Natural Gas Trades 12/29 (Tues) & Austin P

PnL for 12/28 & 12/29

NG 2min

Both short entries.

Still really clumsy on execution (actually, always the entry). And a little generous on initial stops. Guess they go hand in hand. I can be less generous when I'm more precise. Not exactly great money management in the long run, but am working on improving execution.

2nd attempt after the first was stopped out was a little easier as far as setting stop is concerned. It was a USD 160 stop (less than half of what I set for the first trade). And I was able to move it to + USD100, then + USD 150 just prior to that plunge that hit my target.

It was a real struggle to see 300 disappear right before my eyes TWICE though.

Had I been trading like before, I would have taken the 300, and call it a breakeven day, effectively letting the vicious cycle continue forever.

I decided that since I had the conviction to get in again, I'm holding to target.

Besides, I wasn't going to be taking a loss if I get stopped out at the new stop.

Best case scenario: I get my net USD 400 profit; worst case scenario: -USD 200. I can live with the latter.

Was listening to Austin's videos the whole day, and totally tickled by him, even when I was in trade. A really, really lovely guy. Unorthodox, but definitely VERY wise. He most definitely was the reason that I stuck with what was a reasonable bet. Something about the voice I guess.

Ziad, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 & 2013 (Cut The "The World's Ending In 2012" Crap!)

play around with what feels natural
don't let anyone mess up your swing

From Ziad.

I always love Ziad's emails. He writes in a way that I can fully understand. Reading him is like reading Enid Blyton. Not a single word bores.

I'm not paying Ziad a tribute. After all, he's well and alive and kicking ass.

Ha.

Sorry, Ziad.

The 2 lines came in 2 separate emails 2 months apart. I've been messing around with my swings since, and seriously, I enjoyed it. Tremendously.

Fun aside, the info gathered in the process is priceless. Had I not ventured/ fooled around, I wouldn't have found the missing pieces of the puzzle I've been searching for for the longest time.

Since the beginning of this year, D has been telling me over and over that all I needed to do was to stick to what I do best. Problem was, I hadn't the slightest inkling what that was. There was absolutely no proof that I was doing anything right in fact. D brought up the 200, 300, the occasional 400 and 500 daily gains - I mentioned the 800, 1000, 1200 and 2000 daily LOSS. D said that I was good at scalping. I said I needed to be good at LOSING. I know, I'm yawning too. Cut your losses quick, let your profits run. YAWN.

D's impression has always been that I am getting way ahead of myself, that I am not happy with my small consistent gains. He's totally right. I am indeed very unhappy. I have been miserable as a matter of fact. Trading was all about protecting whatever amount I had made for that particular week, and about not letting a few stop outs wipe them out. That's no way to trade!

Anyway, I really digressed.

This post is really to thank Ziad for his emails. If there's anything I do well, it's to have fun doing serious work. I just needed a reminder. And I will never let anyone mess up my swing. Not that anyone can anyway unless they know the way to my cave.

Something I found out about my trading in 2009 - the losses and the agonies were necessary. I don't know how else to put it across, and I won't attempt to.

That said, I'm not giving myself 10 years to enjoy the pain.

I graduated.

I'm serious. I always hated school.

Oil & Beans

The potential of ZS and CL.

Corn's a little slow, so is yen (and 6E and 6B) after US market opened.

All shorts.

I'm following a specific schedule in terms of the instruments I trade. I trade on days with events & data releases, and I trade divergences & spreads. Without any of these, I don't trade. I've wasted enough resources trading uneventful days and on days that no one's puking.

ok, I really just wanted to show that TF sucks. But that's what TF does at this time of the year.

I'm going live on ZS on 26 Dec. Will be trading on both AT and IB.

This is my last trading post for 2009. As mentioned, I will post live trading results in Feb.

I'm not going to wish anyone a Merry Christmas, coz, personally, I don't like Christmas. I dislike Chinese New year even more though.

I just hate holidays.

