Mike B 624 Posted November 8, 2019 I can't remember where I heard this from, but it is what now guides my risk per trade. "If you can't grow your account risking $1, then how are you going to grow your account risking $100." That is why after about 10 months of trading live, I figured out that my risk per trade was not adding up with what my profit target goal for the day. I was looking to make $50 a day, but I was risking $30 per trade with a rule of trading a max of 3 trades within the day. As you can see, it makes no sense. I was willing to risk $90 within a day to make $50. Yeap, I was completely focused on the wrong thing and my math did not add up. So I changed it, I base my risk off a $5000 account as this is what BBT teaches is the minimum to trade with. The calculation of risking 1% of $5000 a day was $51 to make 2R or $102. Since, I am willing to take 3 trades within the day, my risk per trade is now $17 per trade. This has done wonders for my equity curve and even allowed me to survive a huge draw down when I introduced a new strategy in September. I recommend figuring out the math on what you are comfortable losing in a day and than figure out what to $risk per trade, so when everything goes wrong, you still are within your risk tolerance at the end of the day. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Glenn Budde 356 Posted November 8, 2019 (edited) AIS 0800 with 5 hours.... feel OK ...... Normal Morning Routines... PAT: Share Size .... SIM vs Live Trades......... no Pre-5min Live...... No sub A setups Live......... Notes: This is the day that I either do this right or I go back strictly to SIM for a bit longer.......... Waking up late was no help yesterday as this seemed to just give me more FOMO........ I changed my Montage to SIM by default so that I have to manually switch it to Live...... Well I didn't do much today........ a SIM trade on accident that went my way on DIS........ once I realized I was in SIM I just got out and then the entry was gone,,,,, So be it..... Today was not a bad day so Ill head into the weekend with a good outlook for Monday..... After watching some charts after this last update I came across QCOM Reason2Trade Called out in chat, Qualcomm (QCOM) Q4 Earnings & Revenues Top, Buy Qualcomm Stock Because Analysts Say It’s a Winner for the 5G World The first quick in and out was when I realized I was in SIM so I got out and once I switched it over it was too late for the entry.... So I found another entry.... PB#3...... A setup (whew, thought I would never be able to like a trade again)..... Very Small size from this past week...... This was the only live trade I made today...... Trending the 9ema on the 2 and 5min charts, made a nice ABCD on the 2min, no MAs to run into, this 5min candle did not make a new low..... The Volume on this 5min candle was higher..... 2/1 where risk is at below the PHOD and target was HOD with room for a run....... I took my first partials too early out of fear of ending the week on a low note..... after that I partialed out at each R for 25% each (again this was a micro entry ) ..... and all out at the end of the day..... Where I took my first two partials I should have added to my position just below that when it broke through the 9ema with force on the 2min, the next two partials should not have been taken and the first partial should be where the fifth partial is.... +29.80 Cons: Back and forth to the computer with a lot of distractions today Pros: Didn't blow up anything..... Did come back to find QCOM (thank you Peter and Thor) Favorite Trade: QCOM Notes: I was all over the place today (not in the trading world but in the real world) and I believe this kept me from being able to find my place in the market..... QCOM turned out to be a good trade but could have been so much better without the fear from this past week..... P&L Goal $50: 29.80 Edited November 8, 2019 by Glenn Budde 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Glenn Budde 356 Posted November 8, 2019 19 hours ago, Mike B said: The calculation of risking 1% of $5000 a day was $51 to make 2R or $102. Since, I am willing to take 3 trades within the day, my risk per trade is now $17 per trade. Thanks Mike..... This will be my new guide as this is the size of account I started CMEG with..... I do feel like if I can not make money with a 5K account then I can not do it with a larger account.... I was risking $50 with a $150 goal in SIM and it was going well, once I switched to Live and lowered my risk to $10 I was not treating it as serious as I was in the SIM account. I am not sure but I believe if I set my Kyles Hot Button for $17 with a promise to myself that if I can run a full week with my weekly goal hit I will increase slightly till I am at $50 risk then maybe this will force me to trade safely...... 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
