swansjr

I don't know if it's better, but it looks like you could use it. There are many ways to place order. I don't have much experience with using that function so I can't comment on the pros/cons of using it.

You can use TradeStation and trade a simulated account. You can use Options Express as well. I'm sure there are others as well. But those are the ones I know about.

Would love to hear your ideas, if you don't mind.

Hello, Attached are two images of the trades made by the RSI Fading System (Morning Fade) for the month of April. The charts and graphs depict trades in my live account which, of course, takes into account slippage. The system enters on limit orders and if I'm not filled I don't take the trade. I'll wait until the next setup. Slippage most often occurs on the 830 Central exit and is 1 tick. Anyway, this market edge continues to hold well.

Futures Truth has a list of top systems.

I don't know of any thread here that talks about the best automated strategies. However, you can take a peek at Futures Truth. They track the performance of many trading system.

Did you look here? http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/f46/force-index-indicator-tradestation-745.html

This is painful to write, but here it goes: I'm going to be taking a break from discretionary trading and when I return I will be on the simulator. The last few days have been a nightmare for me. I've suffered some very emotional days and expensive loses. Today I became emotional and lost $650 on far too many trades I could not walk away from my trading system and violated my daily loss of $300. I've been building to this point of failure for several days. Monday I lost $300 and last week I lost $400. That's a total of $1,350 in just a few days. My gains for the past 3 months are erased and I've started eating into my principal. I could feel myself slipping away and if I had the discipline I would have taken a break from trading and regrouped. But I pressed on and with each day my discipline slipped further into oblivion. Today was the worst. My breakdown was all recorded and I'm far too embarrassed to post my collapse here. That's why this thread has been quiet. This all happened before. Early last year I begin to trade with real money and for a few months I did OK, growing my equity. Then, for some reasons, I begin to revert back to an armature trader who lacks discipline and allows emotions to take over. It seems when I start out I'm very focused and disciplined but over time I lose it. I really wanted this year to be a great year. My first week of trading in January was great and my hopes were high. Last fall I was growing my equity. But everything slowly unraveled after that first week in January. With my large loss today and my continued grinding down of my cash I have to stop trading real money. I also must take a break. I do plan to return. My trading method is fine. It works, but it's me that has the problem. I need to work on my trader's mindset. I started futures trading in 2008 and during that year I really did not know what I was doing. I became much more serious in May of 2009. Last fall I started developing my current trading method and today, I have to work more on myself. This is all so frustrating. :crap: I will become a good trader! I must. I tend to beat myself up a lot and I'm trying my best now to formulate a plan of attack that will most benefit my growth. I'm seriously considering finding a trading coach. If anyone can recommend a coach that would be great. Until next time, good luck everyone!

I would love to hear about anyones experiences as well. For those not familiar with Quantifiable Edges you'll find some great research ideas. Here is a link to the Big Time Swing System.

Day 37 Thursday, February 4, 2010 P&L: $-115 on 1 trades. I said I was in a drawdown, right? Yes, another losing day with one trade. However, what makes today's losing trade kind of interesting is I noticed a formation on the 60 minute chart last night before going to bed. It was a classic trendline break and re-test of the lows. So, this morning I decided to play it on the 5-minute chart. I show this setup in more detail the video below. I've noticed on past trades that sometimes a great setup on the 5-minute looks decent on a 15-minute or even 60-minute. An entry point on my 5-minute may even coincide with an important level on the daily chart. Some of my past trades that did work out well would have been far superior if I simply held on. The EC has been very trendy, although, not always during my hours of trading. Thus, I'm attempting to keep an eye on the larger timeframe simply to pinpoint areas where it is worth holding a contract for the long haul (hours or days) instead of placing my profit target at a near by resistance/support level. Most days simply following setups on the 5-minute is just fine but occasionally a setup on a larger timeframe will appear. So, I had this great setup forming on the 60-minute chart. It was also clear in a 15-minute char. I waited to place a trade on the 5-minute chart. Price was right around the vwap as well and I knew things would be choppy. Well I entered and was stopped out about 45 minutes later. Price never moved much beyond 14 ticks! Talk about chop! The stop-out did not bother me. I've been stopped out on this setup before and then would enter again a few bars later and make my money. So, this was nothing unusual. I waited for a clear long conformation. However, it never came. During this time price was in a fairly tight channel. Then the unemployment news came out and things started picking up. This is where I failed to notice and take advantage that the bears had the upper hand. Price eventually would bread down through the trading range, violating my setup, yet. I never shorted. I recognized what was going on but never imitated that short. Sure, it was late in the day and I had to get going (work) but I failed to act. Doing so I missed another day where I should have made a nice profit. If I can't make up my losses Friday, I'll have another losing week. Live_Trade_2010-02-04_1.swf 2010-02-04_2.swf

January Performance Gross: $187.50. Net:$-6.14 Here is the trading performance since I started this thread. Here is the equity curve. At least it's positive. The more I trade the more I understand the different feel or behavior of the market. I need to exploit those winners and stay out of the market when it's not my kind of dance. You need to exploit your trading when the market is favorable to your style and back off when it's not. I still think I'm probably trading a little too much. I few well placed trades in one week is all you need. The other option is to modify my trading slightly during these choppy times. For example, scalping when price bounces off of trendlines, resistance, support and the vwap. It appears to do this very regularly. I would simply need to change my entry rule by using a limit order at the support or resistance level. In other words, fade the move for 5-7 ticks.

