With Oil whipsawing all day today there have been very few trading opportunities without a lot of risk behind them (not for small accounts anyway) and such the day even though with a lot of movement could only have been a good day for traders that involve luck in their trading strategy. The day was dominated by OPEC possible news announcements uncertainty and on the immediate term any trend or direction could have been (and has been for that matter) annulated by an opposite action which lead to the many whipsaws we have seen. While yesterday it seemed that the direction is down and we will have a sustained move today Oil continued to fool around up and down at approximately the same levels as yesterday however that only adds more weight to the opinion according which we should and we will have a move that will be sustained and last longer. The expectations from this trader point of view is that the move will be on much lower volatility and the direction, for the moment, remains down (see the hourly chart bellow) as Oil is currently trading bellow the support resistance trading area of this week. All expectations, of course, are subject to change.
Thursday, November 30, 2017
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Extremes
Every now then then there is a day like today in the markets. A day that is out of the 2 standard deviations boundary, a day when charts are going off the grid or do some other strange things that are either supposed to not happen either have very small chances to happen. Oil acted strange from the first hours of the day from certain points of view, even when not moving at all as it was around 6AM this morning it was behaving odd according to some of my charts. The odd behaviour is not always a bad thing but it is certainly a dangerous thing, dangerous because of the unexpected ahead and almost all the moves Oil made today were in the unexpected area. After falling more than it was supposed to fall (the green arrow on the chart) it raised more than it has supposed to raise (the red arrow) and those two moves were followed by a period of normality (the yellow rectangle) but that did not last long because as you can see after some news hit the wires it went off the grid. As I was saying the up trend is broken and Oil fooled around this week quite enough, meaning that a longer sustained move its expected. By the way it looks now that move is down and I would be surprised if it will not continue. The continuation could be less prominent in terms of points but it should last longer, however we can always expect the unexpected.
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
All over the place
CL can be quite messy as you can see on the chart, today there were very few real trading opportunities most of the time chances were equal for both longs and shorts. Of course at the start of the day shorts were more appropriate and it went down, down to previous day low where it found support and started to trade messy around that level for a while, actually for a few hours. It did some stop hunting killing some longs that entered at the support just to get back slightly higher before the US session and then to continue higher in a messy short term uptrend. Given the current conditions both long trades and short trades can be winners as long as they are properly executed.
On a slightly longer view, on the hourly chart, it could continue to go higher for a while however up until 58.80 it remains a shorts opportunity market.
On a slightly longer view, on the hourly chart, it could continue to go higher for a while however up until 58.80 it remains a shorts opportunity market.
Monday, November 27, 2017
CL today
Finishing Friday on the highs was not what I was expected from CL and, as I was thinking it would do Friday, it did today. CL started Monday session slightly bellow the high of Friday and continued down trough out the day but it was only after 1430 (GMT+2) when it was actually giving a hint of what followed. Up until then the session could have been considered a range. Volatility was normal most of the day with a surge at the start of US session.
We had a down start of this week with CL breaking the up trend of previous week - on a longer term the up trend is intact. I suppose we will not see a move above Friday highs tomorrow or if any, I bet on the fact that it will not be as sharp as today and not all at once which will mostly make speculators to favour short trades for a while today until the end of session and tomorrow morning. Looking at the hourly chart, the move down was big enough and most likely we should expect it to pause for a while given the fact that it has some support here formed in the previous 2 weeks.
We had a down start of this week with CL breaking the up trend of previous week - on a longer term the up trend is intact. I suppose we will not see a move above Friday highs tomorrow or if any, I bet on the fact that it will not be as sharp as today and not all at once which will mostly make speculators to favour short trades for a while today until the end of session and tomorrow morning. Looking at the hourly chart, the move down was big enough and most likely we should expect it to pause for a while given the fact that it has some support here formed in the previous 2 weeks.
Friday, November 24, 2017
You really need to know what you`re doin`
CL can be the nightmare of day trading if you do not know what you are doing. It trades allover the place and it moves. Moving is good, you can not make money in any market if the market does not moves, but it certainly is not for beginners.
Today CL was in an up trend as it can be seen in the image from the left, the trend of today was a continuation from yesterday and at this point it suffers a breakdown which is a first sign of weakness on short term. Volatility was thin in the morning at the start of the session, at some point very thin just to gradually get closer to the average and a little above at some point in the afternoon.
It has been trading above the previous day high most of the day. On a longer term and a broadened view CL trades up and if it continues to go like this it might break 60 by the end of the year. Last days are mostly updays with sharp moves on the downside - which makes it so much more dangerous for daytraders.
Now of course since CL moves a lot more than ES (EP) I was having my attention with it most of the day which is why all my trades were placed in CL today.