IamKarthi 342 Posted November 9, 2019 On 11/8/2019 at 3:32 AM, Mike B said: The calculation of risking 1% of $5000 a day was $51 to make 2R or $102. Since, I am willing to take 3 trades within the day, my risk per trade is now $17 per trade. This has done wonders for my equity curve and even allowed me to survive a huge draw down when I introduced a new strategy in September. I recommend figuring out the math on what you are comfortable losing in a day and than figure out what to $risk per trade, so when everything goes wrong, you still are within your risk tolerance at the end of the day. My risk management plan is pretty similar too. Keeping the risk as a % of Capital is a good method. When the capital grows, the risk automatically increases (without the need to change 1%). 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Glenn Budde 356 Posted November 10, 2019 So I think I am going to start doing a weekly review for myself...... I will start here but may end up taking this and my Journal to an Excel sheet so that I can track better.... We will see as I have tried a few Excel formats but none have been anymore beneficial to me than this forum...... I will print this and read daily before 0930.... Week 11-4 to 11-8-19 What was done good this week: I followed my in trade stop losses. I believe I have recovered from my emotional state from my Blow Up day...... I rectified my share size by the end of the week........ What I did Bad this week: I took way too much share size the first two days this week which in turn made my in trade stop losses way too big.... I let my emotions rule me on my blow up day and when I should have taken my one trade and realized that it put me to max loss for that day I should have walked away, but instead I revenge traded and lost a ton. I did not blow up my account but I did blow up my emotions..... I have been taking too many trades which includes trades that I know are not A or A+ setups...... Changes to make from the Week: Set my Hot Button for a $17 stop loss with a max of $51 loss for the day and a goal of $51 per day..... Return to trading only in Live account and make the trades count as I will force myself to stop trading if I trade stupid or hit my Loss.... Taking only A and A+ setups.... Goals and Rewards: If I can stick with my Stop Limits and take only trades that I feel are only A or A+ setups and I turn a profit for the week I will increase my full share size stop loss to $20 / $60 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Glenn Budde 356 Posted November 10, 2019 (edited) 11-11-19 AIS 0800 with 4 hours... 5/10..... Normal Morning Routine PAT: Only use Limited Risk Hot Buttons...... Only A or A+ setups...... Live only Trades..... Trades only from Playbook.... Respect my Daily Stop Loss...... Notes: Remember to read my Weekly Notes..... Stick to my plan to increase size next week..... SPWR Reason2Trade Q earn. beat and rev. up, Splitting into 2 public stocks, looking for long with a 33% Short float..... PB#1.... A setup, took 1/2 size..... 10min ORB, made an ABC but I did not wait for a new high, took this on a big pullback so I thought and was listening to Andrew as this is where he added to his position..... L2 was just OK with ASKs on the way up to .65 / .68 / .72 / .80 ...... 2.5/1 ....... Hit my hard stop.... Room for improvement..... I am not and have not been very good at ORBs, I believe I will take these out of my playbook for now..... -8.48 CLVS Reason2Trade on 11-8 Q reports loss with mixed earn/rev and the RVOL for today was 8.39 PB#3..... A setup leading into an A+, took 1/2 size and added up to full size..... Tending the 9ema on the 5min and using the 2min for entry and risk..... I waited for it to break the 200ma along with the daily of 5.41 that I had marked PM as confirmation... It pulled back within a penny and came back down where I added in to full size with a second confirmation only to get stopped out... This was a 2/1 trade with 5.01 as my target which 4.99 was my next daily level.... Room for improvement.... I am not too sure where I could do this better for me..... Maybe I should not have been in this trade as all these levels were not close enough to the 9ema..... looking back at previous trades like this most have worked out for me.... I could have taken a partial at .25 which would have been a 1/1 and all out at BE instead of waiting for the add..... in my SIM trading where things were going well I almost always took full size and took partials quickly.... -15.90 SQ Reason2Trade SQ was called out in the Chat, on 11-7 it had Strong Q results and the RVOL was 2.2..... PB#3..... A setup (a bit extended for an A+), took full size.... Trending the 9ema on the 2min with this being the third touch, I feel like the entry was good with lots of ASKs on the L2 all the way up and very little BIDs within a min or so the action took a bad turn and ended up stopping me out.... I did use my hot button for a $17 stop but I believe this is the first experience with bad slippage... Room for improvement..... This was a bit extended and was fast, I should have waited for a consolidation around the 9ema before considering a trade..... during the trade I seen the action going against me and instead of exiting early I let it go to my hard stop.... -20.78 Cons: I jumped the gun on SPWR and SQ..... I should have went with my gut on the exit of SQ.... Pros: I did respect my in trade Stop loss.... Favorite Trade: CLVS PB#3 Notes: I will not take PB#1 (ORB) setups for the rest of the week..... I can defiantly improve with my selections, remember I have most of the day to trade not just the morning... P&L Goal $50: -45.16 Edited November 11, 2019 by Glenn Budde 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Glenn Budde 356 Posted November 12, 2019 11-12-19 AIS 0810, 4 hours, 5/10...... normal routine.... PAT: Wait for setup and do not anticipate...... Go with my gut during the trade..... Notes: I am done with ORBs for the week and if I break this rule I must go back to SIM...... Be more specific on my setups..... Well when I was in the middle of this one trade my DAS decided to stop working and I am still building a new layout (its 