Update on AUD/USD Long - still holding. I'm prepared for USD to keep going up til March, maybe even to May. I just bought really expensive USD to top up my Infinity Futures account, so I'm really not loving USD. To make things worse, I bought EUR as well. I think I might just have to keep shorting 6E til March...I'm holding both AUD and EUR. They are not leveraged so unless both goes to zero, my account is safe. I won't be able to trade FX in the meantime though.

Loose Ends

There won't be any trading for me today. I'm spending the day taking care of non-trading matters, and finishing a few books that I'm currently reading.

Gremlins made me a lovely bookmark. They must have noticed that besides trading, my only other passion is reading. Absolute darlings.

AUDUSD Long position - I have a small 10k non-leveraged position I'm still holding. I might let it go next week. For now, daily chart's not giving me any signal to exit trade.

Blog comments - I've deactivated comments (meant to be "off" by default anyway) again. I don't mean to be rude/mean/cold/anti-social - I'm merely doing everything I can to eliminate distractions during this intensive learning phase.

My business plan for 2010 is still in skeletal form. I wonder if it'll ever materialize into the thesis that I thought I wanted it to be. While I've always been extremely goal-oriented and unrelenting in my previous job, I'm just not the same person now. I guess it has a lot to do with my impression of the market, that it's something that's completely fluid - formless, border-less, sometimes seemingly completely clueless - and no amount of planning on my part is going to help me navigate the terrain better.

We'll see.

6E, 6B & CL Trades 12/9 (Wed) - Screwed by FX, Saved by Oil

Total : - USD 88

6E 200- Ticks

6B 200-Ticks
CL 200-Ticks

I remember, rather vaguely, telling D rather recently, that I wasn't ever going to trade FX futures (in particular, 6E & 6J) on WEDNESDAY again.

I forgot today's Wednesday.

AUDUSD LONG position
Looking better. Holding. Definitely holding for +150 pips.

6B & CL Trades 12/8 (Tues) - Crude Oil Is Mad

Just 1 scratched 6B trade, and 1 CL trade from globex hour:

Total for Dec 8th 's 6B & CL trades : + USD 188

CL 200-Ticks (+ 2 Points)

I must have waited for 5 hours to buy oil. Then, as we were having dinner and watching star trek, I spotted my entry. Got in and got out in under 1 min. Then I tapped D's shoulder. D turned around, saw my trade, and was amazed by how stealth I've become.

I had him press his ear against my chest.

D said no more crude for me for the rest of the week, and imposed a quota of 2 CL trades per week.

Trading ETFs after US market opens. They are just better for the heart.

Trades 12/8 (Tues) - Nothing Much Happening

12/7 (Mon) - 12/8 (Tues)

ETF

Long DIG late last night (my last night, 12/7 at 11:30pm; 10:30am ET) and EARLY this morning (my morning, 12/8 at 2am; 1pm ET) but price started stalling after breaking downtrendlines. Both trades were scratched. I needed sleep.

FX Futures
6B
Still bearish on USD. Can't help it. Long 6B during lunch (my lunch time, 12/8 at 12:30pm; 12/7 11:30pm ET) but scratched trade. Waiting for further development. Market's slow and quiet. If nothing good shows up, will spend the day reading Ryan Jones, and nurturing my AUDUSD position.

6B 200-Tick

Index Futures
TF
Nothing on TF. Pivot's below where price is trading now. If it gets a bounce from there, I might get in on a good setup.

TF 15min

FX
AUDUSD (Long)
Never mind.

Leverage & Trading Performance

D was reviewing my trading performance for the year via IB's statement (new format's impressive) and Oanda's, and reported that my ETF and FX trading record is perfect but my futures trading really sucks.

D asked if leverage has something to do with it.

I nodded.

Then D broke the good news: as long as I'm trading single TF contracts, I'm leveraged 1:1. No leverage! I could never get a margin call! Yay!!!

Doesn't mean that I'll sit on losing trades though. Knowing that I won't ever get a margin call allows me to really focus on the proper execution of my trades.

6J and CL are still highly leveraged. 6E and 6B are not so bad. But all remain instruments that I'll continue to trade.

Will be trading light for the rest of the week. Am in the midst of finishing a book on money management. When I'm done, will include real money management for the first time in my trading.

