Jonbig04's Log

[atto 20]

One more quick note, the all in, all out approach definitely is the best way to go profit wise. If you dont believe me, test it on your own system. You will be surprised. Its mentally tough though. As far as Im concerned, im not going to let my own mind get in the way of making more profit.

That certainly depends on how you trade, and how you exit. With the set profit targets you use, this may be the best. However, from my actual trades, scaling out (as well as scale ins on another entry signal) is significantly more profitable and provides a much smoother equity curve. The latter is quite interesting, as lower volatility in your P/L curve can possibly enable you to use less margin per trade (as long as you fully understand your risks and methodology).

 

That said, there is no "right" way to do it, as you well know.

[jonbig04 10]

Good points. I should probably explain my targets a bit more because I wouldn't really call them set. The only thing set is my minimum R/R requirements. I don't take trades for that have less than a 1:8 risk/reward. I do this because lets me not be accurate. As anyone following my journal knows, january was a tough month for me, but even in my worst week I was down 20nq. I can make that up on one trade just by maintaining a favorable r/r. My trades will only get better and I will only get more accurate, and when I do, i will net more and more profit. There are enough levels throughout the day to play with, so that im not exiting in the middle of nowhere. Today is a good example, i went long at 1182.75. there were a couple areas above that, globex high, previous days high, a s/r line from way back when, but ultimately the only one that made sense was an exit at 1205.25, which is also a major area. That gave 1:9 risk/reward, so I am able to pick an area in that range at which to exit. It just seems to me that most people simply don't cut their losses and let their winners run. I realize that's overused, but still it seems like people cut their losses short via trailing stops, moving stops, getting scared or whatever. Of course it depends on the system, but I'm willing to bet a large amount of traders would make much more if they simply held their winners longer via all in/out. Just my noob $0.02 though. Like I said though, it's mentally difficult. Today NQ went within a few points of my target and then retraced 10 points. i was a little scared, but I didn't touch that button! haha

[lewtz1520887470 10]

I've recently turned to scaling out rather than using an all-in all-out strategy. The main reason I made the decision was for peace of mind. It would drive me bonkers to watch my trade exceed 10 points and then start fussing around in chop. I want the 10 points! Now, if I'm able to scale out at lets say 5 or 6 points, this allows the second one to run longer(ex 1:10 r:r) with the peace of mind knowing that if the second car does come back against me and stops out, I still nabbed a small profit.

 

As already mentioned, there is no right or wrong, simply what works and what doesn't. As I get more confidence with my strategy, I may move to an all-in all-out style. But for now, I enjoy the peace of mind of seeing the first target hit, knowing I don't have to move my stop, and watching the second one run and fuss about if necessary.

 

Keep up the good work!

[jonbig04 10]

Makes complete sense, that's exactly why I used to scale 1 at +15 or +12.75.

[jonbig04 10]

owned today! -5

 

Oh well!

[sevensa 10]

owned today! -5

 

Oh well!

 

I could only trade a little bit today, but managed to get exactly 5 points. Guess that was yours? Sorry.

[jonbig04 10]

lol thanks!! Sucks.

[jonbig04 10]

Bah -2.5 (NQ)

 

I was trading ES though, with a 1 point stop and 12 point target. Long at around 819 in the AM. Stopped me quick before the large run up. I hate it when that happens.

[jonbig04 10]

-2.5 on friday.

 

+10 net for the week. Could be worse.

[jonbig04 10]

Market really bugged me today.

 

Anyways, I tried a long on NQ at around 1276 at 11:45. Look as though trend may continue up, but it came back down and stopped me. Then I tried a short on ES at 867 at 14:08. I let my hopes get up wit this one and I shouldn't have. My target was +10, and I think we got to +7 or so before the whole thing turned around at the end of the day and stopped me. BTW I convert all my points to NQ points.

 

-5 for the day.

[lewtz1520887470 10]

Today was pretty rough. I didn't manage to enter any trades because there weren't any areas I felt confident in. Bad day for any strategy that looks for high r:r for the most part. Most of the big moves happened so quick there wasn't much time to jump in, and in most cases if you missed the initial move, it seemed like it was too late to enter.

 

There's only 2 good opportunities I can see now in hindsight, but they were both counter-trend trades by my definition of trend. Not so keen on the counter-trend plays, however I guess it's good to have some in your arsenal, or be aware of trend changes lightning fast. I don't posses that ability though haha.

[jonbig04 10]

Yea today was the worst, the market moves just enough to fake me. I hate that.

