NoDoji's Day Trading Log

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sim and real are totally different.
if you have 100k account, and if you lose 1k, that is 1%, you do not need in a hurry to cut loss.
if you have 50k account, and if you lose 1k, that is 2%, same same.
if you have 5k account, if you lose 1k, that is 20%, big drawdown.
if you have 2k account, if you lose 1k, that is 50%, almost done.
if you have 1k account, if you lose 1k, that is 100%, you out and done.

as I know, paper account most is above 50k.
so averaging down is not a big deal, doing "cheating" is no problem. that is deep pocket's advantages. if you buy 1car of crude, down 1k, almost nothing to a 100k account, you do not need to do anything. but to a 1k account, he is wiped out.

that is why you are able to do those cheatings in paper account, but you can not do it in your real account.

can you tolerate 10% down, then you make 1%?



Quote from NoDoji:

Hog, awesome work! I've "cheated" in sim a few times, averaging down, or moving my stop a bit when the price action got "that look" to it. Interestingly, it's always worked out, but I have difficulty doing that live because of getting burned in the past.

OK, I need to pound my head against my desk just a few more times to erase the fact that I SCRATCHED A 1092.50 ES SHORT TRAILING A 1 PT STOP NOT VERY LONG BEFORE IT CRASHED 20 PTS!!!

(Sorry, HANDLES!!!) :mad:
More...
 
+$6

After a great deal of tweaking, the morning test run of the ATS netted $900 on 100-share trades, $179 on APOL alone, and 3 profitable in a row on SPWRA. This has been the best test run ever.

Back at my desk for the dolrums, I tried a couple trades and scratched both, shorting ES @ 1077.25 after it left lower high behind, stop near b/e was hit; then shorted ANF at the 20 EMA expecting a breakdown of what had become a down trend, and got spiked out at b/e and it totally stalled. I decided this was a very bad time of day to trade and one of my rules was not trade midday doldrums, so I visited my chat roomies.

Had another good day with crude in sim even though I only traded it in the doldrums +$320.

Leaving early today.
 

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No live trades today, strictly sim with ES & CL.

ES +$3014.30 trading 1- 8 cars

CL +$848.50 trading 1 car with .20 cent stops

I didn't do anything crazy (like tossing 100 sim cars - BANG!!!) :D

I traded as I would've traded live, and managed to cut a few winners quite short, just like I do live, ha!

Have a great weekend everyone. We'll see if I have the balls to trade CL live next week. Once I was up $600+ in sim my trigger finger was so itchy for live trades, but I don't think I have enough experience yet with this volatile beast.
 
Nod, just keep building that confidence. Sim trading has value. I never really did sim trading but thats just me.

Do not let missing some of the moves bother you, just know this...............it is a pain for every trader out there. Perfection is not allowed in any profession. A baseball player that makes 20 mill a year still strikes out. Pro tennis players still have unforced errors ( a certain one wants to shove the ball down someones throat, that was so funny, HA). Football running backs still fumble the ball and QB's still throw the ball to the wrong uniform. There is no perfection in love either, some great men and great women mannage to fall for the wrong person.

I am forever taking a profit and seeing price continue on for a couple handles. The relief comes when you miss the upcoming retrace just a few ticks away and price quickly comes back to where you got out..............that is when you look to get back in. What do they say in physics? Object in motion will stay in motion until an egual or greater force shows up.

Keep up the good work. Think about the moves in the mornings are more true than the afternoons, yes the openings can be whippy. Tell yourself on average (even now) the days range is not yet in if the range is rather small. Everyone is looking to catch the fat part of that range and many many days the fattest part of the days range is made early. Thats a daily goal.

Good weekend.
 
Thanks, Hog.

I'm still having a lot of trouble choosing my stop strategy. Sometimes I lose focus and miss getting in at the proper entry zone, and I chase the trade, but when I do that I have to trust my target and use a wide stop or I'm chopped to death only to see the trade end up in my favor.

Today I had a small breakthrough: I'm too focused on tightening up my stops instead of focusing on my PROFIT target. In my live trades this week I trailed 1 pt stops when the trade moved my way, ended up with these scratch trades where, had I put in a maximum stop loss and just RELAXED, I would've had two of my best days ever.

So I was back to sim today, and when I put in tight stops, same thing, scratch trades only to see them go in my favor. Finally, I put in 10 pt stops and placed my targets where I believed price would end up. I focused on the targets mentally, the reasons I believed price would test those levels and, lo! it got there every time. I had to take 3.5 handles heat on ONE trade and as it ticked against me I kept thinking how one 10 pt stop could wipe out a good day's work, but my instinct for reading the market lately has been so solid that I feel more relaxed and comfortable trading this way.

Is this crazy, or is this necessary for me mentally to be able to let winners run???
 
Quote from NoDoji:

Thanks, Hog.

I'm still having a lot of trouble choosing my stop strategy. Sometimes I lose focus and miss getting in at the proper entry zone, and I chase the trade, but when I do that I have to trust my target and use a wide stop or I'm chopped to death only to see the trade end up in my favor.