Today CL was in an up trend as it can be seen in the image from the left, the trend of today was a continuation from yesterday and at this point it suffers a breakdown which is a first sign of weakness on short term. Volatility was thin in the morning at the start of the session, at some point very thin just to gradually get closer to the average and a little above at some point in the afternoon.
It has been trading above the previous day high most of the day. On a longer term and a broadened view CL trades up and if it continues to go like this it might break 60 by the end of the year. Last days are mostly updays with sharp moves on the downside - which makes it so much more dangerous for daytraders.
Now of course since CL moves a lot more than ES (EP) I was having my attention with it most of the day which is why all my trades were placed in CL today.
Thursday, November 23, 2017
Light Crude Oil trading or Light trading Crude Oil?
Whatever title you`d prefer today, for the first time in my life I`ve placed some trades on CL. Of course since its my second time when I actually open the CL chart not to speak of trading it, everything was done with caution and very light. At some point watching CL was like watching an interesting movie, I even got some popcorn as unlike ES (EP) which does not move or for that matter does not do anything in the European session most of the time, CL was providing me with permanently changing information's about what is it doing. It did not move much though but that's not the point the point is that its tradable in the EU session and most likely I could trade CL in the morning and ES (EP) in the afternoon during US session. What is even better is that I found a solution to trade whenever I`m in the mood. I can be lazy in the morning coz ES ~(EP) will provide the daily match in the afternoon or I can be lazy in the afternoon coz CL will provide that in the morning, for that matter I could be lazy 6 days a week but, of course, that is not the point, the point is that the futures markets are providing the same thing as FX would have done if FX would have been a free market. Speaking of which if you are an profitable FX trader you should be careful to how many times the lighting struck you so to speak, if it happens to often its not a coincidence trust me. How would you observe that you ask? well by the time you know you have been defeated the market you will find out about the lighting also or it depends on the country? I`m not sure of that...whatever
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Back in the game
After yesterday loss I`ve leaved some longs on because the session ended before me accepting that its a losing day. Could not make MT5 display just today PL correctly because of my yesterday position held overnight so I`m showing last 3 days which means the Net profit up to day this week. Obviously today I`ve recovered yesterday loss and make around 1% on top of it. Funny is that I could have made a lot more, and I mean a lot more yet I was not having the proper disposition for a long game. While I did recovered yesterday loss I did not recovered the $20K mistake so I`m still 15K in a drawdown. Like I told you with a little more mood for trading I could have recovered that today but...ES (EP) is not permanently active, the European session is many times very inactive and I find myself out of gas to trade heavily when it starts to move during US session. ES (EP) is yet to feel as comfortable as FX but then again I`ve watched that market for a much longer time than 2 months. Anyway, as comfortable or not, ES (EP) is providing a good game by itself but I`m thinking to trade some other contracts in the morning I need to find out what moves...maybe CL?
Tuesday, November 21, 2017
Pouring money in to ES (EP)
Short on a longs trend, quite a day. The mini contract went more than 21 points straight up today after it broke 2584 somewhere around noon here. And it was fun, money never seemed to end for the bulls so ES (EP) ticked higher almost minute by minute and hour after hour. While it did not crossed my mind we will have such a day today and basically did not intend to trade at all I found myself in a short position sooner than I thought. Of course my position was wrong and, of course (again), by the time I`ve observed the trend which seemed like neverending my loss got a little bigger, acceptable nevertheless. As I was saying yesterday, the trend is your friend.
