Not a Great Day, but I'll Take it

Didn't trade perfectly today and I missed out on a 87.50 profit in the ES. That's really my only complaint. Things were CHOPPY like a mofo this morning and i'm ashamed to say I had to pay up some money in the doldrums as a result of it. But I got back in gear in the afternoon after the Beige Book cleared and got down to work.



Not a bad outcome I suppose but still lackluster compared to where I want to be. Had a nice +3 point winner in the ES and some solid NQ entries as well. I'll take what I can get and move on to tomorrow. What more can you do?!

Trade Results:

ES: +112.50
NQ: +15.00

TradeStation: FIFO can lick my balls

Just a side rant that I need to voice. The FIFO standard sucks monkey nuts and I hate it. Why not give us a choice to see how our trades are recorded? Some of us like knowing our net P/L on the day without having to open up a damn TradeManager window. Rat bastards.

Anyhow. Trading kinda sucked today. Didn't get any follow through on my ES trades but I did get 3 back to back losses. They were all small (1 pt) but it just sucked racking up losers and not having any winners to offset them. Only two pars for a tick each to rally back against my ES P/L.

The NQ traded well and I missed out on one trade due to simply not multitasking another position while I was already short in the ES. That's my fault and it cost me +3 points but I guess that shit happens. I took one further trade in the NQ for another +2.25 to end the day. Overall i'm very happy with the outcome considering I lost a decent bit of change on the ES but made almost all of that back on only three winning trades in the NQ (and a loss). Considering the $$/contract differences its not bad.



I traded correctly, I took tiny losses, executed well, and nailed some great trades. Outcome didn't fall my way but all I have to do is keep doing what I am and i'll be successful more often than not!

Trade Results:

ES: -137.50
NQ: +125.00

I'm Back Bitches!

The SPOO's better watch out because i'm back and i'm refreshed and ready to get paid. I spent the week in the backwoods of Missouri with family. I didn't trade at all because we didn't get the "high speed internet" hooked up correctly until Friday. It only offers about a 65kb/sec rate but TS seemed to be fine with it (TS actually isn't a bandwidth hog at all, maybe uses 2-5kb/sec for data) and the execution seemed fine on SIM in the currencies so I should be good to go for future visits.

I can't wait to sit out on the porch on a cool 75 degree day with a beer and my laptop and make money with that view in front of me!

Today I traveled home and was unable to trade but I still have 3 and 1/2 days to make some money this week and I intend to capitalize on it as much as possible.

Cheers!

The First (And Last?) Day of the Week

Uber frustrating day today. Took some losses on very good and valid setups in the morning in the NQ. Then the ES was up to bat in the afternoon. I took a win for +1.25 and then 4 back to back par trades. I'm not complaining, i'll take pars anytime of the day but it was SO frustrating to be in GREAT trades, trades that went greater than 2 points and to have been high ticked out of both positions before I could take profit. My management was spot on however, I was at par when and where I needed to be. It was just so frustrating to see these things go straight to my targets without me. The second trade which was the most painful to see smacked higher for all of a second before dropping 2 points in favor. The next trade was another textbook par and wasn't all that great so i'll take it. I traded correctly and that's the end of it. No regrets.



So overall I ended up marginally down on the day ($-2.50) plus a decent amount of commissions but it just sucked taking that outcome for the day when I was in some really great positions that paid good money, but did so without me. That's trading. All I know is that if I continue to put myself in these types of positions i'll be just fine because while they just missed today they will most certainly pay off more often than not. I'm leaving tomorrow morning at 5AM and who knows how the internet will work down where i'll be so the rest of the week is on hold for now. Hell I may not trade even if I can. I need (and deserve) a break from all of this.

Last thing to note was all of my setups were really working well today and especially the final setup I went live with for the first time today. Worked like a charm and did what it was supposed to do.

Trade Results:

ES: +62.50
NQ: -65.00

Friday Goes...

Didn't trade today. I went out last night and got piss-ass drunk somehow. Then managed to find myself at home intrigued with the show "Chuck" and watching the entire first season I borrowed from a friend all at once. I stumbled to bed around 4 AM and, well, lets just say I wasn't exactly in a prime mindset for trading this morning.

But a couple quick things to note. This week jump starts the first week I made money. I ended up with +167.50 on the week despite paltry performance and a true 4 day week. But I have a feeling many more weeks like this will follow. Second, the data on my final setup for this week is in. The NQ managed a fairly measly 90.00/contract in profits and a 66% win rate. But the ES fared much better bringing in 462.50 in profits and a 86% win rate! That should help boost profitability from now on!

As I said i'll be going live with it on Monday and then be out of town all next week and the first part of the following week. But we are getting internet hooked up at the house down in Missouri as we speak so hopefully i'll be able to trade from there as well.

Have a great weekend folks!

Trade Results:

HUNGOVER.

Thursday Goes...

B-to-the-ORING day. Two setups, two pars. Nothing going. Oh well. My mentor always said that professional traders should be bored out of their minds everyday. That's how you know your in the right mindset and you're truly a pro. When it isn't fun or exciting anymore. I'm there.

One thing that did piss me off today was I had a PERFECT NQ setup setting up. I saw it, I was ready for it... I was gonna pounce on it and make it my bitch. Literally two candles prior (less than 1 minute!) to it breaking my internet dropped out. Sprinting downstairs to the modem ensued and by the time I got my charts back up the perfect textbook entry had been offered, would've been taken, and a solid 2-3 points resulted. Shit happens I suppose but I couldn't help but feel a bit slighted by the man upstairs to kill my connection at EXACTLY that point. Any other time today, go for it, no complaints. But right then? At that exact moment? Its a low blow dude...


All in all though folks... Not a huge week by any means. But there is a distinct difference between this week and last week. I made money 4 out of 4 days. No huge drawdowns, solid execution, management throughout. I just may have hit the tipping point in my career. Also today my last setup i've been tracking offered about 100 bucks on two trades (1 loss, 1 win). I did some statistical backtesting on it and it certainly is profitable, and appears to be very efficient (low # of trades for the profit offered) and it comes in around 70% win rates. Not perfect, but good enough for me. I'll go live with the final setup on Monday.

Next week i'm out of town Tuesday through next Tuesday. I might be trading from Missouri and if so i'll let ya know how it goes!

Trade Results:

ES: +0.00
NQ: +0.00

Wednesday Goes...

Made one mistake today and it cost me a measly -2 ticks in the ES rather than a measly +2 ticks of profit. Not a big deal, but I did make a mistake thinking I had gotten into an invalid setup, exited my position, realized it was valid and it would've made two ticks. Not huge, but a mistake nonetheless.


The only other "mistake" that wasn't really a mistake was on an NQ setup that went to a temporary target I have the option of taking profit at. I didn't take profit because I didn't want to pre-stage the order and cap potential profit, it hit the level, rejected, I put in my order and never got filled and got stopped out for a tick. Not a mistake, more like bad luck, but it sucked either way.


Other than that, I didn't get any big trades today, not a lot of action (price was REALLY momentum based today) but I got what I got. I didn't screw up too badly. Basically a wash day with a whole +2.50 in net profits! ;)


The last thing to note is that i'm getting ready to roll out my last setup (of my three) to complete my method. I've been simming it for a couple weeks now and watching it and it seems to be working really well. It hits my required 80% win rates, is easy to watch for, enter, manage, and it gets profits i'm otherwise unable to capture. For example today it had 5 trades, 5 winners, and roughly +300.00 in profits between the ES and the NQ. I'd discount it if it wasn't so solid performing on multiple timeframes, markets, and historically. And if you're wondering what it is, i'm not going to tell you, but i'll give you a hint. Michael - your latest experiment bares shocking resemblance to the idea i'm going after. So keep at your testing because with some simple filters it can be very powerful!

So all good things happening here. Cheers!

Trade Results:

ES: +12.50
NQ: -10.00