This post is for Friday’s session March 17th, 2012 where we saw a very slow moving day with tight trading ranges.
Friday was the last day of expiration in the old index futures contract and Monday everyone who held long term positions will have to have moved it over into the June contracts.
The day’s trading range consisted of a whole 4 S&P points, high to low. That is about the smallest I can remember that did not take in a holiday. If this continues I may look at trading back to my T-1 trade screen which takes in smaller scalp targets and smaller losses.
In that model, one would trade for no less than a 1:1 ratio of gain to loss, but the percentages are higher. Trading for 2-3 ticks and risking 2-3 ticks can be done with a great deal of success. It is not glamorous in just settling for 3 ticks on the S&P emini’s but if that all the market is giving, you take it, get stopped out or don’t trade. It is one of the three. For many who don’t know how to trade in an environment like this, they are sunk. There ability to trade is limited to only one market condition.
With the ability to be able to trade in any market condition, very slow narrow ranges, swinging choppy markets, trending directional, or any thing else the market tends to throw at you, you have something to lean on with a versatile trading method.
The best time of the day to trade is where you have the highest degree of participation and that is after the open for at least the first 90 minutes. Many traders like to wait at least 15 minutes to let the market settle and that is OK too. You will have a lot of news released 30 minutes after the open and that often times will drive the market and give it fuel to keep it going for a while. In that, you will have your greatest opportunities for profit.
I often trade when I am ready on my schedule but I should be up and ready for that opportune time. Not doing so causes me to invest a lot more time into trading which I really don’t want to do.
Writing about it, does give me a moment to reflect and somewhat talk out-loud to myself about it which is the first sign I might want to change.
We will see, in this coming week how things continue as the market is up against some hard resistence yet again. The remedy is “time” and or a decline. We did retest again this week where I thought we would be taking that break, but now again I can see strong resistance overhead and a slowing of momentum seems to be taking place.
All that is in looking at the daily markets and does not really matter as far as daily price opportunities for scalping a few points out the emini’s.
I will end it here for today and post my trading results for Friday. Just three trades 2 positive and one loss for -2 ticks and an OK day considering the lack of movement. I did have to wait it all out a lot longer than I liked, but I did exercise good patients. Hopefully, next week things will pick up and offer a lot more opportunities. I wish you all the best and until next week, “Good Trading”. Vince
Just a short post here tonight to post my results from today’s trading. I took 4 trades three of them were profitable and one was somewhat flat. On my third trade, I meant to get out of all my position but did not change my size and exited when I saw things where not as they should be. I had a 1 tick profit on 2 and a 3 tick loss on 1 contract.
Overall, another easy session. No big struggle just exercising good method judgment, with very good timing. The market barely came back on me in all the trades again today. The first one, I had 2 ticks of heat, not to bad. Very good method entries, as they did happen to line up with my indicators as well.
The method is what told me to take action, the indicators are only an added tool to support my own findings. That is the way it should be. Daily goal met. That’s it for now, until tomorrow.
# Contract x $50 per x1 pt. x 2pts x 5 days wk = $ ——– Weekly Draw
1 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$500.00
2 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$1,000.00
3 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$1,500.00
4 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$2,000.00
5 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$2,500.00
$250.00
6 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$3,000.00
$500.00
7 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$3,500.00
$750.00
8 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$4,000.00
$1,000.00
9 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$4,500.00
$1,250.00
10 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$5,000.00
$1,500.00
11 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$5,500.00
$1,750.00
12 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$6,000.00
$2,000.00
13 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$6,500.00
$2,250.00
14 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$7,000.00
$2,500.00
15 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$7,500.00
$2,750.00
16 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$8,000.00
$3,000.00
This first 16 week section is the bedrock or foundation for going all the way. Not many people will be able to do this, I tell you that right now and up front. These results are not typical and I am not representing them as such. That being said, it is possible.
Just because most people do not have the discipline it takes to realize these results and the ones from below, does not mean it can not be done. It is up to the individual and their drive, passion, hard work and dedication to make this a reality for those that want it.
Many traders are quite satisfied to trade smaller lots and stick with that. I would add, it is easier to trade small size for the most part. When you increase contract size, it usually changes things for most people. Notice how I said, most people. Maybe you are not like most people and in-fact do not want to be put in a class with “Most People”. I don’t blame you, I don’t either.