2010

HK trip cancelled last minute.

Trading resumes.

I'll be focusing on 2 instruments for daytrading. I'll trade FX exclusively during the daytime (my daytime), using 2:1 leverage, and a max of 6:1. Once US market opens, I will trade TF exclusively. I've opened a separate account with IB to trade TF only. Contract size per trade will vary.

ETFs - this will be traded on the original account and most will be daytrades. Will take longer-term trades whenever I see opportunities on daily charts.

This is what 2010's looking like for me for now:

1) Car - selling my 5-year-old love (D says it's TOO OLD - in Singapore, a 5-year-old car is old enough to be scrapped....doesn't matter that mine is a turbo brick with an average life span of 20 years), and getting D's favorite.

2) Mortgage - getting a place for D's mum who's leaving LA to join us next year. I'm used to owning my home. As a matter of fact, I like to OWN everything I use/have. I hate credits. I hate mortgages. Basically, I just utterly hate debts. But I like D's mum. So I shall try to like the mortgage bit.

3) Friends - I'm projecting ZERO left. D's my only friend. The 2 years that I spent in my cave have made me realized that I'm a born loner. Only D can put up with someone who spends 90% of her time in her own head. For the first time in my life, I'm going to be friendless, coz I simply have no time for friends next year.

4) Learning - I've read some really good books in the past few days, and realized how much I've missed just lying on my bed or on the settee by the window reading things that are not trading-related. I MUST MUST MUST set aside time to pick up spanish and to play the piano that is starting to become another white elephant in my home.

5) Kids - NONE. Adamant. The world had better really end in 2012 this time.

TF Trade 11/25 (Wed)

TF 1min

TF : + 1.1 Point

Great reset.

D got home really late. US session had begun, and we were having dinner and catching a movie. Well, D was watching the movie. I was busy making notes. It was good that D wasn't paying attention to the market. I had all the time I needed to let market make its move before I made mine.

The best part: D was finally willing to exit where I wanted him to. No more running after 3 ticks. GIRL POWER.

Done for today. We are both tired.

EURUSD Trades (Update) 11/25 (Wed) & Regarding Daily Posting of PnL

EURUSD 1min (Part 1): + 13 pips

EURUSD 1min (Part 2) : + 16pips

EURUSD 15min
Total: +29 pips

EURUSD 15min (The Big Picture)

It kills me to trade 10k size, aiming for 70 to 90 pips each time. HOURS of sitting in front of my screen waiting for profit target to be hit is agonizing. Almost as bad as - if not worse than - sitting on a loss.

I love leverage. I wish I'll really think it's bad. But I don't. I think leverage is revitalizing. ETF and 10k FX trading has been sucking the life out of me. I'm dying a slow death.

I'm moving to full size lots. This will be on days when I can't trade the 6E (coz of ugly charts, my ugly moods, etc).

Day 3 trading TF with D turned out to be a total disaster. We drove each other nuts. I stonewalled him, and he went to bed REALLY pissed. Day 4 (yesterday) was GOOD, coz we traded separately. Ha Ha.

But, I'm still keen to work with him, coz I know that the results will be impressive. I am good at thin-slicing the market which allows me to spot good trades quickly, and D's good at executing them.

We'll see.

Will be posting PnL. Based on months of observation, I notice there's no difference in my performance patterns OVERTIME whenever I had stopped reporting.

I will not be trading everyday. I will if the market allows. If it's not my kind of market, I'll stay away.

I will no longer explain my trades, or justify my wins & losses.

I will post charts that are worth posting.

I will be turning comments off in my next post.

EURUSD Trades 11/23 (Mon)

EURUSD 1min

EURUSD 15min

It has never occurred to me to trade directly on Oanda's chart until today. It was nice...moving stops was a breeze. I traded on the 1min timeframe, but planning was done on TOS' 15 min chart and on Sierra's 6E 15min (charts right at the end of this post). Oanda doesn't give me enough candles/bars to see patterns.

