I see. Mmmm.
I think yer kinda' like me with this comment...
https://www.elitetrader.com/et/thre...t-with-earn2trade.347506/page-17#post-5210788
A big part of the problem is imbalance in the head on what kind of a trader you figure yourself to be.
I am like you in the idea of swinging, but want to make some quick scratch with some fast daytrades. It is very very difficult to accomplish this, because you have to have 3 sides of a 2-sided brain.
You have the swing position in the back of your mind, and then you have the daytrade side of yourself trying to trade with (or against) your swing. It's like playing chess with yourself. VERY hard.
The idea to trade MES and also GC was a misstep. GC is a bloody animal again, had been since the COVID hit. The swings are simply too vast when trading with or against MES.
When you trade, stick with one instrument's tick value. Don't try to trade a $1.25 per tick instrument along with a $10 per tick instrument together in the same session.
And if you do want to get back into the swing mindset, you should try the micro swing-trading gauntlet one of the sponsors here offers. I forget which one offers it. E2T? TST?
You gotta' try to follow a hard and fast rule. In my own experience, I have not been following my plan, which was to hold on no matter what. Invariably, for the last three years, by deviating from that plan and selling out when I though the market would finally collapse, it went ahead and did what my analysis said it would do. Go back up (index futures).
It has been the most painful experience in the world to follow my rule of not entering anymore trades as I suffer the heat of this month's drawdown. No selling, no trying to average down, no nothing. A month of no trading activity as I let my two long positions resolve themselves. MES long at 3370, MNQ long at 11750ish. They are slowly resolving, but the pain...The temptation to try to make them whole with fancy footwork, is simply against my ruleset now. I have seen in sim what can happen if those techniques go wrong. Account wipeout. So nope, sitting on hands, following the plan come what may.
It appears the MES trade will resolve into profit faster than the MNQ, as the MES trade is currently down only 17 points as of this typing. The MNQ still has 350ish points to go before back at BE level. Once the MES trade is resolved I can look for another opportunity in another instrument. But for now, those two positions are the max I can take. That's IT. No trying cows, or gold, or oil. Discipline.
I suggest (if you fail the current reset), to look into that swing-trading micro version. (1 contract ONLY!) It might be just what you need, and all you need to make good money with today's price ranges. A bit dicey now going into this election nightmare, but might be just what you need.