Some are either very convinced about the fact that ES (EP) will go higher either very stupid, time will tell. And I shall explain myself. Take a look at the picture bellow
The ladder is about 4 ES (EP) points, and the volume required to break one point is about 4K contracts which (for anyone investing on the long term) means 4K multiplied with the margin required to buy one contract, the result would be a few millions to move a point. Not a big deal, today it moved 20 points almost without breathing, not a big deal either however that's not the issue, the issue might be the chart bellow (the last bar is delayed it broke 2600 today as I was saying)
While I do not know if latest buyers are right or silly for buying, personally I never buy in such cases usually its required to breath more and I see buying now very dangerous for the reasons I`ve explained in the chart, ES (EP) is a contract based on a stock index after all and long is the way to go with stock indexes (short are big gamblers, many times the big winners though)
Some are either very convinced about the fact that ES (EP) will go higher either very stupid, time will tell. And I shall explain myself. Take a look at the picture bellow
The ladder is about 4 ES (EP) points, and the volume required to break one point is about 4K contracts which (for anyone investing on the long term) means 4K multiplied with the margin required to buy one contract, the result would be a few millions to move a point. Not a big deal, today it moved 20 points almost without breathing, not a big deal either however that's not the issue, the issue might be the chart bellow (the last bar is delayed it broke 2600 today as I was saying)
While I do not know if latest buyers are right or silly for buying, personally I never buy in such cases usually its required to breath more and I see buying now very dangerous for the reasons I`ve explained in the chart, ES (EP) is a contract based on a stock index after all and long is the way to go with stock indexes (short are big gamblers, many times the big winners though)
Monday, November 20, 2017
One and Actually
Actually in my previous post my last statement was a bit to much. Its true, one step ahead but a tiny little small step ahead :)) and the market has the possibility sometimes over short term to get its pace ahead which of course translates in to loses on this side and, like Friday, in to large loses when I`m fighting it. In fact it all resumes to patience because even if on the short term the market might get ahead all that is required on this side is to wait for the tide to turn and it shall, most of the times sooner rather than later. Of course trying to make the water wet is a futile game, trading is all about hitting to kill at the right time with accuracy, scratching is useless (speaking of which - is the same in life also) and you should never ever ever hit just to scratch which is why patience for when you are prepared and in a position of power is a must because then and only then you will be able to change anything, speaking of changes reminds me of ONE. Sometimes one is more important than you could ever think, one rotten fruit is required to make all others the same, counting above nine was invented when one was put in front of a zero and one trade is enough to make the difference between winning and losing in this game so as long as you remember that all it takes is ONE, patience, which is my most ferocious adversary, will not become an issue in waiting for the proper time to trade.
After my 30 minute hard work this morning, as always, with nothing better to do anyway due to the demo nature of my 3K this morning, I was watching what ES is doing without the intention to trade at all - I could not help take a trade anyway so I got a few more bucks on top of those 3K in the morning - to observe its behaviour. We had a very nice up trend day until now and these days are the easiest to trade, all it takes is to wait for the pullback and get aboard. You can recognize a trend by using two moving averages and watching the volatility to be low. Trends move in one direction slow and on low volatility. Pullbacks are few and barely made and as long as you pay attention to any sort of small pullback you will get some bucks out of the trend and as said sometimes one is enough, one trade is enough just be able to repeat it next time and you are a trader and not just any trader but one of a few - a profitable one. Here is the chart of a trend, a nice one I would say, sometimes I forgot the saying the trend is your friend and trade against it just because I think I can...and I do many times but many times I do not which is why patience is very important.
After my 30 minute hard work this morning, as always, with nothing better to do anyway due to the demo nature of my 3K this morning, I was watching what ES is doing without the intention to trade at all - I could not help take a trade anyway so I got a few more bucks on top of those 3K in the morning - to observe its behaviour. We had a very nice up trend day until now and these days are the easiest to trade, all it takes is to wait for the pullback and get aboard. You can recognize a trend by using two moving averages and watching the volatility to be low. Trends move in one direction slow and on low volatility. Pullbacks are few and barely made and as long as you pay attention to any sort of small pullback you will get some bucks out of the trend and as said sometimes one is enough, one trade is enough just be able to repeat it next time and you are a trader and not just any trader but one of a few - a profitable one. Here is the chart of a trend, a nice one I would say, sometimes I forgot the saying the trend is your friend and trade against it just because I think I can...and I do many times but many times I do not which is why patience is very important.
Friday, wtf!!! triggered
It was a hard working day today which lasted for about 30 minutes. Of course I could continue after all its only 10:30 in the morning but then again why would I do that? The result is actually triggered by - Friday, wtf!!! because Friday loss was due to my completely lack of care about cash and completely lack of attention. Anyway it happens, the only thing that matters is the reason why it happens. And besides that, Friday I could have had a +5-10%day as easy as I went in the drawdown so lets say that it all resumes to how much you want to risk before becoming careful or should trading be careful from the start? I was careful from the start today but I did risk almost as much as Friday because...well lets say that some things are more likely to happen than others and the market is always 1 step behind so...
Saturday, November 18, 2017
It makes you think...