What I am saying is, if someone does not lay out the possibilities to attain a specific goal, he will never know how to achieve it or even the idea of achieving it, will be foreign to him. So that is why I lay it out as such, for seeing the possibilities of what the exceptional could do.
The most difficult part in reaching this goal is not attaining the 2 points per day to acquire the results, but it is in the mental preparation and “mind games” that people allow themselves to become subjected to.
As you increase your size, there may come a point that you start to get affected by the money. You may say to yourself, “that is a lot of money, I don’t know about that, maybe I should trade smaller”. Here, the money is affecting your decisions and may start creating problems for your actual trading results.
In this case, it come down to personal choice and meeting your overall objectives. If your goal is to earn 200,000 a year at trading, that is a worthy goal. You may only need to trade up to a specific number of contracts and stop at that point. (The number of contracts to do that is 8-9 contracts at 2 points per day, that is do-able.) What you feel comfortable with at that time. As your account grows, you may feel more comfortable with increasing your size and you may not. Again, personal choice.
If you decide to go to the next level, it usually does get harder, but it is only in your mind. If you stick to the plane and do all the things I teach in my trading manual, listen to the mental exercises two or three times a week, which will allow the neuro-linguistic programming their to take effect and in addition, work on yourself as I explain, there is no reason why you will not have a shot at moving on to the next level.
17 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 9,000
$ 3,500 wk
18 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 9,500
$ 3,750 wk
19 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 10,000
$ 3,000 wk
20 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 10,500
$ 4,250 wk
21 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 11,000
$ 4,500 wk
22 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 11,500
$ 4,750 wk
23 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 12,000
$ 5,000 wk
24 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 12,500
$ 5,250 wk
25 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 13,000
$ 5,500 wk
26 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 13,000
$ 5,500 wk
27 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 14,000
$ 6,000 wk
28 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 14,500
$ 6,250 wk
29 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 15,000
$ 6,500 wk
30 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 15,500
$ 6,750 wk
31 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 16,000
$ 7,000 wk
32 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 16,500
$ 7,250 wk
So, you decided to go for it. You will need support. NO DOUBT. Trading for Big Money does not come easy. When things get a little tough in this section, you will need someone to help you through.
I offer support long after the purchase of my course and anyone scaling up their contract size over time is going to need help in keeping perspective, clarity and focus when targeting higher objectives. This is not an option. If you need and want much more time to attain these higher goal objectives I am sure we can work something out. Just let me know.
I currently have a small group of traders and do plan to grow, but I am not interested in growing into very large group. This way, I will have time to address individual needs from traders as the process of meeting their daily trading goals unfold.
33 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 17,500
$ 7,250 wk
34 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 18,000
$ 7,250 wk
35 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 18,500
$ 7,250 wk
36 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 19,000
$ 7,250 wk
37 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 19,500
$ 7,250 wk
38 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 20,000
$ 7,250 wk
39 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 20,500
$ 7,250 wk
40 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 21,000
$ 7,250 wk
41 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 21,500
$ 7,250 wk
42 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 22,000
$ 7,250 wk
43 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 22,500
$ 7,250 wk
44 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 23,000
$ 7,250 wk
45 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 23,500
$ 7,250 wk
46 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 24,000
$ 7,250 wk
47 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 24,500
$ 7,250 wk
48 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 25,000
$ 7,250 wk
48 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 25,500
$ 7,250 wk
49 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 26,000
$ 7,250 wk
50 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 26,500
$ 7,250 wk
51 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 27,000
$ 7,250 wk
52 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 27,500
$ 7,250 wk
If you are on a quest for greatness, this section is where it happens. You will need all of the things mentioned in the section just above and now, more. If you are able to continue scaling up your trades and get an occasional day that you bring in 6 or 8 points, say two or three times a month, this will insulate you from the occasional day that you get stopped out at your daily loss limit. (-4 points) Having a daily loss limit is so important, I cannot express it enough. YOU NEED TO CONTROL LOSSES.
That is what is always needed at any stage. There would not be any reason to consistently trade for your daily goals and in one day or week, loose a ton or ground and cash. That is what happens to traders all the time. They make it fast and loose it faster.
You need to make it slow and hold on to it. In my trading manual, I lay out all the specifics on how to go about doing this and again, you will need some kind of additional support.
When you start out at week 2, after your 1st week warm-up, you will be risking $100 (1 point, $50 pt x 2 contracts) against an account of say $5,000, an average opening balance for many people. That represents 2% of your equity per trade taken.