Day 36 Tuesday, February 2, 2010 P&L: $-120 on 1 trades. No trades on Monday or last Friday. The market is moving back into a Choppy type action as it digests the sweeping down move last week. The overall trend for the second strait day is a slow grind up. Candles contain many long tails. Price action is punctuated by deep pullbacks and strong rallies that fake-out many traders. I tried to go long today but was stopped out. The market would then continue without me. I'm still really disliking my performance. It would not be so bad except I did not take advantage of last weeks great trending market. My game was off and now the market is luke warm. I'm in a drawdown period and it's demoralizing. Mother market is testing my resolve. Live_Trading_2010-02-02_1.swf Live_Trade_2010-02-02_2.swf

Day 35 Thursday, January 28, 2010 P&L: $-180 on 2 trades. Today I traded like an idiot. I was careless and emotional. I have now wiped out my gains for the month. I'm back to where I started January 1st. I'm very upset with myself for not taking the time to carefully observe what's going on. A misplaced trendline can cause all kinds of havoc as you will most likely misread the market. That's what I did today. I was trying to go long when waiting for a proper short would have been the correct move. Even after reviewing the video myself today I'm not sure why I was going long. I give an excuse in the video but I'm wondering, what was I thinking? Then my emotions ran wild and I feel for the classic scam when trading the markets: I chased the market and entered emotionally! Frustrated at my misread of the market I got emotional as the market moved lower after taking me out. I jumped in! You would not believe what happened. I shorted at the very lowest tick! Yep, the market would then reverse to take out my newly initated short. It would then roll over to new lows. We all know what that feels like. I stormed away from the computer knowing I was only going to hurt myself if I was to continue to trade. I was done for the day. Maybe for the week. It has been a while since I traded so recklessly. I've had some decent runs over the past few months and this breakdown is so typical of a new trader. I have had at least 3-4 complete breakdowns over the past year or so. I would like to think the days between such events are growing. At first I did not even wish to post the video or my results, but here they are. I provide more detail and the end of video 2 where I talk about what I did wrong. Tomorrow is the last day of the month. Can I make it a profitable month? Live_Trade_2010-01-28.swf Live_Trade_2010-01-28_2.swf

Day 34 Wednesday, January 27, 2010 P&L: $110 on 1 trade. The market was moving up early in the morning right into a major bear trendline. Actually, there were two bear trendlines and at one point price was wedged between them. Ultimately it failed to break-out above the higher trendline and collapsed below both. I shorted and set a target for the vWap which was near by. Since price has been choppy I did not want to take any more chances of having price move in my favor only to snap back and take me out. Indeed, price was choppy near the trendlines as bulls and bears battled for dominance. Being and FOMC day, price can also be strange. I took some heat but my target was hit. However, price would continue to move cleanly down another 30 ticks or so, right into another support level. I wish I held on. But, I did the right thing. If you are new to trading watch how price bounces of trendlines that are days old right down to a previous support level. It's really amazing how often price ping-pongs off trendlines and support/resistance levels. The EC seems poised to go lower and I'll need to take advantage of those trending days to rake in some cash to make my first month green.Actually, it's green now but it's a very light shade of green. Live_Trade_2010-01-27_1.swf Live_Trade_2010-01-27_2.swf

Day 33 Tuesday, January 26, 2010 P&L: $-180 on 2 trades. Today I got chopped up. The bears and bulls were fighting hard all morning and if you have tight stops, like I do, you'll get your nose bloodied. Live_Trade_2010-01-26.swf

Day 32 Monday, January 25, 2010 P&L: $86 on 3 trades. OK, I'm trying to get back into a regular routine here. I must maintain my focus! First, last week turned out to be a positive week. For the three trading weeks this year so far, I've managed to end positive for two of the three. This also puts me positive for the month. Again, my goal is to have 4 consecutive weeks of profit. Next, the market has been choppy as of late and I need to adapt better to that. One method I have been doing is trading from a 5-minute chart which seems to removes some of the noise. Finally, I don't have a video today for the fact...er...humm...I just did not start it. See how bad habits creep back in?! The video recorder will be back for Tuesdays trading. Anyway today's trades were OK. My second trade netted me about $280 which covered my two other losing trades. They were all bounces of EMA or trendlines.

Thanks. I really hope all of this is worth it! Actually, I really think it's helping a lot.

Day 31 Friday, January 23, 2010 P&L: $123 on 1 trade. Another quick post. I miss a great short trade because I did not have my trading journal ready and was busy with the printer. :doh: Live_Traad_2010-01-22.swf

Day 30 Wednesday, January 21, 2010 P&L: $-55 on 2 trades. I'm falling behind on my postings! The next few posts will be short. I placed no trades Wednesday but was dinged a little today. Live_Trade_2010-01-21.swf

That's very kind. Thanks. I've been lazy about posting. I have been carefully recording my trades but just too busy (lazy) to post. I hope to post my trades from last week later today.

