Trader P/L 2010

[enochbenjamin 10]

Speaking of oil....

 

My trend is a bit disturbing. Down $1700 today before making a few great trades to make it respectable. What's really bothersome is that each day for the past 4 or 5 sessions I've done a single trade that nets over 1k. Problem is I am not managing my money very well. I know what needs to be done and it will be fixed.

 

 

I promise everyone on this thread I will have less than 15 trades tomorrow. Aiming for 6 or less actually.

[enochbenjamin 10]

I hope its ok to post a chart here. I may be doing this for my own benefit, but who knows, maybe it will help someone else.

 

 

Based on my strategy (shooting stars & tweezers at resistance levels) there were 2 excellent trading opportunities. Tomorrow I will ONLY be taking trades at the 2nd SD.

[method 10]

[brownsfan019 17]

Thales - I think you will like oil, at least in it's current shape and form. As I've posted all along, I watch quite a few markets and as you saw, it's hard to beat the action in oil right now. Typically find out fairly quickly if you are right or wrong. There's plenty of liquidity and mainly trades from 9am-230pm EST. So I can have a shorter day, while having more opportunities than the indexes or currencies.

[brownsfan019 17]

I hope its ok to post a chart here. I may be doing this for my own benefit, but who knows, maybe it will help someone else.

 

 

Based on my strategy (shooting stars & tweezers at resistance levels) there were 2 excellent trading opportunities. Tomorrow I will ONLY be taking trades at the 2nd SD.

 

Post away EJ!

 

If you want, feel free to start a thread in the candlestick corner on this too. I'm sure you will get some interest.

[subterfuge 10]

+$380

Haven't posted a chart yet, so thought id post one of my oil trading today, using my spreadbet firm. Only small trades.

[Dinerotrader 10]

These are the kind of days I do well on. We'll see if I can cut my losses short when the trend days come in the future. Best SIM day for me ever. Just 1 contract.

 

SIM

Edited January 27, 2010 by Dinerotrader

[enochbenjamin 10]

For some reason I cannot pull up my fill record so trust me when I say I ONLY had 17 trades. Still overtrading. I ended the day with $160 trading QM & CL. Had just 7 trades and a whole lote more money at 1:15 CST before I cracked and made 10 trades in 15 minutes. But I am getting better :-)

 

On another noteI had a short QM at 7489 with a 10 tick SL and for some unknown reason took it off for a 4 tick loss. Anybody trading oil knows what happened next.

 

I'll only post the disciplined trade.

[brownsfan019 17]

1-26-10: +$230

 

1-27-10: +$1809.99

 

Tue was a dig yourself out of a hole day. I started w/ a nice win and then kept fighting the up move. Eventually recovered.

 

Today was much easier, much like Monday. If every day could be this easy, I could trade stress free. lol

[enochbenjamin 10]

Post away EJ!

 

If you want, feel free to start a thread in the candlestick corner on this too. I'm sure you will get some interest.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I just started a thread Tweezers & Shooting Stars

[thalestrader 14]

On another noteI had a short QM at 7489 with a 10 tick SL and for some unknown reason took it off for a 4 tick loss. Anybody trading oil knows what happened next.

 

I did some more sim oil exploration today myself, and I had a bit of a rough start with it first thing in the morning, but I got short a dime lower than you and held for the run down, including adding at 74.58 and also on the break of yesterday's low, which to me was the most obvious trade, and gave the easiest and quickest profit. I gave a good bit back when I left to go play with my kids and I had an open order in the platform with no stop loss. No matter, it's only sim dollars. Did I mention that this was sim trading?

 

I had one real money trade today - a break even long on the 6E. Every month I tell myself to take the fed days off. Every month I sit there spinning my wheels anyway. At least today, thanks to Brownie, I was able to keep from over trading myself by sim trading oil. I've had quite a bit of fun with it the last two days.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[bathrobe 10]

I played a retrace on CL for 5 cents and 1/2 a point in the es.

[method 10]

No trades today.

 

BF do you still trade the ZB?

 

It looks like TL has become infatuated with CL as of late

[brownsfan019 17]

No trades today.

 

BF do you still trade the ZB?

 

It looks like TL has become infatuated with CL as of late

 

Just CL for me currently. Can't beat the price action.

 

And for the record, I was the first one saying that people should be looking at the CL.

 

[subterfuge 10]

mainly trading the CL and bund myself at the moment. Have been for a little while.

Due to this, I find myself wondering wether its best to master one market, or to apply your 'setup' to as many markets as possible, to give your 'edge' (i hate that trading term) more chance to work.

It does sometimes seem that im able to 'see clearer' and pick my entries and levels better when im just concentrating on one market.

I guess there isn't really a definitive answer, and different things wil work for different people.

BF, I believe you were of the school where you thought it best to apply your setup to many different markets?

[brownsfan019 17]

mainly trading the CL and bund myself at the moment. Have been for a little while.

Due to this, I find myself wondering wether its best to master one market, or to apply your 'setup' to as many markets as possible, to give your 'edge' (i hate that trading term) more chance to work.

It does sometimes seem that im able to 'see clearer' and pick my entries and levels better when im just concentrating on one market.

I guess there isn't really a definitive answer, and different things wil work for different people.

BF, I believe you were of the school where you thought it best to apply your setup to many different markets?

 

I go with what is working at the time. Right now, focus on the CL is proving very profitable. Until that changes, I will keep my focus here.

