The CL/NQ experiment

[NoDoji]

A quick question for nodoji (sorry to "hi-jack Gabe). I tried to send this as a PM, nodoji, but ET says you are not accepting them right now, so I hope it is ok to ask this here: I've read a great many of your posts and I've been through your day trading journal where you were primarily trading stocks. Is there a post or two that I may have missed where you explain your reasoning behind switching from primarily day trading stocks to day trading CL futures? If not, no problem. I'm curious more than anything else. I am working on a trading plan that trades stocks - mostly day trades with a few circumstances that would allow a profitable position to be held for a day or two for additional possible gains. I've watched CL out of the "corner of my eye," and at $10/tick, I'll stick to trading small lots of stocks for now !

When I started day trading, I traded stocks, but unlike most of the guys in the chat room, I found myself trading the same stock for a period of time. I felt as if I "got to know it". Also unlike the guys in the chat room I had no scanner that threw signals for the "play of the moment". I remember a day in fall of 2008 when I traded the same stock in a range several times and made almost $1000.

Bighog thought I should trade futures because I always complained about losing focus when watching multiple stock charts. With futs, I could focus on one or two things. But it wasn't until summer 2009 through very early 2010 that I began to understand price action trading. Once that began to take hold, I finally realized the PA concepts would allow me to trade both directions throughout the day. I didn't have to wait for price to get to some long term level, I didn't have to scan for stocks that were "in play"; I could just watch a futures chart for price action setups, several of which occurred each day.

Futures began to make a lot more sense then: easier to focus, no wash sale rules, far less risk of a trading halt, etc.

 

[NoDoji]

How many trades is Nodoji taking each day?

I usually have at least 6 trades a day but I'm a scalper. Where an intraday trend follower might hold through several retraces, or add to the winner on each retrace, I will trade the trend in several pieces. Today, for example, just before the pit open we were in a well-defined uptrend. Instead of buying and holding (or adding) throughout the day, I traded to the long side quite a few times. I had a few shorts in there, but not one of them hit a 20 tick profit target.

 

[Gabe2004]

ie what is the point of this thread, but if that came across as rude, my apologies.

I have a short memory so let's hope for the best in the future.

Anyway, how can you be "down" when it's only a sim account? Presumably, you're learning and that's always a good thing.

I take my sim trading as if it was real money. I cannot explain why but that's a fact.

If your friend can do it year after year, he is one of the best.

His performance is consistent for well over 10 years. Unfortunately I could not assimilate his method.

It's also impossible to duplicate the emotional aspect of risking your own money.

ALMOST impossible. I agree that the emotions are different but similar.
When (and not if) I go live, it would be interesting how I would react to losses.
I used to trade live and lost but kept posting (not here on ET)

Thank you for your advise

Gabe

 

[NoDoji]

His performance is consistent for well over 10 years. Unfortunately I could not assimilate his method.

What factors prevented you from assimilating his method?

 

[Gabe2004]

What factors prevented you from assimilating his method?

His actual trading and what he wrote in a manual he published were different in my mind (there were some English issues as well. as an example - if X happens do Z HOWEVER if Y happens do Z. It is not a typo. Basically do the same under 2 different conditions).
Also the rules were nested so deep (if then statement like) that the condition rarely materialized.
I tried to program the rules but got no output.
Yet he is very successful.
Maybe it was only me.

Gabe

 

[NoDoji]

His actual trading and what he wrote in a manual he published were different in my mind (there were some English issues as well. as an example - if X happens do Z HOWEVER if Y happens do Z. It is not a typo. Basically do the same under 2 different conditions).
Also the rules were nested so deep (if then statement like) that the condition rarely materialized.
I tried to program the rules but got no output.
Yet he is very successful.
Maybe it was only me.

Gabe

Hmmm...strange. Are you sure he was successful and not just claiming to be?

FWIW, someone once told me he paid a successful trader/mentor to teach him to trade and found out very much by accident one "successful" day that the trader was sitting on badly losing positions.

 

[Gabe2004]

Hmmm...strange. Are you sure he was successful and not just claiming to be?

I was sitting in his chat room for close to 3 years and he was posting his trades with slight delays.
Unless he had an extremely rich wife or a large inheritance, I don't know how he could support himself for all this time because he was in the room most of the day (he could have worked nights but then I would classify him as a Zombie.

Gabe

P.S. I still could not find a way to send you stuff.

 

[Gabe2004]

Todays trade and other setups that I did not take.

Gabe

 

[foozler]

When I started day trading, I traded stocks,

Thank you, nodoji

 

[hitchslap]

That's exactly how I feel, so I quit posting my trades in my journal for now. It's just plain embarrassing. I had 89% losers today. 2 wins, 16 losses. And that's after a ton of work & research & notes. I even made a flow chart. Scrolled thru thousands of charts since I've began all this. I feel like an idiot.

The one thing that just completely baffles my mind is how easy it is to lose 80 ticks like I did today, but on a good day it feels like I have to completely work my ass off to make 20 ticks.

Why is losing so incredibly easy?

(Keep posting, if nothing else it is charitable because it makes me feel better. It's good to help fellow traders).

lol, you're not alone.
I had exactly the same yesterday, trading nq and cl.
18 trades. 16 losses. 2 winners.
down $700 on the day.

So far today i'm 8 trades in. 7 losers! (all CL trades.)

Don't stress, though
If more people were honest, you'd realise you were far from alone!