Rob C

Sorry for the delay in responding, but I am just getting back into reading the forum again. Hopefully you will still read this. I like Tastyworks and started with a small account there as well. I also like their TastyTrades channel. When I started with a small account I only traded vertical spreads. It was perfect for a small account since you get quite a bit of leverage with a built in max loss stop. Since you are only paying for the spread not the option they are dirt cheap and easily affordable for a small account.

Did you read Brian's (Pezim) book yet, How To Swing Trade? I highly recommend it.

Chartlog for Equities. My own Excel sheet for Futures.

For day trading I have a 11 Equities setups and 7 Futures setups. Double that number if you consider long/short as a different setup. I only trade the setup if it proves a profit factor >2.0 for 20 SIM trades. Once the last 20 live trades drops below a profit factor <1.3 I stop trading it live. Earlier this year I had 9 setups that were >2.0. As the summer neared the number kept dropping. I only have one trade with a high enough profit factor to trade live. So I was thinking why bother. Last summer wasn't profitable for me either. So I thought I would trade playback SIM this summer and learn algo trading while I wait for things to pick up.

All is reasonably well. Late April I took a week long seminar with advanced trading concepts. So I stopped trading live to practice them. They did not work for me and I am still not profitable in SIM/replay mode yet so I haven't traded live since. Also, last year May through August I was not profitable in Futures and stayed in SIM mode for the whole summer. So it may be the same circumstance this year as well. That is why I was thinking not to stress myself out trying to trade seriously this summer and learn algo while I wait for September.

If you find a useful book/video/Udemy could you let me know the title? I read two books, with good reviews, and they were both duds. So I will start with IBs video library and go from there.

I was going to try it as well. I have some experience in computer modeling. I plane to start learning in July but with the Ninjatrader algo systems since I trade more with the Futures. May I ask which platform you use? IBKR API?

First, DTA teaches day trading of Futures. So if you want to trade equities, I would not recommend it. Somewhere between my internship at an oil exploration company (which is odd since I am environmentalist) and going to an Ag school for graduate studies, I became a big commodities fan. Plus, Futures give me the option to trade off hours. The Asian markets trade in the evening in my time zone and combined are as large as the NYSE. With a full time job that will be helpful. Some people like that there is no PDT rule and high margin with Futures. Also, there is not as much as an issue getting a short filled like in equities. Also US taxes are better with Futures. As for DTA, the jury is still out for me even though I have been with them for 17 months. I arrived at the exact time they were going through a major overhaul and I guess I got stuck in some strange limbo. Some of the coaches are excellent and some are not. The first year is pricey, than not so bad afterwards. It is 3k for the first 3 months then 7k for the rest of the first year. It comes with a week long seminar that I did not receive due to the pandemic. After the 1st year it is 2k for the next year. Its pricey but I really wanted mentorship. So at DTA every single one of you trades can be reviewed by one of the coaches. The classes and daily recaps are very good as well. If the price doesn't already deter you I can go into more details about DTA. Rob C

Cool you are getting a Comp Sci degree. Do you think you would use it and try your hand at Algo trading?

Hi Trader Joe, I agree that you are doing very well. It took me over a year before I reached 12R a month. I know by watching BBT chat/webinars that it seems you need a high R/month to make a living. But its more about consistency. I use to hear Andrew say that if you can consistently make $5 a month the rest is just position sizing. Also, the classes outside of BBT, that I take (DTA and VKT) push consistency well over R/month. Essentially, I am saying the same thing as Peter B where you might have already succeeded and the rest is just position sizing. Of course we all should continuously optimize and adapt, but first you should determine if your systems are good enough already. Below is the easy way to get a ballpark of how your systems are doing. This analysis should be performed on each system (setup) separately. If you calculate >0.3 your already gold and its time just to increase your position size. Essentially, you want to aim for 2% of your account size. There are websites that will help you determine the optimal position size but for >0.3 they will calculate a number over 2%. Since I highly recommend not going over 2%, that is a number to shoot for. Since your systems are only 3 months old I would probably stop at 1% account size until your systems are tested over multiple market conditions (bull/bear/choppy). To determine if the system you use is effective take the mean of the data set (in R) of the profit per trade and divide by the standard deviation (also in R units). Then use this table. R/sig Quality 0.16-.19 Poor but tradable .2-.24 Average .25-.29 Good .30-.5 Excellent .5-.69 Super .7- Holy Grail