First of all the loss of yesterday was exactly -$19610 which, obviously makes this morning a very good morning after all I haven`t lost $20K in a day - real or demo it does not matter, the results would be approximately the same, I would have made 35K in 4 weeks and lost 20K in one day that's a fact. But why? Why did I lost 20K in a day? What`s the explanation? Well, while you could give the explanation that you are hunted and were hunted over the last 20 years and some want to kill you and that there was and is a plan and it was an attempt of set up not properly done and that you computer was hacked and algos were stolen and reverse engineered (in which case the stealing would be the only concern on my side) by some sort of criminal organization and you have figure it out their plan - I`m a funny guy and that is a funny and amusing story which is supposed to make you laugh, trading job as any other job in the world can be very pleasant even in the worst situations if you love what you are doing... I`m not sure if losing $20K on a real account would have made me lose my sense of humor because actually I do tend to see the positive and the positive is that I`m still up 16% in 4 weeks which isn`t bad at all especially given the unfriendly environment that I was talking about yesterday - on a serious note the explanation is that I could have been avoiding such drawdown if I would have been able to stop fighting. Trouble with that is the fact that the information provided by my algorithms is giving me an advantage that over the long term it makes me feel invincible and such I am trading careless knowing that regardless of what the market is doing I will end up winning. And that is true all the time except when I`m careless for to long and choose to fight for to long. The question is what will I do about it? The answer is nothing, overconfidence is my weakness and I shall live with it winning is all about accepting that sometimes this will happen and drawdowns are inevitable and what matters is to win more than you lose - and now the cycle is complete. The largest winning day was 11.79% and the largest losing day was exactly -14.44%. I am trading with a $7.5/round turn/contract commission which is more than most brokers charge and I`m still up 16% in 4 weeks after the most dangerous weakness that I have got me. I`ve updated the performance chart and it looks pretty, trouble is that this weekend I would be kind of short of cash I mean yeah I could spend $390 which is what is left from making the loss round to $20K so I never forget about it but then who could live with only $390 in two days, in a day lets say its acceptable but two days!!!?? :)) ;) which again reminds me how worthless I am especially in a country like the one I`m living in.
Friday, November 17, 2017
For that +10% here`s a -13% one
The result is quite round... that is how it shows after commissions. As for the way it was achieved we were trading in a contained and controlled market and all one can do in such cases is to smile. Of course ES is not FX because with FX you are dead meat when they start to control it. Usually one figures out that the market is out of free auction and completely controlled to late and at that time the only solution is to allow the day to continue without you by taking whatever result you have at the time you observe that there is not a free auction anymore but a controlled environment. This environment appears when all of the sudden the bears completely disappear - the price is showing that because nobody is selling anything price goes up slowly one tick at a time and you can not get out from the position or the bulls completely disappears and the same thing happens. Today we had both one after the other one which it only means one thing - control. Of course while the market was controlled and driven, at this side even though the drawdown was quite high the risk was also permanently controlled. This reminds me why one should have a larger pallet of trading instrument's just in case one of them becomes completely unresponsive. Personally I`m happy to see that there are times when everyone agrees that the market should go up or everyone agrees that the market should go down because while its not exactly the way of a free market its always a good thing to remember that the market is always right and bears or bulls are just words. With that said I`m also very happy that my algos allowed me to survive with only a -13% drawdown in this environment.
Thursday, November 16, 2017
Sometimes you win sometimes you lose...
And sometimes you win first then lose then get bored...
With that being said ES had a nice strong up trend all day today, trend that I`ve completely missed trying to short without to much success. But as always there is the full half side of the glass and the empty one, the empty one was about what ES did the full one I`ll let you figure it out by yourself.
With that being said ES had a nice strong up trend all day today, trend that I`ve completely missed trying to short without to much success. But as always there is the full half side of the glass and the empty one, the empty one was about what ES did the full one I`ll let you figure it out by yourself.
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
Risk off trading days
It did not work to bad to play with reduced risk. Not so much fun but who said that making money has to be (always) a fun.
ES is starting to look like it wants to correct a bit however it might continue sideways given the fact that it does seem to find many bulls for now bellow 2577. Nevertheless the risk on the upside is quite high given the sharpness of the down moves when stops are being taken out. Which reminds me that it is also possible to have a continuation of this going nowhere by going up trend after all the stops are being taken out. The way I see it the panic would be more on the long side. The chart is bellow, not as coloured as I would like because I`m not good at drawing pretty charts.
ES is starting to look like it wants to correct a bit however it might continue sideways given the fact that it does seem to find many bulls for now bellow 2577. Nevertheless the risk on the upside is quite high given the sharpness of the down moves when stops are being taken out. Which reminds me that it is also possible to have a continuation of this going nowhere by going up trend after all the stops are being taken out. The way I see it the panic would be more on the long side. The chart is bellow, not as coloured as I would like because I`m not good at drawing pretty charts.
Monday, November 13, 2017
I was thinking...
First of all I can trade careless as long as I become careful at the right time, of course that won`t provide outstanding returns on that particular trade because more than half of its duration I`m going to struggle to recover the careless part a thing that I did today with the last trade. The market its doing the unexpected sometimes and it does not forgive. I was also playing with Ninjatrader - buying and selling on hunch in the same time with doing it on this account and its only when I look at the result of that account - which is far worst than this one`s but its positive - when I realize that the precision of this particular trading strategy is very good, meaning that even without money management in Ninjatrader - or with a money management based on hunch - the signals part of the strategy allowed me to breakeven.
