kserra's emini trades
- Thread starter kserra
- Start date
Trades for 1-27-04
Today I only did one trade, but I was disciplined and did not get suckered into trading the chop.
Trade #1: Long @ 1146.00, stop initially set at @ 1143.75, moved to 1145.5 eventually, cover @ 1145.25 -.75 pts
11:31: Got in on this solid entry. Price immediately went in my favor by a point, I moved my stop closer. All of my indicators were confirming this move up, but then the ES began to stall @ 1147. I thought to myself this would be a nice place to take some profits if I was trading multiple contracts. Because I am only trading 1 contract at this point I held and tightened my stop. I was looking for 1148.25 and had a sell order in there but we never really got close. I saw the spike and ledge pattern that had formed and realized that I had seen this before in another one of my trades (I got stopped out). I tighetened my stop again to 1145.5 but then hesitated slightly and ended up getting filled @ 1145.25. Overall a pretty good trade, but too much hesitation on the exit (hope) probably could have had an even tighter stop after the position went in my favor.
Overall trade rating 8 out of 10
- things that could be improved, no hesitation in exit, tighter stop on S&L pattern.
-.75 pts on the day
Tomorrow should be interesting with the FED announcement.
Today I only did one trade, but I was disciplined and did not get suckered into trading the chop.
Trade #1: Long @ 1146.00, stop initially set at @ 1143.75, moved to 1145.5 eventually, cover @ 1145.25 -.75 pts
11:31: Got in on this solid entry. Price immediately went in my favor by a point, I moved my stop closer. All of my indicators were confirming this move up, but then the ES began to stall @ 1147. I thought to myself this would be a nice place to take some profits if I was trading multiple contracts. Because I am only trading 1 contract at this point I held and tightened my stop. I was looking for 1148.25 and had a sell order in there but we never really got close. I saw the spike and ledge pattern that had formed and realized that I had seen this before in another one of my trades (I got stopped out). I tighetened my stop again to 1145.5 but then hesitated slightly and ended up getting filled @ 1145.25. Overall a pretty good trade, but too much hesitation on the exit (hope) probably could have had an even tighter stop after the position went in my favor.
Overall trade rating 8 out of 10
- things that could be improved, no hesitation in exit, tighter stop on S&L pattern.
-.75 pts on the day
Tomorrow should be interesting with the FED announcement.
Today I breached my discipline again and it shows in my profit/loss.
Trade #1 Short @ 1142.75, cover @ 1140.00 + 2.75 pts
11:21: This trade was a good trade. I was expecting a short lived correction in the quick move down and then i shorted once the old lows were breached. Stop was at 1144.00 never even got close. I was not so sure how to base my profit target here. I covered exactly 1 minute later for a quick gain. Did not realize how sharply the ES was about to fall off.
- Trade rating 8 out of 10 - too quick to take profits
Trade #2: Short @ 1134.75, cover @ 1136.25 -1.5 pts
11:27: Same thing as trade #1 looking for a trade in the direction of the trend we had just had a short rest here and I was looking to get short on a breach of 1135. We got that breach and I got short. Unfortunately I did not really adjust my stop for how volatile this market was at the time. Got stopped out on what could have been another good trade.
- Trade rating 6 out of 10 - more volatility requires bigger stops, stop was not properly defined before trade began.
Trade #3: Long @ 1134.25, cover @ 1132.25 -2 pts
11:53: This trade looked like it was setting up nicely however the entry here was totally premature. The trend line on the 3 and 5 minute charts had just been broken and it looked as though the trade may pan out. However I was soon proven wrong.
Trade rating 4 out of 10 - Breach of discipline on early entry, would have been a good place to stop trading
Trade #4: Long @ 1135.25, cover @ 1133.25 -2 pts
12:07: Was looking for a reentry from the past trade. Waited for breach of 1135.25 and got it only to find out that there was no reversal in store for me today. Trade was pretty much an impulse trade.
Trade rating 2 out of 10 - Trying to buck the trend, was not listening to secondary indicators, too caught up in the moment to be rational.
-2.75 pts on the day
I think I proved to myself that once I violate my discipline on any given day there really is no getting those losses back by trying to overtrade. Therefore any trade where discipline is violated will now signal the end of the trading day for me.
Trade #1 Short @ 1142.75, cover @ 1140.00 + 2.75 pts
11:21: This trade was a good trade. I was expecting a short lived correction in the quick move down and then i shorted once the old lows were breached. Stop was at 1144.00 never even got close. I was not so sure how to base my profit target here. I covered exactly 1 minute later for a quick gain. Did not realize how sharply the ES was about to fall off.
