Trader P/L 2009

[Tonkadad 10]

Read thru this thread and I am really impressed. Everyone is very helpful and upbeat. Looking forward to participating. Thanks to all for posting their P&L, the wins and losses very inspiring.

 

The losses are more interesting to me because it shows the real world of trading plus the fact that you get up and keep trading thru it. Keeps it very real.

 

Sincerely,

 

Bruce Hawkins

 

Tonkadad

[brownsfan019 17]

11-4-09: -$250.00

 

 

Where to start...

 

I about f'd this up as best as I could today. I'm not even sure how to explain. Suffice to say that the ZF bent me over and the ZS should have been a winner. Oh yeah, I exited GGC way before I should have. Only bright spot was GCL & Russell.

 

Good news is that I'm working on a little indicator/plotting thing that should help w/ entries. That was the issue on the ZS - I saw the trade, needed my entry level and by the time I hit it, price said adios sucker. If that wasn't a blatant sell spot, I don't know what is. Since I hate chasing, I just couldn't get into it. That's a user error, not system issue.

 

I bet the f'in monkey could have gotten in though.

 

Everyone say hi to the trading monkey:

 

Edited November 4, 2009 by brownsfan019

[brownsfan019 17]

Super busy with other stuff today. $243 of that ZS profit was from yesterday's close out of the position after hours. Expecting some reversal moves from the ZS since it was at the top of its range helped out in catching some of the bigger moves.

 

Fills question

Do you ever get filled in live trading if you put a limit at the current price on the ES or does that never happen?

 

Dinero - couple things -

 

1) Don't get too excited about that ZS profit unless you plan to hold overnight. I was hoping it would fail on you so you learn a lesson. Do NOT let that profit fool you into thinking you can routinely hold the ZS overnight. I know how that profit looks, but keep in mind it could have been the same or more in negatives.

 

2) ES fills - if you are entering via limit orders, you should assume that price MUST trade through your level to get filled. Ex: if you are buying 1051.50 price will need to touch 1051.25 to assume you got filled. It doesn't have to touch it long, but it does need to touch it. On your sim trading, place your entry 1 tick above/below your ideal entry and that will mimic live trading. Same with exits. That's part of the issue I have with the ES - price must go against you 1 tick to get filled on your entry and price must go past your exit by 1 tick to get your exit filled. That's 2 ticks price must travel against you in order for your orders to ensure being filled.

[Dinerotrader 10]

Dinero - couple things -

 

1) Don't get too excited about that ZS profit unless you plan to hold overnight. I was hoping it would fail on you so you learn a lesson. Do NOT let that profit fool you into thinking you can routinely hold the ZS overnight. I know how that profit looks, but keep in mind it could have been the same or more in negatives.

 

I totally agree. I put how much I made from that trade so readers of this thread wouldn't think I had made the $243 of today's ZS profit. When I got out right at the open in the evening for a profit, I would rather have had a big loss from it so it stuck in my mind more. I plan on NEVER holding overnight. That was certainly a mistake.

2) ES fills - if you are entering via limit orders, you should assume that price MUST trade through your level to get filled. Ex: if you are buying 1051.50 price will need to touch 1051.25 to assume you got filled. It doesn't have to touch it long, but it does need to touch it. On your sim trading, place your entry 1 tick above/below your ideal entry and that will mimic live trading. Same with exits. That's part of the issue I have with the ES - price must go against you 1 tick to get filled on your entry and price must go past your exit by 1 tick to get your exit filled. That's 2 ticks price must travel against you in order for your orders to ensure being filled.

 

That makes SIM'ing the ES so deceiving. I will have to reevaluate my ES trades.

[brownsfan019 17]

Sim trading has limitations and some are better than others. It also is a function of the market you are trading - the ES is one of the highest traded markets daily (volume), which means that there are big lines at each level and you cannot assume that if prices touches your level you will get a fill. It's a good assumption that you are at the back of the line and the only way you're going to advance is if that line is depleted and they have to move to a new line. Hopefully that makes sense.

[Dinerotrader 10]

Sim trading has limitations and some are better than others. It also is a function of the market you are trading - the ES is one of the highest traded markets daily (volume), which means that there are big lines at each level and you cannot assume that if prices touches your level you will get a fill. It's a good assumption that you are at the back of the line and the only way you're going to advance is if that line is depleted and they have to move to a new line. Hopefully that makes sense.

 

That makes a lot of sense. Can you assume on any contract that you will get a fill at the current price?

 

Does your DOM ever freeze? My DOM froze up today so I couldn't trade or do anything for about 5 seconds and price moved past my buy so I couldn't tell if I was in or what..., needless to say, I was freaking out.

[brownsfan019 17]

That makes a lot of sense. Can you assume on any contract that you will get a fill at the current price?

 

Does your DOM ever freeze? My DOM froze up today so I couldn't trade or do anything for about 5 seconds and price moved past my buy so I couldn't tell if I was in or what..., needless to say, I was freaking out.

 

You can never assume you will get a fill when price touches your level, but it's much easier on the CL or ZS for example vs. the ES. Just look at the depth and see what you have to get through.

 

I think that momentary pause happens on sim, but send a support ticket to OEC and let them know. The more that tell them there's issues, the more likely it will get addressed. I don't hesitate to send support tickets when there's an issue. They are working for you, so send a support ticket when there's a concern.

[bathrobe 10]

On the ES, I am trying a bathrobe approach at trying to look for smaller profit targets and seeing if I can find where on the chart I have the most confidence in price moving my way. Going for 4 ticks profit for some reason has been working many times over for the last 2 days but ultimately, I want to only be taking a few of those trades with many more contracts. My first goal is to just pay for my lunch everyday.