Sorry for the delay, I missed your post last month. Yes, I have been through the same dilemma as my job changed and I was unable to trade my most profitable setups which are usually after the first hour of trading. This is common and one of the coaches at Day Trading Academy, where I am taking courses, also made that transition from day to swing trading successfully when teaching would interrupt his trading. Yes Brian's book is very good. I also recommend taking an Udemy course of your choosing on chart reading. The lessons I have learned: I see that you won't trade single stocks. That is good. It seems for about a year I have needed to check the price of stocks (at least on my phone) during the day to optimize profits. ETFs need less observation. Learn 1 to 3 ETFs really, really well. If your account is too small to take shorts than please stick to ETFs that have an inverse ETF with good liquidity as well. Careful learning ETFs that are well correlated. Like SLV and GDX will be too well correlated. Don't use leveraged ETFs. I use to, but they would always gap well beyond my stop overnight. In general I would lose half my profits with these huge gaps. Use options whenever possible. So if you are wondering if you can make decent money NOT trading stocks and NOT trading leverage ETFs, well you can’t. That’s where options plays a part. I use vertical spreads a lot. It gives me the leverage and you can lock in the risk. Best of both worlds. But that also means no homeruns with vertical spreads. But I am not into getting that one big trade that makes my month. I like the slow accumulation of profit. Since many ETFs are very liquid, it is easy to get fills with options. It is not impossible to get catastrophic price fluctuations with ETFs. Especially commodity ETFs. I quit swing trading for a year after BE (not an ETF but a midsize float stock) dropped -20R passed my stop overnight. I didn’t get back into swing trading until I understood options better to prevent that. I always place my stop order right after my buy/short order is filled. I find it easy to take a stop day trading. But I find it more difficult taking the stop on swing trades. So I must place the stop order right away. Check prices of your positions in premarket not after the market open. It is surprising how many position partials and closures I take in PM and I am glad I did. Please have an account that you can trade before/after hours. Etrade has a paper trading account that was useful during my learning phase. Choose an ETF that you have some interest in. If you like coffee maybe ETFs JO or CAFE may interest you (gotta love those names) plus you will enjoy keeping current with the eco-political events that effect your ETF. I hope you find something useful in the above list. Rob C

Futures (ES) live trading journal 4/16/21 Friday. What luck to have a setup right after the open everyday this week. Though I was stopped out on the opening setup, I was still green for the day. We had strong upward momentum in the PM and a pull back at the open. I went long to test the highs (TT) with 3 contracts and was stopped out. Then there was a really large pullback. So large I would usually call momentum down. But the price had a resounding rejection of the PDC. So I still called it momentum up. So when there was the opportunity to go long I did with 2 contracts. Sold 1 contract at a conservative target and the other when the price slowed down. I may not be trading next week. I have an online seminar with the Day Trading Academy all week. Unsure if the instructor wants us to trade or not. Have a good weekend. Rob C

Futures (ES) live trading journal 4/15/21 Thursday. Now 4 days in a row with a setup early in the day. This one was actually in PM. We had good upward momentum in PM and a pull back. The entry occurred before the open, so by rule I only took 1 contract. The price immediately dropped on me and I missed a stop out by a tick. Then the price moved steadily higher to reach my conservative target. I hope everyone is having a good day trading. Rob C

Futures (ES) live trading journal 4/14/21 Wednesday. Feeling really lucky now that 3 days in a row there was a setup near the open. I was able to take the trade before I had to leave the screen. There was some moderate momentum down in PM but that quickly changed after the open. With in 30 minutes I was calling it momentum up. Then the price made a sharp pull back and I entered long. I immediately set my limit order for a conservative target. The price went up and touched it but did not fill. I moved my stop to B/E and the price dropped and almost stopped me out by a tick. Then went back up and touched my limit order several times without filling it. It was getting a bit stressful and I was just about to drop my order by 1 tick when it finally filled. The limit order sat for 10 minutes so I assume I rose high enough on the list to finally get filled. I left 1 contract in case the price ran. It didn't and I exited at B/E. I hope everyone has a solid day trading. Rob C

Futures (ES) live trading journal 4/13/21 Tuesday. I felt very lucky that the last two days I had a setup right after the open. We had plenty of upward momentum in the PM then went flatline at the open. After 15 minutes we got our deeper pullback and an entry. I had a very conservative target for my first contract. I held another contract to see if the price would run. It didn't and I exited soon after. Have a good night. Rob C

Futures (ES) live trading journal 4/12/21 Monday. I was glad to see a setup so quickly after the open. Since the middle of the night the ES was grinding higher creating a new high right before the open. The price pulled back and gave an entry right after the open. The reward to risk wasn't actually large enough to take the trade. But I usually see strength with testing the high at the open so I went long and the price reached my conservative target in a couple of minutes. I held onto to 1 contract incase the price ran. It didn't and I exited. I hope everyone has a good Monday trading. Rob C

Futures (ES) live trading journal 4/09/21 Friday. There was downward momentum in the PM. But that changed right before the open and after 10 minutes I would call the momentum up. There was a pullback after the new high which gave an entry to test the high. I went long (TT) and immediately got run over. There was a deeper pullback and I tried a second test of the highs. So I went long (2TC). After waiting about 30 minutes and the price missing by a tick to stopping me out twice., the price finally reached my 1st target where I sold 1 contract. I held the other contract but pulled my stop up either too early or too far and was stopped by a tick and missed a few more points. Have a good weekend. Rob C