A little talk about what ES is doing
Looking at the long term chart of ES with the help of Ninjatrader Kinetick free EOD data, I`m seeing a contract that is going up without going anywhere. ES is in the mood of doing the unexpected anytime. The current move its a move that I suppose can fall in to the out layers category from a certain point of view. Of course all oscillators show overbought levels and overbought might be or it might continue for a while to go up since its obviously in an up trend as it can be seen in the chart bellow.
As you can see I have the EOD charts of most futures contracts due to this platform which was a thing that I was missing (was I?), maybe not missing because its a to long timeframe to care very much.
A little talk about what ES is doing
Looking at the long term chart of ES with the help of Ninjatrader Kinetick free EOD data, I`m seeing a contract that is going up without going anywhere. ES is in the mood of doing the unexpected anytime. The current move its a move that I suppose can fall in to the out layers category from a certain point of view. Of course all oscillators show overbought levels and overbought might be or it might continue for a while to go up since its obviously in an up trend as it can be seen in the chart bellow.
As you can see I have the EOD charts of most futures contracts due to this platform which was a thing that I was missing (was I?), maybe not missing because its a to long timeframe to care very much.
Friday, November 10, 2017
A reminder
A day that remembered me of the difficulty of this game. In the same way as I did it yesterday, today it did not worked that well. Which was a thing to be expected actually and I`m not very surprised by the result. Of course, using the same logic I could have had a day like yesterday or better. I got myself in to a quite big drawdown during the first half of the day and become careful after trying to recover. The drawdown was a result of my overconfidence that the market should not and will not do certain things and my supersized bet on the fact I`m right, I was wrong. My game after the deed was done was not enough to get above water level today and more than that it reminded me of the dangers of approaching the market not fully concentrated and careless. As I was saying in a previous post starting careless and continuing careless can get you killed.
High performance vs safety
This particular trading strategy that I`m using here is capable of using whatever risk profile the trader desires. Now, since this is a demo account sometimes I`m pushing it to high risk and disregarding the safety in favor of a high return like I did yesterday. Yesterday it worked but it might not always work and then the drawdown could get quite high. How high? it depends, yesterday for example all of this moth profits were at risk and some more which means that instead of having a winning month I could have had a losing month if things would have went wrong. However, it should be noted that I was up 17% this month before yesterday (now I`m up 30% or somewhere around it I think) and even if yesterday I would have lost 20% the month would still be in play and the end of the month could have been a decent 4-6% return which is actually a very good return for one month. So the way I`m playing is the more I win the more I push the month. Of course what I really have to avoid is blindly pushing it just because I can, that is a mistake. Pushing in search of higher returns should be made only when certain conditions are met, not every time and not on every trade. Now in regard with what can be considered a high return and a safe return things are quite relative and depends on the man and the strategy. What is more important than a single month return is the long term result, its actually all that matters in the end and because of that it all resumes to live to trade another day. With forex I found a way to satisfy my aversion to losing and in the same time to be able to always survive (of course until I decided the game is completely over what my algos can do to achieve 30-50% per month which is what I needed with small capital- another way stated until I`ve accepted I can not make money there - I can not make 30-50% per month I mean and because I would never risk more than penny money on that market anyway trading on that market was useless from my point of view so I`ve stopped trying to bet). With futures I do not have the same tools available to do it - there is a way but that way would require twice as much capital and two accounts. So what a man can do? Being patient is the key here, being patient and controlling the risk. As a human I am prone to lose control due to emotions which is why I will try to implement a computerized part that will control or better said will reduce risk. The way I`m trading now is manually triggering the trades based on what the algorithms that analyze the market tell me which works well up until I`m starting to disregard the warnings. Yesterday was such a day, the 15th trading day of this account and after I got a 17% return in the safeties mode possible my human behaviour overwhelm the logic, maybe you are asking why am I complaining well its because I know better, I won but I could have lost and such large fluctuations are a big danger without a safety nest. I can think of many ways to implement a safety nest but the thing is that it should also fit my personality and I can not apply the same computerized safety nest like I had with fx because I do not have exactly the same tools. However like I did on fx I will find a way to implement it and feel comfortable and accept it. I shall try different safety nests and chose the one that provides the best experience. Today I have already coded one and I will know its usefulness at the time I use it and it will start to override my actions, for now I`m still after 50-60% for this month. Of course if really required I can trade 2 accounts in the same time and unleash the power of covered positions.
