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Platform: Sierra Charts, Investor RT, Ninja Trader
Broker: VanKar
Trading: NQ
Posts: 520 since Sep 2009
Thanks Given: 583
Thanks Received: 1,248
After a long weekend, markets came back strong at the open. I did one inside bar breakout on CL today. The technique is discussed in detail on Jeff's Three Setups thread. I only do the inside bar trade. Just too many distractions to watch the market for long, so any trade I catch here is a bonus.
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
Platform: Sierra Charts, Investor RT, Ninja Trader
Broker: VanKar
Trading: NQ
Posts: 520 since Sep 2009
Thanks Given: 583
Thanks Received: 1,248
Returned from our CA trip late Wednesday night. Passed through Phoenix airport again where it was 112. Here in NC it is a balmy 95 with about 75% humidity. I am just thankful for air conditioning.
Hated to leave #15 but we did bring his older brother back with us, and he will be here for a little over 3 weeks.
While in CA, I would get up about 6 PST and watch the market for about an hour and half or so each morning. I used Jeff's Three Setups thread as a reference and watch for nothing but inside bar setups using CL as the preferred instrument. I found they work amazingly well. The only loss I took was because I let my impatience beat me one day and I entered about a minute early (just KNEW the mkt would continue in the downward direction) only to watch the bar go to the low of the previous bar (the inside bar) and then reverse and start a strong move up. On one or two other occasions I took some significant heat, but the trades eventually paid off.
I have found that having a clearly defined set of rules and a setup that can be described in a very few short words that anyone can understand has made a world of difference for me. There is no more second guessing, or forcing the chart to say something that it really isn't, and it makes trading less stressful. I confess I am not going for large winners (most would say I leave a lot of money on the table and perhaps that is so, but when I go to an all you can eat restaurant I eat what I want and leave the rest, in other words I trade until I am content). As I stated in an earlier post, I am not trading to pay bills, but for a much longer term goal, so I take as much pressure as I can. Anyway, I have found Jeff's inside bar play to be one that fits my need so I am dropping (for now) all the other methods.
Platform: Sierra Charts, Investor RT, Ninja Trader
Broker: VanKar
Trading: NQ
Posts: 520 since Sep 2009
Thanks Given: 583
Thanks Received: 1,248
Folks
I have been a bit negligent on posting, so I will try to catch up. I have traded every day since last Thursday, with all the trades being on CL except one trade today on ES. My primary setup is the inside bar as discussed in Jeff's thread (and if you doubt trading CL on a 15 min chart is too hard to do, I challenge you to try it for 3 days, you will be very, very surprised). I have had success using a different technique since Thursday. This is a backup method. I look at the gap between yesterday's close and today's open, let the market open and watch it continue going away from the gap, set an entry order at the open price (or just a tick or 2 inside of it) and when the market reverses and then goes towards the gap closure, I am stopped into the move. I am not shooting for big gains, and so have been taking an amount that satisfies me, but....I have been looking at where the price goes and I can really improve my results just doing a half gap fill (which has hit consistently). For the gap fill trade, I use either a 233 or 333 tick chart. Anyway, I now consider I have 2 tools in the tool bag.
I have also been looking at other trading platforms/brokers since ToS does not have all the bells and whistles, etc of some of the better platforms.....but you know, this is good enough for me. My monthly cost of operations is $0.00 (no chart fee or data fee). Why change. My commissions are competitive. So I am staying put.
Platform: Sierra Charts, Investor RT, Ninja Trader
Broker: VanKar
Trading: NQ
Posts: 520 since Sep 2009
Thanks Given: 583
Thanks Received: 1,248
Woke up to find the market gapped higher overnight. I watched the market move up sharply at 9am and then I set up the gap trade below the low of the first bar. Market did come down and missed my entry by one tick and then the market just took off. I watched for a while and canceled the gap play in face of the strength and then waited for an inside bar setup. The size of the bars indicated stop placement might be a concern, so I went and cut grass. Came in and saw an inside bar complete at 11:30 and took the trade. Made my profit and quit. This trade also met Jeff's no trade before the news criteria.
Platform: Sierra Charts, Investor RT, Ninja Trader
Broker: VanKar
Trading: NQ
Posts: 520 since Sep 2009
Thanks Given: 583
Thanks Received: 1,248
Woke up to find the market had gapped down. The 9am opening price was 78.68, and there was a brief push upward before the downward movement continued. Once price started below the opening price, I put in a buy stop at 78.75 (one tick above the opening push up) and waited. Price went to about $78.40 and then quickly started moving up. My buy stop triggered around 9:08 and my profit target was hit quickly thereafter. Price continued on its upward move until it hit the half way gap fill, and then dropped again. My opening gap play was over.
I waited for an inside bar setup and it occurred on the bar that concluded at 9:30. My buy stop was hit at 9:38 and profit target hit shortly thereafter. I quit for the day.
Platform: Sierra Charts, Investor RT, Ninja Trader
Broker: VanKar
Trading: NQ
Posts: 520 since Sep 2009
Thanks Given: 583
Thanks Received: 1,248
I did not think I would trade today. I am babysitting 4 of our grandchildren and I figured I would be too distracted to trade. Well, I tried to squeeze it in. Did 2 small trades on the opening gap play. I checked my monthly totals and realized I was like $1.10 away from my monthly goal.....so of course I only need 1 tick to get it. Actually I put on the trade for 2 ticks and of course the market took my money. Can't let that stand now can we? No, must make it back.
To make a long story short, I did recover and end up positive on the day (but a very minimal amount), but I did not trade well today. I reverted to some old, nasty habits. I stopped following my rules and setups. I broke my self-discipline. I traded 8 times. the same number of trades I made all of last week. Overtrading. Entering for wrong reason. Quite a disappointment. I do know better.
I looked over my trades so far in July. Before today, I only had 1 loss and that was a trade I entered before the inside bar completed, and my entry was not 1 tick below the inside bar but at its low, and thus not a valid entry. All valid inside bar trades I took in July were winners. I did take a lot of heat on a couple of trades, and one in particular I should have taken a loss but I "gave it a little more room" and it worked out. All of my opening gap plays were successful......every loss (and there were 3) were due to either improper execution or poor/invalid entries.
Even with success, there is much to learn and continue to work on........
Platform: Sierra Charts, Investor RT, Ninja Trader
Broker: VanKar
Trading: NQ
Posts: 520 since Sep 2009
Thanks Given: 583
Thanks Received: 1,248
After doing well in July, I took off several days. Today was the first day trading in about a week. I know the first day of the month is usually bullish, but when I saw the large gap up, I figured we would get something of a retrace. I waited for the open, saw the market make a very brief dip and then head higher. I put in a buy stop below the low of the initial flurry. I was stopped in about 2 minutes later. The market went about 2 ticks in my favor, and then off to the races. For whatever reason, I moved my stop and then cancelled it. It is a nasty old habit that has almost always come back to haunt me and it did today with particularly sharp teeth. Once I was underwater, I forgot to come back up for air. I waited for 9:30, but the market kept going up, waited for 10, but the same. Surely at 10:30 common sense will prevail and the market will come back. No it did not. There was no common sense here either. I lost and lost big.
If this was a one time event, it would be understandable. But it has happened before. Somehow I must get it thru this thick skull that Mr Market is bigger and badder than I am, he has much deeper pockets, and he will go in whatever direction he wants to go irregardless of what I think or hope. I must respect my rules and honor my stops.
I will also just stick to the IB trades for the remainder of this week. Nothing else.
