8/21/07 General Trade Log / Idea Sharing

[Guest cooter]

It is $200.

 

Are you looking at market internals ($TICK, $TRIN, $WPCVA, $VIX.X) when trading?

[TinGull 10]

My trading summary today:

 

8 setups. 16 roundtrips. -93 points. $533.16 realized paper loss.

 

200 dollars? Why didn't you stop when you hit (200)?

[brownsfan019 17]

Abe,

I agree with Tin - if your daily loss limit is $200, you either need to respect that or change it. I understand that you are just testing things out right now, but you are going to build a bad habit rather quickly - to not respect your rules.

[TinGull 10]

In this business you MUST have a plan of attack and you MUST follow that plan to a T. If you wanted to open up a grocery store and made a business plan to show a bank and they ended up lending you 300k to start up a grocery store, but you ended up using that 300k to open a night club, do you think that bank is gonna be after you? Absolutely! All of us who are giving you the advice are the bank screaming because you're not following the plan that you set out to do. If you lose 200 dollars, stop, because something OBVIOUSLY isn't working.

 

When Im in the game and I lose 40 YM points, I sit the rest out unless something SERIOUSLY pristine comes along. Now, I've been in front of the charts and active enough and have stuck to a plan long enough to know when I have a SUPER high odds of getting back on the money wagon when I'm at or near my loss limit and trust me, it's not easy for me to want to get back on, but a few times the past 2 months I've been at that 40 down to come back and end up + on the day. Now, that may be seen as not sticking to a plan, BUT...I've got certain setups that I KNOW have a proven track record and can earn me money. If I lost those trades because the probabilities weren't working for me, then I'm HAPPY AS CRAP because for every loser, there's 5 more winners coming down the pipe.

 

Today for example, I lost my very first trade. Was down 23 points. I watched until 5 minutes to 4 and didn't see anything that was worth the risk to me because the environment was extremely low volume and choppy. My setups don't always work the best in low volume environments. Is this in my trading plan? You bet it is! I've got a whole section on market environment and market cycles for which direction to look for the high odds trades.

 

And, the loser I took home today is one of the best losers, because it was a perfect setup executed as PERFECTLY as I could have imagined, and it ended up losing. This particular setup has had a 78% win rate over the past year, so guess what tomorrow's gonna bring? MONEY! Why? Cause the probabilities of this setup are going to play out. 4 out of 5 times I take the setup as it's shown I'll make money. I just happened to be on a little hot streak with this trade over the past...yup, 4 days. Today was the 5th day I didn't get the setup to work. Plus, having done my HOMEWORK with this setup, I know that Wednesdays are the highest probability days for this setup to earn its maximum potential.

 

So, what I reallllllllly know you should do is get a coach. You need to have someone guiding you through all of this because your trades are haphazard. Again, I'm not trying to be a dick at all, so please don't read it as being that. You've got dedication and I admire that. You just need to focus SOME of that energy into designing a trading plan that you can stick next to your desk with specific setups you're wanting to look for and execute on those all the time (depending on environment if the trades warrant different execution in different environments).

 

The coach I use is a partner with this board. His handle here is lrushing and his site is tradingeveryday.com. Listen, I've lost crap loads of money in this market trying to learn the ropes. If I had gotten a coach right at the get go, my account wouldn't be where it is right now...it'd be BIGGER! That's what we're all after, right? A bigger account? A coach will bring you to a place where you're confident in your trading because you will have a plan of attack that you can follow. You want to be successful at trading, right?

 

Every pro player has a coach. Does A-Rod have a coach? Does the Rocket have a coach still? (and Clemens is like almost 80 years old jk hahahaha). Did Emmit Smith have a dance coach on Dancing With the Stars? Of course! No one cared that he happened to have some of the fastest feet in the NFL during his hayday...heck, even with his fast feet back then he STILL had a coach.

 

I think you owe it to yourself, Abe, to sign up with Leroy or any coach for that matter and see what they have to offer you. You might not like what Leroy has to offer, and you may find someone else's style fits your personality. Leroy happens to fit mine perfectly.

 

Do it...do it.....do it..........this is a subliminal message to you Abe.....do it......get a coach..............today...............not tomorrow.........today.........do it.......make money..........and give 50% of your earnings to me............do it.............