Thursday, November 9, 2017
A 10% day
Unfortunately the contract that I trade now does not offer me many days like this one and when it does I`m far by feeling at home with it, maybe because I`m not used with the way it moves yet. Anyway I did traded heavy and I did the right things. At some point I almost thought I`m screwed because we will have a flash crash day but it seems that there was not enough panic, myself being only half panicked so perhaps most market participants were feeling the same. I remember a flash crash day, it was in March 2010 (or 2011?) I was trading FX back then and having a nice day I was out of the market when I`ve started to see twitter feeds spreading panic then read on some blogs about it. Many traders had very large drawdowns then and if today would have been a flash crash I would have had quite a drawdown also. It wasn`t so I`ve got 10% up in a single day and since I`m up 10% from yesterday I will not stop here but continue Monday to trade heavy with the solely purpose of increasing this account with at least 50% this month. I think I`m 30% up already. Anyway here is the price action for today:
As you can see the price was in a downtrend most of the day while I was initially long then switched to short somewhere in the middle just to switch back to long positions somewhere around the point of divergence between price and indicator. Then it looked like it will fall and like I told you I got half panicked but in the end it did what it was supposed to do in my view and sharply went up, I got the profits and ended the day.
As you know if you have read previous posts I`m not very accustomed with futures yet and I`ve chosen MT5 as platform because of my long history with MT4 and FX market. MT5 requires coding to make it work your way, its a little bit more complicated than other futures platform, meaning that if you have never traded you should not pick MT5 because it will be a pain, there are platforms that are far more easy to use than this one. Personally I like CQG and Ninjatrader. To make life a little bit easier I`ve added some coding to the way I place the orders in the market so now I`m clicking to trade which is the desirable way to do it. Here`s the trading chart (the trade that you see is from yesterday)
As you can see the price was in a downtrend most of the day while I was initially long then switched to short somewhere in the middle just to switch back to long positions somewhere around the point of divergence between price and indicator. Then it looked like it will fall and like I told you I got half panicked but in the end it did what it was supposed to do in my view and sharply went up, I got the profits and ended the day.
As you know if you have read previous posts I`m not very accustomed with futures yet and I`ve chosen MT5 as platform because of my long history with MT4 and FX market. MT5 requires coding to make it work your way, its a little bit more complicated than other futures platform, meaning that if you have never traded you should not pick MT5 because it will be a pain, there are platforms that are far more easy to use than this one. Personally I like CQG and Ninjatrader. To make life a little bit easier I`ve added some coding to the way I place the orders in the market so now I`m clicking to trade which is the desirable way to do it. Here`s the trading chart (the trade that you see is from yesterday)
I also coded another button today to reverse the position, most trading platforms already have these and many more but in this platform you got to do it your way and code everything. Of course this can give you an advantage because you can chose the way you send the order. The demo on this platform is not working correctly unless you code it to properly fill the orders.
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
On a more serious note
Posting these results here might be boring for any readers of this blog which is why I`m going to change the blog post with something more attractive and colored like charts with nice lines and my view on what the market is doing..in general. As for my results I think once a month is enough after all its the end of the month/year that matters. Which reminds me of updating my excel sheet with the performance and... here it is
And on a more serious note than yesterday and because this blog has no information on what the markets are doing while maybe some readers might be interested more in that than in my personal achievements, I`m thinking to do something I never did before and that is to take positions in the markets with a much longer view than daytrading. So I will try to build a portfolio on a 10mil account, portfolio that will be composed of multiple positions held on different contracts as my algorithms dictate. To accomplish the deed I need to make some tests first and find the best way to place resting orders in the markets because its obvious that I will need those. It does sound simpler than it actually is but this would be the next step in to the evolution of my trading. With daytrading I`m done, there is nothing more I can improve and nothing more left to do.
The portfolio trading might work or might not work, theoretically speaking it should work just the same as daytrading but it does require patience and somewhat a different approach than what I`m currently doing (mentally speaking) and its not that I can`t adapt but I`m so used with my current mental state where I seldom hold a position for more than a few hours that I can`t imagine how its to buy today and wait for more than a day. Daytrading is fun, exciting and it can make you lots of money, more than one needs actually, even though the strategy is currently working with 100K it would work the same with 1M so I do not feel like I must do this, its not required to build a portfolio up to a few million dollars because up to then daytrading works well enough but it would be fun at least and maybe useful for having a bigger picture on what the markets are doing, for the moment if someone would ask me what the markets are doing I would say I have no clue I`m in and out in the same day and I don`t care of the bigger picture.
...a beautiful 17.99% in 14 days which translates in to a net of $17990 in about 14 days, that's not bad but of course one always wants a bigger account, bigger is always better. In theory I could stop this month here but more is more...Now that I`m looking at it I`m realizing that its not the best I`ve ever had, I got 2 losing days and only 6 consecutive winning days which is not something to remember, I remember so many consecutive winning days that I can`t remember the number. At this rate of return I`m afraid I can not fall in to the category of people that expect and consider 20%/year a good investment return. But the discussion is complicated here because its true that this kind of return is only possible with small capital at least from what I`m doing now.
