October 29, 2008.
Starting capital $41,724. Short on YM 3 units @ 9,026. Got stopped. Lost 150 points. New Capital $38,500.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Trade #5
October 29, 2008.
Starting capital $44,820 Short on YM 3 units @ 8,981.
Got stopped out @9,131 for 150 points loss.
New capital $41,724.
Starting capital $44,820 Short on YM 3 units @ 8,981.
Got stopped out @9,131 for 150 points loss.
New capital $41,724.
Trade #4
October 28, 2008.
Starting capital $32,579
Long on YM 3 units @ 8,181. After being stopped out after moving my stop up, I have this nagging feeling that maybe moving the stop up was not a good idea. Initially it felt good cause I got stopped with no loss. So I got back in. And damn was I glad to listen to that inner voice.
I woke up this morning and found that while I went to sleep, DOW decided to go to work. It went up by like 900 points overnight.
Sold off my position for a +800 points gain.
I learnt two things from this trade.
1. Stick to your gun.
2. In a system technical trading, you always have to follow the system. I stated this earlier, and this is the exact reasons why. If I had not gone in for this trade because of the previous two losses I would not have made this huge gain.
Starting capital $32,579
Long on YM 3 units @ 8,181. After being stopped out after moving my stop up, I have this nagging feeling that maybe moving the stop up was not a good idea. Initially it felt good cause I got stopped with no loss. So I got back in. And damn was I glad to listen to that inner voice.
I woke up this morning and found that while I went to sleep, DOW decided to go to work. It went up by like 900 points overnight.
Sold off my position for a +800 points gain.
I learnt two things from this trade.
1. Stick to your gun.
2. In a system technical trading, you always have to follow the system. I stated this earlier, and this is the exact reasons why. If I had not gone in for this trade because of the previous two losses I would not have made this huge gain.
Trade #3
October 27, 2008.
Starting capital $32,579
Starting capital $32,579
Long on YM 3 units @ 8,181. Market went up to 8500 and I moved the stop up to my entry price of 8,181. Market tanked suddenly and was stopped for no loss.
For this trade, I was trying a new strategy of moving the stop up to entry price to protect from losing. There have been too many times when a gain turned to a loss. So was trying this out.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Trade #2
October 27, 2008.
Starting capital: $34,816.
Long 3 units on YM at 8,245. RMO produced a buy arrow. CCi crossed -100 upwards. Stop at 8,095. Got stopped for 150 points loss.
New capital $32,579
Market was up almost 400 points only for it to tank and lose all its gains in the last trading hour or so. So this shows how crazy this market is now. So stop loss is really really crucial at this time. Or at all times rather. However, no matter how many times we get whiplashed by the market, we need to be very disciplined and always go in whevener there is a signal. As long as your system is proven to work it will work. Sometimes it is just the market that is bad.
Once you start doubting your system, everything will not work. Cause without a system, everything would be based on feeling and when you use feeling to trade, it is almost like suicide.
Starting capital: $34,816.
Long 3 units on YM at 8,245. RMO produced a buy arrow. CCi crossed -100 upwards. Stop at 8,095. Got stopped for 150 points loss.
New capital $32,579
Market was up almost 400 points only for it to tank and lose all its gains in the last trading hour or so. So this shows how crazy this market is now. So stop loss is really really crucial at this time. Or at all times rather. However, no matter how many times we get whiplashed by the market, we need to be very disciplined and always go in whevener there is a signal. As long as your system is proven to work it will work. Sometimes it is just the market that is bad.
Once you start doubting your system, everything will not work. Cause without a system, everything would be based on feeling and when you use feeling to trade, it is almost like suicide.
Trade #1
October 27, 2008.
Started with a capital of $36,314.
Long on YM at 8,312. RMO produced a buy arrow. CCi crossed -100 upwards. Got stopped at 8,162 for 150 points loss.
New capital $34, 816.
Started with a capital of $36,314.
Long on YM at 8,312. RMO produced a buy arrow. CCi crossed -100 upwards. Got stopped at 8,162 for 150 points loss.