I was short initially. Just wanted to take some scalps while waiting for something that I can recognize to develope. Was stopped out on both scalps (after failing to take scalp profits....I forgot that I was scalping...). The level that I was stopped out at confirmed a long entry, so I flipped and took a quasi-swing LONG (I did hold profit for hours). I learned my 1k lesson.

Seabloke and Gremlins came to visit and spent the whole time watching me manage my trade. But my charts no longer interest little ones and they were BORED to tears. I promise no trading the next time they visit - and that will be this Wed. Wed is a CURSE for me anyway....Gremlins' hundredth visit should break the curse. Hmmm.....

Today's result (Oanda charts above show my entries & exits):
-9pips (short)
-5pips (short)
+ 75 pips (long)
Net: +61 pips

I'll be trading only FX during globex hours and will be focusing on EURUSD.

10k lots for now, and will move up to 100k whenever I feel comfortable enough with Oanda to use leverage.

Will be posting all my FX trades.

EURUSD 15min

6E 15min

TF 11/20 (Fri)

TF 1min

Day 2.

Day 1 (Thurs) was NOT good. D took calls from his office, from his mum, and couldn't stop checking his blackberry, and his office laptop for emails. Extremely frustrating for me coz I like QUIET, FULL COMMITMENT & COOPERATION and UNDIVIDED ATTENTION.

Day 2 was better, albeit a tad comical. D was argumentative (D's always right...). We got our entries, but none of the targeted profits. D was extremely reluctant to stay in trade and would run with his few ticks each time. Drives me nuts.

Will keep doing this during US session.

Am still trading 6E during globex hours, but will slowly switch to Forex.

Jules Is A Mule (Part 3??!)

6E 15min

Yesterday was an interesting day - not just because I gave away 1k in a single trade again - so thought I'll talk about it.

I Shorted the 6E rather early in the morning (my morning and around 8pm NY time) coz, well, I was convinced 6E was going back down to test the spike low (see chart above). As with other days that I refused to think straight, I held on to the trade until I realized I couldn't be sure if price was going to stop going against me before the day ended. And as with all those other days that I was convinced that price would go to a certain place, price eventually did start going in my direction, or totally hit my target, either a few hours after my exit or 24 hours later.

All these days had been Wednesdays.

After I cut my loss, I had gone into my personal library to dig out some material I came across before, and to take a closer look at something that I never really took into account when I trade the futures: market participants (who they are - farmers/merchants/banks, speculators, hedge fund managers etc, and WHEN they operate).

My hypothesis about why the chart did what it did and why I kept hanging on to my biased view was confirmed when I traded the TF later in the evening (US morning of course) - when a wolfe pattern failed during lunch hour (learning very quickly from my 6E experience just hours before, I told D to refrain from buying a breakout - which is needed for price to get to wolfe target).

In any case, a hard stop would have saved me from myself. I had a lot of conviction, which was why I didn't want a stop to get in the way (what an irony). Extremely stupid, looking back. But then of course everything always appears obvious with the benefit of hindsight. It takes a hell lot of discipline and UNCOMMON SENSE to immediately recognize and stop a stupid act that's about to happen. I have neither discipline nor uncommon sense.

But I have an endless supply of energy. Maybe that's exactly what makes things worse. Instead of taking a hiatus after that 1k loss (6J took it!) from 2 weeks ago, I went right back to work after a 2-day break....

And after yesterday's 1k blunder, I went right back in to intervene in D's trading.

I had started off by telling D I would stop trading altogether for a while, and share with him about Wolfe Waves instead. After US market opened, D traded the account, taking his usual 1 to 3 ticks (since I said I wouldn't trade) before I spotted the wolfe pattern.

When I told him to go long at 595, he hesitated but went with it anyway. BUT he got out after 3 ticks instead of holding and moving his stops til we see the 3rd target (see chart below). When TF hit 600 in a parabolic move up, he blamed himself for not having persuaded me to take the trade myself.

As if things hadn't been bad enough up to that point, D had to sell at a place that I would buy, after TF pulled back from 600.

I hit the bid column on booktrader, covering his short.