 

 

Regarding trading for smaller tick sizes with a smaller account eventually you will lose, if you are unable to correctly read pa and get close out with a loss (very hard to do with real cash, every tick in your direction you hope and hope should never enter into trading). When I started my target was 3 points, when I got to 2 my stop moved to +1, one of the main reasons I take quick profits is because I hold on average 500+ contracts the fear level is pretty crazy along with everything else like keeping orders out of the queue and other considerations that go with this. Anyhow I would look for setups that yield more points/ticks.

 

[subterfuge 10]

And tehe streaketh endeth!

Couldn't make it to 10 winning days in a row. After 9 winning days and around 300 pips profit, today was red. Not bothered at all. Just because of my pescimistic/supersticious nature, im hoping that it doesn't mark the start of a similar run, but this time losing days! lol. Also, after a good run and because my method is most priceaction/discressionary, you start to ask yourself whether you are trading slightly different to how you usually do without realising it. Pretty sure im being quite consistent and you obviously cant win em all.

 

2 other things to mention. 1, that it could have been alot worse. I was down over double that amout at one point, but then a trade from my ES system (remember the little equity curve thing i posted a few days ago?) gave me a nice 30 pip(3 ES points) winner, making the red day less painful.

 

Other thing to mention is that it could have also easliy been another good day. I missed one of my bread and butter setups in the pre-market. I only have one pair of eyes, and dont know a thing about programming/alerts, and my method is slightly disressionary so its inevitable that i miss trades from time to time. Would have been a very good one too!

 

 

Still. Lets see what the next few trading sessions bring....

[brownsfan019 17]

11-5-09: +$535.63

 

Good day overall. Missed a nice oil short b/c I was concerned about preserving that I had here. That was dumb. :doh:

 

I tried something today that I've done before - I turned off my p/l tracker on the DOM so that I could manage the trade w/o influence of seeing the $$$$ behind each trade and each tick move. Seemed to work a little better today as I salvaged the Russell as my first trade was a loser and the 2nd a winner, which covered the loser and then some. I know if I was watching that thing tick up and down I would have flattened as soon as I was even.

 

If you're using OEC, here's how to turn off the p/l on your actual dom:

 

Edited November 5, 2009 by brownsfan019

[Dinerotrader 10]

My charts started freezing again this morning and I didn't have total focus so had to sit today out.

[brownsfan019 17]

My charts started freezing again this morning and I didn't have total focus so had to sit today out.

 

Make sure to send a support ticket to OEC if you haven't. Let them know of what issues you are having.

[bathrobe 10]

back on track today, although trade lasted longer than I like.

[edabreu 10]

What a market today.....

[bathrobe 10]

Unable to sleep so I traded the DAX, I will be watching CL along with ES today, this is only the DAX so far.

[bathrobe 10]

As I type this I am shaking, I entered into a large CL position and my computer freezes, my cell phone is also dead, after I reboot I find out I am out with a healthy profit. Thank God

 

This P&L is the Dax + CL, now I am focusing on ES for the rest of the day.

 

BF, Well done trading treasuries, commodities, currencies, and the indexes successfully

Edited November 6, 2009 by bathrobe
I cant disclose these reasons

[brownsfan019 17]

Nice job BR! The CL can be your greatest friend when you get in sync w/ it. I got a nice trade there today as well and focusing on Russell and ZS rest of day.

[thalestrader 14]

Unable to sleep so I traded the DAX, I will be watching CL along with ES today, this is only the DAX so far.

 

 

"When I can't sleep at night I trade S&P futures at Lind Waldock."

 

That line is definitely in the top 10 funniest lines in a trading oriented commercial/advertisement I have ever seen/heard.

 

"When I can't sleep at night I trade Dax futures," on the other hand, sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[thalestrader 14]

As I type this I am shaking, I entered into a large CL position and my computer freezes, my cell phone is also dead, after I reboot I find out I am out with a healthy profit. Thank God

 

I have a migraine that is building and building, and so I am not trading anymore today until (unless) the meds kick in.

 

Here is the weekly PnL for the little forex account my daughter and I have been trading. I'll break out the trades, wins/losses/breakeven later in the Reading Charts thread. Also, lest anyone thinks this came from trading large on the NFP, I have a screen shot of our one trade today - short at 133.75, stopped out at 133.745 for + 1/2 tick.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[bathrobe 10]

Is that the commercial with the guys at a gym? Very funny.

 

But what else are you going to do when you cannot sleep but risk large sums of highly leveraged money?......count sheep?

 

Chris :o

 

Thales, I have migraines too, this was the reason I could not sleep actually, but my meds kicked in. Hope you feel better.

[bathrobe 10]

As I type this I am shaking, I entered into a large CL position and my computer freezes, my cell phone is also dead, after I reboot I find out I am out with a healthy profit. Thank God

 

 

 

For those of you who do not have your broker on speed dial, do this. Also, use a land line.

[brownsfan019 17]

11-6-09: +$856.26

 

Good example of a day where most trades were taken. 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.

 

Good way to end the week though, so I'm happy. And done by 1035am EST, which makes me even more happy.

[subterfuge 10]

you lot did well! Not good here again. No blotter today, but Im up 6 pips - basically breakeven day. Very tough. Was down lots again at one point. not sure what's changed. Cant complain yet as its been a great few weeks but, as im sure you are all aware, it plays with your mind.

 

Have a good weekend.

[Dinerotrader 10]

+$200

 

Caught the first breakdown on the ZS and trailed my way down.

 

[brownsfan019 17]

+$200

 

Caught the first breakdown on the ZS and trailed my way down.

 

 

Well done. That was the gimme I was talking about.