I am getting rusty at scalping. I don't run fast enough. Not as fast as I did when I was trading 5 contracts of ER2 and 2 contracts of NQ.
I vividly remember that few occasions when I made 3o over round trades on NQ within 45 mins. I had no time to check if I won or lost for each trade. I just went long when the bulls were apparently overpowering the bears, and sold when the bears were clearly clobbering the bulls. I get out when I sensed that I was better off on the other side. I didn't even care at what price I had entered. I just got out at market. It was when I wrapped up the day that I went over my trades, and noticed that out of 31, I had only 3 losing trades and all 3 were tiny tiny losses (for NQ, it was in the range of 1 - 3 point).
These days, even when I enter and exit based on the tape, I just don't run anymore, not even when I realize that I'm no longer on the right side.
To make things worse, these days, I find myself not wanting to enter at market. If I were to buy, I'll bid. And then I sit and watch. And when I realize that the bulls are no longer the ones calling the shots, and I want to cancel my order, I get filled. And I'll find myself cursing the market. The only reason that I got filled was that it was coming down! With my style of trading, entering at limit just takes away whatever edge I have.
That was exactly what happened on Friday when I traded the pre-US hours. So on the trade that I meant to cancel before it was filled, but was filled anyhow - I sat on it until it came 0.5 point to hitting the low of the day.
The battle between the bulls and the bears at that level was interesting to watch. It was so captivating it took my attention away from my trade. I was 7 to 8 points away from my entry, on the wrong side of course, and I knew that once that low's hit, the lowest support is 20 points away.
It's interesting to see the instantaneous exodus of bulls near support. I was looking at less than 100 offers, and all of a sudden, 600 offers. I really wish the bulls had been more resilient. What's the harm of sitting until the low is been breached?
If support's really broken, they could always run after that. At least they are giving themselves a chance - that kind of bounce from key support would have helped lessen the damage or even make them some money.
Yes they would be taking a risk of maybe an additional point or 2, but if they had bought at a level that's as high as mine, what's that extra 1 to 2 points?
Ok supposed they've bought just a couple of points above the low - then that's just reckless. So they are willing to take a rather stupid risk of buying near support before it's been tested, but they are not willing to take a calculated risk and stay put to see if price will bounce from there?
That said, given that it was market's 2nd attempt to punch through support, I guess I can't blame them for getting jittery.
Ok, so we eventually got off the low. But it was a narrow escape. 0.5 point away from point of no return. Market went back up again, I got out, taking 0.5 point with me. The previous trade had seen me chickening out after a 5-point loss, even though I knew that support's likely to hold given that it's the first time that ES is revisiting that level. I felt like a dumb bull for a good 30 mins.
For subsequent scalps, I ignored the point that I entered, and focused on the tape instead. I got out whenever I saw that I was going to be on the wrong side in the next second.
When I'm focusing on what the tape is doing and forgetting my entry price, I have no time nor the reason to rationalize. I just get out when I need to.
I have no time to ask myself if the momentum's too good to be true, that I'm making too much money on this one trade alone (when I think that, I get out prematurely).
I have no time to count the number of points I'm losing (which is really bad, coz after the trade has gone 2 points against me, I will SIT until I break even or get some profit to make up for the hours of duress the market has put me through).
I really need to put that string of losses in Dec/Jan behind me. Only by forgetting my failures will I start trading right again.
I vividly remember that few occasions when I made 3o over round trades on NQ within 45 mins. I had no time to check if I won or lost for each trade. I just went long when the bulls were apparently overpowering the bears, and sold when the bears were clearly clobbering the bulls. I get out when I sensed that I was better off on the other side. I didn't even care at what price I had entered. I just got out at market. It was when I wrapped up the day that I went over my trades, and noticed that out of 31, I had only 3 losing trades and all 3 were tiny tiny losses (for NQ, it was in the range of 1 - 3 point).
These days, even when I enter and exit based on the tape, I just don't run anymore, not even when I realize that I'm no longer on the right side.
To make things worse, these days, I find myself not wanting to enter at market. If I were to buy, I'll bid. And then I sit and watch. And when I realize that the bulls are no longer the ones calling the shots, and I want to cancel my order, I get filled. And I'll find myself cursing the market. The only reason that I got filled was that it was coming down! With my style of trading, entering at limit just takes away whatever edge I have.
That was exactly what happened on Friday when I traded the pre-US hours. So on the trade that I meant to cancel before it was filled, but was filled anyhow - I sat on it until it came 0.5 point to hitting the low of the day.
The battle between the bulls and the bears at that level was interesting to watch. It was so captivating it took my attention away from my trade. I was 7 to 8 points away from my entry, on the wrong side of course, and I knew that once that low's hit, the lowest support is 20 points away.
It's interesting to see the instantaneous exodus of bulls near support. I was looking at less than 100 offers, and all of a sudden, 600 offers. I really wish the bulls had been more resilient. What's the harm of sitting until the low is been breached?
If support's really broken, they could always run after that. At least they are giving themselves a chance - that kind of bounce from key support would have helped lessen the damage or even make them some money.
Yes they would be taking a risk of maybe an additional point or 2, but if they had bought at a level that's as high as mine, what's that extra 1 to 2 points?
Ok supposed they've bought just a couple of points above the low - then that's just reckless. So they are willing to take a rather stupid risk of buying near support before it's been tested, but they are not willing to take a calculated risk and stay put to see if price will bounce from there?
That said, given that it was market's 2nd attempt to punch through support, I guess I can't blame them for getting jittery.
Ok, so we eventually got off the low. But it was a narrow escape. 0.5 point away from point of no return. Market went back up again, I got out, taking 0.5 point with me. The previous trade had seen me chickening out after a 5-point loss, even though I knew that support's likely to hold given that it's the first time that ES is revisiting that level. I felt like a dumb bull for a good 30 mins.
For subsequent scalps, I ignored the point that I entered, and focused on the tape instead. I got out whenever I saw that I was going to be on the wrong side in the next second.
When I'm focusing on what the tape is doing and forgetting my entry price, I have no time nor the reason to rationalize. I just get out when I need to.
I have no time to ask myself if the momentum's too good to be true, that I'm making too much money on this one trade alone (when I think that, I get out prematurely).
I have no time to count the number of points I'm losing (which is really bad, coz after the trade has gone 2 points against me, I will SIT until I break even or get some profit to make up for the hours of duress the market has put me through).
I really need to put that string of losses in Dec/Jan behind me. Only by forgetting my failures will I start trading right again.
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