brownsfan019

Tin - that's the beauty of trading, right? Your analysis can be correct, but you can still lose money... I think that's what makes this job so hard at times. Sounds like the stop placement was not the best; however, I would suggest getting back on the horse when a new trade shows. I know it's easier said than done, but you cannot freeze over one stop out. We've all been there, so you just have to work on the mental aspect of it.

Follow up question - should we create a new thread each day for each member or will this be grouped by day or member name? For example, starting Monday the 16th, should everyone that is participating create their own thread and do so each day, or should we create a 'master' for each day and we all post into that day? I think we should try to group these together somehow, whether that's by day, by member name, by instrument being traded... some way to keep it cleaner and easier for everyone to follow.

James - thanks, that works well for me, but maybe others would like the other format as well. I don't want you to change something just for me. I guess we can leave it as is and see how it goes or maybe create 2 templates... Just an idea, but thanks!!

I personally would only use the input boxes that you have quoted here. Just an EOD thing is what would work easily for me.

James - thanks for designing the new forum area, it looks nice. My only concern is that you have it laid out so that each individual trade must be entered. Again, my hope was to keep this simple and quick and if you trade once or twice a day, this works fine. I typically trade 20+ times per day so inputting each individual trade will simply take too long. For me to actively contribute, this log must: 1) Be QUICK 2) Be EASY 3) Be SIMPLE I have no idea what type of frequency others trade here, but for anyone doing a decent amount of round trips each day inputting each individual trade at the EOD may work for a few days or even weeks, but I doubt there will be much follow through.

Jerry, First, just want to say WOW on these threads. If I was new to trading, you would have my attention! Great job! One observation on the ES video - to assume any fills when price just touches, esp for a newbie trading a 1 lot, is not realistic. Price needs to trade through the entry and exit level to expect a real-time fill. The ES is too thick for price to be touched and assume a fill. Just an FYI for anyone running the examples on the ES. An MIT order would eliminate that (but also create smaller profit targets).

That advice is commonly found in books and message boards; however, if you take a look at the action this 'summer' it's been PHENOMENAL. Liquidity is NOT low and the action is HIGH. Perfect trading grounds if you ask me.

Glad to hear the bonds and e-mini spikes are fixed Cooter! When I first learned about them (from you) and as I was considering moving to OEC, this became a potential issue for me as well and I'm glad the problems are resolved. It's my understanding there's quite a bit on the plate for future OEC dom releases. I constantly provide feedback and ideas to improve the software and I would suggest you do the same. OEC is open to ideas and that is a good thing. I currently suggested they strongly considering working with TraderDNA and it looks like it might get done. If all goes as planned, you could have access to the TraderDNA reports w/o having to do ANY work on your end as the two api's would just talk to each other. You just go pick up your reports! I would LOVE to see this implemented and soon. I think that for the serious trader, having these fantastic reports constantly available would be a great thing. Here's a thread on TL about it: http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/f92/traderdna-1780.html Like I said, it's not a done deal yet, but I think OEC sees the value. I also do not know what fee(s), if any, would be involved. I personally can see the value of this b/c it takes analyzing to a whole new level and would gladly pay if I had to in order to get the reports.

unleashed - I like the idea of posting charts for those that want to; however, for someone like me that is doing 20+ trades per day that will get cumbersome and time intensive real quick. Which in turn could lead to less and less participation. If there's a way to post charts in the forum area James made, have at it! I just would prefer if it's not a requirement.

There is an element of honesty required here fellas. Even posting a chart after the fact does not solve that potential problem. And, as I have stated previously, I am not interested in divulging my entire trading plan here. Chastise if you will, but that's my personal feelings. I am looking to accomplish something that is quick and easy. Something that you can perform in 30 seconds or less (assuming you track your #'s during the day). The charts and blotters and other screenshots sound great now, but I have to wonder how much follow thru there will be 6 mo's from now when you are asked to provide at least one chart per day detailing your trade setup(s). Sounds great now, but time will tell. As you can see, I am not interested in going that direction, but it appears there is some interest so I would suggest someone start a thread going in the direction of posting charts with annotations and what expectations there are going into it. I've learned that most traders are goal oriented, so you must present a goal to be achieved. I'm glad that my idea got some brainstorming going but someone else will have to take the lead on this as I will not be participating.

To me a blotter is simply a 'look at me'. And that's what elitetrader does. No point of copying what is already being done. Think outside the box. I'm looking for a way for us to help each be accountable to our trading plan. Posting a blotter does none of this. There's no way to tell how many trades you had available and how many you took. I would like this thread to serve more than a 'look at me' purpose. I should also mention that this idea comes from reading many of the threads and the PM's I've received since being on the forum. It appears to me that the active members here usually want more than the normal 'fluff' seen at ET. And I think a blotter post is just that - some fluff that doesn't do much to help YOU and EACH OTHER. Size of the P&L is not necessarily what's important; whereas following your plan 100% is, as mentioned in the other thread about mind games. Once you are consistently following your plan, the P&L will follow in my opinion. We'll see what others think...