After the second section from above, if you are still on course, your risk per trade is now down to .85% per trade taken. Very Good, considering that you have been taking money out of your account. After the third and last section, if you are again still on course, your risk per trade is down to a touch over .50% and that is outstanding.
Overall your risk is going down all along the way and you are taking cash out of the market. By doing this, you are lessening the impact that the money will have on you. You do not have it all on the line, something a gambler would do.
This is the reason why, I do think it is possible for the exceptional to achieve results similar to this. It, by any means does not happen very often, but again, do not let that hold you back. Just because others have tried and not been able to do it, does not mean that has to be transferred over to you, does it?
I DON’T THINK SO! and you shouldn’t either.
Trading for as lofty of a goal as described in this section is again not easy and it may be as previously stated that you trade up to a specific number of contracts and “Hold the Line, Stay with Me”. A famous line from the movie Gladiator. Sorry there, a little off subject. The point is, this plan is not for everyone.
A very attainable goal, is to start trading just one contract for the whole month. If you have averaged 2 points per day, high and lows, then you increase your contract size to two, for the month. If you do not get to a net 20 days x 2 points per day, you stay at one contract until you do. Then you can move on to three and so on.
If you stay close to this plan, with conservative daily targets of 2 points + an occasional windfall 6-8 points once of twice a month, you will be trading 12 contracts and on pace to making over $250,000 a year. That is making it slow and holding on to it.
For so many others, it will only seem like a dream and those that have failed will tell you, “It can not be done”. Don’t let anyone’s negativism take your dream. Back in the day, others who knew what I was doing tried to do just that to me. If I would have listened to them, where would I be know, no where close to what I have achieved.
In closing, I believe that trading for 2 points per day is achievable and feel totally confident in my approach in getting it. I don’t currently trade the size I would like, but that will soon change. Getting my daily goal and helping people get theirs has clearly defined my objectives at this time.
Hello, Today is Monday February 23rd and the market is still trading while I write this, currently up 3 S&P points.
So far with 30 minutes to go, the market is holding up. The volume has been so slow, just now at 1 million contracts and 30 minutes to go. I can not remember a regular session being that slow, even back during the holidays. With low volume and movement, you have less opportunities to profit. That is why I feel it is important to be able to scalp a few points out of small trading ranges. Often, that is all the market is going to give you. You can always elect to sit it out and wait for things to improve but if you don’t have patience enough to do that, you may be tempted to trade in an environment that you are not trained for. The best course of action is getting trained for it, so that if you find yourself in it, you will know what to do and how to do it.
Scalp trading is not for everyone, that is true. It can be better for some to wait for moves that are for several points, but as I said, you don’t always know when they are coming. If you blow your opportunity, you may have to wait now for hours. Do you have the patience to do that. The answer for many is “No”. That was and is my answer too. I don’t want to wait for two hours to take one trade and wait another 2 hours for the next trade. I don’t need to hit a 3 to 5 point trade to come out on top. Three one point trades counts just the same and with the trading leverage tied to the emini’s, you really don’t need much. To me, two to four points per session is plenty. If you can average just the two points per day, that is 40 points in a trading month. Some days you will have more points and that can make up for the days you get stopped out for the day. I have a 4 S&P point daily stop out point. This ensures that if I am having a bad day, that I don’t do any really bad damage to my account. Getting the upper end of my daily trading goal, is always nice at times. This also protects me from any day that I may come up short.
I was working with someone earlier this morning who was having a little trouble. After our session, he saw things much clearer and had a new sence of confidence, always a good thing. His confidence reconfirmed in the method he had learned and trained on, but needed a little guidance and one on one time. After our session he took three trades for 3 points in an hour. I felt happy for him, but better than one days profits, he has a clear picture of what he is looking for and how to go about getting it.
In todays trading, I took a few trades, nothing earth shattering and could have done better, but it was enough. Trades are as follows; flat, +4 ticks/+5 ticks, -1 tick, +2 ticks/+2 ticks, +2 ticks/+1 tick. The last trade was the only counter trend trade that I took and am trying to take less of them these days. The bigger move came from just above my last trade short and was what I was seeing, but decided to not trade any more and let it go. Tomorrow is another day.
Just a reminder, it may still be a little while before I get the “Free Book on Concentration” up on my website. If anyone wants it now, just email me. It is very good. It pertains so much to trading and what we do, that I am sure it will help every trader who reads it with an open mind and applies its principles. When you start reading the first chapter alone, I believe you will be impressed.
