FTSE100- June

Tubbs

Have you read Piper, Elder or Tharp. It sounds like you are carrying-over some emotional affect on those substantial losses which are now hindering your progress.

You may well have seen it posted before but there is no 'holy grail' system, signal etc. Nothing always works all of the time. Trading is about the balance of probabilities, the expectancy that you will win more often than you lose. By restricting your loss to a minimum or small % of your trading capital you safeguard this capital in an attempt to make it grow through your winners; or to allow you the time to learn how best to trade to your own peculiar specifics in order to become successful.

You need to establish what time frame you feel most comfortable with. You need to establish what style of trading you feel most confident with. Once you have established this you need to confirm which of the trading signals you have employed or read about and tested work best for you. You will have to trade and keep a journal, or go back through all your losing trades and identify why each failed. Then see if you have common faults that lead to these losses and what you could have done to restrict them or avoid them. From your journal seek out those deals which proved most reliable, not necessarily those that produced the largest win. From this group produce a selective group of tested signals that you know from your own trading have served you well more than they have failed. You will have confidence in them. Then establish your risk policy. What you can afford to lose on each deal, create a stop exit, a stop profit. Each deal should have a realistic target consideration, this stops you from dreaming that the deal will never end and that you do lock in some profit rather than watch it all slip down the drain. An expectancy of your system will show you levels at which you can regularly expect to gain and when things have gone a little to far. A trailing stop loss can help.

To be successful you have to come to terms with accepting loss and accepting something from the market. If you always look to make massive gains you will find trading very hard indeed. The object is to make money and allow your trading capital to grow through repeated success. It is far easier to become successful if your mindset is right. I feel being prepared to accept a small gain on occasions is just as important as maintaining your stop. By expecting to make unrealistic gains you have not opened your mind to being happy in taking something from the market. The market may move by x amount and you want to get in on the trend and take all or most of it. If you settle for a reasonable amount, what you will find is that when the market does not offer you such gains but a small amount you will be able to take it and avoid what will undoubtedly become a loss.

By producing a trading plan that deals with all the demands and mechanics of opening, managing and closing a deal that can provide you with all your answers beforehand so that you do not have to make any decisions during this process but follow and repeat a tested process then you will avoid your emotions and trade with discipline and become far more successful than you have to date. A successful trader becomes a boring trader because the way to success is to trade your system and just watch for the market to provide you with your chosen set up and then trade it according to the rules of your plan, a repeating process. That is the holy grail of trading IMHO.

Good luck

Kevin
 
A simple intraday trend following system - 5 minute chart of the FTSE 03 Jun 04


Kevin
 

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Hi everyone,

New here and my first post :p

Re the chart posting, :idea: thot some of u may be interested in a lil FREE programme called GrabClipSave available from http://www.boumchalak.net/ Basicially it does wot it says on the tin..open the prog..press ctrl+alt+print screen and voila u have ur jpeg saved on desktop (or wherever u specify) No messing about with paint or c+p'ing etc

Hope it might be of use to u

Alliance
(a.k.a Lorraine)
 
Thanks guys - you've given me some thoughts to ponder on. I do think that there is some kind of method out there that will suit me but certainly it's some way off. The problem lies for me in the constant battle of the trading 'system' where all decisions are made for you and the intuition where you make all the decisions. The money I lost was on intuition so I know the fear factor rules me too much - therefore I've tried to look for completely automated systems - but don't know if any truly good ones exist.

Also how is it possible to test intuitive situations -also - is there really any intuitive system or do they all become method and therefore trading systems eventully.

I do appreciate you guys support - I do often feel like I'm trying to solve the hardest puzzle in the world.
 
Where is everybody ?????
Looks like even Bracke has sneaked off.
We had a little bit of a run up on the FTSE this morning without breaking 4450. Probably waiting for the American markets to decide were to go from here.

Iain
 
Late good morning all

I was somewhat disapointed not to see a gap when the ftse opened this morning after the 67 point fall of the dow last night, bearing in mind that I'm currently into gaping. Would the more experienced among us care to suggest why no gap but ftse waited until opening before rising.

As you type iainpw, waiting for the US, who are waiting for the non-farm payroll figures. After the reaction last time I do not know what will be considered bad and what will be considered good!

Regards

bracke

ps I had'nt snuck off but was getting my daily lurking fix, old habits die hard.
 
It was mentioned elsewhere that OPEC had agreed to raise output. I don't know if anything new was said.
Whether that changed sentiment.................????
 
oatman

From what I heard on the tv, opec did what was expected but the dow fell as it eas not considered enough.

ftse did not gap down but has risen this morning.

Regards

bracke
 
This site is operating very slowly today.

Other sites I visit are running normally. Are we all finding it the same?

Did the mothly future merchants among us buy the ftse when it fell to 4300 yesterday and if so have you sold yet or are you waiting for better things.

Regards

bracke
 
well I am finding it slow but I'm a bit slow myself today (Yawn)

not a monthly future person
 
Rognvald

You don't get away that easily. Why is the site running slowly and don't say because it's tired

Regards

bracke
 
Now come on you lot where are you.

mully will probably be back on monday and inspecting what we have been doing this week and we don't want to disapoint him do we?

A reply to my post 92 would be appreciated.

emasiello, JeanM, jonray I know that you are viewing so lets have a reply

Regards

bracke
 
NEW YORK, June 4 (Reuters) - U.S. stock futures added slightly to earlier gains on Friday, after a government report showed that U.S. employers added an unexpectedly large 248,000 jobs in May.

So not too low to indicate recovery failing and not to high to bring the threat of large interest rate rises.
Just right. Sound rather like Goldilocks dosen't it but hopefully no bears just yet

Regards

bracke
 
If some of you don't start replying to my posts I'm going to start replying to myself

At least I will be in full agreement or will I?

Door bell just rung ,2 men in white coats say that I am a suitable case for treatment, who am I to argue!

Regards

bracke
 
OK youve asked for it

bracke

Ive been looking at the ftse chart ( suprise surprise ) and I deduce that 4460 is the next resistance level would you agree?

Regards

bracke
 
bracke


In reply to your post. I do trade monthly futures but rarely hold longer than 2 days. I had traded from 4000 and got out this morning when we hit the high 50's. We have failed too often at 4460. Friday afternoon often sees a sell of as people don't want to hold over the weekend. The fact we have not made progress with the US futures so high does not at the moment bode well.We may possibly move up later when the US has retraced and moved up again. We need a big move up on US to get us above 4460.

Jean
 
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