[TinGull 10]

holy crap, did I seriously write that much? Damn

[brownsfan019 17]

Good post Tin.

[Guest cooter]

200 dollars? Why didn't you stop when you hit (200)?

 

I thought there was something odd about this too. Seems that Abe is winging it for whatever reason.

 

I'm not competent to pass judgment on his lack of discipline here, and whether that's why he hasn't taken the bar exam after law school but...you gotta wondering what's really going on here.

 

The real-life tuition of learning to trade for a living isn't as easy as you may think it is - it does require some discipline to consistently make money, and more importantly, keep it.

[AbeSmith 10]

Are you looking at market internals ($TICK, $TRIN, $WPCVA, $VIX.X) when trading?

 

Cooter, I'm not looking at any of those. I've heard of them and seen them on various videos, but I'm not sure what they are. I would like to learn them though. Right now I'm still in the starting out phase and as you may know I'm only paper trading. Right now I'm still trying to tackle the basics. Once I learn the basics I can tackle the other stuff. Also, for TICK I think I need to subscribe to it. But lots of people use it and I will definitely look int all of those later.

 

 

I thought there was something odd about this too. Seems that Abe is winging it for whatever reason.

 

I'm not competent to pass judgment on his lack of discipline here, and whether that's why he hasn't taken the bar exam after law school but...you gotta wondering what's really going on here.

 

The real-life tuition of learning to trade for a living isn't as easy as you may think it is - it does require some discipline to consistently make money, and more importantly, keep it.

 

You are right. It takes a lot of discipline and that is something I'm working on.

[AbeSmith 10]

200 dollars? Why didn't you stop when you hit (200)?

 

I was experimenting with multiple contracts and the points added up. I should be more conservative with my paper trading though to make it as real as possible.

 

In this business you MUST have a plan of attack and you MUST follow that plan to a T. If you wanted to open up a grocery store and made a business plan to show a bank and they ended up lending you 300k to start up a grocery store, but you ended up using that 300k to open a night club, do you think that bank is gonna be after you? Absolutely! All of us who are giving you the advice are the bank screaming because you're not following the plan that you set out to do. If you lose 200 dollars, stop, because something OBVIOUSLY isn't working.

 

When Im in the game and I lose 40 YM points, I sit the rest out unless something SERIOUSLY pristine comes along. Now, I've been in front of the charts and active enough and have stuck to a plan long enough to know when I have a SUPER high odds of getting back on the money wagon when I'm at or near my loss limit and trust me, it's not easy for me to want to get back on, but a few times the past 2 months I've been at that 40 down to come back and end up + on the day. Now, that may be seen as not sticking to a plan, BUT...I've got certain setups that I KNOW have a proven track record and can earn me money. If I lost those trades because the probabilities weren't working for me, then I'm HAPPY AS CRAP because for every loser, there's 5 more winners coming down the pipe.

 

Today for example, I lost my very first trade. Was down 23 points. I watched until 5 minutes to 4 and didn't see anything that was worth the risk to me because the environment was extremely low volume and choppy. My setups don't always work the best in low volume environments. Is this in my trading plan? You bet it is! I've got a whole section on market environment and market cycles for which direction to look for the high odds trades.

 

And, the loser I took home today is one of the best losers, because it was a perfect setup executed as PERFECTLY as I could have imagined, and it ended up losing. This particular setup has had a 78% win rate over the past year, so guess what tomorrow's gonna bring? MONEY! Why? Cause the probabilities of this setup are going to play out. 4 out of 5 times I take the setup as it's shown I'll make money. I just happened to be on a little hot streak with this trade over the past...yup, 4 days. Today was the 5th day I didn't get the setup to work. Plus, having done my HOMEWORK with this setup, I know that Wednesdays are the highest probability days for this setup to earn its maximum potential.

 

So, what I reallllllllly know you should do is get a coach. You need to have someone guiding you through all of this because your trades are haphazard. Again, I'm not trying to be a dick at all, so please don't read it as being that. You've got dedication and I admire that. You just need to focus SOME of that energy into designing a trading plan that you can stick next to your desk with specific setups you're wanting to look for and execute on those all the time (depending on environment if the trades warrant different execution in different environments).

