Yamato
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...no alarms and no surprises,
no alarms and no surprises please.
In a sense that's me talking: I don't want any more surprises from my money management. That's why I've added yet another column. This time the column will consider not the max drawdown, but the maximum loss by a system. I am not allowing any system to trade if it loses more than 10% of my capital on its worst trade. For example, I got CL systems that lost as much as 2000 on a trade. Or one of the EUR systems. They won't be trading until I'll have 20k. Also, I am not allowing any systems to trade that have not made at least 800 dollars in their forward testing. By now I'm up to 5 different money management filters. I do suck at formulas but I've spent so much time on these formulas that they are ok. No reckless system will get through these filters, no matter how desperate I am for capital.
This was the purpose of my paying for my mistakes. The loss and lack of capital is making me develop very tight money management which would not have been the case if I had earned money by trading a large capital with stocks (futures are the only way to find out if you've figured out the markets or not: with stocks it could take you five years to find out you didn't understand anything). And then I might have lost it all later. That's why we should all raise our own capital by trading and not be given any. That's the only way to learn how to keep it.
All these systems and money management formulas would not be here if I hadn't screwed up and suffered so much until now because of low capital. My automated systems would not be here if I hadn't been so bad at discretionary trading. My addiction and compulsive gambling has made me a great automated trader. I've learned all mistakes that keep you from being profitable and turned them into code. I could never remember and act based on the right principles. But the code can do it for me.
There's no shortcuts to building up your capital. It won't happen until you are ready. And if it happens when you are not ready, you'll lose it again and again. I've seen my capital double several times, several months in a row, but then I lost it all again: bad money management but mostly not full automation, which allowed my excitement to sneak in and interfere with the proper functioning of systems, and lose everything.
Do I now have the full automation required to not lose everything again? "Everything" what? Everything 10k. After all, 10k is something. I could lose that as well. Yes, I do have the full automation, and that could build up my capital. But I don't have the patience. I've engaged in discretionary trading during the whole of last week. I made about 1000 dollars because of it. But we know how that ends. If I keep doing it, most likely I will lose 2000 to 4000 dollars within a week or so. That's more or less the ratio with my discretionary trading. A lot of small wins, and one huge loss.
But if my systems bring me money, I won't feel the urge to do it myself. I hope that will be the case. I also hope I won't be frustrated from work. Otherwise I can predict disasters happening. And disasters happening will keep me frustrated. I'd best resign immediately then, and keep myself from being frustrated, but who knows maybe I'd be more frustrated at home, without the security of having a job. We'll see.
For sure this journal has helped me, a lot, to deal with frustration. Also, I got help with my systems: the drawdown automated formula, which is a beauty. I created systems thanks to advice I got on this journal: the opening gap (three of them) and I developed 2 more systems derived from that idea. Overall, this is a great place with great people. Thanks, everyone. Being here, with you reading me, makes me feel more like Randle Patrick McMurphy than like Travis Bickle, which is the way I feel at the office, always on the verge of a shooting rampage.
no alarms and no surprises please.
In a sense that's me talking: I don't want any more surprises from my money management. That's why I've added yet another column. This time the column will consider not the max drawdown, but the maximum loss by a system. I am not allowing any system to trade if it loses more than 10% of my capital on its worst trade. For example, I got CL systems that lost as much as 2000 on a trade. Or one of the EUR systems. They won't be trading until I'll have 20k. Also, I am not allowing any systems to trade that have not made at least 800 dollars in their forward testing. By now I'm up to 5 different money management filters. I do suck at formulas but I've spent so much time on these formulas that they are ok. No reckless system will get through these filters, no matter how desperate I am for capital.
This was the purpose of my paying for my mistakes. The loss and lack of capital is making me develop very tight money management which would not have been the case if I had earned money by trading a large capital with stocks (futures are the only way to find out if you've figured out the markets or not: with stocks it could take you five years to find out you didn't understand anything). And then I might have lost it all later. That's why we should all raise our own capital by trading and not be given any. That's the only way to learn how to keep it.
All these systems and money management formulas would not be here if I hadn't screwed up and suffered so much until now because of low capital. My automated systems would not be here if I hadn't been so bad at discretionary trading. My addiction and compulsive gambling has made me a great automated trader. I've learned all mistakes that keep you from being profitable and turned them into code. I could never remember and act based on the right principles. But the code can do it for me.
There's no shortcuts to building up your capital. It won't happen until you are ready. And if it happens when you are not ready, you'll lose it again and again. I've seen my capital double several times, several months in a row, but then I lost it all again: bad money management but mostly not full automation, which allowed my excitement to sneak in and interfere with the proper functioning of systems, and lose everything.
Do I now have the full automation required to not lose everything again? "Everything" what? Everything 10k. After all, 10k is something. I could lose that as well. Yes, I do have the full automation, and that could build up my capital. But I don't have the patience. I've engaged in discretionary trading during the whole of last week. I made about 1000 dollars because of it. But we know how that ends. If I keep doing it, most likely I will lose 2000 to 4000 dollars within a week or so. That's more or less the ratio with my discretionary trading. A lot of small wins, and one huge loss.
But if my systems bring me money, I won't feel the urge to do it myself. I hope that will be the case. I also hope I won't be frustrated from work. Otherwise I can predict disasters happening. And disasters happening will keep me frustrated. I'd best resign immediately then, and keep myself from being frustrated, but who knows maybe I'd be more frustrated at home, without the security of having a job. We'll see.
For sure this journal has helped me, a lot, to deal with frustration. Also, I got help with my systems: the drawdown automated formula, which is a beauty. I created systems thanks to advice I got on this journal: the opening gap (three of them) and I developed 2 more systems derived from that idea. Overall, this is a great place with great people. Thanks, everyone. Being here, with you reading me, makes me feel more like Randle Patrick McMurphy than like Travis Bickle, which is the way I feel at the office, always on the verge of a shooting rampage.
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