'No Not Another Journal' Journal

stop hit -2.75

calling it a day,
will review my trades to try and find what the problem is
am going to post a chart with my buys and sells later on
 
trade 1: stopped out at b/e seems like i followed the rules although i let a profitable trade turn to break even
trade 2: sold the break down
trade 3: added a contract but then closed it again when the 9 ema flatlined
trade 2 closed at b/e, let another winner get stopped out at breakeven
trade 4: got stopped out, stange that i didn't see the MA's both moving down
trade 5: not on chart, mistake, bought instead of sold, scratched quickly
trade 6: stopped out again
done
any opinions where i'm going wrong?
 

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Hey Chuck.... nice title for a journal.

Anyways, the strategy you are using for your day trading brings back memories.

My two cents is that this strategy is really not that good for day trading. Its OK for swing trading STOCKS in a trending market... with both MAs in parallel... but really not that good for day futures.

This is the core strategy the PRISTINE teaches..... look them up if you are interested in deeper understanding of this system. They also offer a realtime stock screener that alerts when a buy or sell set up is about to be in play. But please PLEASE use gloves and a snake stick in order to handle serpents safely. This system was all the rage in the late 90's when we were in an uptrend..(come to think of it.... this system was all the rage in Holland in the 1700s in periods of uptrending tulip mkt.

I do not recommend , and advise AGAINST using this system in non trending mks and for futures. But thats just me.... I started a day trading journal a few years ago here... i didnt do that good as the posts will point out.....and i was using sound money management! i quit that and went back to swing and position trading with my own developed strategy.

But that does not mean that it can not work for you..... good luck!

i'll pop in once in a while to see how things are going
 
Today was a low volatility day for the Standard and Poors 500 index. I do not expect a trend following system to show a profit on a day such as today.

I enjoy reading this journal, Chuck. Thanks.
 
thanks for your thoughts lilduckling,
the thing is i've tried a lot of methods already and i'm going to stick with this one for some time.
main reasons: 1)it reminds me a bit of anekdoten's style (at least in the beginning of his journal) (which i couldn't really figure out, but anyway i digress)
2)it incorporates MA's (which spectre has brought to my attention)
3)it follows the trend (which the dennis/ turtles ingrained in my mindset)

but anyway, i don't know if it will work.
am thinking about entering with 2 contracts and taking profits quickly on 1 and letting the other ride

mental note: look at the lenght of the bar, this was mentioned in 'the method' somewhere as well
 
Quote from Hook N. Sinker:

Today was a low volatility day for the Standard and Poors 500 index. I do not expect a trend following system to show a profit on a day such as today.
More...

thanks, was starting to think that i sucked (which i probably do anyway) ;-)
 
Quote from Chuck Krug:

trade 1: stopped out at b/e seems like i followed the rules although i let a profitable trade turn to break even
trade 2: sold the break down
trade 3: added a contract but then closed it again when the 9 ema flatlined
trade 2 closed at b/e, let another winner get stopped out at breakeven
trade 4: got stopped out, stange that i didn't see the MA's both moving down
trade 5: not on chart, mistake, bought instead of sold, scratched quickly
trade 6: stopped out again
done
any opinions where i'm going wrong?
More...

looking at your chart i see several issues:

This is not a trending chart.... at least not in the 2 hours where you had volume

WAY WAY too many trades in that amount of time for THIS PARTICULAR STRATEGY.

You need to get your RISK/REWARD RATIO requirements written into your trading plan AND adhered to! It would've kept you out of some of these loser trades above....especially that last one.... I mean look at it!

On the first trade... you reached at least 2 or 2.5 to 1 r/r ..... had it been your rule to take profits when such is reached.... you wouldn't saddly see that winner turn into a b/e.

Also... are you adjusting lot size for r/r ratio? If not..... in other words if you just trade say.... 1 contract..... then you have no business just ramdomly entering trades with varying r/r ratios...
stop size should never go past your trading plan's amount.

EXAMPLE:

If using only 1 contract (as an example)
then your entries must be constant in their r/r ratio....

trading plan calls for 10pt max risk and min 2:1 (reward / risk issue)


IF using MULTIPLE contracts.... then you can vary your stop size by adjusting your number of contracts to keep a constant dollar risk amount......

2 lots for 10pt risk
1 lot for 20pt risk
(these # are just examples)

You will soon see that if you maintain discipline in your money management .... even several loses will not hurt as much as 1 or 2 if not disciplined.

Now..... this is only a few things I see off the bat with the chart you provided.... kinda hard to see..... but what I was explaining in my first post.....
even with the best trending MAs
even with the best r/r set ups
even with the best money management.......................................

....You are still putting lipstick in a pig's asshole.... because of the strategy your using for day trading futures...... sorry but thats my opinion .

Im not an expert in day trading.... or even good at it..... maybe some else will come on and say this strategy is good for it.... but i doubt it.

Regardless...... best of luck

EDIT: I appolize if i sounded rude.... im not trying to be.... I know exactly where you are coming from.... trying so many different strategies and now wanting to stick with this one for a while...... maybe you will indeed get it to work... I shouldn't judge
 
lilduckling, don't worry about sounding rude or not (i don't think you do anyway)
I really appreciate your help. I think it's very generous.
Will think about this risk/ reward for a bit.
the stoploss amounts vary, because it's just outside the v top or bottom

was thinking about trading with 2 contracts today and taking profit on 1 asap and letting the other 1 ride some longer
 
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