[brownsfan019]

I think most of us at some point or another could use that additional accountability that we don't always have, esp when trading by yourself. I find it too easy to get lax and fall behind, which is a slippery slope.

So, my idea was to create a thread here that we can all use to help keep ourselves accountable to each other. Being a smaller group, we could really help each other out to get to that next level, whatever that next level is. An example of that I am talking about can be found here, but I want to take it a step further, as I mentioned in this TL thread.

The catch of course being that 1) there must be regular participation (daily for daytraders) and 2) there's enough interest by the 'regulars' to even want to do this. To help gauge interest, I attempted to include a poll with this so vote in the poll and feel free to post some ideas/suggestions as well.

I think we need to keep the format quick and easy. I'd like to just make a template that we all use. My idea is:

# OF SETUPS:
# OF SETUPS TAKEN:
% OF SETUPS TAKEN:
WHAT P&L 'SHOULD' HAVE BEEN:
ACTUAL P&L:
NOTES:

The idea being that for those that do not take every setup, myself included, that we work on that. If you take all your setups, then those points are not necessary. I'm sure we can get a few more ideas as well.

Note - I just realized that some may shy away if P&L #'s are disclosed. I'll leave it up to the majority as to whether we include that or not. I don't want someone to think that it's not worth participating if trading a smaller lot size. I have no idea what types of traders are here in terms of P&L's, so I don't want that to be a deterrent for anyone. I'd rather have 10 of us actively staying accountable to each other and not disclose P&L vs. 3 of us doing it with P&L numbers. Just an idea.

James - is there anyway to make a template that can be used somehow? Just something to make this even easier for everyone.

[brownsfan019]

I think I have a better idea than posting actual P&L numbers that will still help each of us w/o playing 'big bank'.

Instead of posting the actual P&L numbers, we can post gross and net point totals. Example: +3.25 ES pts.

I think posting actual numbers is very useful and this way, numbers are posted w/o having to disclose your personal numbers, which I understand some may not want to do that.

So a revised template could look like:

# OF SETUPS:
# OF SETUPS TAKEN:
% OF SETUPS TAKEN:
WHAT GROSS PTS SHOULD HAVE BEEN:
ACTUAL GROSS PTS:
NOTES:

[jperl]

Not to crazy about a fill in the blanks form. Would rather see a blotter showing all trades with P/L.

[brownsfan019]

Originally Posted by jperl »

Not to crazy about a fill in the blanks form. Would rather see a blotter showing all trades with P/L.

To me a blotter is simply a 'look at me'. And that's what elitetrader does. No point of copying what is already being done. Think outside the box.

I'm looking for a way for us to help each be accountable to our trading plan. Posting a blotter does none of this. There's no way to tell how many trades you had available and how many you took. I would like this thread to serve more than a 'look at me' purpose.

I should also mention that this idea comes from reading many of the threads and the PM's I've received since being on the forum. It appears to me that the active members here usually want more than the normal 'fluff' seen at ET. And I think a blotter post is just that - some fluff that doesn't do much to help YOU and EACH OTHER. Size of the P&L is not necessarily what's important; whereas following your plan 100% is, as mentioned in the other thread about mind games. Once you are consistently following your plan, the P&L will follow in my opinion.

We'll see what others think...

[james_gsx]

I like the idea and I think it could work here. At ET they would crab at you for every trade and tell you how terrible it was, even if you made money. But here I think you could really get a lot of good constructive criticism to help eachother out. I think it would work, and being as there are a few newbies here to futures it would probably be very beneficial.

[MrPaul]

Brownsfan,

I think it is a cool idea. I'm not going to commit just yet until I am certain I will actually stick to it. I have a few different ways of journaling/recording trades etc. and I'm not sure if I'll actually be consistent to come and re-record everything online.

Interesting idea none the less...

[Nvesta81]

Another thing we could do is post a chart of either a really succesful trade we did and explain our analysis, or a really awful trade we did and try to figure out what we did wrong...

That could serve as some good learning material for everyone.

[walterw]

Originally Posted by Unleashed »

Another thing we could do is post a chart of either a really succesful trade we did and explain our analysis, or a really awful trade we did and try to figure out what we did wrong...

That could serve as some good learning material for everyone.

I like that one Unleashed... thats a very nice way of being helped and help others, at the same time be accountable... we all can write down statistics without any proof, I can tell you I made 70 YM point today and used 40% setups... ???:rolleyes: now If I show you my trades on a chart it gets much more accountable... thats my two cents here... cheers Walter.