The CL/NQ experiment

Gabe2004 · Jan 19, 2014

Quote from NoDoji:

OK, that makes sense. I think trading 50 NQ is similar to 8-10 CL.

Just played with some #s

Gabe2004 · Jan 19, 2014

Quote from fortydraws:

First, put any and all trolls on ignore.

I hope people will have enough sense and I will not have to do that and that THEY will start contributing in a positive way.

1) You have nodoji's ear, and from what I have read of her posts here at ET, it is a very good ear to have - If I were you, I'd appreciatively take advantage of any help she is willing to send your way.

I read many of ND's posts (it will take time to read all 9,000+ posts) and I appreciate her comments and offer to help me.

2) You said you were part of a chat room and that you got your current system from one of the guys in the chat room. I think (a) you need to get out of the chat room while you get to work on the business at hand.

I have developed my own system and most of the time it is quiet in the chat room (there are only 2 people in it) but sometimes a single sentence from my co-trader can influence what I do next.

Wyckoff's Studies in Tape Reading/The Day Trader's Bible and finding a DbPhoenix thread.

I am reading those now.

find your own way to trade in the context of a method that you know from observing others trade actually works.

Good luck to you!

I got to that conclusion a while back since each one of us is unique.

Thank you for your advice and the time you spent writing it up.

Gabe

Gabe2004 · Jan 20, 2014

I had my 1st day of trades with the modified system.
A little rocky but seems ok overall. For some reason I cannot upload any type of file.
Any ideas?
This started after the site update.

Gabe

Rashid_G. · Jan 21, 2014

Gabe2004 said:
I had my 1st day of trades with the modified system.
A little rocky but seems ok overall. For some reason I cannot upload any type of file.
Any ideas?
This started after the site update.

Gabe

Doesn't recognize jpg here either..

Zyker · Jan 21, 2014

fortydraws said:
For what its worth, I will put on as few as 5 contracts and as many as 50 contracts on a trade. The "risk" in dollars is not my concern. I am never risking more than 8 ticks and if I do scratch with a loss it is usually 3 ticks or less. I size up depending upon what I think is coming up next and the odds of a big move. If I see high odds of a big move, I bet big. If I see a mere 60% chance of a retest of a swing high just a few points away, I'll bet small. The risk, or the "stop out" point is always the same for me, so I vary my size on what I judge the potential reward to be. "Different strokes."

Sure, like I said, this kind of subjective probability weighting is more advanced stuff, and works no doubt. But my point is that you cannot do that unless you can differentiate between two instances of the same setup (say Ross hook in a range vs. in a good trend), and that's not possible when starting out with a particular setup. It only becomes possible with sufficient screen time.

Zyker · Jan 21, 2014

NoDoji said:
But when trading one instrument, any expansion in volatility is compensated for automatically by the fact that my technically feasible stops have to be a bit wider and the profit targets get significantly larger.

Ok, I see; I rarely use fixed targets myself. So then an increase in volatility should only be seen in the variance of your returns...

smallStops · Jan 21, 2014

Zyker said:
... unless you can differentiate between two instances of the same setup .... It only becomes possible with sufficient screen time.

Some sanity there.
This is why modifying setups at infinitum is not always the best
course of action : better develop the eyes on the nuances of a given setup. And this takes ... what people do not like to hear : screentime. lol

Gabe2004 · Jan 21, 2014

Since uploading images at this time is not possible I'll just fill you in on my progress (or lack of).
87% losers today.
1 definite revenge trade and the rest seem to be by the modified rules but maybe my stops are too close (or the entries are not valid)
Quite frustrated (at least those out for blood will have a field day once I post my charts).
In sim over the weekend I was doing great.
Go figure.

Gabe

smallStops · Jan 21, 2014

Gabe2004 said:
Since uploading images at this time is not possible I'll just fill you in on my progress (or lack of).
87% losers today.
1 definite revenge trade and the rest seem to be by the modified rules but maybe my stops are too close (or the entries are not valid)
Quite frustrated (at least those out for blood will have a field day once I post my charts).
In sim over the weekend I was doing great.
Go figure.
Gabe

Are you still on sim?

Gabe2004 · Jan 21, 2014

Yes. I am.