Trader P/L 2009

[edabreu 10]

I had a sell stop in early at 1061 on the ES with a fixed profit target at 57 and a catastrophy stop at 66 on 4c for the news trade today (unemployment). This was a rare one - but after yesterday's muscle up on air my experience told me a very good chance the dump after the pump was due. Also, the daily chart has a good short signal for the things I look for in bigger trade setups. Got lucky!

[Dinerotrader 10]

Brownsfan,

Your GCL P/L looked so good I took a peak at the GCL action. Great price rejection right at the beginning of the session and a breakdown through support.

 

 

[bathrobe 10]

Well, a new record for me, this was great, happy all around.

[Dinerotrader 10]

Well, a new record for me, this was great, happy all around.

 

I was happy about my ZS trade, but now I am just sad.

 

Amazing trading Bathrobe.

[bathrobe 10]

I was happy about my ZS trade, but now I am just sad.

 

Amazing trading Bathrobe.

 

Thanks, you should be happy about your ZS trade, enjoy it!

[brownsfan019 17]

Brownsfan,

Your GCL P/L looked so good I took a peak at the GCL action. Great price rejection right at the beginning of the session and a breakdown through support.

 

Wanna hear something funny/interesting? My trade was LONG the GCL.

[Dinerotrader 10]

Wanna hear something funny/interesting? My trade was LONG the GCL.

 

Thats cool. I just thought you might have traded that.

 

I bought a stock a couple months back for a quick move over the span of 10 minutes. I made some money and I spoke with my friend just after it and he had just shorted the stock within that period and made money.

 

Good times.

[brownsfan019 17]

 

Thats cool. I just thought you might have traded that.

 

I bought a stock a couple months back for a quick move over the span of 10 minutes. I made some money and I spoke with my friend just after it and he had just shorted the stock within that period and made money.

 

Good times.

 

Always ways to make money going long when things look like they are in a down trend and vice versa. Just have to make sure to be nimble on your exits.

[Dinerotrader 10]

I missed a gimme on the ZS open, so perfection is still something I am working towards. Would have pushed over $1k/ct w/ that ZS trade.

 

I like the ideas that there are "gimmes" in trading. The idea, I believe, is that sometimes the things you are looking for all line up at one point to let you know this is your best probability for a money making trade according to your trading ideas. The question then becomes, does that "gimme" setup occur enough to just wait for it and only trade the "gimmes" with larger lots or do you have to grind out the trades that aren't as well set up and manage the risk with those lower probability setups.

 

It appears Bathrobe found a way to focus mostly on his "gimmes" so that his win percentage is extremely high. The down side is that he has to watch a lot of okay trades go by and that requires a lot of patience.

 

Gimmes....I will be pondering that idea this weekend.

[brownsfan019 17]

I like the ideas that there are "gimmes" in trading. The idea, I believe, is that sometimes the things you are looking for all line up at one point to let you know this is your best probability for a money making trade according to your trading ideas. The question then becomes, does that "gimme" setup occur enough to just wait for it and only trade the "gimmes" with larger lots or do you have to grind out the trades that aren't as well set up and manage the risk with those lower probability setups.

 

It appears Bathrobe found a way to focus mostly on his "gimmes" so that his win percentage is extremely high. The down side is that he has to watch a lot of okay trades go by and that requires a lot of patience.

 

Gimmes....I will be pondering that idea this weekend.

 

 

I've said it before, but if you can find ONE reliable setup, that's all you need. After that, it's risk management.

 

I trade one setup, on multiple markets. That's it. Simple and clean, but makes money. A perfect day for me is 1 trade per market and done. As soon as I get a winner on that market, that market is shut down.

 

There are some days where my setup could work if trading all day, but that's too much work. Plus, there are plenty of days where it doesn't work all day.

 

Here's my suggestion dinero - most markets move from their RTH open for about 1.5 hours or so. Most days this is the case. You want to participate when things are moving, not chopping around. If that's the case, try to focus on when things are more likely to be moving... That's why I shut it down by 12pm EST. I have no interest in trading during lunch or even after lunch. Markets can move later, but it's a coin flip if they will move.

 

Think of it this way - why do markets move on the open and for a while after the open?

 

1) Overnight orders hitting the markets, esp on stocks.

2) Overnight news hitting the markets.

3) Econ news - big releases usually occur at 830am and 1000am EST. These add fuel to the markets. You don't see too many regular releases later in the day - FOMC is the main one that comes to mind; meanwhile every week there are releases in the morning.

So pull up your charts, mark off where the open is each day and then look 2 hours in and see if anything grabs your attention. If you're doing this on OEC, you can use the time lines function so that the lines are automatically plotted (top right corner arrow thing << and then click time lines).

[Tonkadad 10]

I stopped using indicators about 3 weeks ago, I like the idea of just using price action. Still working on which set ups to focus on. I look at 3 markets the Mini Euro (EUR), Mini Oil (QM) and Mini Russel (TF) thru IB.

