Quote from Urkel:
1. Trade ONLY 1 lots
2. Research and test a strategy
3. Set a stop loss tick or dollar amt for the day(ie once i have down 5 ticks I will stop trading for the day because on my average winning days I make 8 ticks)
4. Know who is "going on" in a market before you trade - meaning what is influencing it the most while you are trading it. Not only other markets but what economic data came out(or is coming out) that may make other traders enter/exit their positions on that given day. Or wow, we havent traded at these prices in months!!! I better be careful because a big move may happen.
I keep a close eye on economic figures as well as US treasury Auctions. In setting a daily loss limit, should I use my average day profit or my average trade profit? For example, on wednesday, I was down $350+ and got it all back plus $60 in a single trade. So I have shown an ability to make $400 plus in a single trade with a 3 lot. However, all day that day I had smaller losses. The number of smaller losses was much greater than the number of large profits but hte large profits were able to take care of the losses for the whole day. Unfortunately, this was not the case today.....i traded greater size today, however, so that also had an impact on my PnL.
So, on day one, my profits tended toward being much larger than my losses but they occur much less frequently.
The strategy I use is basically to follow trends and trade ranges. I look at a chart, find support/resistance and see if the risk/reward makes it worth putting a trade on. Selling just below resistance would be low risk but I have to be ready to reverse the position if a breakout with volume suddenly occurs. Buying just above support would be low risk but I have to be ready to reverse the position if a breakout with volume suddenly occurs. The size of the range determines how big the risk is relative to the reward:
small trading range===>high risk relative to reward
large trading range===>low risk relative to reward
Now I'm looking at the 10-year chart for today and I see that there were definitely opportunities in that market. Somehow, all day I saw the market as very poor and felt, while I was trading, that there were no opportunities. I think to myself, "where was I" to not have seen any opportunity all day....it is as if I was trading an entirely different market than that shown on the chart because now, looking at hte chart, I see opportunities which were not apparent to me before. How can I be blind while trading?
Anyways, these are the ramblings of a newbie. It would be nice if I am able to sort these things out soon and stop myself from losing too much money. Thanks for listening