It's been a while since I posted my ES simulated trades. Trades were based on price action, support/resistance lines. Trading time between 9.30am and 12.00pm EST.
Also, I would avoid trading the ES 10 mins. before and after the announcement of major US economic reports unless the price pattern indicates a high probable direction that I could ride on. But I would like to advise, especially new e-mini traders, to avoid trading near the economic news reporting because the price volatility is extremely high. You can find out the date and time of major economic reports announcement at :
http://biz.yahoo.com/c/e.html
Once I've determined the support & resistance, I would enter trade with 2 contracts at staggered profit targets.
1 Oct 2009 (Thursday) - Profit = $162.50
2 Oct 2009 (Friday) - Loss = $75.00
5 Oct 2009 (Monday) - Profit = $50.00
6 Oct 2009 (Tuesday) - Profit = $212.50
7 Oct 2009 (Wednesday) - Loss = $925.00
* This was a day when I encountered a $500 loss in the beginning and wanted to chase back the loss. However, I encountered another loss of $500 as I couldn't trade with a cool mind after hitting an earlier loss. A great lesson for me.
8 Oct 2009 (Thursday) - Loss = $437.50
* Another losing day but this time I did not attempt to chase after the earlier loss.
9 Oct 2009 (Friday) - Profit = $112.50
Tony Chai
i usually stop trade for a day after having a loss. When i try to chase back, i usually have another loss.
ReplyDeleteHi :
ReplyDeleteThanks for consistently coming to my blog to check out my progress.
I guess you're the only person who bother to come here :) I hope you've not given up your journey to profit consistently from your trading.
May be this story would encourage you. It's extracted from the Channel News Asia forum.
Regards,
Tony Chai
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Veyron 16.4
I've waited about six years to make this public announcement, so here goes.
This is a personal story of success for certain, but equally as important, this is a story about never allowing your dreams to die. This is a story of triumph, no doubt. However, this is equally a story of perseverance and the power of prayer. This is about happiness and at the very same time, about pain and sacrifice.
I am 41 years young/old. I began "trading" (if you can call it that, when I was 35 years old, about 1 year after I first started playing golf. When I first began playing golf at the age of 34, after having played 12 years of football, several years of baseball, track, basketball and even a dip into downhill skiing and tennis, I thought to my self, "hmmmm, how difficult can this game called golf really be anyway?" I went out and purchased my first set of cheap golf clubs for less than $200 and drove out to the driving range for the first time in my life, thinking that hitting a golf ball like Tiger Woods, would be a breeze and getting ready for the PGA would take no more than 16 months worth of work - of course, having been an athlete prior. The baseball moves at me at 90+ mph, so certainly, hitting a little golf ball sitting on the ground, had to be the easiest thing in the world - right? LOL!
Never having the need for ANY coaching in ANY sport that I've ever played at high levels in the past, most definitely made me feel confident about being able to learn how to hit a golf ball. So, I bought my first "large bucket," walked over to the range, dropped my first ball and took my first swing. Having missed the ball completely, spinning around almost 360-degrees and nearly falling on my butt, I knew right then and there, that I would never learn how to hit a golf ball properly, without first learning the basics called Swing Mechanics. I promptly signed-up for the next lesson on my PGA Instructor's calendar - ego bruised but dignity firmly intact.
With trading the international currency markets, the lessons learned in getting up to speed in golf, are surprising similar in concept. There are fundamentals (mechanics) to learn and then there is the developmental process of tweaking your own swing, such that it is consistently repeatable under all course conditions - similar to being able to trade under all market conditions. Tiger Woods, is just about the only player on the PGA Tour, that has come close to mastering this most difficult process, but it took him more than 10,000 hours to get his approach to the sport, down pat. That's like working 8 hours per day, every day, 365 days a years, for 3.424 years, non-stop. Or, working the equivalent of 3.47 years at 12 hrs per day - or an average of 6 hours per day for 6.94 years (excluding weekends). It has been said that regardless of the profession, it takes an average individual approximately 10,000 hours to become Expert at his/her field of study. How many newbie traders are told this reality, before they open up their Micro Account!
ReplyDeleteI lost my job, but little did I know six years ago that I also lost my current career that same day. I searched and searched but never got any traction control over any new job that would replace the one I lost. Back then, the economy was surging downward and the industry that I worked in only does well when the economy is strong - so I was let go. I made $110k -$130k per year, so those kinds of positions are some of the first to go when the economy turns south. I always thought that "investing" in stocks would be far too difficult to ever learn how to do correctly, so I resisted the temptation to purchase one of the many "stock seminars" on "T.V." - in favor of more resume selling and job hunting. Eventually, something snapped and I took the plunge. I laid down some of my severance pay ($3,500) on a flashy Green, Yellow and Red stock trading program that many of you have most likely seen or heard of before in the past.
I opened up an Ameritrade Account, purchased a stock options training course and began to lose money at an alarming rate of speed - trading naked options. However, every once in a while, one of my options contracts would run up from 15 cents all the way to 50 cents in a single day. These kinds of profits were rare, but they kept me searching for answers about how to make them happen on a more consistent basis.
