GCB

I use limit orders for entries, so sometimes it doesn't hit my order. There's a flexibility I need to develop which is somewhere between being too strict about my entry and chasing. As for trades. One stopout and now looking for break of support to new lows.

No edit button on this sub forum for some reason. :sad: My last sentence should read: I've pretty much eliminated the overt chasing that can occur, but it's hard to know when your are chasing and when you are just being too cheap.

Hesitation and being too cheap are my primary reasons. I generally get in on pullbacks, so I often wait too long for confirmation and miss the good price, then I hesitate. I've pretty much eliminated the chasing that case occur, but its hard to know when your are chasing and when you are just not being too cheap.

Got the rollover but no carry through. Looks like BS range action.

Have yet to enter my first trade. Missed two entries. But otherwise following plan. Got the rollover. May be a range day on YM.

10:20 AM ET. Grinding higher. But this type of action is often setting up for a mid to late day rollover to the downside.

The only reason to have a TV is if the YM falls 500 points in five minutes you can check to see if the world is coming to an end. Otherwise keep it turned off. Oh, you can also watch movies during lunch, but make sure you have alarms set to signal trading opportunities.

Oops. Sorry, cooter. That's awesome, cooter! Actually, just reviewed it and though I appreciate their effort and information and I picked up a few interesting tidbits, there wasn't much there I haven't been able to gather from other Carter resources. In a sense that's reassuring because JC's approach to day trading the ags is so simple. But that's even better if it works. So thanks for the heads up. But I'm glad I didn't pay for it. I couldn't believe all the morons in the background chatting it up while Hubert was talking about tape reading.

Cool, brown. I'll look for it on Monday. I like Mondays. They feel like a fresh start and I'm eager to get back to the markets.

WOW! Thats awesome, James. Thanks!

That worked, thanks. BTW, what is the program people use with the pen to write on their video?

OSO bracket orders are almost always the way to go. But the method you describe seems next best. Strictly speaking, however, you could still get caught short. Before you enter your matching order your computer could lock. The market could then reverse, hit your stop, then reverse again, and the nightmare scenario is still possible, however less likely.

Is this a shock wave file, walter? I can't get my computer to view it.

I think he should put out a second edition, but I doubt he will. He doesn't seem to trade now quite the same way he describes in the book. Also, the book could have done with a little more proofreading as there are some gaps in the narrative. And now he is trading grains and he doesn't really mention those in the book. I'll bet in a second edition he'd devote a whole chapter to them.

I believe looking for a 50% fib retracment is the most consistent way to play these setups. It's tempting to get in too early only to have the market retrace more and stop you out, or to wait to long and then chase. But consistently waiting for the 50% seems the ticket.

Interesting. That does explain a lot. This was what happened during the '29 crash, too, back when 10% margin on stock accounts was the norm.

That's a darn shame. I used to trade the ER2 but I switched to YM. I had my sights set on going back someday.