New capital $34, 816.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
My System
Ok, a bit to elaborate on my system. Like I stated before, I now solely trade on Dow Mini Futures, ticker symbol YM. For the chart, I am using hourly charts. I time my entry using CCI, and RMO (Rahul Mohinder Oscillator). CCI is set at 63 with moving average smoothing at 5 So my entry criterias are as such:
Long Entry
1. When CCI goes below -100 and then reverses, I go in when both criterias are met i.e. there is a buy arrow in RMO and the CCI crosses -100 to the UPSIDE.
Short Entry
2. When CCI goes above +100 and then revereses, I go in when both criterias are met i.e. there is a sell arrow in RMO and CCI crosses +100 to the downside
Reversal
A reversal is when CCI crosses 0 and then reverses back to cross 0 to the opposite direction. For example when we are long, and CCI is going up from -98 to 5 then it goes back to -2, we would reverse the position.
With this system, we basically weed out the noises in between and only go in at the extremes. The idea is to have a system where we execute 30% of the signals with the other 70% in between the extremes.
STOP losses
Stop losses are very very important to me. Cause no system is perfect and we have to always go into a trade thinking we will lose money. My stops are set at 150 points.
Long Entry
1. When CCI goes below -100 and then reverses, I go in when both criterias are met i.e. there is a buy arrow in RMO and the CCI crosses -100 to the UPSIDE.
Short Entry
2. When CCI goes above +100 and then revereses, I go in when both criterias are met i.e. there is a sell arrow in RMO and CCI crosses +100 to the downside
Reversal
A reversal is when CCI crosses 0 and then reverses back to cross 0 to the opposite direction. For example when we are long, and CCI is going up from -98 to 5 then it goes back to -2, we would reverse the position.
With this system, we basically weed out the noises in between and only go in at the extremes. The idea is to have a system where we execute 30% of the signals with the other 70% in between the extremes.
STOP losses
Stop losses are very very important to me. Cause no system is perfect and we have to always go into a trade thinking we will lose money. My stops are set at 150 points.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Think out loud #1
I am now pondering if I should limit my number of trades to limit being affected by the crazy market swings, especially in the current market. But then there's another part of me that is afraid that if I do so, I would miss the real move when it has gone past the ding dong stage. I was also thinking if for example I go long after CCI goes past -100 and then it goes back down should I sell my position and then go back short and then go long if it goes above -100 again?
After thinking it out, I have decided that my strategy would only involve 3 entry criterias.
#1. Go long when CCI goes lower than -100 and then reverses back to cross -100 to the upside.
#2. Go short when CCI goes above +100 and then reverses back to cross +100 to the downside.
#3. Reverse the position when it crosses above zero and then back below and vice versa (Below and back above for short positions).
So this means that when you go in long put a stop and let it run. If it got stopped, and CCI went below -100 again, go back Long when the long criteria is met, even if it is within the day.
After thinking it out, I have decided that my strategy would only involve 3 entry criterias.
#1. Go long when CCI goes lower than -100 and then reverses back to cross -100 to the upside.
#2. Go short when CCI goes above +100 and then reverses back to cross +100 to the downside.
#3. Reverse the position when it crosses above zero and then back below and vice versa (Below and back above for short positions).
So this means that when you go in long put a stop and let it run. If it got stopped, and CCI went below -100 again, go back Long when the long criteria is met, even if it is within the day.
Crazy Market
Before I start, I will give a brief background to my trading career. I started trading in 1999. If you called whacking a pinata trading, then I was trading back then. Basically, I was trading because of reasons like the company's name sounds cool, the ticker has the same exact alphabets as my nickname, I have money which my grandpa gave me so let's burn it etc etc.
I dabbled in stocks for a few years before being disillusioned into thinking options is the way to go. And that was bad too. I was constantly trying to find the holy grail of trading. Then I read a book. Don't ask me what book or who the author was cause I don't remember any damn thing about it. I don't remember the exact phrase, but the jist of the message is this. When you are doing something and it is not yielding any result. Take a step back and do it in a DIFFERENT manner. You do not persevere and keep knocking your head into the wall.
So, when stocks did not work, I went into options, and when that failed too, I went into futures. And this is what I am doing now. In fact, I am solely trading the E Mini Dow.