- Trade rating 8 out of 10 - too quick to take profits
Trade #2: Short @ 1134.75, cover @ 1136.25 -1.5 pts
11:27: Same thing as trade #1 looking for a trade in the direction of the trend we had just had a short rest here and I was looking to get short on a breach of 1135. We got that breach and I got short. Unfortunately I did not really adjust my stop for how volatile this market was at the time. Got stopped out on what could have been another good trade.
- Trade rating 6 out of 10 - more volatility requires bigger stops, stop was not properly defined before trade began.
Trade #3: Long @ 1134.25, cover @ 1132.25 -2 pts
11:53: This trade looked like it was setting up nicely however the entry here was totally premature. The trend line on the 3 and 5 minute charts had just been broken and it looked as though the trade may pan out. However I was soon proven wrong.
Trade rating 4 out of 10 - Breach of discipline on early entry, would have been a good place to stop trading
Trade #4: Long @ 1135.25, cover @ 1133.25 -2 pts
12:07: Was looking for a reentry from the past trade. Waited for breach of 1135.25 and got it only to find out that there was no reversal in store for me today. Trade was pretty much an impulse trade.
Trade rating 2 out of 10 - Trying to buck the trend, was not listening to secondary indicators, too caught up in the moment to be rational.
-2.75 pts on the day
I think I proved to myself that once I violate my discipline on any given day there really is no getting those losses back by trying to overtrade. Therefore any trade where discipline is violated will now signal the end of the trading day for me.
Whats your net p&l since you started trading in this journal?
If you are at breakeven or at a loss.. maybe its more to do with the fact that u really dont have an edge.. instead of making excuses for everytime u lose $.
Remember you are a discretionary trader... it easy to make excuses as to why u didnt do the right thing. Today was the type of day that makes a professional traders month... most traders cant afford to miss out.
If you just take a step back and look at what happened today.. the ES was in a super tight narrow range prior to the fed announcement.. once it broke down the rest was history... Many traders I know simply had buy sell stops above and below the range... thats the best way to play narrow range breakout days. Look at 1/26/04 its the same pattern except we had a bullish breakout.
--MIKE
If you are at breakeven or at a loss.. maybe its more to do with the fact that u really dont have an edge.. instead of making excuses for everytime u lose $.
Remember you are a discretionary trader... it easy to make excuses as to why u didnt do the right thing. Today was the type of day that makes a professional traders month... most traders cant afford to miss out.
If you just take a step back and look at what happened today.. the ES was in a super tight narrow range prior to the fed announcement.. once it broke down the rest was history... Many traders I know simply had buy sell stops above and below the range... thats the best way to play narrow range breakout days. Look at 1/26/04 its the same pattern except we had a bullish breakout.
--MIKE
I got worked again today, Im going back to the simulator until I begin to trade better.
Trade #1 Short @ 1130.75, cover @ 1133.00 -2.25 pts
12:30 : Got short here, however entry was too early as a result the MAs on the 5 minute never even crossed, this didn't keep me from holding on. Got stopped out here.
Trade Rating 6 out of 10, entered too early, low trin at end of day
Trade #2 Long @ 1133.25, exit @ 1132.5 -.75 pts
12:44: bad trade very impulsive taken off of the 3 minute chart.
Trade rating 4 out of 10 - impulsive trade
During the time I am on the simulator I will be trying out new methods of trading in addition to the ones I am using now. Hopefully I can practice my discipline issues and resolve many of the problems I have been having. Also looking to use some sort of trend following system, So I am not trying to constantly buck the trend. Will post chart later.
Trade #1 Short @ 1130.75, cover @ 1133.00 -2.25 pts
12:30 : Got short here, however entry was too early as a result the MAs on the 5 minute never even crossed, this didn't keep me from holding on. Got stopped out here.
Trade Rating 6 out of 10, entered too early, low trin at end of day
Trade #2 Long @ 1133.25, exit @ 1132.5 -.75 pts
12:44: bad trade very impulsive taken off of the 3 minute chart.
Trade rating 4 out of 10 - impulsive trade
During the time I am on the simulator I will be trying out new methods of trading in addition to the ones I am using now. Hopefully I can practice my discipline issues and resolve many of the problems I have been having. Also looking to use some sort of trend following system, So I am not trying to constantly buck the trend. Will post chart later.
Strive for some quantitive measure of how you are doing in each part: entry, managment, exit (not P/L, that's the overall result of all the parts combined). This way when you change things you can have a better idea of the results.
For entries I use the "BS Ratio";
management: % winners passed/ % losers cut etc.
exits: % MFE captured
For entries I use the "BS Ratio";
management: % winners passed/ % losers cut etc.
exits: % MFE captured