Day Trading has much more to it than getting the entries down and knowing where to exit. You will discover so much more about yourself than you ever thought you could. Some of it good and some of it, not so good. It will bring to the surface all of your weaknesses and expose them, to yourself. Unless you know what to do with that and how to adjust, you will eventually be working against yourself. Why would we allow ourselves to do this. Well, many traders do not realize how the mental side of trading is always at work here. The path of least resistance is to do the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Having the mental clarity, focus and mind power to do what you should do and when you need to do it, is imperative while trying to trade the markets. If you find yourself listening to competing voices in your head, second guessing yourself about every trade, not allowing the market to work for you instead of against you, as so many traders end up doing, you will struggle.
I too have to watch myself in this area and need to be in the right state of mind when I trade. So, as I have stated before, I am often times talking to myself while I am sharing with my readers. I know what it is that I need to do and want to be sure not to go outside of that. If I am in the red, I am very confident that I will come back, but should not be looking at or dwelling on my past loss at that time. Traders to often, trade with their P&L in mind. It is hard to have the right perspective when money is on the line. The best place to be in when trading, is not having to need the money. If you need the money and the trade, you will be trading from a position of weakness, not strength. That is a mindset and often an economic reality for many. Try and get yourself out of that position and trade from a position of strength.
Mental preparation can make all the difference in the world. I strongly encourage any trader who is serious about making consistent income from the markets, to get my free book. If the book is all you want, that is all I will give you, if you want some advise, I can give that to you as well. (Free)
You have a lot to gain, if you have not considered the real impact, the power of your mind can have on your trading results. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose from asking for it. I have sent it out to some who have requested it and will report back here on how they liked it and how it has made a difference in there trading.
Today is Tuesday April 14th and another large gain for the day.
I had a nice return on my time invested today for solid gains. I will get right to it with the stats. I had 20 gains, 3 break even trades and 3 loses. One of the losses was rather large, with a double position and a little larger stop than I usually take. That was early on, but came right back to forge forward into new equity highs. I ended the day at + $3,000 with very little draw down except that early trade.
Very happy with the results overall. I missed the large swings in the early trading. That makes it a lot easier to get the hit and run trades that I like to put on. It is harder to trade a slow moving market because it keeps you in the trade longer. Any time you are in the actual trade, there are forces working against you, straight up. You cannot get away from adversity, but it is how you handle it. A very large part of success is between your ears and we all need to remember that. Every other trader across the globe is having to deal with the same issues on a daily basis. The difference is going to be, who is going to handle the pressure and come out on top?
Having targets and stops built in, is a way to cut down the adversity that takes place. Many people argue that if you have small targets, it is not enough to make up for your inevitable losses. That can be true, if you have more losses than you have gains. In addition, if you stay too long, you may lose your concentration and give back your hard earned equity. All things to remember, especially if you are fairly new to the game.
I have heard it said that when you start and open a trading account, don’t deposit too much into it, because you are going to lose it ALL. This is actually not too far off and it’s really true if you try and go it alone. The world is full of S&P day traders who think it won’t happen to them. That’s the kind of thing that happens to the other guys, but not me. Well, I hate to break the bad news to would be traders who think they have a handle on this, work on your discipline after you know how to trade and what your looking for.
If you have one without the other, you are doomed. You will need to exercise discipline, just like a group of muscles at the gym. If you zero in on that quality, you can improve it and get stronger. This may be a foreign idea to you, but it is totally necessary to your success.
Here are a couple of ideas. I stated before that your environment has an effect on your trading results and that is true. A clean, neat work space, that is organized and in place, makes and has an effect on you mentally. It can have a reflection to your inner world, which translates into clear thinking, patience, focus, etc, resulting in better trading performance.
Now just think about other elements in your life that can have a similar effect. I don’t mean to get personal, and maybe I can just talk about myself to make my point. My goal is to create a home life that is balanced and also in order. By tending to the things in my life that have real true meaning, it helps establish a foundation of stability which gives me a sense of well being. This may not be for everyone, although I feel what everyone needs to know is “Why are we here on this earth?”
I ask myself this question often and it reminds me of what is really important. It is a way of centering myself with the busy lifestyles we all tend to live. The answer to that question is going to be different for everyone and I cannot answer that but for myself only. I get a great deal of peace when I reflect on this question, which then helps me to become a better husband and father to my grown children. It also provides the balance I need in my life to help me compartmentalize my trading goals and pursuits. If I do not exercise balance in that area, I may devote too much time into trading and letting other responsibilities get away from me – the ones that really mean the most. So it all boils down to discipline and remaining in control of your emotions and leaving your trading EGO at the door.