The portfolio trading might work or might not work, theoretically speaking it should work just the same as daytrading but it does require patience and somewhat a different approach than what I`m currently doing (mentally speaking) and its not that I can`t adapt but I`m so used with my current mental state where I seldom hold a position for more than a few hours that I can`t imagine how its to buy today and wait for more than a day. Daytrading is fun, exciting and it can make you lots of money, more than one needs actually, even though the strategy is currently working with 100K it would work the same with 1M so I do not feel like I must do this, its not required to build a portfolio up to a few million dollars because up to then daytrading works well enough but it would be fun at least and maybe useful for having a bigger picture on what the markets are doing, for the moment if someone would ask me what the markets are doing I would say I have no clue I`m in and out in the same day and I don`t care of the bigger picture.
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
Since 2 PM
Then I got hungry and later sleepy so I got to settle somewhere at +1% which isn`t a kill so to speak but then to make a kill in the markets one has to find a good trading setup in a liquid market which is also volatile enough... since its day trading what I`m doing here. To many conditions to meet all at once and to much patience required to wait so I was taking what the market offers at the time I watched which was (and is most of the times) nothing. Besides by the time this market moves my mood to trade is only at half of what it was in the morning because more than half of the day is gone here. I`m thinking I could trade other contracts also after all this account is of a merely 100K which means I could trade the "light cavalry" as well the thing is that I`m interested in trading the..."heavy artillery" for gaining a little experience with it, and yes learning patience (which is by far much more difficult than anything else).
I`ve just realized that one needs a little luck though, no matter the trading algorithms, no matter the edge, everything is useless unless the market moves, so you need to be around at the time it moves...now that is a really smart thing that I said here, it should be remembered as a quote :))))
And then there is more, you also need to be in the mood...actually is so complicated it makes me dizzy, there is a whole series of events that needs to be aligned for a good trade to take place. I think I`ve discovered the reason why people lose money in the markets, its because the events are not properly aligned. You have to, you just have to wait for the proper setups then graciously enter and exit. Today I did not, yesterday I was patient but not today. Actually as you can see today I`m more like in the mood to write intelligent things in this blog than to trade.
Contemplating about what it was, what it is and what it will be (there, again, I said it in the most intelligent way it could be said) I`m just having another revelation and that is that every time I lost money in the markets it was all my fault, all the market did was to stop moving and by stop moving it has triggered a series of wtf`k`s on this side which triggered a series of trades in a nonmoving market and such loaded the barrel to much for the time when the market actually started moving, obviously in the wrong direction and the barrel exploded. And that is all for my trading lessons today, as an conclusion you should not trade a market that is not moving (like this one) - unless you are very experienced and/or have very good trading algorithms that are able to take in consideration everything that moves, flies or crawls of course.
I`ve just realized that one needs a little luck though, no matter the trading algorithms, no matter the edge, everything is useless unless the market moves, so you need to be around at the time it moves...now that is a really smart thing that I said here, it should be remembered as a quote :))))
And then there is more, you also need to be in the mood...actually is so complicated it makes me dizzy, there is a whole series of events that needs to be aligned for a good trade to take place. I think I`ve discovered the reason why people lose money in the markets, its because the events are not properly aligned. You have to, you just have to wait for the proper setups then graciously enter and exit. Today I did not, yesterday I was patient but not today. Actually as you can see today I`m more like in the mood to write intelligent things in this blog than to trade.
Contemplating about what it was, what it is and what it will be (there, again, I said it in the most intelligent way it could be said) I`m just having another revelation and that is that every time I lost money in the markets it was all my fault, all the market did was to stop moving and by stop moving it has triggered a series of wtf`k`s on this side which triggered a series of trades in a nonmoving market and such loaded the barrel to much for the time when the market actually started moving, obviously in the wrong direction and the barrel exploded. And that is all for my trading lessons today, as an conclusion you should not trade a market that is not moving (like this one) - unless you are very experienced and/or have very good trading algorithms that are able to take in consideration everything that moves, flies or crawls of course.
Good morning
At the time when the market closes, here its almost midnight and for that reason sometimes, especially when glued to the screen up to the end of the day, I`m writing here the next morning. Yesterday was one of these days when I was forced to watch a non moving market up to the end due to the fact that I simply were not able to make enough (or lose enough for that matter) to stop.
Friday, November 3, 2017
Friday stumble
Why stumble? because it took me 8 hours and was no fun at all. Actually the issue is that I would rather prefer high speed markets and ES is anything but that most of the time. Of course in reality it does not matter what I prefer as long as I can make money besides supposing that I would trade a fast moving market and make this cash in 30 min, the thing is that I like doing this so much that most likely I would lose them in the next 30 min and start over. This behaviour would result in days with profits way much larger than 1-2% but...the drawdowns, well they would be as large even larger. You see you got to decide what do you want from the markets and many times I think I`m after the thrill and in some cases sorry after, that is if I let myself emerged in the game. The point is that slow markets makes me sleepy.
