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TimRacette
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Posts posted by TimRacette
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wow good for your Steve, ya Ben Lichtenstein and the guys down in the pit really do a great job with that pit calling. Do you ever look at point and figure charts then?
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5Daw, oh yeah you definitelly have to start somewhere, so I suppose pullin gmoney out of the account doesn't apply as much early on. Way to go!
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Makes sense MM, that's just what I do, allows me to take the setups that I see carefree. Been profitable month over month for the past few years so far.
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The problem with that math is that it doesn't take into account my trailstop and winning trades. My fault for leaving that part out. So 85% of trades go at least +2, I move my stop to -2 when we trade +4 and b/e when we hit +6. I have statistics for where my trades either get stopped out or take a profit and my #s along with my actual p/l show that it's very profitable.
In 10 trades I average 1.5 stopouts, two -2s and the rest of the trades are b/e or greater, that means (sticking with the #2 and using 2 contracts) in 6.5 trades I only have to cover a loss of $250 and according to my live trading statistics I have at least 2 trades of +10 or more per every 10 trades, that right there would cover losses and commission.
The range on the euro is much more conducive and lucrative to this strategy, but the ES is so incredibly technical with extremely high first target rates.
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BigSnack, picked up that scale method from David Halsey a few years ago, love it
Mighty Mouse,
For ES I use a 6 tick stop, half off at +2 ticks and stop goes to -4 ticks, initial target 10 ticks. 85.7% of my trades get +2 or better so my risk is extremely reduced right off the bat. For the
For Euro (6E) I use a -8 pip stop, half off at +4 pips and stop goes to -4, this puts me at break even and I just hold to the -23% target. Once we get moving I trail the 233 tick chart.
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They (trend lines) have been tested in my office for several markets...no sale hereBut by all means continue as you were ladies and gentlemen and best of luck to you
What do you use to trade Steve?
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5Daw, part of that makes sense, taking the profits, but if someone's account balance is less than 10k I really don't see them trading it for a living. To make 40k in a year pretax you'd have to turn 400% profit or 800 ES points, thats an average of 15 points a week, and even if they used 2cts that'd be a hefty task. That being said I'm sure there's someone out there who will chime in saying they've done it, so it's by no means impossible. If you're making 60pts a month per contract every month you're doing well.
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Nice to have you here Hustler, it's a great forum, everyone is really helpful.
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Yes, the self fullfilling prophecy, but we have to remember the market is made up of individuals, humans. Crowds are predictable, individuals are not.
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It all comes down to size. A few of my colleauges own hedge funds downtown Chicago, some Alg some fundamental, two extremes. When you have 100M under management and bring in 20M in profits taking a 1% mgt fee and 30% profit split, thats a nice chunk of change. Compare that to your own trading account, what percentage would you have to make to bring in say 50k a year?
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Shakespeare, here's a screenshot of one of my setups using fib levels. I enter at 50%s stops below 61 and target above highs or lows by 23%.We moved the fib discussion here Fibs on ES and 6E - Traders Laboratory - Professional Traders Community
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I had a couple people ask me to start a Fibonacci thread so here it is. As you've probably heard me mention in other posts I enter at 50% lines I use a 6 tick stop on the ES and 8 pip stop on the Euro (6E). I trade in contracts of 2 and take half off at +2 on the ES +4 on 6E. I use a target of 23% past highs.
Be interest to hear how you trade using fibs.
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Rande that's awesome stuff thanks so much for sharing. Have you read/listened to any of Malcolm Gladwell's books? His book Blink comes to mind, there is some research in there from some interesting clinical scientists that's fascinating.
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Shakespeare, here's a screenshot of one of my setups using fib levels. I enter at 50%s stops below 61 and target above highs or lows by 23%.
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In the long run compound interest plus dividends is really what propels account growth something futures doesn't provide. Along with the fact that you have expiration, futures is looked at as more of a hedging vehicle versus a long term investment.
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In 2005 I was attending college at Arizona State University studying architecture and business when I saw a blurb on TV about trading. I really didn’t know much about trading or how the stock market worked, but had started doing some investing in high school and loved my economics classes so I began to do some research on the subject of trading and whether or not it was possible to trade for a living. After spending some time visiting the trading floor in Chicago and talking with some of the best screen traders in the industry (all who made their living trading) I made the decision that I would become a professional trader.
Since that time I’ve evolved from trading stocks, to options, arriving where I am today, primarily trading the E-mini S&P and Euro Futures. I use a methodology that has been around since before there were computers and charting packages and high frequency trading. That being said it has only become more effective since the advancement of this technology. In 2009 I presented and spoke at the Las Vegas Trader’s Expo, and have done interviews with the Money Show as well as TraderInterviews.com. I’ve had the privileged to travel all across the United States, through Europe, and to Central America.