D yelled "WHAT ARE YOU DOING??!!!" (I know, someone who has lost 1k just moments ago really shouldn't be meddling in the trade of another who has a record of zero to one losing day out of 20 on average) .

I was stunned, but only for seconds. Then I hit bid once more to get in on a long trade, at 3 ticks higher than where I had covered D's short (where I covered his short was exactly where I had wanted to go long - in other words, I had wanted to flip his trade - but D shocked me, and I was late hitting bid a second time as a result).

After I covered my long at +9 ticks, D thanked me for stopping his short at minimal damage, and for the rest of the day, we were in consultative mode (until I went in for my shower when D quietly took some "lunch time" trades).

It was fun - trading with D. And we might just do it again. I'm tempted to let D execute all the trades I identify. D doesn't lift stops - which means I can say goodbye to 2.5% drawdowns in a single trade forever.

On TWS - Red arrow shows where D entered on wolfe pattern, Blue arrow shows D's short that that I covered, Green arrow shows where I went long after covering D's short

TF 1min (my apologies for the blur - program was going to shut down, and I hadn't saved the chart, so needed to do a capture immediately - click to get a better view)

Trading Instruments, Trading Plan (Skeleton) & Brokers

A comprehensive list (for now) of instruments and tickers that I'll be scanning for trading opportunities on a daily basis:

Futures

Spot Forex

ETFs

TRADING PLAN (OUTLINE)

I'll be trading purely "W" and "U"/Round bottom reversals either at end of a downtrend, or whenever they are seen around key support zones in a correction in an uptrend. Simply put, I'll only BUY.

All entries will be limit or stop-limit orders.

Hard stops and profit targets will be determined before orders are placed.

Stop-loss will be placed at previous lows with level 1 bullish patterns, or at the floor of a consolidation zone below entry.

Profit targets will be either Fib Ext levels or overhead resistances.

I'll go in with FULL size and scale-out for all DAYTRADES (applies to all FUTURES trading). No scaling in for daytrades.

I'll scale-in only when I see another "W" or "U" setup as price moves higher up. This applies only to SPOT FOREX (where I'll be using a maximum leverage of 1:2) and ETFs trading, which I will hold indefinitely whenever I'm confident that a trend will last for a while.

I'll daytrade both spots forex and ETFs mainly, and hold for a swing only when my profit target is not hit by end of the trading session.

BROKERS

Futures: IB (Main Broker), Rosenthal (considering), TT (considering)

Forex: Oanda

ETFs: IB

6E, 6B & TF Trades 10/12 (Mon) - Wrap Up

TF 233-ticks & 10 min

Started with 233-tick chart, got in on a scalp setup but bailed when there was no momentum (I've gotten used to 3-tick scalp profits - but this time, I got out exactly where I wanted to).

Switched to 10min and took a trade at the close of the 2nd candle.

What I'm doing is really scanning different instruments and different timeframes (depending on the time of the day and the type of day ie ranging, trending, choppy) for something I recognize. I've studied all the charts over the weekend and drawn in key S & R for 23 charts. So I'm playing levels. Timeframe and type of charts don't matter to me. All of them have been studied for patterns that are fairly reliable in the most recent months. I recognize that at some point in the future (hopefully not too near) these patterns will stop working on their respective timeframes. I will adapt.

IB is good with fills. Although it did die on me from 9:30 to 9:35. But it's something I know that happens CONSISTENTLY. That's why I waited for it to die and come to before I entered my first trade.

I had AT placed right next to IB's booktrader. I attempted to take a trade on AT. I just wasn't able to coz AT wouldn't stop skipping prices. Booktrader was stable and traded through every price. I was able to tape-read again.

I have not decided on what to do with my IF account. I will keep it coz I need it to trade commodities, whenever I'm ready to go live.

I like wheat and soybean.

And, I like Anthony very much.

Today's Trades:

Net PnL : + USD 159

Jules Is A Mule (Part 2?)

Oct 5, Monday

I sat and watch the 6E trade within a 2-point range from 3am - 8am EDT. Didn't get an entry.