Make sure you guys check out my idea here - http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/f37/holding-yourself-accountable-idea-2039.html

Make sure you guys check out my idea here - http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/f37/holding-yourself-accountable-idea-2039.html

I think I have a better idea than posting actual P&L numbers that will still help each of us w/o playing 'big bank'. Instead of posting the actual P&L numbers, we can post gross and net point totals. Example: +3.25 ES pts. I think posting actual numbers is very useful and this way, numbers are posted w/o having to disclose your personal numbers, which I understand some may not want to do that. So a revised template could look like: # OF SETUPS: # OF SETUPS TAKEN: % OF SETUPS TAKEN: WHAT GROSS PTS SHOULD HAVE BEEN: ACTUAL GROSS PTS: NOTES:

I think most of us at some point or another could use that additional accountability that we don't always have, esp when trading by yourself. I find it too easy to get lax and fall behind, which is a slippery slope. So, my idea was to create a thread here that we can all use to help keep ourselves accountable to each other. Being a smaller group, we could really help each other out to get to that next level, whatever that next level is. An example of that I am talking about can be found here, but I want to take it a step further, as I mentioned in this TL thread. The catch of course being that 1) there must be regular participation (daily for daytraders) and 2) there's enough interest by the 'regulars' to even want to do this. To help gauge interest, I attempted to include a poll with this so vote in the poll and feel free to post some ideas/suggestions as well. I think we need to keep the format quick and easy. I'd like to just make a template that we all use. My idea is: # OF SETUPS: # OF SETUPS TAKEN: % OF SETUPS TAKEN: WHAT P&L 'SHOULD' HAVE BEEN: ACTUAL P&L: NOTES: The idea being that for those that do not take every setup, myself included, that we work on that. If you take all your setups, then those points are not necessary. I'm sure we can get a few more ideas as well. Note - I just realized that some may shy away if P&L #'s are disclosed. I'll leave it up to the majority as to whether we include that or not. I don't want someone to think that it's not worth participating if trading a smaller lot size. I have no idea what types of traders are here in terms of P&L's, so I don't want that to be a deterrent for anyone. I'd rather have 10 of us actively staying accountable to each other and not disclose P&L vs. 3 of us doing it with P&L numbers. Just an idea. James - is there anyway to make a template that can be used somehow? Just something to make this even easier for everyone.

Again - Sim trading for me was a complete waste of time. That means, others may be the same way. The OP should hear both sides of the story before deciding. I am a TERRIBLE sim trader. Does that mean trading real money is too dangerous? If so, please explain why b/c my bank account would say otherwise. Also, if trading ONE YM contract is going to put you into bankruptcy, you should not be trading period. Trading money SHOULD be RISK CAPITAL ONLY. DO NOT TRADE WITH THE MORTGAGE PAYMENT, GROCERY MONEY, ETC. Risk money means money you can AFFORD to lose. That means bankruptcy is NOT a possibility. Anyone trading with their 'need to live on' money is foolish and deserves what they get.

It just doesn't work for me Cooter b/c the emotional aspect of the trade is not there. It's a 'oh well, who cares what happens here' (b/c no real money is on the line). Sim can work for some, but not me. I just don't take it seriously enough I guess. Show me the benjamins baby! And you bring up the other GREAT point that if your sim platform is not realistic, then it's a complete waste of time in my opinion b/c you get a false sense of security real quick. And then BAM, things change in real-time. That will mess with your psyche real quick. In the end, taking day/weeks to 'practice' on Sim can actually set you back YEARS.

Only problem with that Jerry is that some people, myself included, cannot take sim trading and treat it as real. I never had much success with sim trading b/c it's too easy to not treat it as real $. If he's been trading for 1.5 years, I don't know how useful sim trading will be. Scaling back to one contract could accomplish much more, in a shorter period of time.

Tev - I think at some point, we all go thru what you are going thru. I suggest that if you've PROVEN to yourself that your setups are profitable over the long haul, then you just have to do it. Sooner or later you'll have no choice as the next step is insanity. I can totally understand as this is a purely mental issue and I would suggest to make a promise to yourself for next week (assuming you KNOW you are profitable if you take everything) - start a new thread here and update it during the day (if possible) and at the end of day with how many setups you had and how many you took. Make yourself accountable to this board. Only you will know the truth, so just post the real results, good or bad. Put the numbers in front of you. No more guessing, let's do this NEXT WEEK! My suggested format for tracking: # OF SETUPS: # OF SETUPS TAKEN: % OF SETUPS TAKEN: WHAT P&L 'SHOULD' HAVE BEEN: ACTUAL P&L: So, you ready to step up and beat this mental beast?

Happened again tonight. Here's what I see on Firefox if it's any help:

James - I suggest you tell your programmer to fix the issue and soon. If Pivot and others leave, this site will die quickly. There is obviously something wrong here, regardless of what he is telling you.

How about the most recent forum activity area? That's really the only area I use looking for recent posts.

Is there a way to quickly skip to the end of a thread when clicking it off the homepage? I don't care for the elitetrader setup, but that is one nice feature - you click the little arrow thing and it takes you to the most recent post right away. Just a convenient little feature and I wasn't sure if TL has it and I missed it. If not, maybe something for the to-do list James. Just an idea.

James - just an FYI for you - I still get connection issues with the site. There's no set time when it happens, it just tries to connect and then gives up. I am using Firefox 2.0.0.4.

James_gsx - first, take a breather brother! You are NINETEEN YRS OLD and light years ahead of your trading 'competition'. I'd suggest making sure you are first enjoying your youth as you'll be an adult soon enough. Seriously, enjoy it. As for holding yourself back, it seems you have at least diagnosed the problem. Now work on it. If you catch yourself doing something stupid, take a step back and say 'what would brownsfan019' do? He'd tell you to pick up your skirt, grab your balls and make some freakin money already. You've got the talent and skills OBVIOUSLY, so stop making excuses and close the deal. That's the adult, salesman approach that I was very good at years ago. You'll get plenty of that soon enough. You need to realize that at 19 yrs old you are way ahead of the game, so now finetune that and you'll be a multi-millionaire by 30 is my prediction, if you stay on your game. There you go, I just did it to you - go get 'em tiger!