ES EMINI Trading - The gap and others

[aversano]

Rob, thank you for your support. Really appreciated.
There were too many times where I waited just to see a gap trade walking away and too many times where it paid off. At this point, I am having confidence issues... One rule that I will never violate is my loss a day rule.

 

[aversano]

If I could share something regarding my emotional trading experience. It is like having my mind juggling between cockiness and hurt. When i am riding the wave, it is all clear and cockiness comes out. When I am hurt, my heart opens up and I feel the need to talk.
------------------------------------
As you can tell, today's experience has definitely opened my heart. I do not question my trading abilities. My P&L proves that I am on the right path and doing OK.Don't know why I feel that air is coming out of my confidence balloon. I need that balloon...

This is one of the days that having a fat paycheck doesn't ease the pain ... when it should.

 

[robster970]

Ask yourself honestly why you feel good when you are right and why you feel bad when you are wrong.

If you're mentally in the right place, your emotional state should be blank in both circumstances and you should be able to accept a loss equally as well as taking a profit.

The reality is that it is never quite blank but aspiring to this mental state will pay dividends and improve your trading.

 

[aversano]

We'll see what tomorrow brings... I'll be there, walking at a "direction", with a sword and a shield.

 

[richd8980]

Rob, thank you for your support. Really appreciated.
There were too many times where I waited just to see a gap trade walking away and too many times where it paid off. At this point, I am having confidence issues... One rule that I will never violate is my loss a day rule.

One rule that I will never violate is my loss a day rule. So if you suffer a loss you are done for the day? Does that make you more careful with your setup since its one loss and you out? Does it matter the size of the loss? Taking losses and leting my wins run have been something I am working on. Thanks Rich

 

[aversano]

Rich, there were days where I traded 5 times a day. My path has led to me conclude that a stop loss CAN be greater than a target and that one loss a day takes me out of the game for that day.

 

[richd8980]

Rich, there were days that I traded 5 times a day. My path has led to me conclude that a stop loss CAN be larger that a profit target and that one loss a day takes me out of the game for that day.

I've read that the secret to success in the markets lies not in discovering some incredible indicator or elaborate theory; rather, it lies within each individual.

To excel in trading requires a combination of talent and extremely hard work-(surprise!) the same combination required for excellence in any field. Those seeking success by buying the latest $300 or even $3,000 system, or by following the latest hot tip, will never find the answer because they haven't yet understood the question.

Thanks for sharing whats going on in your trading

 

[aversano]

No real action pre market, smells like a no gap day. I would be interested in taking a short around 1143 if gap is present.

 

[aversano]

No Gap.

 

[aversano]

Short @1143.75. Signing off, a stop loss and a profit target in play.

 

[aversano]

Stopped out. Quite a while ago.... I think that for now i'll stick with gap only trades

 

[aversano]

I've read that the secret to success in the markets lies not in discovering some incredible indicator or elaborate theory; rather, it lies within each individual.

To excel in trading requires a combination of talent and extremely hard work-(surprise!) the same combination required for excellence in any field. Those seeking success by buying the latest $300 or even $3,000 system, or by following the latest hot tip, will never find the answer because they haven't yet understood the question.

Thanks for sharing whats going on in your trading

Rich, I might disagree on the hard work part. Trading does require preparation and a specific mind set but based on my experience, once you have your set of rules to follow. The more you work, the more exhausted you are and less prepared for an upcoming battle.

There are many questions that I ask(ed) myself some of them are(were) do I have what it takes to trade? Am I prepared ?Why am I trading? How do I separate between Profit/Loss and my daily mood? Is there a secret?

But, it's definitely a game where balls are needed, I am blessed to have the capital to stick around for a long time (thank god)
:whistling

 

[aversano]

Ask yourself honestly why you feel good when you are right and why you feel bad when you are wrong.

If you're mentally in the right place, your emotional state should be blank in both circumstances and you should be able to accept a loss equally as well as taking a profit.

The reality is that it is never quite blank but aspiring to this mental state will pay dividends and improve your trading.