[johnlonn 10]

Jonbig are you still on SIM?

If you are, when are you planning to go live?

Do you have som time set, or do you want x amount of profitable weeks on som before you go live etc?

 

keep it up!!

/ J

[jonbig04 10]

Frustration is mounting. I'm beginning to feel like I can't trade at all. Bah.

 

Both trades today were on ES, which I'm beginning to like more and more. First was a long at 861 at 9:56. No big deal here thing just didn't work. The next one however still has me bummed. I shorted at exactly 11:00. On the face of it, it sounds goof because at around that same time ES fell a blistering 38 points, my target was 10 or so. Anyways, the truth is that drop actually started at 11:02. My short was entered and stopped literally 5 seconds later, 2 minutes after that the bottom dropped out. I don't understand how I could short 2 minutes before a 4+ percentage drop in the S&P and still get stopped. Well heres what happened, I really don't understand this and maybe some of you could shed some light on what is actually going on. I watched vol etc and place a limit sell at 857.5. At first it looked as though I was going to miss fill, but then a buying frenzy pushed it up, triggered my sell and not 2 seconds later triggered my stop and continued up 5 or so points BEFORE dropping. This all happened within the space of 2-4 minutes. I don't buy for one second that the sell off began at 11:02, that insane buying that stopped me out was just before the huge sell off and was enough to move ES 5 points. Who does this? Who has the power to hold off a drop like this for 2 minutes by pushing up the ES that fast? They really screwed me today, but I just wish I knew how/why/who could do this. I don't think its a conspiracy or anything, but I know that the action that stopped me out just before the drop wasn't a coincidence.

 

BTW I could be SIM, or could be trading multiple live contracts, I've decided that there is no difference

[jasont 10]

First of all I can understand your frustration Jon as all of us have gone through a stage when we feel as though we can't catch a break. Just hang in there mate and keep at it. Many traders take a few years to become consistently profitable and that includes the prop guys.

 

Now the trade you placed on the ES at 11:00am was the same time Treasury Secretary Geithner announced the proposed details to the new stimulus plan. Although you may not trade according to news, it is important that you are aware of it so you can expect some increased volatility around it.

 

Don't feel too bummed about the action we saw around that time as it was pretty out of the ordinary.

[jonbig04 10]

Thanks Jason. That bastard sabotaged me lol (jk). My trading has been crappy lately due to extenuating circumstances in my life I really dont want to get into, but I think everythings going to be normal. I missed 2 large trades I should have taken. Oh well.

 

-2.5 for yesterday, not much to say and +20 for today.

[diablo272 10]

BTW I could be SIM, or could be trading multiple live contracts, I've decided that there is no difference

 

I realize this may be different for everyone, but in my experience there is a big difference between sim and live, at least in the beginning. It's easy to tell yourself there is no difference, because it makes sense that there is no fundamental difference--you're trading the same market with the same strategy afterall. But there is a big psychological difference that you will most likely experience if you haven't gone live already.

 

It's the difference between being the Terminator:

 

and being John Connor

Edited February 12, 2009 by diablo272

[jonbig04 10]

lol!

 

I was referring more to myself. Yes there is a huge difference, but I have prepared for it since day one...so that there won't be/is not. So in my case I can say there is no difference. But that is only because I made the preparations.

[jonbig04 10]

I ended friday at -5

 

Today was rough at -7.5. Very proud of my trading today, just was a tough day all around. I caught small moves, but they were just too small as was the nature of today. I thought very highly of my short on NQ at 1193 at 10am or so. Didn't work.

[jonbig04 10]

-2.5

 

 

abcdefghijklmnop

[jonbig04 10]

I have been distracted lately. Ive been missing trades I should be making.

 

-1 es for friday (or 2.5nq) tried a long at 11:34 at 760.50, was stopped out a while later

[SwingTradinJay 10]

How did monday go-hopefully didnt blow up on the ES drop?

[jonbig04 10]

no trades monday. missed the short

[jonbig04 10]

Im sure its obvious to all following this journal that I have been distracted lately. A lot of decisions had to be made outside of trading. I'm moving cross-country in a week and I'm sending my trading computer in for repairs. neither of these should take long. Trading is still my number 1 focus, but im going to take a couple days off until the move is made and the computer is fixed.

 

and no, i didnt "blow up" lol

[jonbig04 10]

Move is made. It was a long haul. trading computer is getting repaired. I cannot WAIT to get back and work harder than ever.