As a trader we will have those trades that bring us nice returns, but always need to remember that this is not easy to master and you need to remain Humble. That too is a form of discipline, to hold yourself back from becoming emotional after a nice gain. It is normal to be excited, but you need to see it as just one trade in the path of many that will eventually take you where you really want to go. That may be spending more time with your family, vacations, helping your neighbor with a project. These are all the things that a successful trading career can give you.
Just remember it’s not all about “us”. What can we do for others? You may be surprised, but that attitude will have an effect on your trading results and all for the better. It may say, “I have enough in me to give some away, whatever it is.” With that approach, you open the door for additional resources to find their way into your life, i.e., a growing trading account that seems to always expand.
This is what I find to be true in my life, anyway. I hope it helps someone out there to better handle and exercise discipline in their trading ventures. More to come on this subject. It’s a big one.
Today is Monday April 6th and the Indexes closed well off their lows for the day.
The Dow moved up off its low by 110 points, and the S&P did something similar. The volume was very light on the futures trading side, coming in at around 2 million contracts. Whatever the news was, there seems to have been a reason or excuse that the market sold off in the pre-market as much as it did.
I rarely ever look at the news. I don’t look at a lot of things, like the Advance/Decline ratio, the Trin, Ticki and a host of other things that other traders look at. To me, all of those things are present in the price action. They can be a distraction, influencing me to hold a bias, in overall direction.
The direction will be revealed as price action unfolds. Your job is to position yourself in front of key turning points. We look for pressure points, like an acupuncturist would do. When you press down on built up points, it releases tension and energy then begins to flow. The same is true in finding our entry points. We look for pressure points and position ourselves in front of the release, to take advantage of the movement, up or down. We are usually out of the trade before the energy is depleted, then we wait for the next pressure point to build.
Today, there was no follow through on so many trades. For the people looking to trend trade this market, you were chopped up into little tiny pieces. If you only know how to trade for larger moves, what do you do if they don’t come? Try again, no luck, no movement. Try again, same results. In addition, with wide stops of 2-4 points per trade, you are now hurting pretty bad.
If you are not able to trade for the small stuff, until the bigger swings are present, you are just going to give back all of your gains from other days, which will keep you unprofitable. You may find yourself having gains 1 or 2 days per week and giving back those gains the other 3 or 4 days.
Everyone is different, but anyone who only knows one trading style, is limiting himself. You need to put a lot of time in, to wait for trade setups as well and when those don’t work out, you may be tempted to make foolish trades. It is very easy to lose discipline when you are not doing the right things. It can turn into a snow ball effect and eventually a very destructive behavioral pattern of SELF SABOTAGE – if you are not careful. Trading is as much a mental game of discipline as it is knowing how to trade itself. Both are key ingredients to a successful venture.
You may consider trying to exercise your mental disciplines. Here are a few examples. I would first start with your trading environment. Your trading results will be effected by a smooth home life, one that is in order. If your trading office is clean and neat, it will have an effect on other areas like your actual trading.
A small detail, but it does have an effect. It says that you put things in their place and you know where to find what it is you are looking for. You waste no mental energy. In trading, you know the trade setup you are looking for and you know right where to find it – same thing. So even something as small as what I just mentioned has an effect on your results. I will talk more about this tomorrow, so stay tuned.
In today’s trading, I had a very nice day. It was smooth, because I waited for the right setups. I took 15 trades with a few trades for 1 and 2 point exits and had 2 tiny losses and one full stop of 5 ticks. All in all, 16 pieces of profit with 3 losses for 85% profitable. I only traded with 5 contracts or less, with one trade for a double position of 5+5. I posted $2,063 for the day and my actual time in all the trades was less than 30 minutes, but I traded about 2 hours total.
One of my students did very well today, posting about 20 1 point gains and only a couple of 5 tick losses. Most of these gains were short trades. This is the same person who was having a lot of trouble seeing the short trade setups. After working with him, he is nailing the shorts and the long trades. Today was initially a down day, he took 14 short trades and hit all of them for 1 point each. Very nice.
It is great to see someone pick up a method like mine and now make it his own. He is getting it. If anyone out there wants to potentially get it as well, send me an email and we can go from there.
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