Thursday, November 2, 2017
No trading mood day
After the start of US session when the time here is almost 5 PM I`ve realized that I`m not really in the mood to trade anymore today even though I can`t say I`ve ripped of my clothes today trying to do something, I did not, I was just placing a few trades all day, in out then repeat a few times. So I decided to end it thinking that while I could do more its pointless to not listen to the mood. The mood is very important (real FX trading proven), even with all the algos poiting the direction of the market if I`m not in the mood to wait and push the buttons its useless and today I`m not. Its still not bad for a day is it? Aside from placing the trades you see today I was doing some research. Contracts are plenty most interesting that one could choose to trade are the following:
Light cavalierly: Crude Oil, DAX, Eminis Dow, Russell, Nasdaq 100
Light cavalierly: Crude Oil, DAX, Eminis Dow, Russell, Nasdaq 100
And then, my friends comes the heavy artillery: E-mini S&P 500, Bunds, Bobl, Schatz, Euro STOXX 50, 10yr Treasury Note, Corn...
Once upon a time I`ve read about some guy, his name was/is Paul Rotter. This individual was trading Euro Bunds, Bobl and Schatz from what I remember and he WAS really trading, I mean I show here days with profits of a few thousand dollars but this guy, this guy had DAYS with PL showing 3 more zeroes (I would also like to point out here the importance of zero :)))) ), I cant remember the story very precise but I`ve remember it while I was doing the research and found the heavy artillery. Anyhow we can have fun with small accounts and very large accounts. Fun is fun and making money is fun, the more money you make the more fun it is.
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
What if... and a letter
That would do. Today while I was growing the demo with the amount you see in the image I was thinking about FX. I could not help it, in truth being told I was not beaten there, all I was is annoyed, annoyed by the manipulation, annoyed by the fact that despite that the FX market is so large some have such a level of control on it that you can not imagine, annoyed by the fact that such things are possible without most people realizing it. Annoyed by the fact that the FX market is simply a scheme made to rip off people of their money, that is all it is and you can not know that and obviously you won`t believe me, anyhow...
What if you would have a billion dollars? What would you do with a billion dollars? If I would have a billion dollars I would put aside 100K, and with the rest of them I would plunge directly in to the market of the morons (I would not do that with a million or 10 million or 100 millions but with a billion and a bank to hide my identity I would think I can get my vengeance :)) ) Let me tell you this, I had 500 bucks and they could not take them from me, I`ve hedged back and forth so much that the idiots got dizzy, I was able to recover a 60% drawdown in a few days, I traded knowing what happens and still they could not beat me. I was slowed down until I failed to see the purpose of it but they did not beat me. Of course with a billion minus 100K ...
Now a letter, Dear Mr. Soros, please on behalf of all of us that traded or still do the FX market, on behalf of all the people ripped of by the thieves (I suppose that if I would say figuratively speaking I would be wrong, literally thieves) on behalf of all of those that believe that the FX market has anything to do with a fair business, on behalf of all traders in the world that are searching for a fair business, teach the morons a lessons most of us are unable to, if you are still able to, then please, repeat what you did back in the `90s if you can not, can you please borrow me a billion for a while?
That was the fun for today.
PS: take this post as a joke, aside from the performance of the account everything is a joke, still Mr. Soros, a little help? :))) (some know better)
What if you would have a billion dollars? What would you do with a billion dollars? If I would have a billion dollars I would put aside 100K, and with the rest of them I would plunge directly in to the market of the morons (I would not do that with a million or 10 million or 100 millions but with a billion and a bank to hide my identity I would think I can get my vengeance :)) ) Let me tell you this, I had 500 bucks and they could not take them from me, I`ve hedged back and forth so much that the idiots got dizzy, I was able to recover a 60% drawdown in a few days, I traded knowing what happens and still they could not beat me. I was slowed down until I failed to see the purpose of it but they did not beat me. Of course with a billion minus 100K ...
Now a letter, Dear Mr. Soros, please on behalf of all of us that traded or still do the FX market, on behalf of all the people ripped of by the thieves (I suppose that if I would say figuratively speaking I would be wrong, literally thieves) on behalf of all of those that believe that the FX market has anything to do with a fair business, on behalf of all traders in the world that are searching for a fair business, teach the morons a lessons most of us are unable to, if you are still able to, then please, repeat what you did back in the `90s if you can not, can you please borrow me a billion for a while?
That was the fun for today.
PS: take this post as a joke, aside from the performance of the account everything is a joke, still Mr. Soros, a little help? :))) (some know better)
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