Live Indices Trades

[Soultrader 12]

late post.....

 

short es 137650

stop 1378

 

out half at 1373

stop trailing

 

[Dinos 10]

Brave entry there foale :applaud:

 

What mage you go long there ? I like to wait and see the 5 min turn even if it means missing a few points.

 

Nice entry guys, but with Taz here, just waiting for clarity, don't mind missing a few points either

[Taz 10]

Without wishing to take anything away from here - would anyone be interested in joining a voice trading room to call those shorter trades that for one reason or another are not posted in here ? I use one for Dow trading in the afternoon and it works really well.........

 

I stress - an audio trading room - not a distracting chat room.

[BuzzLightYear 10]

stop moved to 5960

[Soultrader 12]

Without wishing to take anything away from here - would anyone be interested in joining a voice trading room to call those shorter trades that for one reason or another are not posted in here ? I use one for Dow trading in the afternoon and it works really well.........

 

I stress - an audio trading room - not a distracting chat room.

 

Did that on paltalk and tradingroom about 1-2 years ago. I found it to be too distracting.... i can barely stay in a chat room. As a matter of fact, I am so easily distracted (my bias shifts too easily from external influence) that I hardly read the newspaper or pay attention to any economic report.

[Taz 10]

I know its never or almost never discussed but whats sort of size is everyone trading here ? Fancy putting cards on the table ?

 

Not looking for your exact amounts but I am curious as to what the range is ?

 

£1 a point ? £5 a point ? £ 20 ? £50 ? £100 ?

[Foale 10]

Brave entry there foale :applaud:

 

What mage you go long there ? I like to wait and see the 5 min turn even if it means missing a few points.

 

 

 

Impatience and greed....the simple answer...

I just felt the fall was enough and volume was increasing...

 

However have to go out soon...so looking for an exit...

 

Out Ftse 62 up 5

 

Dax was looking better now have to wait...

 

Of course the "easy " trade was Short the open....

 

I was also a bit distracted with my Oil short this am...

[Soultrader 12]

I do 4-8 lots on the ES. 2 lot on DAX. Nothing fancy... still small time, had to build my stake from nothing. My dream? 100 lot on the ES

[BuzzLightYear 10]

closed at 5962 (+4)

[Soultrader 12]

out half at 1373

stop trailing

 

gotta run.... final exit: 1373

 

see you all later for US morning session.

[Dinos 10]

Without wishing to take anything away from here - would anyone be interested in joining a voice trading room to call those shorter trades that for one reason or another are not posted in here ? I use one for Dow trading in the afternoon and it works really well.........

 

I stress - an audio trading room - not a distracting chat room.

 

Hi Taz, thanks for asking, I have been in a skype "chat room" before and echo Souls comments, I do find them distracting, even these type of forums I find distracting at times, hence why I'm not always around, but still try to post the odd trade to keep in touch with fellow traders.

 

So thanks for asking, but I will decline.

[Taz 10]

Did that on paltalk and tradingroom about 1-2 years ago. I found it to be too distracting.... i can barely stay in a chat room. As a matter of fact, I am so easily distracted (my bias shifts too easily from external influence) that I hardly read the newspaper or pay attention to any economic report.

 

Agree with you about the chat room; I have tried that over the years but I end up missing opportunites through getting involved in meaningless conversations..........so that was kicked into touch.

 

I was meaning call the trade and then switch the mic OFF; no prattle at all. I end up not posting trades in here as they tend to be shorter term and I tend to focus on the trade when I open it. Then I think there is no point inn posting in here several minutes after it was opened............

 

As for economic reports - I look at the calendar to know when there will be announcements - but I gave up analysing what they 'meant' years ago.

 

Why did I not do that when I started trading ? :doh:

[Foale 10]

I know its never or almost never discussed but whats sort of size is everyone trading here ? Fancy putting cards on the table ?

 

Not looking for your exact amounts but I am curious as to what the range is ?

 

£1 a point ? £5 a point ? £ 20 ? £50 ? £100 ?

 

 

I think one of the reasons is that it takes away the "level playing field"

 

Cos if you know that someone is doing £50pp or 5 contracts and you are doing 5PP or 1 contract... its might

 

1...be too daunting/ embarrassing to post...even now there are those that dont post and mostly just read...this would make it worse

 

2...you might be affected my by the larger traders comments etc and ignore the 1pp poster

 

3...it is noone elses business

 

More interesting questions might be...

 

What are peoples average Win/ Loss ratio ?

What is the maximum margin used over all your trades at once ?

What risk reward ratio if any, do peple go for ?

Average number of trades per day ?

What do you do if you take a big loss one day...have a break? trade more?

How do you measure/ monitor profit? Daily, weekly, against you a/c balance,

as a fixed %....... or an absolute number

 

All this would be make a more interesting debate for me...

[Soultrader 12]

Then I think there is no point inn posting in here several minutes after it was opened............

 

Im with you on that... most cases I just forget to post right away and end up not posting. usually too glued on the dom and tape to post as well.

[Foale 10]

As for economic reports - I look at the calendar to know when there will be announcements - but I gave up analysing what they 'meant' years ago.

