Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Emini Day Trading Questions and Answers

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1. What strategies are using now?

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Mainly the 30 minute B/O , and I look for after the first hour MA trade.

This is what I would have recommended for you also. Good choice if you are having problems. Here is a suggestion for now...only have a 1 point target; maybe 1-1/4.
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2. Are you keeping a diary of your trades?
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Yes, I keep a good one up until 11:30 then back again at 1:30 until 3:30

I'm not talking about a TradeLog here. I'm talking about your diary of wins and losses. That will give you the answers to your trades.

This Time Zone is highly recommended also...that's if you have experience papertrading it for a year or two...Not for Newbie's. You are missing the best time in this zone though...go back and look a few charts and you will see the opportunities that pop up betweent 1:00 -- 2:00. Very repetitious.

And it can take off right at 1:00 and of course stall or reverse at 1:25 -- 1:35. If you wait till after 1:30 you will miss them. Of course I don't recommend trading in the doldrums for newbie's; you know that. But you have a lot of experience. This zone will also give you many 30-Minute breakout trades.

I would recommend taking any 30-Minute breakout any time you see it with Mom...I don't have to tell you what you need take the trade; you are well versed on what we look for to make any safe trade.

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3. Are you PowerTrading?
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Power trading in the sense that I don't always have magic numbers (but they are close or moving in that direction).
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4. What is your anticipation when you pull the trigger...1-1/4 or more?
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My goal is 2 trades a day for 1.5 points each.

Like I said, lower your target...till I find out more about your trading diary.
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5. How are you managing your risk?
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I am using Stratergy Runner now and I have tried a few times with a stop that auto starts at 1.5 and advances 25 for each .25 price moves in my direction. I have not been able to trust myself with a market order stop. You know I should get out here but I see something on the chart that "makes " me think it will go in my direction. Okay...does not make me happy, but I guess I can live with it...

I recommend market orders using the Bid and Ask routine. It's not rocket science. ======================================================
6. When you analyze your trades...what seems to be the problem?
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My analaysis tells me most time I should be more patient on entry and wait on second time through for example.

Ther ya go...you answered your problem. Behavior modification...don't do that anymore.

I hate to admit it but my original trainning still gets in my way.

You need to focus on what we know works...use your disipline, follow the rules.

For example the 30 b/o trade was taught to me to cancel order if not filled by 10:10 (and we know(I think) it best not to enter trade until 10:10).

I am not recommending trading the 30-Minute Breaout till after the first hour. We can talk about this somemore after I ask you some more questions about your trading diary.

10:30 trade was based on open price at 10:30 and enter market (basically) +/- 2 points.Then the next trade was at 1:30 , but NEVER go short between 1:30 and 2:00

I have never said, nor written about not going short at 1 o'clock that I know of...in fact I recommend it for advanced students.

and then at 2:00

I have said many times not to be long at 2 o'clock but may be okay at 2:05.

go long or short off high or low of that 30 minute bar , but cancell order if not filled by 2:15.

All of your trades will be filled in less than 3-seconds...then when in your trade you would look for a profitable exit if you have reached your target in 5-Minutes ... if not then start to look for a profitable exit or breakeven trade and never losing more than 2 points...ever!

There were more trades (3:30) trade and most all these were what they said had were high probability trades

I agree...and if you just look for 1 point they should work...I don't recommend trading in the last hour unless you are an advanced trader though. Remember this...you are only taking 30-Minute Breakout trades, till you get this turned around...Right?

Plus he taught to let the market take you out of the trade

I only suggest let the market take you out if you are in a mega bullish or mega bearish trade and you are using a trailing stop...

and sometimes in the past I have risk and lost 3 or more points per trade. I remember my first big loss with him was what he calls a Negative Noon Balloon Trade. This is where the 1:30 to 2:00 bar is a down bar and the 2:00 open is less by 1 point than the 1:30 open. On this day the YM (mini dow) and NQ and ES all had NNB so I "called" and placed an order with them (he was my broker too) and he said it was setting up so good to sell 3 contracts with a stop above high of day (the usual stop for that trade) so that day I lost 4.5 points per contract. So maybe that explains the "brain cloud" I have.

Like I say all the time...most can't follow a method or system even if they wanted to. You have to forget his stuff, or follow it. If you like this method, then follow the rules.

Hope this give you all some insight if you are also having problems.

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