Robster, do you trade any other instruments?

 

[richd8980]

Rich, I might disagree on the hard work part. Trading does require preparation and a specific mind set but based on my experience, once you have your set of rules to follow. The more you work, the more exhausted you are and less prepared for an upcoming battle.

There are many questions that I ask(ed) myself some of them are(were) do I have what it takes to trade? Am I prepared ?Why am I trading? How do I separate between Profit/Loss and my daily mood? Is there a secret?

But, it's definitely a game where balls are needed, I am blessed to have the capital to stick around for a long time (thank god)
:whistling

Im new at trading the futures so I read a lot of stuff. I enjoy it so its not like work,
I have alway found the market interesting. I use pivot points for most of my trading. I like the site emini addict the guy has some good info. Thanks for all your input it helps me a lot. Rich

 

[aversano]

Im new at trading the futures so I read a lot of stuff. I enjoy it so its not like work,
I have alway found the market interesting. I use pivot points for most of my trading. I like the site emini addict the guy has some good info. Thanks for all your input it helps me a lot. Rich

I do this with the time dedication of a hobby and the commitment of a job. I'll gladly share my limited experience and emotions regarding this profession. :clover:

 

[robster970]

Robster, do you trade any other instruments?

Like most I meandered to ES via UK stocks, DJIA, Coffee (don't ask) and ended up at ES where I found my home.

I occassionally position trade gold but I decided to get to know one market well and that market was ES

 

[aversano]

Like most I meandered to ES via UK stocks, DJIA, Coffee (don't ask) and ended up at ES where I found my home.

I occassionally position trade gold but I decided to get to know one market well and that market was ES

Coffee ??? I traded RIMM,AAPL then moved to ETFs (FAZ...) and found my home with the ES as well. Are we neighbors or living in the same house?

 

[robster970]

Coffee ??? I traded RIMM,AAPL then moved to ETFs (FAZ...) and found my home with the ES as well. Are we neighbors or living in the same house?

I think we're at quite similar stages in our trading lives by the sounds of it

I suspect we are neighbours though as I have to shoulder the burden of being British although technically I think we're not far off becoming either the 53rd state of the US as we're set adrift from Europe by refusing to take on the Euro and generally not playing ball with them.

Comes from living on an island.

 

[aversano]

I think we're at quite similar stages in our trading lives by the sounds of it

I suspect we are neighbours though as I have to shoulder the burden of being British although technically I think we're not far off becoming either the 53rd state of the US as we're set adrift from Europe by refusing to take on the Euro and generally not playing ball with them.

Comes from living on an island.

I have always liked the UK, been there twice. I used to trade stocks for a prop firm using the blackbox that I developed. Things worked well until they didn't...

during my process I noticed that I am better at "reading" ETFs and indexes rather than individual stocks, given the volume the crowd affect. My trades were unmanageable not because I wasn't making the right moves but because I didn't have a solid exit strategy. Extending my stop and following my target led to some consistency. Needless to say my n number of losses per day.

p.s. I myself live on an Island. A pretty crowded one. :innocent:

 

[robster970]

I can summarise my trading career pretty much as:

1. Wrote software system then realised that there was more to it than indicators
2. Threw all indicators away and then started to trade price only
3. After about 6 months of doing that, started to see how price reveals lots but then realised my problems lay within me. Started analysing my behaviour which is a feature of my landscape to this day.
4. Built a trading plan but took the plan too literally. Realised I still didn't know what was going on.
5. Read some stuff about market structure and how markets actually work, who the participants are, what they are doing, etc
6. Realised that in order to be successful I had to provide a 'service' to the market which then shaped my trading plan
7. Realised that events drive indices and then started to incorporate a fundamental/economic/political view into trading
8. Started to really incorporate price action and discretion in risk mgmt and trade execution (not trade selection) and turned from losing pts to making pts

Now I'm in a process of refinement and I can feel certain things that were concious decision making become more cognitive and intuitive. It's still early days for me, and like you this is a part time thing which consumes all my spare time.

I still have a long way to go....