Switched to TF at 9:40am EDT, and sat and watch it print 5-points up in 5 minutes. Something told me that it wasn't the typical trending day where price hardly retraces 30% before resuming its way up/down. I kept chasing price up nonetheless. Got used to buying high I guess. Anyway, I was right for a while in the beginning, and very wrong after that.

For the life of me, I couldn't understand at first why a day without news (except for that one miserable release at 10am EDT) could get so erratic. Then I realized that a day without news means no edge for the big guys who like to fade crowd sentiments these days, and without them taking the lead, price's just all over the place. To put it simply, don't expect a chart to be normal when the day's not normal (after almost 2 news-packed weeks with different gods talking almost everyday, a quiet day is definitely ABNORMAL).

Took a look at 6E this morning (9pm EDT), and saw that had I waited til 11:30am EDT yesterday, I would have gotten the entry I was waiting for (a fake breakout on the downside, strong reversal up, finishing high at Fib Ext 161.8). Plenty of news from Europe's side yesterday from 4am EDT on, and the 6E chart was anything but erratic. But I had to trade the TF instead and give away 3.9 points.

Am extremely out of sync with market rhythm and spending every minute of my waking hours and using every ounce of whatever remaining energy I have looking for ways to get back in sync.

Don't tell me to step away, take a break, or read Dr Brett.

I'm moving heaven and earth, breaking my neck, and reading Secrets of Professional Turf Betting.

I am aware that I'll probably not stop losing money, and am totally prepared for a losing streak.

Doesn't mean that I'm going to let that happen.

But it's really not up to me, is it?

I'm not going to stop this time coz breaks are simply not constructive.

Really, how does one learn by staying out?

@ LORD TEDDERS (YOU'RE ALIVE!!!), TST, Scalpwiz, Albert C and UF:

Thanks for the notes you dropped. I've run out of things to say in response. Or maybe it's just coz that it's starting to dawn on me that as far as trading is concerned, there's really not that much to talk about. It's all in the "doing". And we can be doing all the wrong things at one point or another and it's so tiring and meaningless to justify each "wrong" move we make. I'm probably going to be doing a thousand things wrong , a thousand times each - and I'm probably going to be jumping from 1 min to 1 hour timeframe within the same day - imagine the explanation I have to do...Just thinking about it makes me feel like I want to puke.

That said, I'm going to continue recording everything that I do. What I won't do is EXPLAIN & JUSTIFY. I'm NOT going to turn comments off. If anyone tells me I'm a moron (why can't I get that out of my mind???), I'm ready with a standard boring "you're an ass-hole" response.

@Sean:

I'm not using TOS. D is the one using it. I use Sierra charts and trade on AT platform. If you're looking for good rates and superb service, send an email to Anthony (Infinity Futures) .
His email address: a.giacomin@infinityfutures.com

Stops

During the period that I stopped posting, I had made a number of trades that had wiped out all that I've made since Aug 1st.

My losing trades were entered based on more or less the same premises as those of the profitable trades that I had made in the first 2 weeks of Aug. The only thing that I had done differently was the way I managed my trades. I had cut my losses early and let my profits run, which wasn't exactly ideal in what was primarily a choppy/ranging market. I had also taken more trades per day - but had I not done that, I wouldn't have found out about my limitation.

What I learned about me after that exercise was that I am not as good as I thought I was. That short winning streak was not sustainable simply because I am not yet a proficient trader. Many of my winnings from the past were a result of my having sat on substantial paper loss. Because I was rewarded for not cutting my losses, I was hardly motivated to do a proper assessment of my trades. I was aware of this the whole time of course, which was the reason why I simply couldn't feel good about my results.

It was when I was doing what was right for me that I started to accumulate losses. It was when I went on a trading spree that I learned that I can only enter a specific number of trades a day beyond which I start having difficulty managing my emotions.

So my MO for winning has always been to stay convicted to my view of where price is going. On most days, it works beautifully. But it was extremely stressful trading, and on the days that I was wrong, I would take a loss that would affect me for days and weeks.