My problem was the same problem that many newbie traders have and that is the inability to fully understand the importance of properly controlling risk. I was all about the profit side of trading, without any clue about risk reduction. So, I continued to lose money, thousands, regardless of what the little Red, Yellow and Green lights were saying. So, I began buying books on trading and economics, thinking that they would help me find the answers. I bought the book that all "traders" buy - right - called: Security Analysis (LOL!). I bought books on Technical Analysis, etc. I spending 8 hours a day, trying to learn what caused price to behave the way it did. My job search turned into a part-time job search and eventually I stopped searching for a job and ended up studying the markets and market data for 8, 12, 18 to 20 and sometimes even 24 hours a day. But, still, I lost money.
Soon, 2 months without a job turned into 6, then 8, then 10, 12, 16 and still, I lost money - still, with no job. Did I say that I was also married!!! The Wife did not take this very well and I really did have some explaining to do. More than a year with no job and no profits to show for all my hard work "learning the markets." I had a few more of those 15 cent option contracts turn into 50, 65 and 95 cents! So, I could see the potential available in the business, but I had nowhere near the level of consistency or skill to make it happen routinely.
16 months became 24 and that became 36 and soon, I had become a professional market researcher who was STILL flat broke, busted and disgusted, with only a few, sporadic booming trades to my name. Then it hit me. Up until that time, I had been studying the same materials that everyone else was studying and the statistics were showing that 90% of all so-called "traders" failed to reach a level of professional success in the business long-term. That's when I began to break-out my research into an entirely distinct and new direction. Doing so, allowed me to develop my own Technical Analysis Tools. Tools that nobody else had anywhere in the world. Tools that I could keep under wraps. Tools that enabled me to see things that nobody was able to see.......... and I still lost money. Wow!
ReplyDeleteFrustrated, tired and refusing to quit, 36 months turned into 48 - into 60 into 72 - still with no job. Now, hurting physically from all the stress, marriage seriously suffering, financial debt mounting to the highest level ever in my life, having moved not once, not twice, but 7 TIMES in the process - then having a Mother turn very ill with no one to support her but me (having three older brothers who could care less) - the stress was unimaginable and mounting daily. Having thought seriously twice about remaining on this planet, thinking that my Wife would be better off without me - somehow, by the Grace of God, something within me told me to keep pushing for answers, yet not found.
So, I continued to press forward.
Mentally exhausted, physically exhausted, emotionally burned out, taking care of a very sick Mother and a marriage hanging by a singular thread of hope and just about right after 10,000 hours of research, development, testing, analysis and study - it finally happened! I had a break through! I could finally trade successfully on a consistent basis! I finally found a way to actually make money in the markets!
If that were the end of the story, it would be a truly amazing conclusion. But, that's not even the tip of the iceberg.
You see, not only did I find a way to make money trading. I actually found a way to trade without EVER losing money at all. I found a way to trade with a 99.99% chance of never losing capital. I found a way to do what many naysayers say simply cannot be done. Today, I can enter the currency market at any point during the session, in any direction during the session and NEVER drop a single dime on the floor with virtually guaranteed, locked in profit, the moment I enter my trade profile.
Six years later, I truly understand and have a much deeper appreciation for the word "success." A word thrown around with far too much ease and carelessness these days. I have a much deeper appreciation for the word, "fundamentals." A word all too often ignored by society these days, in just about every field or walk of life. And, I truly know and understand the word, "appreciation," in a way that few people will ever realize, regardless of their walk in life.
ReplyDeleteTo my precious Wife: I owe you an enormous debt for putting up with my "dream" for much longer than any Woman could or should. I will forever by in your debt and I love you without measure or qualification. Without your support, I would not have survived the past six years. You are more than a Woman, you are an Angel sent from Heaven. You have endured much and MUCH you shall receive for having done so. Nothing will be withheld from you from this point forward and I'm only sorry that I took so long. We have traveled a very long way together and I look forward to finishing the race with you by my side. I love you honey!
To the clueless newbie trader: Don't quit IF there is something inside you telling you to press on toward the mark of success. Cracking the code in this business and reaching a level of genuine trading success is not easy and it take a lot of time to learn all the lessons that need to be learned in order to reduce risk and trade consistently on the profitable side of the P/L equation. Trust me, there will most likely never be anything in your life that you do mentally, that will be more challenging than cracking the code of the markets, such that you can trade in any direction at any time, with full confidence that regardless of the direction the market moves, you will walk away with net profits. That kind of skill, knowledge and expertise does not come easily to most. However, with extremely hard work, more time than you can fully appreciate and/or imagine right now and more mental discipline than most people can demonstrate, you CAN become the top 1% of all the traders in the world and do it far better than most - all of the time. But, it will take more courage, guts, time, hard work, focus, intelligence, persistence and creative thought, than the average newbie will be able to understand, just starting out in this business.
This is NOT Vegas! Drop the Vegas mentality - it will not serve you well long term. This part science and part art. The markets DO make sense. Your job is to figure out what the markets are saying and WHY they are saying it. Doing so is a science, but it involves a lot of artistic input and creative thought along the way. Hang in there ONLY if you hear that still, small voice inside you that tells you to do so. That's the voice that is telling you that you have what it takes to make it right. If you don't or can't genuinely look yourself in the mirror each morning and declare with a straight face that you DO here that still, small voice inside you, then this business just might not be cut out for you and you might be wise to consider doing something else with your valuable time.
But, for those newbies that do hear the voice - press on!
To the Top 1% of all Traders:
I’ll steal the line Tiger user when he first joined the PGA Tour:
Hello World! Look out – cause here I come!
what is the main advantage to trade between 9.30 am to 12.00 pm?
ReplyDelete