 

 

Agree with you totally there...

 

re size..all I would say is... £1pp to 10 lots would probably contain the trades of 95% of traders on here....imo... but the 25 lot trader feel free to disagree.. lol

[firewalker 10]

Without wishing to take anything away from here - would anyone be interested in joining a voice trading room to call those shorter trades that for one reason or another are not posted in here ? I use one for Dow trading in the afternoon and it works really well.........

 

I stress - an audio trading room - not a distracting chat room.

 

Taz, interesting suggestion. But I'd have to go with Soultrader and Dinos.

I've used Skype before but I've found it a bit of a hassle with all the windows and so. I do like the kind of chatroom TL provides (on top of this page), because you can just have it open in a separate tab in Firefox and close it or click elsewhere if you don't want to follow.

 

I posted several live trades there, yesterday one as well. It's as close as it gets to live imo. I think audio would be too distracting. I can't even listen to radio or music when I'm looking for a trade to be honest. When I'm in a trade and have a portion scaled out and my stop moved to breakeven, I do tend to relax more.

 

But whatever works for you

[eggbeangame 10]

Long DAX 6928

[Foale 10]

Out long Dax from 22 at 30.....

 

and yes would agree that "brave trade" might be a euphamism for "foolish trade "...I was lucky..

 

 

Totally flat now...going out now..so I dont get upset when Oil crashes to $120....

[firewalker 10]

 

More interesting questions might be...

 

What are peoples average Win/ Loss ratio ?

What is the maximum margin used over all your trades at once ?

What risk reward ratio if any, do peple go for ?

Average number of trades per day ?

What do you do if you take a big loss one day...have a break? trade more?

How do you measure/ monitor profit? Daily, weekly, against you a/c balance,

as a fixed %....... or an absolute number

 

Completely agree there. I'll start by filling in the blanks for me:

 

W/L

> 60-70%, which I know I can get up to 75-80 easily if I focus on the best opportunities, but I still feel the 'need' to put on a trade sometimes

 

Risk/reward

> stopped calculating that, because some of my trades have 10 point stops and exit with 90 points...

 

Average number of trades per day

> 2 to 3 per instrument

 

What do you do if you take a big loss one day...have a break?

> bang my head against the wall! I have very tight stops, so usually no big losses on any single trade. If I lose discipline, I usually put on too many trades and end up with enough loss to make me feel shit though (not because of the loss, but because the lack of self-control)

 

How do you measure/ monitor profit?

> absolute profits don't mean anything... so I look at % of my account

> I usually keep statistics of 20 trading days, it's easy to compare and it's usually one calendar month give or take a day

[Foale 10]

"When I'm in a trade and have a portion scaled out and my stop moved to breakeven, I do tend to relax more. ....." FW

 

"When I am 100% out and have a profit in the account ...I tend to relax more" Foale

[Taz 10]

Out long Dax from 22 at 30.....

 

and yes would agree that "brave trade" might be a euphamism for "foolish trade "...I was lucky..

 

 

Totally flat now...going out now..so I dont get upset when Oil crashes to $120....

 

Was not inteneded to be a euphenism - though after I posted it I thought it did look a bit Yes Ministerish............. :doh:

[Foale 10]

W/L

> around 80%,

 

Risk/reward

>varies enormously , so many depends on varibles

Average number of trades per day

> 10 to 20 over 4 instruments ftse/dax/commod/dow

 

 

How do you measure/ monitor profit?

> agree absolute profits don't mean anything... so I look at % of my account

[Foale 10]

ok last thing from me this am....

 

Question to all..

 

In the last year or so...

 

What would you say is the single best thing you have done to improve your trading performance?

 

 

For me things have improved sonce I have got some synergy between what is it possible for me to do given my time constraints...and what I should leave...

 

..ie structuring my trading day, understanding the likely daily trading volatility and trade characteristics/nuances for each product...and getting that to correleate closely with what I am looking at on my screen...from time frames, to indicators, decluttering my screens...and highlighting what I should be looking at/ and minimising less important things ..again for each product,

 

Generally not trying to do to much.. so time away from the screen......lots of time flat...trying not to trade the low volatility/ low volume times...to save my trading stamina... Also less trades in times of the day that have historically tripped me up...or that have a low return per bum on seat time lol

Edited June 4, 2008 by Foale

[Taz 10]

Looks like I have been shot down in flames re the pounds per point question............ :bad idea:

 

I was curious as I have a contact in one of the large spread betting companies and according to him the average trade they handle is under £5 per point. Though there are some big hitters at eye watering amounts - £20000 per point on the dow according to him. :shocked:

 

So my reason for asking was to see how the people on here compared ......

[Taz 10]

ok last thing from me this am....

 

Question to all..

 

In the last year or so...

 

What would you say is the single best thing you have done to improve your trading performance?

 

Hmmmm probably take the other side of FW's trades.................. :o

 

I would have to say ensuring I trade with the larger trend; eg only taking trades on the 1 min when the 5 min is pointing in the same direction. Fewer trades but more profit and certainly less stress............

Edited June 4, 2008 by Taz