This post was contributed by a guest author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Richard or MovetheMarkets.com
Traded 8 times today, 6 losses and 2 wins. Terrible. I ended today down another -3.7R.
I did do one thing right, which was to stop myself after 3 losses in a row, and switch to a higher timeframe. Even though it didn’t help me win, it did help me slow my trade rate down. I was trading from the 1 minute and volume-based candles, and after trade #4 / loss #3, I switched to the 15 minute timeframe. I took two good dummy setups NVDA and DRYS that then retraced back below my entry. DRYS would have paid off big, had I held through the whole day, which I probably wouldn’t have, even though it never hit my original stop. I also scalped CFC short at a good spot, but my size wasn’t big enough to help really:
I blame the narrow range action in the markets today–there was no follow through on breakouts I watched. Some things trended very well all day, like BCSI, but I didn’t trade it. I hope we get things back to normal soon! I wish I hadn’t traded at all this last week–I’ve done nothing but throw my money away. Very frustrating. I’m starting to think that my 10% day was just dumb luck, since I’ve been getting killed scalping since then.
This post was contributed by a guest author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Richard or MovetheMarkets.com
August 22nd, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Dude, I hate to be the one to tell you, but … this is back to normal. All that subprime mess was the anomaly. The summer months are usually pretty dull, from what I can tell. Last summer was the first time I saw it first-hand, but everyone tells me it’s always like this. In fact, I remember last August I was saying I should consider taking mid-July through mid-September off every year, if I can make enough profits the rest of the year.
August 22nd, 2007 at 3:49 pm
I see. I guess the best thing to do is just stay out of things until Labor day. Remember, I’m an active trading n00b and still have a lot to learn! I know some things about risk, position sizing and setups, but there’s a lot more that I need to know. I’ll be better prepared next year, I suppose. At least I’m still up 14.2% for my first Prop month (this week is a write-off, though)! Better than being in the hole. :)
August 22nd, 2007 at 5:04 pm
prospectus: it seems to me that u know how to trade a volatile, trending market…many traders lost money during that time, but u profited handsomely…richard’s prolly right about this being the norm, but like u, i don’t know…now u just have to get a strategy that works in this type of environment…oh yeah, and there’s the tricky part about knowing which one to employ (if i figure that out, i’ll let u know)
you’ve done very well since going prop…don’t let a couple of bad days mess u up in the head
August 22nd, 2007 at 5:46 pm
I’ve been having some trouble the last couple of days too. I think we got used to the market selling off every time it hits resistance. Now it seems like you got to buy the dips. I keep losing money in the morning trying to short, but the stocks would just grind higher until I get stopped out. Then after a few hours it takes a dip. Nothing like those fast drops during the past two weeks. Feels as though its a different market and you need to apply different strategies.
August 22nd, 2007 at 8:16 pm
My trading has improved since I employ a much higher timeframe to add to my 15 minute charts, ie. the daily chart. Richard, it seems, also looks at a much higher timeframe with his scalp trades using PnF charts. Perhaps that is something to look at if you haven’t already. If you have, then disregard ;).