 

I was going to ask for some guidance as to where I should focus my attention, regarding setups, but the more I thought about it, I came to the conclusion that only I can figure out which setups fit me. So I am going to post some questions that I will ask myself to hone in on setups that fit my temperament, risk tolerance, ability to stay focused, etc...

 

When I have my list I will post them. Thank you to everyone who post their P&L it keeps me inspired.

 

Bruce

[Tonkadad 10]

"Here's my suggestion dinero - most markets move from their RTH open for about 1.5 hours or so. Most days this is the case. You want to participate when things are moving, not chopping around. If that's the case, try to focus on when things are more likely to be moving... That's why I shut it down by 12pm EST. I have no interest in trading during lunch or even after lunch. Markets can move later, but it's a coin flip if they will move."

 

This is a good idea, I like the thought of focusing for a couple of hours and then stopping. I guess it also depends upon your setup, if you had a setup that works in a range bound PA then the less volatile times would be what you are looking for.

[JBWTrader 10]

Hi Dinero

 

A very good point you have raised.

 

The first thing I would say to it is that if you do have a setup that say works one or two times in a day then only trade this. However the interesting thing about setups is that they have a probability of failure because we dont see the other factors at play that can affect it.

 

I would also say that you can probably see this setup on other lower and higher time frames/tick charts etc

 

Most traders stick to one or two sceens but I bet you could find "your" set up again elsewhere on multiple frames...albeit occuring only one or two times in a trading day...just a thought...

 

For eg I can show you a (this is obvious by the way but I think its important to still state) setup on one particular tick chart and another chart 50 ticks more this setup would not be apparent....interesting huh ? One one frame it wins and on the other 50 ticks apart it loses...

 

This is why trading is tough,

 

Best

John

[subterfuge 10]

quite a tough one yet again. Happy to be up. Had to rely on my ES system to bail me out of a losing day once again. It cant keep it up forever (I attched the little excel graph. approaching 50 ES points now)... hope that my other trading picks up again soon.

[brownsfan019 17]

11-9-09: -$220.63

 

 

Slower days are not my friend. Not so much b/c it was negative but that it could have been positive. I pulled the trigger on the ZF and CL which if I had left alone would have delivered a nice profit (esp CL). But b/c the day was slower and I was tired of watching, I hit flatten. That was not the brightest thing I've ever done. This would not have been a knock it out of the park day, but it would have been positive if those 2 trades were left alone.

[subterfuge 10]

Earliest ive finished in a while i think! Been trading 45 minutes. 3 trade, 3 wins. 39 pips, although I was late seeing one of my setups which if i had have been more alert would have neted me another 10 pips.

Still, likely im done for the day.

[brownsfan019 17]

"Here's my suggestion dinero - most markets move from their RTH open for about 1.5 hours or so. Most days this is the case. You want to participate when things are moving, not chopping around. If that's the case, try to focus on when things are more likely to be moving... That's why I shut it down by 12pm EST. I have no interest in trading during lunch or even after lunch. Markets can move later, but it's a coin flip if they will move."

 

This is a good idea, I like the thought of focusing for a couple of hours and then stopping. I guess it also depends upon your setup, if you had a setup that works in a range bound PA then the less volatile times would be what you are looking for.

 

Not sure I follow your comments exactly... Are you suggesting that range bound markets occur near the open or not? I didn't follow 100%.

[Dinerotrader 10]

Had some good trades before I went to bed on the 6B after it had a huge move which I should have caught. Caught a nice move on the GCL this morning and one on the ZS. One of my better days. Not sure if it was just luck or improvement.

 

http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=15062&stc=1&d=1257867781

[brownsfan019 17]

11-10-09: +$116.25

 

Not much here today.

[bathrobe 10]

smaller size than normal +1,400

[Tonkadad 10]

Not sure I follow your comments exactly... Are you suggesting that range bound markets occur near the open or not? I didn't follow 100%.

 

Regarding first part, I was agreeing with what you were saying, trading the first couple of hours, usually more volitility. I sometimes feel that I need to catch a pc. of every move through out the day. I like the idea of trading the first few hours and then stopping.

 

But if your trading style is more suited for range bound price movements then times with less volitility, mid day (usually) would be better.

 

I watch 3 markets at the moment QM, TF and EUR, I have noticed that the QM (mini oil) trends very nicely, trend lines appear to work well with it, seems to like whole and half numbers.

 

Hopefully chart is attached.

[bathrobe 10]

traded the open, I rarely do. but was afraid it might be the only action today

[brownsfan019 17]

11-11-09: +$255

 

Not bad.

 

Thanks to all the Veterans out there - past and present.

 

 

 

[subterfuge 10]

-$300

 

was out for a good part of the day and that had me missing good trades and taking bad trades when i got home, lol. I imagine that if it was a normal day and i were at the screen it would have been a slight up day, nothing great.

[subterfuge 10]

probably done for the day. Nice morning.