I personally do not believe that trading is easy. But it shouldn't have to feel like I'm walking on thin ice everytime I put on a trade. The discomfort of trading starts the moment you execute a trade, simply coz there's a likelihood you'll lose money on that trade. This type of discomfort is not the same as the mental strain that's caused by an unplanned event (trade going awry and you don't have an idea how far price is going to move against you, coz you have been profit-focused and have not prepared adequately for contingencies). The latter should happen as infrequently as you can help it.

I am now starting to use hard stops. It is not to eliminate discomfort. As a matter of fact, stop-losses make me feel so uncomfortable I'm now reluctant to trade. But I know for a fact that I need the protection of a stop-loss while I'm still learning the ropes. Stop losses are there to make the lessons I can't avoid less expensive. More importantly, losing trades make me review them over and over to find out what I have overlooked before I execute them.

Since my trades are based on very precise setups and signals, a stop-loss is necessary to get me out of a trade that's no longer valid as soon as it's invalidated. If I keep getting stopped out, it simply means that more work is needed to improve my reading of the market. If skill has nothing to do with my being stopped out, and it's the market that's doing something I've never seen before or have had very little experience with, then being stopped out would give me a chance to pause to do an objective assessment, which is something that's difficult to do when I'm still in trade.

There are many conventional wisdoms about trading that I dismiss as pure lies and myths, and there are just as many unorthodox concepts and philosophies on trading that I turn a deaf ear to (Just coz something is unorthodox doesn't give it more credit).

I have always stuck with whatever makes sense to me.

At this stage, tight hard stops make perfect sense to me.

Starting over.

Data Feed Issue

Not posting my trades today. Was testing my platform and did 99 round turns in under an hour. Had they been real trades, Anthony (my darling broker) would be a happy man today.

I'm having problems with my trading platform. No, it isn't the quake. It's just that once I start scalping, I become picky and what didn't use to bother me bothers me big time now.

The issue I'm facing is that the AT DOM is lagging. I rely both on my chart and my tape for entry and exit. They are both equally important to me. I can't trade without either one. Once the DOM is out of sync with my chart, I'm seriously handicapped. Yesterday wasn't too much of a problem coz price was just plunging and you can click anywhere and - if you're not greedy - you'll get out with something. Today's the real test.

I have written to Anthony and know that I'll hear from him like... about... NOW. He's the solution man. There hasn't been a time that I had asked a question and he wasn't able to answer.

But I did pose a difficult question. So we'll see.

Won't go live until I'm able to get extremely reliable data feed.

Update:
I'm not sure if it's just a problem with the demo account. D's DOM wasn't as bad although it still lags a little. But then again we trade differently. Yes, he got his 1.2 points again.

For The Umpteenth Time: I'm A Scalper

Total: 3.5 Points

I entered the 1st trade at 9:33am, and wrapped up at 9:54am.

25 trades: 4 losing (highlighted above)

I realized that I've been using all the wrong time frames to trade the TF (maybe even the ES too.... On NQ, I used the tape and 1min last year and it was pretty darn good).

I used to be good at running, and that was because I wasn't using 3, 5, or 10min charts (actually, NEVER 10 min, as I recall)!

I'm doing this for maybe another day on sim.

Then I'm going live.

Afterall, this was exactly how I traded when I first started ie. it's nothing new.

Why I switched to 10min yesterday, I really haven't the slightest idea.

My most educated guess is that I woke up yesterday morning feeling OLD.

I forgot that D said that I'm a 16-year-old trapped in the body of a 37-year-old.

Really, 10min charts kill my brain cells.

So do 3 and 5 min charts.

I can understand using 5min for forex futures, but for TF during active hours, opting out of 1min chart last year was the single biggest mistake I made.

D has always thought that I'm an extremely extreme person.

I guess I'm just wired that way.

Can't learn any other way.

Definitely no baby steps.

Update:
I was chatting with J and told him I was in and out of the market 25 times in less than 30 mins (20, to be precise, and I totally forgot the Chicago PMI data release!). J said that's a lot of work. I said it's the easiest day for me in the longest time. Really, I'd rather focus intensely on my chart for half an hour than to stare at it for 8, 12 or 16 hours. Looking at my charts for too long makes me see things that are not there, and overlook things that are there!