 

Trading is about adapting to your surroundings and doing what works best for you. I think that's why some methods can't survive - b/c they become hard and fast in their ways and ignore what's going on around them.

[Gabe2004 10]

I go with what is working at the time. Right now, focus on the CL is proving very profitable. Until that changes, I will keep my focus here.

 

Trading is about adapting to your surroundings and doing what works best for you. I think that's why some methods can't survive - b/c they become hard and fast in their ways and ignore what's going on around them.

 

You mentioned in one of your posts (if memory serves) that you trade the same way across different markets.

You wrote above that SOME METHODS CAN'T SURVIVE. This would imply that your methodology is not one of those.

I think that since human nature did not change over time it would imply that a method that relies somehow on human psyche WOULD survive across time.

 

If you concentrate on one instrument, how do you gauge when to switch to another one?

 

Gabe

[enochbenjamin 10]

ok - I got that OT virus out of my system.

 

[brownsfan019 17]

You mentioned in one of your posts (if memory serves) that you trade the same way across different markets.

You wrote above that SOME METHODS CAN'T SURVIVE. This would imply that your methodology is not one of those.

I think that since human nature did not change over time it would imply that a method that relies somehow on human psyche WOULD survive across time.

 

If you concentrate on one instrument, how do you gauge when to switch to another one?

 

Gabe

 

That's a lot of implying going on there Gabe...

 

I move to another market when the current one is no longer working and/or another market is providing better profits. Currently the CL is providing the best opportunities for how I trade - even though I could easily be trading this across a mix of markets. I'm just choosing to trade the CL.

[Dinerotrader 10]

SIM

+280

 

Crazy day. I was down $500, then up $720, then down, then up. I amount of selling pressure pushing prices on the CL kept taking me by surprise. Luckily it was inventory day on natural gas so I rode a couple moves about a minute after inventory came out. I had to exit a natural gas trade 30 seconds before inventory came out which is annoying but necessary. Shouldn't have traded the RLM but I did.

 

If you stop trading because you have made a certain amount of profit does that just mean you think your setups have a significant degree of luck to them. It would seem like if I trusted my setup, I would just keep on trading it during the hours I thought is was effective since statistically, I will make money. I can't decide if the quiting while you are ahead is a good idea or if it is just the best you can do with an average trading strategy.

 

[Dinerotrader 10]

I go with what is working at the time. Right now, focus on the CL is proving very profitable. Until that changes, I will keep my focus here.

 

Trading is about adapting to your surroundings and doing what works best for you. I think that's why some methods can't survive - b/c they become hard and fast in their ways and ignore what's going on around them.

 

Being able to adapt to the market and change which futures you are trading or how you are trading what you usually trade sounds like a valuable part of a trader's business model. My Dad is constantly reminding me about how many great traders were good for a certain number of years and then couldn't make the same returns anymore. I wonder sometimes if much of the difficulty of being successful for the long run is related to being able to adapt to the market as it changes.

[brownsfan019 17]

 

If you stop trading because you have made a certain amount of profit does that just mean you think your setups have a significant degree of luck to them. It would seem like if I trusted my setup, I would just keep on trading it during the hours I thought is was effective since statistically, I will make money. I can't decide if the quiting while you are ahead is a good idea or if it is just the best you can do with an average trading strategy.

 

That's a great point Dinero. One school of thought says take a certain profit when it's there and then quit. A 2nd school is what you said - keep going while it's there.

 

I'd like to think I'm a hybrid of the 2 - I will pretty much keep going unless I feel like it's just a struggle that day and/or it's getting near the close. But in order to get some of the bigger days that I have lately, I gotta keep going. If I stopped after a winner or two, I'd cut some winning days very short.

[brownsfan019 17]

Being able to adapt to the market and change which futures you are trading or how you are trading what you usually trade sounds like a valuable part of a trader's business model. My Dad is constantly reminding me about how many great traders were good for a certain number of years and then couldn't make the same returns anymore. I wonder sometimes if much of the difficulty of being successful for the long run is related to being able to adapt to the market as it changes.

 

I agree 100%. You can't just sit on your butt assuming what you are doing now will always work in the future. And adjusting/adapting can sometimes just be minor things too - we are not always talking huge things. Recently I noticed that my profits on the CL just far outpaced the other markets, so focus was directed there. I could still trade my basket of 6+ markets if I wanted, but the CL is where it's at right now. 6 months from now it might be back to the ZB or RLM for all I know.

 

If nothing else, it's useful to see how your trading holds up on other markets, even if not trading with real money.

[brownsfan019 17]

1-28-10: +$1180

 

Oil once again.

 

One note to those trading oil or thinking of it - this thing retraces like no other at times. If you try a trail stop, it needs a cushion b/c the volatility on the CL at times just wipes out weak longs/shorts over and over. I'll see if I can get a picture up later explaining this.

[thalestrader 14]

Oil once again.

 

One note to those trading oil or thinking of it - this thing retraces like no other at times. If you try a trail stop, it needs a cushion b/c the volatility on the CL at times just wipes out weak longs/shorts over and over. I'll see if I can get a picture up later explaining this.

 

CL sure is a zippy little market, Brownie. I never realized how that thing can just roll thrrough ticks like it does. Its like trading the 6E during a news release, but it seems for CL, the quick ticking keeps right on rolling. I see a lot intraday gaps on the tick chart as well. They usually fill immediately, but I see many times where atrade will take place at, for example, 73.28, and the next print is 73.18, but price quickly rolls the dime and ends back at 73.28, even if for just a tick.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales