Not sure what your targets are for profit-taking, but hopefully they are much larger than your stops; selling LOD's will result in many stop-outs, but its the few occasions where you catch a big move that should make up for all the rest. Keep that in mind and don't be too discouraged. On the other hand, have you ever tried buying breakdowns and selling the breakouts? Instead of getting frustrated that you just missed a large move, try cheering that move to go even further, because more often than not it's setting up a great trade risk/reward-wise going the other way. A slow grind lower that eventually ends in an expansion bar that cracks the day's low is usually a good set-up to buy; 12:30 low on the NQ is a good example. Always try to constantly ask yourself: a) where would people who were wrong most likely be stopped out? and b) where would traders who were right be taking profits? Those who bought the breakout to new highs at 11:10 -- where do you think they would get stopped out of that trade? At which trendline? Also, if you imagined you had shorted the exact high tick of the day at 11:15, where do you think you would want to cover after riding the next hour steadily down?
Thanks guys, It certainly does make sense. I am taking note of all the things folks are saying. The hard part is recognizing it all in real time. Also, it sure seems that the best trades are counter intuitive, at least to me. A weekend of study ahead. My bad back won't let me do anything else anyway. Thanks again,
I enjoy reading your journal, Tony. Illiquid, you made some excellent points; thank you for posting the informative attachment. Continuing on from Illiquid, the NQ is a wonderful instrument but bear in mind a few things... the obvious trades are breakouts/downs and fades... the efficacy of breakouts/downs and fading breakouts/downs is variable but with sound risk management a living can be made off either... therein lies the secret, my Holy Grail, of trading... whatever trading plan you use, keep those losses low... Tony, I suggest that you need to spend just as much time on keeping losses low and defining when the conditions for entry no longer hold... trading is not simply about entry set-ups....
Come on Tony...get those openings working. I had 3 new guys start this week, and all three were up for the week on openings (still learning the rest of the day)... Pick 10 good stocks from the S&P, get Robert to help you with the spreadsheet for your orders....and place "slingshots" (closes) immediately after being filled. Watch the darn tape...and make some money. Heck, we don't want to be the only trading firm left in California!! Don
Since I trade ES, I figure NQ is pretty much the same animal, all I have to do is substitude two letters nq for es. So one day when ES was not moving I fliped to NQ and started clicking after about 3,4 trades I realized I was way over my head. I have never go back to NQ and if I would I will start out by watching and paper trade it first.
Kind of a rocky day, bad start, but I managed to recover to some extent. WYE got me pretty badly. But it was entirely avoidable. First, I think there was news on it, and I missed it. Then also, there was a closing print that skewed the last price enough to get a fill, even though WYE wasn't really gapping enough to warrant an opening order. It is tough to check a hundred stocks for "bad" closing prints, but it is even worse to get a .70 loss right off the bat. Here are the "normal" opening orders.
tony I am sure you have stated somewhere (or someone did) what you are using to capture your charts....i have tried snagit, but they don't look as good as yours. or maybe i just don't know how to use it properly. Thanks, RS7 PS...just keep on plugging. your timing will get better for sure.