Intuition

Quote from moneymoneymoney:

Daily tally:

Starting funds : $51,099.40

3 trades (+1.75, +1.75, -13.00) = -9.50 pts.

5 * -9.50pts. * $50 = -$2,375.00 Gross
15 * 5.79 comm. + NFA fee = $86.85

Net for the day -$2,461.85

New balance $48,637.55
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By the way, MMM, I love your thread - I have a feeling that you're going to do very well doing what you're doing. Simply because you're one of the few guys getting what's important and no BS!

Why? Well, you say, for example, that you don't use any indicators, just price action. To me, doing this was an absolute revelation! My ES performance, which was cut somewhere between mediocre and good, now exceeds "common standards" most days! I cannot, in my entire trading memories, remember anything more significant than the experience of dumping indicators and other nonsense!

Also, you're clearly not impressed by all the nonsense on ET. That's another big step... Goodonya for the attitude - "If I lose it, so what?" - This is probably the best attitude you can have for successful trading. I'm not kidding here - Nothing is worse than trading scared or "dependent" money.

Regarding your 5pts a day - That is very doable, some people average twice that - But if you want to do scalping as well, you might want to consider leasing / buying an IOM seat (~$1,9K/month), which will drop your commissions somewhere between $1-$1.40 per RT, depending on your broker.

Oh, just a couple of questions:

- WHY did you buy at 45, the top of the day? I am not sure if you know this, but there's such a thing as "average daily range" (high-low), and it's never exactly smart to go for a continuation play once daily range is attained or even exceeded! Just a tip.

- Now that you DID buy at the top, how in god's name could you hold all the way through the fall, 13pts, no protection? Sorry, just a bit puzzled.

Great Fortunes!
Scientist.
 

Attachments

Hi mmm,

I think you're doing a great job with your approach to trading, and with your journal. Never feel bad about posting not as often as you think everyone might like. After all, your first responsibility is to improve your performance with (notice I did not say "against") the market.

One thing I wanted to mention to you though. I think you'd be interested in looking at pivot points. They can really provide an insight into support and resistance levels, particularly suited for the short term. There's plenty of info on them around on this board.

I also shorted around the time you went long. And while I can't claim to have held the trade as long as Scientist did, it was a rather high probability trade for me. I'm finding that a combination of pivot points with divergences in a couple of indicators is helping me a lot!

Your intuitive grasp of price action is more than admirable, but there are some of us who feel that the intuitive aspect can be enhanced by letting your machine show you the price action in other ways as well. In my opinion, that's the real use of indicators; not using them to try to create some mechanical holy grail, but to just graphically relate some info which you might miss if you didn't have them onscreen as well.

Keep up the great work,

Mark

P.S. I'll probably start my own journal in about a week, and yours is a great example to me.
 
Quote from MarkB:

One thing I wanted to mention to you though. I think you'd be interested in looking at pivot points. They can really provide an insight into support and resistance levels, particularly suited for the short term. There's plenty of info on them around on this board.
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The pivot was a major determinant for the reversal today. See chart attached. And in case you didn't notice, the 13:15 bar was a major pivot point / reversal several times in the last days. ES tends to have a "memory" of such things quite often.

I also shorted around the time you went long. And while I can't claim to have held the trade as long as Scientist did, it was a rather high probability trade for me. I'm finding that a combination of pivot points with divergences in a couple of indicators is helping me a lot!
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MarkB, why did you close out earlier? There wasn't even a retracement. The fall really just kept getting steeper and steeper. Look at the 15-min chart and if it's not broke (the trend), why fix it? Letting trades run for as long as it takes till the trend is finished, and not earlier, is the key to really getting your bottom line up. Don't worry - It took me a long time to grasp that myself. But today is an example why.

The indexes are also getting a lot trendier and swingy again. Lots of fun volatility to take out...

Best,
Scientist.
 
Quote from Scientist:

MarkB, why did you close out earlier?
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Because I'm still getting used to this technique, never claimed to be an expert at it :) I like my entries towards a specific pivot based on divergences, but I'm still using a percentage of retracement as a stop. It's in a rather primitive stage, and I plan to work on it. I got out at 1035, so it's not that bad. Also the same technique had me ride the swing up earlier, from pivot to R1, so I was happy with the 10 points for the day.

Thanks for pointing out what I need to work on, Scientist. Perhaps we can talk about this in PM, or when I start my journal, as it doesn't pertain to mmm's great work. His mental approach is great indeed. I just wanted to suggest that he take a look at pivots, and not consider indicators a road to confusion. Which they indeed CAN be, if you clutter your screens.

MarkB
 
Please guys, I know this whole issue... money, how to make it, conserve it, etc. can cause a lot of animosity to develop.

Can we just let this thread be about what MMM wants to talk about, and our observations about this?

I think we owe each other a great deal of respect, as we are on a common quest.

So let's take the jabs at each other to private IMs, or if you have a beef with someone there's always the ignore button. We should be encouraging the originator of this journal, don't you think?

MarkB
 
Quote from MarkB:

Please guys, I know this whole issue... money, how to make it, conserve it, etc. can cause a lot of animosity to develop.

Can we just let this thread be about what MMM wants to talk about, and our observations about this?

I think we owe each other a great deal of respect, as we are on a common quest.

So let's take the jabs at each other to private IMs, or if you have a beef with someone there's always the ignore button. We should be encouraging the originator of this journal, don't you think?

MarkB
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Excellent points Mark. I have edited and/or removed a number of recent off-topic posts along with the normal petty bickering. This thread is about MMM's trading journal, so let's please restrict comments to discussing his trades, his style, his strategies, etc. If you would like to post personal good, bad, or indifferent trading days then please start your own journal. And if you have comments directed to anyone except MMM then please send that person a private message. Thanks.
 
Quote from moneymoneymoney:



Just a habit. When I have to leave I tend to put a catastrophe stop at the high or low of the day. I usually only leave in a position during dead trading hours. Obviously I screwed up and got what I deserved. As you say...tomorrow is another day.

Best of trading
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Well, this is how you trade so you had that happened before . To me, trading without TA , is more time consuming ( have to watch it all the time ). I think that you knew that reversal might come but decide to fight it . I told you to watch it ( 13:25 ) .
Good luck,
Walter
 
Thoughts

Going to make some changes today. One of my problems with trading the emini is the speed of execution and market movement. I've been waiting for a setup and then using this pats system to trade. If I'm getting in a new position I've been using limit orders to avoid the spread. Also the way the software works I have to point to a bid or ask and it sets up a market order for my default 5 contracts. Then I had to change it to a limit with my price. By the time I placed the order I'd lost 20-30 sec. I don't like missing good entries so here's a change in my order process. I'll be using market orders only to enter and exit. I'll give up the spread to get executions down to 3-5 sec. In addition, I'll setup three orders for buy 5, buy 10, sell 5 and sell 10. That way all I have to do is click the buy or sell button and the order is released.
This should help with the order placement problem and let me catch up with getting in/out closer to when I want to.
 

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Quote from moneymoneymoney:

Thoughts

................... Then I had to change it to a limit with my price. By the time I placed the order I'd lost 20-30 sec. .................
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20-30 seconds!!?? Are you using IB for your broker and using their TWS? If so, just set the default order to a 5 contract limit order. Then you can just click on the BID to create a limit order to SELL or the ASK to BUY. You can then just click the T to transmit or click on any part of the order to open a drop down menu to change order type, price or quantity. I find it takes me less than a second to enter my entry orders and maybe two or three seconds to set my stop-limit orders.
 
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