 

The coach I use is a partner with this board. His handle here is lrushing and his site is tradingeveryday.com. Listen, I've lost crap loads of money in this market trying to learn the ropes. If I had gotten a coach right at the get go, my account wouldn't be where it is right now...it'd be BIGGER! That's what we're all after, right? A bigger account? A coach will bring you to a place where you're confident in your trading because you will have a plan of attack that you can follow. You want to be successful at trading, right?

 

Every pro player has a coach. Does A-Rod have a coach? Does the Rocket have a coach still? (and Clemens is like almost 80 years old jk hahahaha). Did Emmit Smith have a dance coach on Dancing With the Stars? Of course! No one cared that he happened to have some of the fastest feet in the NFL during his hayday...heck, even with his fast feet back then he STILL had a coach.

 

I think you owe it to yourself, Abe, to sign up with Leroy or any coach for that matter and see what they have to offer you. You might not like what Leroy has to offer, and you may find someone else's style fits your personality. Leroy happens to fit mine perfectly.

 

Do it...do it.....do it..........this is a subliminal message to you Abe.....do it......get a coach..............today...............not tomorrow.........today.........do it.......make money..........and give 50% of your earnings to me............do it.............

 

Tin, I'm considering getting a coach. But I want to build some basic or intermediate knowledge before going to a coach. I'm also broke right now so I will need money as well.

 

holy crap, did I seriously write that much? Damn

 

Good read Tin. Always nice to read your point of view.

[AbeSmith 10]

Abe,

I agree with Tin - if your daily loss limit is $200, you either need to respect that or change it. I understand that you are just testing things out right now, but you are going to build a bad habit rather quickly - to not respect your rules.

 

Brownsfan, you are right. I should respect my trading rules, even if it is just paper trading.

[TinGull 10]

Tin, I'm considering getting a coach. But I want to build some basic or intermediate knowledge before going to a coach. I'm also broke right now so I will need money as well.

 

Abe, in my opinion, I wouldn't trade, even paper trade, until you have the money to get a coach. Trust me, the coach you choose will LOVE you for having done that so they don't have to unwind bad habits you're building right now. And, with Leroy, the first session is a free one to make sure you two are a good fit for eachother. So, with that being said...you've got really got nothing to lose by getting ahold of him for a little coaching. I think other's might offer a free intro session, too, so you can make sure you get the right fit for the way you want to trade.

[AbeSmith 10]

Abe, in my opinion, I wouldn't trade, even paper trade, until you have the money to get a coach. Trust me, the coach you choose will LOVE you for having done that so they don't have to unwind bad habits you're building right now. And, with Leroy, the first session is a free one to make sure you two are a good fit for eachother. So, with that being said...you've got really got nothing to lose by getting ahold of him for a little coaching. I think other's might offer a free intro session, too, so you can make sure you get the right fit for the way you want to trade.

 

I think it is best for me to continue paper trading. It helps me learn to trade and understand what trading is about. I'm not worried that it might make me develop bad habits that will be hard to unwind. I think more likely it will help me identify and unwind bad habits that I already have.

[TinGull 10]

Abe, if you haven't been trading for that long then you don't have any bad or good habits yet. Feel free to do what you want and disregard what we all have to say here. I know I've already asked countless times about your plan and what setups you use, but you haven't given a list of what you're looking for so we can't help identify any problematic issues.

 

At this point, I'm finished trying to help because you don't seem to want to give the effort to learn from what I've got to say.

 

Best of luck to you.

[AbeSmith 10]

Abe, if you haven't been trading for that long then you don't have any bad or good habits yet. Feel free to do what you want and disregard what we all have to say here. I know I've already asked countless times about your plan and what setups you use, but you haven't given a list of what you're looking for so we can't help identify any problematic issues.

 

At this point, I'm finished trying to help because you don't seem to want to give the effort to learn from what I've got to say.

 

Best of luck to you.

 

 

Tin, I mean bad habits like poor discipline, impulsiveness, and poor money management. The setups I use are higher highs and higher lows, lower lows and lower highs, pivots, other support and resistance levels like previous areas of support and resistance, 200sma as support and resistance, previous days' close and the day's open as possible support and resistance, and volume.