jasinhbca's quest for discipline, knowledge & profits

J,


The below post (courtesy of globalarbtrader..., that he posted in another forum) speaks to the importance of process over outcome..., and the proper uses for PnL

Click on the embedded links and read what he has to say

It holds true for us manual traders as well

Good stuff imo

RN




globalarbtrader said:
If you tell someone you're trading, the first thing they'll usually ask is "Have you made any money?"

Most traders I've known are pretty obsessed with that question as well. Knowing the answer to that query isn't as important as you might think, since it's better to be focused on process than outcome, although I must admit I do check my own profit more often than I need to. Nevertheless it's necessary to have some idea of your profitability for a number of reasons. In this post I'll explain how I do it.

This is the fifth post in a series giving pointers on the nuts and bolts of building systematic trading systems.

Much more (because of ET's 10K character limit on posting), in the usual place:
http://qoppac.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/systems-building-accounting.html

GAT
More...
 
Not a lot going on. Low volatility. Rather difficult environment. Trying to be patient. Could have handled a coupled trades a bit better.

Might just do an update later this week unless things pick up.
 
jas_in_hbca said:
Not a lot going on. Low volatility. Rather difficult environment. Trying to be patient. Could have handled a coupled trades a bit better.

Might just do an update later this week unless things pick up.
More...
Question: Are you keeping great stats? Do you know what you win/loss is doing on one lots as opposed to breaking down trade of first and second lot?
 
No, not great stats. Well, my CL stats are good but I'm not tracking as much and as often as I'd like. Simply, just don't have enough time to stay on top of it. I know my CL plan vs actual trade stats show the big issue for me was discipline following plan and not the method. So been focusing on the discipline aspect.

As for NQ where I scale out, I take one off at nearby S/R or 5 pts whichever is closer then another off at a PA target level or exit on reversal signal. It's been working but I would like to be compiling more stats. Psychologically it fits with my personality of taking a quick profit and having 1 to run. The review I've done is that some days all in and out at a target outperforms and other days holding a runner outperforms. Overall I'd guess the two exit methods have similar results over a series of trades but that's a guess based on a small sample.

Hopefully next month i'll be more caught up at work and can start compiling trade data and do more review.
 
jas_in_hbca said:
No, not great stats. Well, my CL stats are good but I'm not tracking as much and as often as I'd like. Simply, just don't have enough time to stay on top of it. I know my CL plan vs actual trade stats show the big issue for me was discipline following plan and not the method. So been focusing on the discipline aspect.

As for NQ where I scale out, I take one off at nearby S/R or 5 pts whichever is closer then another off at a PA target level or exit on reversal signal. It's been working but I would like to be compiling more stats. Psychologically it fits with my personality of taking a quick profit and having 1 to run. The review I've done is that some days all in and out at a target outperforms and other days holding a runner outperforms. Overall I'd guess the two exit methods have similar results over a series of trades but that's a guess based on a small sample.

Hopefully next month i'll be more caught up at work and can start compiling trade data and do more review.
More...
Maybe trade less and figure out your stats as you are trading blind. Profits is very poor indicator of how you are doing.
 
I have my other method now automated, so I started new method manually trading in hopes to be done in 20 minutes, as with all methods I design, it works in other instruments but one has to always do back testing for themselves to get best rules for their Trading Plan. I mainly trade ES as I can do size and average down easier. But this method so easy, couple moving averages.

18 is Simple moving average
 

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Thanks Handle. It's very interesting to see what you're doing. Quite different than how I'm trading. This one reminds me of a system called the Floor Traders Method which also used 9 & 18 ema if I remember correctly. It also entered on pullbacks. Can't remember exact details but someone could google it if interested .
 
Pretty difficult week. Tuesday my first several trades went quickly to full stop and it took a mental toll. Did not trade well that day and was down 40 nq pts. That left a trading hangover into Wednesday and I went down 30 pts before I was able to pull it together and get back close to even on the day. Confidence was not good and I missed many good opportunities that day.

Most of my focus was on NQ this past week. It often trades a bit different than CL to my eyes so I think that was part of the problem for me. Tuesday also traded too close to open. I used to like to wait for price to settle in a little. CL is easier to trade off open. Probably too impatient Tuesday. The rest of the week was fair but a little confusing finding proper set ups at time.
But the set ups are there and I picked up some little PA clues.

I've got a couple set up things to note and review and I want to back test my NQ exit strategy. Doing that this weekend and if I don't finish enough i'll skip morning trading or entire day (as Handle suggested) and get it done.

I think this past week was more confusion with plan than discipline issues.

I have felt a little burned out the last couple weeks. Better now.

Next week going to Vegas Wed for a few nights.

Despite all that still feeling optimistic.
 
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