1420 now) AMRN Reason2Trade This Biotech Just Gapped Up As FDA Mulls A Second Use For Its Medicine Shares of Amarin rise on favorable opinion from FDA committee RVOL over 3.0 at time of trade with a 35% Short Float PB#2 turned into PB#3...... A setup on entry.... as this went down I was looking for an opportunity to get in on the Short Squeeze... I waited for it to break VWAP for an entry of 1/4 size and added another 1/4.... took 50% off then another 25% at BE to reduce risk, added in yet again 1/4 but a little late and all out at BE.... the second trade was 1/2 size and a trend of the 9ema on the 2min took profit and all out on my phone as my DAS stopped working..... My R/R on the first was below VWAP and HOPM and on the second trade it was below the 20ema on the 2min and HOPM.... both of these were in excess of 2/1 ..... Room for improvement..... If I trusted myself more I would have been in .10 earlier on the first trade...... I should have took profit when it hit HOPM and my goal (I was a little preoccupied as my DAS was starting to give me problems here..... +14.35 Cons: None that I can think of now... Pros: Took the setup that was planned before the open.... Favorite Trade: AMRN Notes: Maybe start scaling up back to 1/2 size for A setups and full size for A+ setups P&L Goal $50: +14.35 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
IamKarthi 342 Posted November 12, 2019 (edited) Dumb question. Do you not have the saved DAS layout? Usually you have a copy under c:/DAStraderPRO/default.dsk (or under a diff name). Unless your folder is totally corrupted and you are reinstalling DAS, the file *.dsk should be there. I have like 30 layouts under this (created at diff times) for diff purposes. Edited November 12, 2019 by IamKarthi Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Glenn Budde 356 Posted November 13, 2019 14 hours ago, IamKarthi said: Do you not have the saved DAS layout? I do.... The file must be corrupt... when I load it, it does the same thing.... Tech Support has the file and is looking at it.... Thank you.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Glenn Budde 356 Posted November 13, 2019 (edited) 11-13-19 AIS 0810. 4hours, 6/10.... normal morning routine... I did forget to read my weekly notes till now at 1022.... PAT: Wait for setup and do not anticipate...... Go with my gut during the trade..... Notes: I am done with ORBs for the week and if I break this rule I must go back to SIM...... Be more specific on my setups..... LK Reason2Trade +Q results, surge in Rev. rises above with soaring growth.... RVOL 27.32 with a 50% short float making this a great short squeeze..... PB#2..... A setups.... terrible entries.... First one I should have not been in at all at this price, I am still hesitating too much and waiting for too much confirmation which is just a bad entry and chasing.... hit hard stop on all three.... all three were chasing .... luckily I took small size on each one..... the third trade I had a hard stop set for just under VWAP and when I looked up while trading it blasted past it and it did not trigger for some reason costing me about 40% more loss...... Every one of these trades I held on to for too long and waited for the hard stop to hit even though I knew the hard stop was coming..... Get out when I feel it..... I have to figure if I just get back to what I was doing in SIM I would be doing much better..... Room for Improvement.... Take the trades when I see them and stop waiting on too much confirm. which is just chasing.... -32.24 Walked away and worked on our other business to clear my head.... came back to my yesterday buddy... AMRN Reason2Trade: 2nd day play... RVOL 3.7 ..... PB#3..... A setup.... small size..... trending the 9ema on the 2 and 5min with ABCD on both using C as a stop and my daily level and HOPM for target... took partials on the way up... I had micro shares left and was going to lunch, so I added on and brought my stop to BE with a high target.... ended up stopped out when I got back.... +23.22 also took some DIS scalps on news for micro shares +37.50 Cons: Chasing..... Pros: respected my daily goal and daily stop Favorite Trade: AMRN Notes: Take the trades when I know I am supposed to..... Get out on my intuition and save myself money.... If I can not trade like I was in SIM I will go back by the END of the Week.... P&L Goal $50: +28.48 Edited November 13, 2019 by Glenn Budde 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Glenn Budde 356 Posted November 14, 2019 11-14-19 AIS 0825, 4 hours, 6/10.... normal morning except a little less time before open.... PAT: No chasing..... very small size again.... Notes: No chasing and no trading in the first half hour unless it slaps me in the face.... Take the trades when I know I am supposed to..... Get out on my intuition and save myself money.... I lowered my share size a couple days ago and forgot to reflect it in my Goal for the day..... It is now $8/$24 DIS Reason2Trade 2nd day play .... RVOL 6.8 at time of trade..... PB#2.... A setup..... small share size.... I barely missed the first move and almost chased it but I did not...... I waited for another opp and got it when it came back up above VWAP and Red to Green... used just under VWAP for stop and PMH for target...... Took two partials and all out at BE...... Room for improvement .... When I have a play in mind I should not let myself wander to other stocks as I have missed many moves like this.... +7.00 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Glenn Budde 356 Posted November 15, 2019 11-15-19 AIS 0815, 8 hours... 