The Evolution of an E-mini Trader

Anticipated some kind of rally in the afternoon. Had divergences all over the place, and the double hit of major resistance. My heart was not in trading this afternoon, and I should have just shut it down. Took one trade that I should have not taken.

Trade 3 - Long off a small retracement, which went against me a little. My methods were right, except I should have waited a little longer. Loss of .75

Net for the day: +190.40

Net for the week: +190.40

Net for the month: +250.60
 

Attachments

Hey all,

The friend of the family is a 16 y.o. girl (Jess) who lost a friend "C" (17 y.o.) in an auto accident yesterday. A trucker fell asleep and crossed the line and hit them head on. C was the passenger, and died on the scene. The driver of the car is in critical condition, and is not expected to make it. Don't know about the rig driver.

She is staying with my sister-in-law for the summer. My wifes family kinda adopted these kids when they were still small. The person who called her did not tell who was driving the car, and Jess thinks it was another of her friends. She was being picked up early this afternoon to go back home for the services.

I've known this kid for only a few weeks. Her older sister was at our wedding 3 years ago. There are 3-4 other siblings, most are from different fathers. The dads are not around, and the girls have not lived with their mom for several years. These kids, for what they have been thru are some of the sweetest teenagers I have ever met. Honor students, no drugs, sex, and the like. Good, fun, respectful, hard working teens. They make good choices.

I know life is not fair, but this really bites. She was telling me about her relationship with him. Food fights, playing hide and seek, hanging out, crazy pictures. We laughed, cried, talked, and sat there silent.

For those of you who pray, please put Jess, C's family, and the kid still in the hospital, on your list for the next several days. Pray for comfort, hope, healing (physical and emotional) and whatever else the Lord leads you to pray.

I shut down after trade 3, I drove to my wife's work and took her an Iced Tea. Gave her a long hug and told her I loved her.

Love on your wives, kids, family, and friends. Resolve conflicts. Life is too short.

Thanks for listening.
 
Sunnyskies and Huios,

To Huios,

You are right, life is to short so lets enjoy it first with family and then by ripping lots of money out of the market. Best wishes to yourself, family and friends and lets hope for a quick recovery. I am not a religious person so I won't go there.

Back to business. Well done with your trades today. They were good trades but once again I will say have a look at a 5min chart. You probably would have done much better on the retracements with your exits and entry.

Why do you stick with the 1min chart?. Can't you see all the whipsaws. If you cant get away from the 1min why not use both?????

Sunnyskies,

Thanks for the kind words but it doesn't work everyday that is why I have close stops so when it fails I don't lose much.Yes I will post reasons and trades from time to time but not everyday. This is a fulltime job and I don't always get the time. I have just tried to make the point that you don't need all these fancy indicators for day trading that lots of chart packages and others push.

Sit down with a live screen and a 5min chart for a week and watch. Get a book that tells you about the basic patterns and retracements and you will be amazed at the amount of times these patterns occur.

I do fine and I don't use moving averages, macd's, rsi's, etc.

Cheers
 
Dizzyspell
Best wishes to yourself, family and friends and lets hope for a quick recovery
More...

Thanks Dizzy!

Dizzyspell
Why do you stick with the 1min chart?. Can't you see all the whipsaws. If you cant get away from the 1min why not use both?????
More...

LOL. Before the market opened, and even Sun night, I was trying to figure out what head space I wanted to be in. I like the risk of the scalper, and the wins of the swinger. I don't really mind the wins of the scalper (1-2 pts.) but don't like the losses/drawdown of the swinger. I never really resolved it, looking back!!!

I want the best of both.

In the morning, I kept trying to keep the 5 in front of the 1, but, kept flipping back. It did not go un-noticed!!!!

I was trying to use the 5 for the setups, what I call the "Stalking", and flipp'n to the 1 for the trigger. I plot "stuff" on the 1 that I didn't on the 5. This morning, it all got plotted on the 5 also.

And since I'm only using one screen for now, I only have room for one chart, and flip between the two, not ideal, I know. After my first profitable month, I'm gonna steal (borrow) my wifes 15" lcd (she doesn't know this yet), buy another, get me a dual video card, and trade with two!!!

I thought about just closing the 1 minute chart, and trading just off the 5 (like I was doing off the 1) but that was too tramatic, too much emotions, and all that garbage. LOL

Today, I'm looking at the 5 for stalking, and 1 for setups.

We'll see how it goes!!!

Maybe I should just take a few days and only watch the 5 and 10. Hmmmmm.

Thanks for your comments.
 
Originally posted by Huios

I thought about just closing the 1 minute chart, and trading just off the 5 (like I was doing off the 1) but that was too tramatic, too much emotions, and all that garbage. LOL
More...

use 3m chart, compromise between 1m(too much noise) and 5m(too slow for one used to 1m chart but it will be the ultimate goal latter). This is how I trick myself into using 3m, I keep flipping between 1m and 3m and after a week or two they seem merge into 1 chart with 3m as dominant one then I delete 1m chart soon after that. I still bring up 1m chart one awhile but it don't carry the same weight as before.
 
Trading with the swing mindset today. And looking to fill the gap.

Breaking lower out of the morning range.

Trade 1 - Short at 9:56, right after the big black bar down, 3 bars before the BIG blue bar up. Gerry, you asked me how I dealt with the additional risk of intraday reports. Today, I just forgot to check them. My target was the bottom of the day session gap. Loss of 2 pts.

Eventually the gap, and my target was reached. The market shot up to a new high after the gap was filled.

Trade 2 - Long off a 38% fib retracement. Stop was below the 50%. Market retraced to 62% and I was stopped out for a 2.25 loss. And the market ran for 5 pts.

Had an epiphany (I love that word) which I'll tell in a later post.

Did not take any afternoon trades. Letting the "ahaa" settle in.

Took my wife roses during lunch, as tommorrow is our anniversary, and she'd expect me tommorrow, but not today. heh heh heh.

Net for the day: - 221.85

Net for the week: -31.45

Net for the month: 214.35
 

Attachments

I am a scalper, not a swing trader.

I like trading a 1 minute chart, not a 5 minute chart.

I like the risk of a scalper, not the swing trader.

The wins of a scalper are ok with me, and if I only occasionally get a good run, that's ok. 1-2 points, several times a day are fine for now.

I'm out of the closet!!!!!

I know there are many styles of trading, and you have to trade how you are comfortable trading. Since I am learning, I want the smaller risk. Capital preservation is my number one concern. Even though a 2 pt loss is only about 1% of my trading equity, and if I blow out this one (lose 50% of it) I can replace it twice, I still want the smaller risk. If I manage my losses, the wins will take care of themselves.

I am comfortable with the dynamics of scalping. Vulture says in and out of trades quick and the reflexes have to be sharp. My costs are as low as I can make them. My setups are good and getting better. I stalk my trades on the 5 min, but the trigger is on the 1 min. My exits (now that I know what I am) will improve tremendously. I am setting targets. Downfalls - overtrading and churning.

I AM SCALPER, HERE ME ROAR!!!

Boy does that feel good.

(comments, critques, and loose change accepted)

:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top