Jeff's Trade Journal

Long ES at 868.50

*edit* - covered at 871.25 on a measured move, may have been an early cover. Looks like a lot of traders got caught short with their stops over 870 on this move.
 
Not a very busy day for me in the end with the FOMC really keeping me from getting into a lot of trades. My trades were:

Trade 1 - Long ES for +2.75pts

Trade 2 - Short ES for +1 pt

Trade 3 - Long ES for +2.75pts

All the trades today I at least followed my rules and ended in the black. Trade number two I had a much bigger profit target but when the trend changed on me I was able to still get out with a small profit instead of just letting it hit my original stop.
There were plenty of other trades I could have taken in retrospect and that is still what I'm working on. I know that if I have a method that gives me a high probability of a good trade then what I need to do is take all the setups to maximize my profits.
If there are 10 good setups in a day maybe 7 of them will work out well but what I need to do is force myself to take all 10 instead of just the few that I take everyday. There's a random distribution between which setups are winners and which are losers and obviously I don't know which is which beforehand. Therefore, to maximize my profits I need to treat all the setups equally, enter the trade and then let the market decide whether I'm right or wrong.
 
Nice day again Jeff, I really like your inner thoughts on what you need to do to keep improving. It seems to be working out well!
 
Thanks geez, I guess I've just tried doing it a few other ways and it never turned out well. A few years ago I gave it a shot but was under-capitalized and afraid to lose money. I also used to try and pick the top or pick the bottom and that never worked out either. It's just been a constant study of the futures and I finally feel confident in my method that I have worked out and my account is well capitalized for how I trade so now it's just time to go out and execute!
 
Ok, here we go, first trade today.

Short NQ at 1210.50

*edit* - cover at 1210 for a virtual scratch. We got a new low in NQ by a tick and then it snapped back when I lowered my stop down. I was looking for it to blow through that previous low and make it to at least 1205.
 
Very tight trading so far, I've had a couple bids and offers in ES today and I haven't been able to get filled either way and with the tight range the last thing I'm going to do is chase anything.
For example, I just wanted to buy the ES on the pullback off that recent pivot high of 855.75. When it retraced I put a bid in at 853.50 but it blew right through there on the way back up and never came down to my bid. I was only looking for maybe 856.00-856.50 so it wasn't worth chasing.
 
Bit of a counter-trend play here so it may come back to bite me.

Sold 855.50 in ES

*edit* - covering at 856.00, recognizing that the trade isn't really within my rules and it's better to just take a 2 tick loser and come back with a better trade within my parameters.
 
A month ago I would have taken that last trade every time and I would have lost a good part of the time. I've almost learned to not short into the top of an up-trend, although I just made that mistake I quickly closed the trade out for a minimal loss.
 
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