Today I had a small breakthrough: I'm too focused on tightening up my stops instead of focusing on my PROFIT target. In my live trades this week I trailed 1 pt stops when the trade moved my way, ended up with these scratch trades where, had I put in a maximum stop loss and just RELAXED, I would've had two of my best days ever.

So I was back to sim today, and when I put in tight stops, same thing, scratch trades only to see them go in my favor. Finally, I put in 10 pt stops and placed my targets where I believed price would end up. I focused on the targets mentally, the reasons I believed price would test those levels and, lo! it got there every time. I had to take 3.5 handles heat on ONE trade and as it ticked against me I kept thinking how one 10 pt stop could wipe out a good day's work, but my instinct for reading the market lately has been so solid that I feel more relaxed and comfortable trading this way.

Is this crazy, or is this necessary for me mentally to be able to let winners run???
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I am by no means an expert but I have been trading ES and NQ live every day the last few months with more winning then losing days. I have had much more success with wider stops. Trailing a 1 point stop on ES when you are in the green is pretty much giving up much of your profits. You may as well just sell for the profit you have made as 1 point just isn't enough room, it will come back and hit your stop unless its a nice breakout which is hard to catch always.

Try NQ for some day swing trades.. due to the smaller position size you wont be so inclined to sell and will feel more comfortable with a wider stop. I try to scalp ES and do longer trades with NQ.

My two cents!
 
there is tradeoff between a wide stop and a tight stop.

for wide stop, the odd of being stopped out and then end up in your favor is very little.
for tight stop, the odd of being stopped out and then end up in your favor is very high. if not disciplined enough, overtrade, added up, maybe same or worse as wide stop.

I prefer tight stop, but I need particular filters to find the right market behavior, that is why I rarely trade ES those heavily traded futures. in a moment, there are too many views, for a dip, almost 100% time, if I shorted it, I got killed. for a raly, almost 100% time, if I went long, suddenly dropped a little bit, I got killed. it is hard to play neat trades in those index futures, most time, if I got killed, I ended up doing lots of scalping just like most participants, recouped the loss and gernerated lots of fees.







Quote from NoDoji:

Thanks, Hog.

I'm still having a lot of trouble choosing my stop strategy. Sometimes I lose focus and miss getting in at the proper entry zone, and I chase the trade, but when I do that I have to trust my target and use a wide stop or I'm chopped to death only to see the trade end up in my favor.

Today I had a small breakthrough: I'm too focused on tightening up my stops instead of focusing on my PROFIT target. In my live trades this week I trailed 1 pt stops when the trade moved my way, ended up with these scratch trades where, had I put in a maximum stop loss and just RELAXED, I would've had two of my best days ever.

So I was back to sim today, and when I put in tight stops, same thing, scratch trades only to see them go in my favor. Finally, I put in 10 pt stops and placed my targets where I believed price would end up. I focused on the targets mentally, the reasons I believed price would test those levels and, lo! it got there every time. I had to take 3.5 handles heat on ONE trade and as it ticked against me I kept thinking how one 10 pt stop could wipe out a good day's work, but my instinct for reading the market lately has been so solid that I feel more relaxed and comfortable trading this way.

Is this crazy, or is this necessary for me mentally to be able to let winners run???
More...
 
Well for starters, there is no way i would sit through a trade with 10 handles loss. That would require the next trade to be more than 10 handles + commission just to get even. In the movie "PATTON" General Patton said: "retreat hell!!!, i do not like to pay for the same real estate twice"

I revert back to my contention that setups are more true in the mornings, that means they have less noise to contend with. (well once the initial "RUN" shows up). STOP LOSS placement is a real tough part of trading to contend with
I for one mechanized the problem by setting a MAX loss amount of 3 handles.........BUT, i still will fudge that by a couple ticks if the price action is iffy. Now, a couple ticks past the 3 handle max amount is just that.......a couple more and i am OUT!!! I just do not like making up a big loss, thats a waste of effort and demoralizes you. I feel i am good enough to quickly repair a couple small losers with no sweat. i do double down on a loser but usually only do that if price is bouncing between a single handle or 2 handles against me................the thinking there is the price action is telling me there is no breakout yet but there is no breakdown either so i will take a double down and 1/2 way back i am even..........you will be surprised how well you focus on price at that instant............i do not play with double downs, if i get back even + a tick for commissions, i take it and look to get back in with a regular lot.

Now let me say this, if the daily range has expanded, the small STOP loss works very well ...........but the reentry needs to be given more room because in wider daily ranges the retraces will be wider to hit the 50% retrace mark. If you just had a 10 handle run, and price starts to retrace, then a 5 handle countertrend can be expected. Will i take 5 handles of heat thinking i will be ok? NO I prefer to yank a profit at less than giving back 3 handles or less. But if looking to reenter on a retrace i must be patient and wait for a 50% retrace. The problem with that thinking is if the trend is strong ........the retrace will not be 50% and it will take off without you. As Nod used to say......... ARRRRAG!!!

this is a game of hard and FAST rules laced with a lot of subjective decisions.
:eek: :D
 
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