This is a post I posted in a trader's log. I'm reproducing it here (with some improvements) to start a thread about discussing potential disasterous pitfalls and how to avoid them. I'd be interested in anyone's insights. --------------------------- One of the biggest reasons I put it hard stops and targets is because you never know when your computer or Internet is going to go down. This happened to me just the other day. I had been having problems with the Internet slowing to a crawl so that TradeStation was affected. I was short soybeans when the Internet quit on me. Fortunately I had my bracket orders in, so I wasn't too worried. I was getting enough information to know the trade was working out but I was getting no updates on whether my targets had fired. The screen was showing them still live, even though price had moved below them. I called the TS desk and the guy there told me indeed my targets had been hit and I was out of the trade. Now here's the nightmare scenario. :nahh: On a bright Friday morning, with hope in your heart and profits on your mind, a buy signal fires and you go long 5 YM contract at 13000. You enter no hard stop, however. Rather you decide to use 10 point "mental stop." Your target is 13020. If the trade works out you will gross $500, with a risk of only $250, a nifty 2-1 risk reward ratio. That's a somewhat bold, but not too risky 1% risk on your $25,000 futures account. You settle into your chair to watch the trade. It moves your way a bit, inching up to 13010, but then turns around, dives past your entry and hits your mental stop loss at 12990. You hesitate, hoping it will turn back up, but it drops another 5 points, an additional net loss of $125. Now you are getting scared. You reach for your mouse to close out the trade, but you screw up the order and accidently buy 5 more contracts, and are now long 10 contracts. YM drops another 5 points. Now it is down 20 points from your entry, and you are down $625 on the trade. You scramble to close out the trade but your heart is now pounding and your adrenaline is pumping. You fumble to change the number of contracts to 10, but your sweating palms make it difficult. YM drops another 10 points and you are down $1125. Finally you move the mouse to the sell button. But the mouse pointer won't move. Your computer has frozen! Panic-stricken, you reach for the reboot button. While your computer is booting you turn on CNBC. The Dow is down even more. You figure down 40 points since you entered the trade. You now losing $500 dollars for every 10 point drop, so now you are down $1625. Your computer finally reboots and you re-open your trading platform. Your trembling hands type in your username and password and click Logon. Nothing happens. "Cannot find server," your platform informs you. You open up a web brower, but it cannot find your home page. The Internet is down! You glance at the television. The Dow is down another 20 points and you are in the tank for $2625, over 10% of your account. You decide to call your broker to close out the trade. Where's your cell phone? That's right, you left it in your bedroom. In full-panic mode you rush upstairs, but not before checking the news. Dow down another 10. You're loss is at $3125 and dropping. Upstairs you grab your cell phone and open it. Nothing happens. The battery is dead. You let out a blood-curdling cry and bolt downstairs for the land line. When you get there you reach for the phone receiver so hard you knock it across the kitchen, breaking it. Fortunately, your phone base has a speaker phone. You press the button and gasp with relief when you hear a dial tone. But you can't recall the broker number. When you wanted to call them before you just looked up the number on the Internet. But it's down. Just then your dog trots into the kitchen, sits down and regards you with a strange expression. You turn away from him in embarrassment. After some calls to long distance information finally you get the broker number. But since it is the general number it takes more time to get ahold of the trading desk. Then you have to use your social security number for them to find your account because you can't remember your futures account number. In the meantime, the Dow drops another 35 points. Finally, you get the broker to close out your trade. He sells your YM contracts at 12895, 105 points from your entry. On one trade you've lost $4875, 20 times your planned risk and 20% of your trading account. All because you didn't enter a hard stop. (And were unprepared for disaster in just about every other way.) Can't happen? I'll bet something like this happens just about every day to somebody out there. When electronic trading always enter a hard stop and, better yet, always send a stop OSO order along with your trade order to guarantee if your trade is executed your stop will be in place. For that matter alway have a fully-charged cell phone with your brokers trading desk on the speed dial. Keep your account number written down and handy. Gary

Well, yes and no. You can't buy groceries with points. On the other hand if I say I made $10,000 this week that is meaningless if you don't know how much size I trade. If I tell you I trade 5 YM contracts per trade you'd be pretty impressed with my results. If I said I trade 50 you'd wouldn't be. With 50 YM contracts $10,000 is only 40 points, or 8 per day. With 5 contracts its 400, or 80 per day. I'd just like to know how people calculate their points.

Well, let's do it. Everyday someone start a daily chat thread. Then we can follow it and contribute at leisure during the trading day. It should be less intrusive than a chat room. What do you think?

I'm the king of typos and often I don't see some them until after I post a message. So I rely on the capability of editing my posts after I put them out. But sometimes the edit button does not appear for me. Why is that and can it be fixed? Thanks fr amy hep you can give.

Often we say we made 10 points on this trade or 25 on that one. How do you calculate points per trade when you scale out of a trade. Let's say you buy 5 YM contracts and sell 3 at +10, 2 at +20 and 1 at +30. Do you say you got +30 on the trade? Or do you take the average gain? I.e. ((3 * 10) + (2 * 20) + (1 * 30)) / 5 = (80 / 5) = +16 Just wondering if everyone is reporting this the same way.

