Hi Brutus,
I'm just going to discuss your first two trades because Trading the Open is one of my favorite subjects (trading the first one hour).
First of all, what method are you using to come up with these profit-targets that your putting in limit (exit) orders?
I don't like to tell someone what to do without knowing their complete trade methodology...but I will say this...
fixed profit-targets for trading the first hour in the Eminis will get you into a lot of trouble.
Thus, if your at a profit and you see a trend change signal prior to hitting your target...you must exit the position to protect the profit.
Protecting profits...even if its a measley tick...is absolutely critical.
Further...I've met more traders in all my years of trading the Eminis go broke with these fixed profit-targets in the first hour of trading.
You already know how strong and volatile the first hour of trading is....
therefore...this is the worst time to ignore a trend change signal.
Also, if a trader is unable to recognize a trend change signal....
that's a trader that should not be trading the first hour because the first hour will often (arguably) produce some of the most easily recognizable trend change signals in comparison to any other time of day.
Secondly...just in case it has not been said already.
When your at profit...you must immediately move your stop/loss protection up to breakeven (including commissions) while trading that first hour time period.
Trade 1: Your stop/loss protection should have been moved to 914.00 to cover your commissions in case it suddenly reversed.
By the way...at 9:54am est via 1min all session chart...that was a big time trend reversal signal @ 916.00
Trade 2: Once again...another fixed profit-target within the first hour time zone.
Brutus...guess what...at 10:19am est via 1min all session chart...another big time trend reversal signal @ 907.50...
in addition, a particular chart pattern (Bullish Divergence)
formed (depending upon which oscillator indicator you were using).
Finally, I'm a trend reversal trader.
Most trend reversal traders don't pick tops and bottoms. Those that ignore all other trend reversal signals and attempts to only pick tops and bottoms...don't last too long.
I guess too many traders think when something is a trend...it's either moved up strongly to the high of the day or moved down strongly to the low of the day.
Thus, such traders miss those other nice strong trends with trend reversal signals in between the high and low of the day.
They simply use whatever trading methodology to attempt to enter positions at the first signs of a trend reversal confirmation signal that usually had a trend exhaustion signal to warn them prior to the reversal signal.
In addition...after a trend reversal trader has enter a position...they will exit the position at the next trend reversal signal (profit or loss)...sometimes immediately taking a new position with the new trend.
Trend reversal traders are very patient traders and usually can get 3 to 7 trend signals per day within the Eminis. I tried to catch at least 1/2 of such trades.
I'm glad you recognize what methodology you feel more comfortable with...trend continuation trade setups. You accomplish something already that many Emini traders have not...knowing what type of trade methodology fits their personality.
However...you'll still need to keep one eye open for those trend reversal signals so that you can exit and protect your profits if a trend reversal signal occurs before those fixed profit-targets (if you continue using such) are reached or reached and too many people are line in front of you preventing your fill.
NihabaAshi
with a risk of 0,5% you can trade very relaxed. there is plenty of time to apply some position sizing later on.
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