I have been trading the mini dow for almost 2 years now. The last 1 year, I am glad to say I have been able to trade it with consistent profits. When you first start trading, there would be a lot of naysayers. They will tell you things like trading does not work. In fact if you look at the numbers. 95% of the time you will fail. Even though it might seem crazy to think that you could be that 5% that succeeds, I believe it can be done. You just need to have the guts and the money to fail again and again and again until you get all your emotions dead and numb.
Ok time for Dut's Lesson #1.
Trading is not easy!
If you are going into trading thinking it is easy money and that you can just do this on the side with no effort. Then please wire your money to DBS bank Singapore savings account 104-04116-7 since you are going to lose the money anyway.
The biggest reason people fail in trading is that trading screws you up mentally. It is just there waiting for you to screw yourself up. And when money is involved, this screwing up is magnified like a gazzilion times.When you are making money all is fine. You keep making and making and making. Then you make one loss and all your emotions and your brain would just go out the window. You would start making every possible stupid decisions to be made to chase that one loss you made.
If you read up, in general, in order for a trader to start seeing results, the minimum is 3 years. So this is like 3 years of losing your money again and again and again before you can even start making money. So if you hear any one out there promising that trading is easy and you can do it too! You should shove his head up his ass and ask him to do himself.
I dabbled in stocks for a few years before being disillusioned into thinking options is the way to go. And that was bad too. I was constantly trying to find the holy grail of trading. Then I read a book. Don't ask me what book or who the author was cause I don't remember any damn thing about it. I don't remember the exact phrase, but the jist of the message is this. When you are doing something and it is not yielding any result. Take a step back and do it in a DIFFERENT manner. You do not persevere and keep knocking your head into the wall.
So, when stocks did not work, I went into options, and when that failed too, I went into futures. And this is what I am doing now. In fact, I am solely trading the E Mini Dow.
I have been trading the mini dow for almost 2 years now. The last 1 year, I am glad to say I have been able to trade it with consistent profits. When you first start trading, there would be a lot of naysayers. They will tell you things like trading does not work. In fact if you look at the numbers. 95% of the time you will fail. Even though it might seem crazy to think that you could be that 5% that succeeds, I believe it can be done. You just need to have the guts and the money to fail again and again and again until you get all your emotions dead and numb.
Ok time for Dut's Lesson #1.
Trading is not easy!
If you are going into trading thinking it is easy money and that you can just do this on the side with no effort. Then please wire your money to DBS bank Singapore savings account 104-04116-7 since you are going to lose the money anyway.
The biggest reason people fail in trading is that trading screws you up mentally. It is just there waiting for you to screw yourself up. And when money is involved, this screwing up is magnified like a gazzilion times.When you are making money all is fine. You keep making and making and making. Then you make one loss and all your emotions and your brain would just go out the window. You would start making every possible stupid decisions to be made to chase that one loss you made.
If you read up, in general, in order for a trader to start seeing results, the minimum is 3 years. So this is like 3 years of losing your money again and again and again before you can even start making money. So if you hear any one out there promising that trading is easy and you can do it too! You should shove his head up his ass and ask him to do himself.
The first entry
This idea of starting this blog came to me this morning when the crazy ass market whiplashed my $5000+ gain into naught. And like the numerous times I made losses, I told myeslf to write my trading journal!
So the purpose of this blog is 2 fold. 1. To make me write this journal thingy 2. To share my lessons on trading with fellow traders out there.
Before I go on, I think I better write a disclaimer to protect my own ass. Haha!
Note: This blog is not an instructional website in whatever form or shape. If you decide to follow the methods stated in this blog that is totally up to you but I did not force it down your throat. If you were to lose any money as a result of this blog, this blog and the person behind it, ME, would not and could not be held responsible. If you do make money be it thru the methods stated on in this blog or not, you can wire money over to me.
So the purpose of this blog is 2 fold. 1. To make me write this journal thingy 2. To share my lessons on trading with fellow traders out there.
Before I go on, I think I better write a disclaimer to protect my own ass. Haha!
Note: This blog is not an instructional website in whatever form or shape. If you decide to follow the methods stated in this blog that is totally up to you but I did not force it down your throat. If you were to lose any money as a result of this blog, this blog and the person behind it, ME, would not and could not be held responsible. If you do make money be it thru the methods stated on in this blog or not, you can wire money over to me.
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