[HAL9000]

One more,

in my view sim trading is an important part of the educational process of a trader.

After this step is mastered, real trading is the next one.

Sim trading should give you the confidence, that might give a trader a higher probability to reach his goal: consistent profitable trading.

Otherwise, what its worth, if someone says:

Execute your plan!

Whatever plan it is, it has to be tested before,
and my belief is, testing means simulation.

Well yes, its a different story if you sit on a 500k real account, and like to play with one NQ contract for fun, because sim is boring. But that is gambling in my view.

[MCM]

As a beginning trader (less than 6 months) - I found sim trading to be of little use except using it to learn the platforms (especially Ninja). You swear to yourself that greed / fear / pride wont affect your trading - and by god you do well. Really thought I would hit the ground running after a month of sim trading.

Until you go live - and the three henchman are sitting in your chair taking turns pummeling your ego.

Cant count the amount of premature exits I took - (and still take, though at a lesser clip happily) and the 2 or 3 "hope it turns around soon - hell - should I add to the position and average down" - cardinal sins that I swore I wouldnt do.

Live trading taught me I overtrade - I wasnt picking my spots - and I was not trusting my positions once I did pull the trigger.

Happily - no account was blown out - and was reasonable about the amounts I let flow into the hands of more skilled traders. And - nowadays, I am seeing more green than red typically. (though not always).

The good thing - I am mostly succeeding at rating my day as a success on whether or not I follow the plan - and trade the plan. I have actually got damn near to convincing myself of that "good" trade that lost 2 points in the ES.

Am a little hesitant to throw the results into this forum - but after reading the 27 pages - it is clear you folks are kind...perhaps I will be brave enough to post. Appreciate alot of the comments - it is a great community to learn from. I have alot to learn - look forward to peaking over everyones shoulders.

P

[brownsfan019]

Originally Posted by bathrobe »

Brownsfan,

You are very impressive with the ZB, along with candlestick analysis do you use the 50 ma, the 30 yr, really seems to respect this?

BR - First, thanks. It's been working well on bonds for some time now.

As for the setup, I'm trying to cut back on the amount of entries so I'm much more particular on my entries now. While I will reference a mov. average or 2, they are not necessarily the prime/only trigger being used. In other words, I am not just looking for pullbacks to the MA. I think there is some possibility for that on bonds, but my focus now is getting in the AM and when there's momentum (or at least when I think there will be momentum coming). Often times by the time you get your pullback, that momentum is over.

So to answer your question, the MA is not a primary trigger for me, but is referenced on the charts. At the minimum, I'll glance where a few are, but sometimes I need to pull the trigger before it officially might pullback b/c of what I am really looking to exploit.

With that said, there are some great posts in the candlestick corner about these methods and bearbull had some very good posts on the matter. I also posted an article from Bigalow, who is a candlestick guy that uses MA's as well.

If I was trading all day, I would most definitely be using these more; but I'm not doing that anymore. I'm taking a birds eye view of about 10 or so markets and just lay there waiting until price gets to my entry zone. Once price gets there, I zoom into that chart and look for an optimal entry price and logical stop/profit targets. Then I put the trade on and do my best to let it go... easier said than done.

Basically the plan is be done trading by Noon EST, if not sooner. I watch a nice block of markets and only enter what I consider to be my best setup. When the trade triggers, I go in hard and look to push it. At this point in my career, it's about the $ - meaning that I am looking to make $500-$1000/contract traded per day. If that goal is hit, it's a good day and then it's time to shut the screens down and do other stuff.

One day I might actually put all these ideas and things into a book. I've often thought that if I had a ghost writer help me put all my ideas into a cohesive, readable format, that I could help some traders out there, esp those new to trading. I think the current trading books out there are good, but too many sugar coat this thing. I'd love to write a real life, in your face book... maybe some day...

[Marsupilami]

Originally Posted by brownsfan019 »

I'm taking a birds eye view of about 10 or so markets and just lay there waiting until price gets to my entry zone. Once price gets there, I zoom into that chart and look for an optimal entry price and logical stop/profit targets. Then I put the trade on and do my best to let it go... easier said than done.

Hi Brownsfan, just to clarify, by "optimal entry price", do you mean a candle stick based setup in your entry zone ? And how do you arrive at your zones, if I may ask ? Are these traditional S&R zones or floor pivots ?

BTW, your P&L is very impressive, chapeau ! You should definitely write a book someday !

[brownsfan019]

Originally Posted by Marsupilami »

Hi Brownsfan, just to clarify, by "optimal entry price", do you mean a candle stick based setup in your entry zone ? And how do you arrive at your zones, if I may ask ? Are these traditional S&R zones or floor pivots ?

BTW, your P&L is very impressive, chapeau ! You should definitely write a book someday !

Mars - I am looking at the candlesticks when price enters my target area. Would prefer to see bullish candles when going long and vice versa. It's not a deal breaker though if I feel the risk/reward is worth the entry, even if the candle formations might not be 100% on my side.

The zones I look to enter at are where I feel volume is going to step in. If my timing is on, I can get on just before a volume surge can come through. It works a good chunk of the time, but obviously not all the time. I am prone to the fakeout like everyone else.

IMO the easiest trades are the ones where you go into profit rather quickly. I know - duh! But getting into the trade before that occurs is a little more tricky. Basically my view on this is to look at your charts - current and past - and see where volume comes in and if you can find some patterns. Depending on the markets you are watching, could be time of day, certain days of the week, when certain econ reports are announced, etc. etc. While there are many variables, if you put the puzzle together, you might find some similarities of when your markets move. Nothing is bullet proof, but you don't need to be bullet proof. You just need a reliable analysis that repeats itself.

I strongly recommend watching multiple markets and zeroing in on the better setups. When you are just watching one market, you are stuck there - good or bad. I know many around here focus on the ES or NQ, but there's plenty of times when that is like watching paint dry; meanwhile other markets are moving.

[brownsfan019]

4-23-09



Saved by a wheat trade today. If I can contain the losing days to something like this, the account will survive. I know what it looks like on winning days, I just have to contain the losing ones.

[remymor]

followed my plan, acceptable losses today. It happens. My goal is to take all my edges and realize that each invidual trade outcome is random. But, over the long run, my wins will be larger than my losses. This is easier said than done, but that is my focus. It's about thinking in probabilities, which I learned from Mark Douglas's books.

[JKLM]

ok...done for today
score ? moderate because low win ...
but I am satisfied, because I follow my plan and avoid traps