My First Journal a 20yr old's venture into the NQ

[jonbig04]

First off I want to disclose that I have yet to formulate a sound strategy, this thread will hopefully be the evolution of that strategy. Today was my first day trading (with fake money). I'm trying not to think about the fake money aspect. After all, when I go live with real money nothing will have changed unless I myself let the fact that I'm trading real money change me...and I'm determined not to. I will be trading the NQ E-mini exclusively for various reasons. My first and most important goal is to try to understand price action. As of right now I could care less about indicators. I think it is far more important to learn whats behind the indicators, rather than just relying on 2 lines crossing. In time I'm sure I will use various indicators just for simplicities sake, but not until I can see and understand them myself by understanding price action. I do/will be watching volume, but only in the context of price...e.g. what price was doing during high or low volume. Simply stated, I want to buy when demand overwhelms supply and sell when supply overcomes demand. I will try to find supply zones (resistance) and demand zones (support) and trade accordingly.



A little bio- My name is Jon. I live in Denver and have been on ET for around 8 months I would say. I am still very much into real estate (development) and am trying to balance it with trading...oh and I turn 21 on thursday.

Books ordered:
The nature of risk
How to buy
When to sell
all by Justin Mamis

The disciplined trader
trading in the zone
both by mark douglas

 

[jonbig04]

Today was interesting. It was mostly devoted to figuring out the the hell to work Ninja Trader...I really need to figure out how to do a trailing stop (working on that now). In the midst of trading today I couldnt help but feel a familiar feeling creeping down my spine. The same feeling I get while I'm playing poker. I know that sounds weird, but its crazy to me how similar trading and poker feel. I knew trading was emotional, but damn keep your emotions in check is half the battle! Thankfully I'm no stranger to that battle (many many poker games) and it's nice to jump into something a scary and new as trading only to find myself on a battlefield I am very familiar with.

Today I over-traded. About 19 trades in all, and I would like to keep it to around 10-12. I did well in the beginning of the day. Started out with a 1.25 point loss on my first trade and then the next 7 trades were all winners (9.25 points). I should have just walked away then, but I guess I thought it would be cool to lose some money. 11 trades later I finished the day up 2 or 3 points I think. I had one trade go against me by 3.5 points, besides that the worst trade took out 1.75 points. The trailing stops I feel will really help me. I tried to have a mental stop of 1.25 points, but things just move to quickly and emotionally. Tonight I will figure out how to to all that. Tomorrow I will keep a journal of all actual trades. This will help show my reasoning (or lack thereof) and help me trade less. The chart is attached.

 

[donkeykong]

Hey Jon, just found your post and like you am in a similar position. Love to see how you get on battling, keep it up!