Quote from jokepie:
If you are going to trade futures, you will have to be a student of its behaviour first.
- How futures are affected on some paticular days. FED meetings, key speakers, Key earnings reports, Unemployment numbers etc, there are tons of these.
- Futures are very Emotion driven and therefore the first bullet point and reactions can be sharper than in stocks.
- Since it is an average, movements are limited in range. So identify the strong/ momentum trends and trade them ONLY.
- Remember that it is a highly leveraged product, so risk management (based on your account size) is key. Therefore Size in porperly, chose stop loss wisely and respect the limit parameters set.
- During the lunch or non news times futures market can dry up very fast and hence can chop around alot. Stay away from those timeframes.
You keep saying that you will not trade any more, still enter a trade. Its ok if you have a genuine reason to do so. If you feel that you are really loosing your control and Over trading. Shut the PC down when your last trade is in with stops and targets. As you staring at the screen will not change the outcome.
Its really tuff to control THE MIND. Funny thing is that its the ONLY thing that we have control over. Not the Market or news or Life for that matter.
Do not beat your self on the losses. We all had them, even the best ones did. you learn from them and move on. Its a part of the Game. you need to start accepting your ODDS. Once you do you can manage them better.
Dont trade whne you are tired or stressed ove anything. Try to reduce the number of inputs - your screens seem to be feeding a lot of information- I have felt that as we gain experience we can process more information. just like when we start learning how to drive, we should not play music or talk on cell phones...
. Slowly it all becomes natural.
IF you feel that you always focus on the results/ your future/ past...and doubt your self alot... try to do some meditation. Try the bookl power of now. there is a audio version for 7 buck and playtime is 3 hrs. you can finish it in one night. It helped me stying objective and focussed on the Trade and not contemplate million possible outcomes at each tick.
Gud luck
Hi again jokepie, thanks for your suggestion:
If you are going to trade futures, you will have to be a student of its behaviour first.
after 4 years of following the NQ every single day I think I understand lots of things about the behaviour.
- How futures are affected on some paticular days. FED meetings, key speakers, Key earnings reports, Unemployment numbers etc, there are tons of these.
this also I know well.
- Futures are very Emotion driven and therefore the first bullet point and reactions can be sharper than in stocks.
do you think that trading stocks is easier? I heard this a lot of time, I was actually tempted to focus on stocks, but after 4 years in futures maybe it is like starting everything again. Maybe with stocks you can trade with less size to learn.
- Since it is an average, movements are limited in range. So identify the strong/ momentum trends and trade them ONLY.
I don't know if you refer to intraday trading or position trading, but I'm trading intraday, trying to catch the big moves, so I would have to try to identify the days in which the market will move a lot, this is very hard for me, I actually tried with the previous day range or other stuff, but it seams to be random.
- Remember that it is a highly leveraged product, so risk management (based on your account size) is key. Therefore Size in porperly, chose stop loss wisely and respect the limit parameters set.
this is very important too, I know that very well after the huge losses I had, still don't know if I should trade the same size or different based on how a setup is good, in my case could be if you have a signal from only a chart and you like it trade with 1 contract, if you have 3 signal on 3 charts and you like them trade with 2, and so on... (if I want to do that I have to simulate anyway, but please let me know if it wuold be a better approach)
- During the lunch or non news times futures market can dry up very fast and hence can chop around alot. Stay away from those timeframes.
ok I will trade only during active hours (I use to trade when market opens) , but if I have a trade I entered during active hours I tend to leave it.
- You keep saying that you will not trade any more, still enter a trade. Its ok if you have a genuine reason to do so. If you feel that you are really loosing your control and Over trading. Shut the PC down when your last trade is in with stops and targets. As you staring at the screen will not change the outcome.
very good advice, I will try to apply this.
- Dont trade whne you are tired or stressed ove anything. Try to reduce the number of inputs - your screens seem to be feeding a lot of information- I have felt that as we gain experience we can process more information. just like when we start learning how to drive, we should not play music or talk on cell phones.... Slowly it all becomes natural..
so I should not trade, or maybe trade sim at least when I have gained much confidence.
I will post about all I have on my screans maybe later today, it will be very interesting to hear the opinion of all of you.
- Do not beat your self on the losses. We all had them, even the best ones did. you learn from them and move on. Its a part of the Game. you need to start accepting your ODDS. Once you do you can manage them better.
I know that losses are a kind of investment, you know if you want to open a restourant you have to invest money and losses in trading could be the same, but when losses affect your life style, it is hard, but anyway the damage is done.
- IF you feel that you always focus on the results/ your future/ past...and doubt your self alot... try to do some meditation. Try the bookl power of now. there is a audio version for 7 buck and playtime is 3 hrs. you can finish it in one night. It helped me stying objective and focussed on the Trade and not contemplate million possible outcomes at each tick.
I will buy this book, thanks a lot for your post