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I thought it'd be interesting to share our daily trading rituals and routines, here's mine. I posted my full daily schedule on that blog section of my profile.
2:00 AM Begin trading at the Euro Open
The first thing I do when I wake up (after grabbing some juice and toast) is to see what Germany did in the hour leading up to the European open. Typically the European session will do the opposite of what Germany did. I’ve found this holds true on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings (the meat of the week). Monday and Friday are typically less participation days.
Since it is slow and quiet during the wee hours of the morning I will throw on an audio book or some podcasts to listen to. I find that I am the most productive during this time so I will occasionally work on a blog post or other project if I am waiting for a level to set up it is especially slow (such as right now!)
(I begin Euro open trading on Tuesday morning as Monday is usually uneventful and slow).
5:15 AM Back to sleep for 90-mins
If the Euro session is really slow and I haven’t had any trades by 3:30 I will go back to sleep at 3:45. I try and get to sleep by these two times because it allows me to complete a full one or two sleep cycles by the time I wake up next for NYSE open trading
6:45 AM NYSE open trading begins
I call this NYSE open even though the cash session doesn’t open until 8:30. This starts the main part of my day. I usually feel refreshed and away both times I wake up. After taking my resting heart rate I throw on some clothes, grab a yogurt and some orange juice and hit the office. (Oh yeah, forgot to mention that my office is down the hall from my sleeping quarters, a nice feature to say the least).
I review what has happened since the Euro open and take a quick glance at Reuter’s news headlines. Then I pull up my daily notes and fill out the day’s numbers. I read over my trading rules (again to engrain them into my subconscious), by now this has just become habit, and the trading beings, (or resumes).
(I don’t trade the ES during the first 30-mins because it is erratic as market orders hit the tape).
I have been signing into DH’s room for about a year now. I enjoy chatting and interacting with other traders during the day and DH always has some good comments (and jokes every now and again). Mostly I use the trading room as background noise (over the other background noise of the trading pit).
10:30 AM Lunch Time
This is more of brunch as I will make eggs or some sort of sandwich. I always eat at this time because I found that over the years I almost never had a winning trade on the ES from 10:30-11:00. This is also the Euro close so I like to let things settle out. It’s not worth my time to trade this time frame. If everyone else is at lunch, I should be to.
11:00 AM The home stretch
If Euro has been technical all day I continue trading it until 12:30. I also look for a full trading hour’s only halfway back setup on the ES around 11:45-12:30. This is usually the only setup I will take after 10:30 on the ES, else another larger 15-min setup. I stay away from the micro time frames as most of the time this the slowest and choppiest time of the day.
12:30 End Trading for the day
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Rainmaket is correct, I might suggest the book "the 4-hour work week" it's about creating passive income and freeing up your time. In most cases this is what people wanting to become traders actually want. Trading is a self-employed job that takes long hours and hard work on the front end. Then again so does anything that pays well.
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Rande, I think a lot of it has to do with where we are drawing knowledge from in the brain. We pull memories from the back and logic from the front (to simplily things). We don't develop this front part of the brain fully till our early 20s which explains why teenagers do dumb things, because they haven't fully developed the logic part. This also explains, for example why for some people, it takes losing their best friend in a drunk driver accident for them to change the way they act. As traders we may "know" something, but until we can turn that logic int a memory we may not change.
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I agree with Hlm, as for daily targets I also have no set target. If the day is providing good setups then I trade them till they fail, if the day is slow I trade less. The month is usually filled with a handful of average days and a few great days.
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I agree with cuttshot. Once you have a sizable account I find it necessary to remove all profits for the week from your trading account. Take physical delivery of that money and go cash it at the bank, touch it, hold it in your hand, and then deposit it into your check, savings, and investment accounts.
I think this process is important because it makes what we are doing tangible and real. Perhaps its mostly for psychological purposes, but if you leave the profits in your account, they are "at risk" of the market. Removing them each week keeps it structured more as a business.
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"Expect the unexpected and whenever possible, be the unexpected" - Jack Dorsey
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Keeping honest and detailed records is crucial. As humans we are very good at rationalizing even the most bizarre and idiotic situations. Told in the book Richest Man in Babylon, he who saves 10% of all he earns and learns to invest that money will become rich. It's as simple as that, live within your means, control your expenses and save 10% of all that you earn, aside from life getting in the way.
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kishenr, there's certainly been a lot of math and algorithmic trading popping up over the past 10 years. As for learning technical analysis I might recommend the book Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques by Steve Nison. Take things one step at a time, as long as you have your max daily loss defined then you should be able to learn without blowing up.
Fibs on ES and 6E
in E-mini Futures
Posted
Some of my trading colleagues do Alg, another runs a hedge fund, a few others do option spreads for big firms downtown (Chicago). I couldn't trade they way some of them do and they probably couldn't trade the way I do. To each his own ya know, but so far this works for me.