Futures (ES) live trading journal 4/08/21 Thursday. There was first upward momentum in the PM then it dropped before the open and continued downward after the open and broke through the bottom of the range. Pulled back to test the level and then back down to make a new low. These are the break out trades I like the most. So I went short on the second pullback and got immediately stopped out. Later in the morning we started to get some upward momentum and a level was created (the third blue bar). We had a break out and I went long at the pullback. After a couple minutes we had a jump in price and when it lost its strength I exited. See you tomorrow. Rob C

Futures (ES) live trading journal 4/07/21 Wednesday. Some momentum down in the PM, but turned sharply upward just before the open. Within 7 minutes of the open I called momentum upward and started to trade in that direction. We had a pullback and I tried to go long but no trade entry was given. The the price tested the highs 3 times and I shorted off the new low and was immediately stopped out. Momentum switched to the downside and a strong pullback where I was looking to go short but again no entry. Then the price dropped fast and pulled back for a failed break out setup. I went long and the price did reach my 1st target. With so little volume today I thought it wise to call it a a day while I am still green. I hope everyone had a good day. Rob C

Futures (ES) live trading journal 4/06/21 Tuesday. Really happy I got a trade in today. I have a busy morning so I thought I wouldn't catch a setup. There was downward momentum over night creating a range. After the open the price broke the range and pulled back to test the backside of the level. Then price advanced to a new high and again pulled back to the midband. This is the best Break Out setup one can have. So I went long and as usual for BO trades I exited on the first sign of weakness. Yea I missed the run, but that is OK. I usually don't do well on BO trades. I need to be conservative. I hope everyone has a solid day trading. Rob C

Futures (ES) live trading journal 4/05/21 Monday. It took 2.5 hours of intense watching before the ES gave it's first opportunity. The ES made another new high and a strong pull back. It gave a good entry but I couldn't get filled. The price moved higher and just touched the point of now return where it is too far to enter even if it pulls back. I did go long on the pull back and I wasn't breaking my rule since the price was just under 1 tick away from cancelling the setup. But 1 tick is close enough it felt like a chase. I did go long. I had to wait 35 minutes before we got some volume and the price reached my conservative target. The target I used may look too conservative. But I thought this may be my only opportunity today and I already waited 35 minutes (that is long for me since I have been trading ORBs for 2 years). Plus I increased my risk in April so nerves are a bit higher now. At the 1st target I sold 2 contracts and held the last contract for a stop at B/E. I hope everyone had a good Monday. Rob C

Futures (ES) live trading journal 4/01/21 Thursday. I had to work late Tuesday night so I skipped trading yesterday. Today I was busy during the open and it was quite a bit of FOMO to see the trades I missed. So I probably took too many trades to make up for it. There was upward momentum and a successful test trade which I missed but a break out trade set up with a new high and a test of the level (blue) and back to the high. At the next pullback I went long. The price did make a new high and just missed my first target. I was stopped out at B/E. We had a new high and a reasonable pullback and I went long to test the highs. I did get a partial, then out at B/E. Another new high and a retest of the level. Then another new high and I went long. The price tried to go 3 times and I pulled the stop to B/E. Since the BO failed I switched to a failed breakout (short) which went just high enough to stop me out before the price dropping. Everyone have a good long weekend. Rob C

Futures (ES) live trading journal 3/30/21 Tuesday. Sorry I didn't have time to post this yesterday and even too busy to trade today. There was some momentum to the downside but not a large amount. Then about an hour after the open there was a break lower and a pull back. I shorted on a break out trade and immediately got stopped out. After that the strength to the upside did not stop and there was a setup for a breakout trade to the long. This one worked, though I placed my limit order very conservative so not much of a winning day. See you tomorrow. Rob C

Futures (ES) live trading journal 3/29/21 Monday. Not much direction at the open, but later in the morning we got strong momentum down. We got a nice pull back I tried to short but my order did not fill. Too bad it was a winner. Then the price broke through the bottom and pulled back so I went long with a failed break out. Luckily I set my limit order on a conservative target. It was filled quickly before the price pulled back. I hope everyone is having a good Monday. Rob C

Futures (ES) live trading journal 3/26/21 Friday. There was upward momentum from the PM and a new high was tested several times before pulling back enough for me to go long. The stock popped up a bit and I pulled my stop up which caused me to be stopped out to the tick. That plus 2 S/O on equities I took a couple hours off from the screen. When I arrived back there was good upward momentum again and a strong pullback from the high. I went long and did get a partial (1 contract) then stopped at B/E. Have a good weekend. Rob C