return to trading this month after taking a much needed break probably best if I avoid stock indexes and stick to gold, individual stocks and currencies.

Autodidact · Nov 23, 2015

My main strategy works in all markets, including ranged market. However, higher volatility is typically present in bear markets, so those are the easiest to exploit.

70% drawdown is too much, you need lessons in money management, capital protection is priority #1

lindq · Nov 23, 2015

Fundlord said:
Maybe I am just a volatility/momentum junkie, I hate slow moving markets and stock indexes rarely have those huge moves.

Trade 3x ETFS with high volume. Enjoy the ride.

Fundlord · Nov 23, 2015

Autodidact said:
My main strategy works in all markets, including ranged market. However, higher volatility is typically present in bear markets, so those are the easiest to exploit.

70% drawdown is too much, you need lessons in money management, capital protection is priority #1

What can I say, I was in a bad place that point in my life and basically tried to make up for it by chasing trades. Killed by a million cuts

Autodidact · Nov 23, 2015

Fundlord said:
What can I say, I was in a bad place that point in my life and basically tried to make up for it by chasing trades. Killed by a million cuts

We all been there, those are the amateur days, now learn from mistakes and pick yourself up, no revenge trading.

der_kommissar · Nov 23, 2015

Fundlord said:
I looked over my account for the past near 3 years and it was a string of big wins and small losses in currency trades and once I started deviating to stock futures my account piled up losses until 70% of my capital was wiped out.

It felt like trying to make a bad relationship work and ignoring all the red flags.

Anyone else have the same problem ?

I had success in individual stocks because I like the big moves that take place similar to the currency market. However in stock futures the 1% this way 1.3% the other way just ended up killing me.

Maybe I am just a volatility/momentum junkie, I hate slow moving markets and stock indexes rarely have those huge moves.

I am going to return to trading this month after taking a much needed break probably best if I avoid stock indexes and stick to gold, individual stocks and currencies.

You said it "I hate slow moving markets...", the SIF's spend an inordinate amount of their time chopping sideways until they've found a catalyst to move thru a range...In recent years, the overnight markets typically bring the market higher, then the RTH is spent chopping thru the range made overnight...

Autodidact · Nov 23, 2015

der_kommissar said:
You said it "I hate slow moving markets...", the SIF's spend an inordinate amount of their time chopping sideways until they've found a catalyst to move thru a range...In recent years, the overnight markets typically bring the market higher, then the RTH is spent chopping thru the range made overnight...

Swing instead of daytrade.

TheNotSoGreatGatsby · Nov 23, 2015

I can only seem to make money in /CL. I keep trying to make money in /ES because it's liquid and position size could be of great power but it's just so grindy and choppy at times with no huge breakouts but once or twice a week. I trade breakouts of moving average congestion and it works great in /CL. Wish I could find a solid strategy for /ES so I could trade 100 contracts and start making $5-10K a day instead of $100-500.

lawrence-lugar · Nov 23, 2015

I can only make money in one market too, but that's because that's the only thing I trade.
Be a Master of One; not a jack of all trades.

Jones75 · Nov 24, 2015

Fundlord said:
I looked over my account for the past near 3 years and it was a string of big wins and small losses in currency trades and once I started deviating to stock futures my account piled up losses until 70% of my capital was wiped out.

It felt like trying to make a bad relationship work and ignoring all the red flags.

Anyone else have the same problem ?

I had success in individual stocks because I like the big moves that take place similar to the currency market. However in stock futures the 1% this way 1.3% the other way just ended up killing me.

Maybe I am just a volatility/momentum junkie, I hate slow moving markets and stock indexes rarely have those huge moves.

I am going to return to trading this month after taking a much needed break probably best if I avoid stock indexes and stick to gold, individual stocks and currencies.

I'm sort of in the same boat with the draw down, except more like 30%. Best advice I've gotten is just try and keep it simple and focus on what you're good at.
Wait for what you're looking for. It's just like a baseball hitter looking for his pitch.
Cheers.