Day 29 Tuesday, January 19, 2010 P&L: $20 on 2 trades. Today I managed to scrape a positive P&L breaking my losing streak. Once again I was right on with my direction of the market but the choppiness caught me on the first trade. Today price was moving down to the lower extreme of the bear flag as seen on a daily chart. When I awoke price was within 15 ticks or so of hitting this low so I did not do any trading then. Price punctured the lower flag extreme then reversed breaking the bear trendline. This was the classic setup for a trendline break and retest of the lows. My first trade was a short after two thrusts up. The second thrust was halted by the lower extreme of the bear flag which price was now under. A perfect place to short. I did and was stopped out on a large bull bar. Price would soon roll over to re-test the lows. I switched to a 5-minute chart to reduce the noise. I took the first clear bull bar after the lowers were re-tested. I got out at my scalp target simply due to time - I had to get to work. If I had more time I would have held. Today's setups were classic patterns. I need to adjust to the choppiness for now. Live_Trading_2010-01-19.swf PS: It's now late Tuesday night and price is well outside the bear flag on the daily chart. We should have some nice clean downward movement!

Day 28 Friday, January 15, 2010 P&L: ($85) on 2 trades. Well, so much for having two weeks of consecutive profits. My first goal for 2010 is to have four consecutive weeks of profits and the first week of trading was damn good. Since then I've had 5 consecutive losing trades. All week EC was range bound within a bear flag as seen from a daily chart. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I did not even trade because I know I'm not good at trading ranges. But Thursday and Friday I jumped in and got chopped up. The only good thing was those 5 losing trades amounted to about $66 each - far smaller than my average win. I've been thinking about this bear flag price action and I came to several conclusions: 1. Don't trade those days. 2. If you do trade those days most trades should be exited based on scalp paramters. My break even trades would have turned a profit. 3. If you do trade those days the best setups occur at the edges of the flag. That is, fade the edges of the flag. 4. If you do trade those days, a wider than normal stop may be needed. If anyone has advice on trading this type of price action I would love to hear it. Live_Trade_2010-01-15.swf

Day 27 Thursday, January 14, 2010 P&L: ($105) on 2 trades. I've not been trading because EC has been in a trading range since Monday. Within this range it's been rather choppy and I decided to not participate. Today I entered on what I thought was a bearish trend and was first taken out at a stop loss. Then taken out as I moved my stop to break even. The market did move lower so, I was correct on the direction. However, it was choppy given my tight stop levels. Live_Trade_2010-01-14.swf

Well, I started day trading in the spring of 2007. I was hooked when I made $1,000 in a few hours. I knew day trading had some serious potential. I was into stocks then but the crazy margin rules and the yearly IRS reporting was horrible. I also did not like the idea of looking at a bunch of different stocks. Late in the year I stumbled upon the guys over at Trade The Markets and they turned me on to futures. Futures held a lot of mystery as well. But once I understood them they quickly became my preferred day trading instrument. I could simply focus on one market, the IRS rules were simple and the margin requirements were very reasonable. On January 1, 2008 I started day trading YM with a crude trading plan I developed based on concepts I learned from Trade The Markets. Namely, opening gap fades, and pivot plays. At this time I understood risk management and it was this knowledge that saved me. I've always had decent risk aversion and never took outlandish risks. If you recall, during the fall of 2008 there was some crazy volatile days and I survived those. The Dow would move 400, 600 or even 800 points in a single day. My first year of trading futures I was rewarded with with a 20% return on my initial capital (after expenses!). I could not believe it. My first year of trading futures was positive. I even have photos of me holding the checks I cashed in the fall of 2008. Looking back the market was rewarding me for being sloppy. My consistency was horrible. Many of my trades were done by the seat-of-my pants. I had no real discipline or game plan. But my risk management kept me in the game and all my profits would come from two trades. There were two days of extreme volatility where I managed to enter at the right time and ride it. Ever make $1,400 trading one contract of YM in 15 minutes? I did it. It was luck.The remainder of the days (98%) were me trying no to lose too much. I knew I was lucky in 2008 and begin in earnest to fully understand day trading and move me to the next level. By spring of 2009 I was ready to take another stab at being truly successful. I started treating my day trading as a business. I started documenting everything. I read about the psychology of the markets and and really focused on discipline, my plan and trading like professional. My first real attempted ended in a wash with the Watts system which was documented in this thread. Late 2009 I developed a new strategy that you are witnessing live today. I like to think I've improved. Trading for me has become less of a game and more of a science. My decisions are far less ruled by emotions and I would like to think I'm starting to "get it." Constancy, self control and following a plan. In my mind, I don't have to trade often, just trade right. Making fewer and fewer mistakes is critical to growing your equity curve. Letting profits run and cutting losers is a lame cliche but it's true for me nonetheless. That's my short life as a day trader.

Yeah, back on those days I was scalping for 8-ticks. Now I try to get more points out of each trade. I will keep your method in mind!