One of the biggest reasons I put it hard stops and targets is because you never know when your computer or Internet is going to go down. This happened to me just the other day. I had been having problems with the Internet slowing to a crawl so that TradeStation was affected. I was short soybeans when the Internet quit on me. Fortunately I had my bracket orders in, so I wasn't too worried. I was getting enough information to know the trade was working out but I was getting no updates on whether my targets had fired. The screen was showing them still live, even though price had moved below them. I called the TS desk and the guy there told me indeed my targets had been hit and I was out of the trade. Now here's the nightmare scenario. :nahh: On a bright Friday morning, with hope in your heart and profits on your mind, a buy signal fires and you go long 5 YM contract at 13000. You enter no hard stop, however Rather you decide to use 10 point "mental stop." Your target is 13020. If the trade works out you will gross $500, with a risk of only $250, a nifty 2-1 risk reward ratio. That's a somewhat bold but not too risky 1% risk on your $25,000 futures account. The trade moves your way a bit, inching up to 13010, but then turns around past your entry and hits your mental stop loss at 12090. You hesitate, hoping it will turn back up, but it drops another 5 points, an additional net loss of $125. Now you are getting nervous. You reach for your mouse to close out the trade, but you screw up the order and accidently buy 5 more contracts. Now you are long 10 contracts, and YM has just dropped another 5 points. Now its down 20 points from your entry, and you are down $625 on the trade. You scramble to close out the trade but your heart is now pounding and your adrenaline is pumping. You scramble to change the number of contracts to 10, but your sweating palms make it difficult. YM drops another 10 points and you are down $1125. Finally you move the mouse to the sell button. But the mouse pointer won't move. Your computer has frozen! Panic-stricken, you fumble for the reboot button. While your computer is booting you turn on CNBC. The Dow is down even more. You figure down 40 points since you entered the trade. You now losing $500 dollars for every 10 point drop, so now you are down $1625. Your computer finally reboots and you re-open your trading platform. You nervously type in your username and password and click Logon. Nothing happens. "Cannot find server," your platform informs you. You open up a web brower, but it cannot find your home page. The Internet is down! You glance at the television. The Dow is down another 20 points and you are in the tank for $2625, over 10% of your account. You decide to call your broker to close out the trade. Where's your cell phone? That's right, you left it in your bedroom. In full panic mode you rush upstairs, but not before checking the news. Dow down another 10. You're loss is at $3125 and dropping. Upstairs you grab your cell phone and open it. Nothing happens. The battery is dead. You bolt downstairs for the land line. When you get there you reach for the receiver so hard you knock it across the kitchen, breaking it. Fortunately, your phone base has a speaker phone. You press the button and gasp with relief when you hear a dial tone. But you can't recall the broker number. When you wanted to call them before you just looked up the number on the Internet. But its down. Just then your dog trots into the kitchen, sits down and regards you with a strange expression. You turn away from him in embarrassment. After some calls to long distance information finally you get the broker number. But since it is the general number it takes awhile to get ahold of the trading desk. Then you have to use your social security number for them to find your account because you can't remember your futures account number. In the meantime, the Dow drops another 35 points. Finally, you get the broker to close out your trade. You sell YM 29885, 105 points from your entry. On one trade you've lost $4875, 20 times your planned risk and 20% of your trading account. All because you didn't enter a hard stop. (And were unprepared for disaster in just about every other way.) Can't happen? I'll bet something like this happens every day to somebody out there. When electronic trading always enter a hard stop and, better yet, always send a stop OSO order along with your trade order to guarantee if your trade is executed your stop will be in place. For that matter alway have a fully charged cell phone with your brokers trading desk on the speed dial. Keep your account number written down and handy.

Sorry, I got +25 not +35. What happened to the edit button?

That's been an issue with me, too, Tin. But it all comes back to having confidence in your method. I've have a history of skipping setups, especially late in the day especially on Friday. Because I didn't want to give my profits back and end on a down note of loss and regret. But I have new way of looking at the market and it has given me a burst of confidence, and here in the PM on Friday up for the day I just got a short signal on YM and took it. The trade monkeyed with a me little but I hung in there, and was reward with +35. Of course, the trade could have gone against me, but that's the risk. Thanks for letting us share your trading experiences.