6/10..... PAT: No Chasing..... Very Small Size..... Manage Trade like it was full size.... Notes: I lowered my share size to and Stops to $8/$24 Didnt do much the last two days..... Toook a few scalps today to end the day with +12.09 Cons: Pros: Favorite Trade: None... Notes: Goal $24: +12.09 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Glenn Budde 356 Posted November 17, 2019 (edited) Week 11-11 to 11-15-19 What I did Good this Week: I respected my in-trade stop losses I respected my very low share size and partialed as I should I was more choosy when taking trades but I can be a little more in this coming week What I did Bad this Week: When I missed my entry I took the trade anyway "CHASING" I opened up my DAS even after I was done trading for the day I let myself wander to other tickers when I had a plan for the ones I was watching which caused me to miss my entries Changes to be made this Week: Even though I talked about increasing my R value at the meetup I will keep it where it is at as I did not hit my Goal for the week Do Not open up either the DAS platform or Chat after I am done for the Day, instead take this time for further review of what was done during the trading session and even log into my Playbook read and scrutinize Rules to Stick by: Respect my in-trade stop loss and Daily stop limit Take only A or A+ setups Do Not Chase Challenges for Myself: (Added at 1138, 11-18) Turn off voice chat for the first half hour as this gives me FOMO and Anxiety Goals and Rewards: If I can stick to the above rules and show a profit on this R value then I will increase it from $17 to $20 in-trade or $51 to $60 daily Edited November 18, 2019 by Glenn Budde 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Glenn Budde 356 Posted November 18, 2019 (edited) 11-18-19 AIS 0800, 4 hours, feel 6/10..... PAT: No Chasing.... Only A+ setups for ORBs...... Notes: Respect my rules of the week.... KRTX PB#1.... A+ ..... 5min ORB with ABCD.... super small share size because of the volatility... first one went against me right away so I stopped out myself just below BE and reentered when action looked better... took two 50% partials and all out at a 5/1 ..... +1R JD First short was a SIM Trade pre 5min and got stopped out, this will count for my R value today as I should not have even devoted time to this trade second trade was PB#2 and was way over extended.... an engulfing crack and stopped before VWAP with price action going against me... I flipped my position took a small partial and took another small partial at BE to reduce my risk.... added back in on a new ABCD on the 1min, took two partials and out at BE... tried one more time for a new ABCD on the 2min to get stopped out..... Total for these trades are -3R Be back in a bit after I take care of other business.... Came back and took a couple more trades on LK and YNDX..... on YNDX it went in my direction fast and I tried to partial at 3R but my montage was frozen and as fast as it went with me it went the other way.... I used a hard stop and it went against me and did not trigger taking me to a -3R trade before I was able to exit... (I had to close DAS down and reopen it....) ARGhhhhhhhhhh......... On LK I know was a bit of Revenge so I stopped myself early and I am here to Journal and will not trade anymore today as my emotions are getting the best of me and DAS is screwing up.... I checked my email to find that there is an update for the problems I am having so I will update..... -.5R Cons: Let my emotions get to me.... Over traded.... Took sub-par trades.... Pros: I tried hard to follow my in-trade stops but my DAS is screwing up..... Favorite Trade: None Notes: I will switch to SIM for the rest of the week and take a break from all this..... if by the end of the week I can not overcome the mess I am in I will stick to SIM for awhile longer....... Rs: -5.5 Rs Edited November 18, 2019 by Glenn Budde Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Glenn Budde 356 Posted November 19, 2019 11-19-19 AIS 0805, 4.5 hours, 6/10 PAT: No Emotions.... No Over trading.... no sub-par trades Notes: Today I am feeling like I need to test my DAS out and if seems to work Ill possibly take some Live Trades So PM I felt like MYOV was a strong long Reason2Trade...... Positive results for prostate cancer.... RVOL was over 10.0 PM Took an ABCD in SIM PM to see if DAS was working ok... it was and I liked my entry so much that when I closed it I went back in Live for only a couple cents more... made $40 on this trade with a $20 risk but for some reason it took me many tries to exit the trade....... The next two pre 5min were back in SIM to find out DAS was working perfectly, did I screw something up?....... the final trade was and ABCD on the 2min and trending the 9ema, I was trying to partial at .50 move and set to BE but again DAS seemed to be not working.... not even my PANIC key...... I finally got out at a .50 loss for a $1 ($60) swing because of DAS..... Im a little upset here.... +1 R I went to AMD and took a bunch of sample trades all different ways in SIM and all seems perfect..... I Reason2Trade... Downgraded this AM .... C Band costing them a Ton..... Yesterdays RVOL 18.0 and PM RVOL 6.0 PB#2..... A setup... Looking for this to go short on news and low (12%) short float..... waiting for a pull back I entered on the pull back to VWAP and a slight conformation.... stop at 9ema on 2min and target LOD.... Took two small partials at 1R as momentum slowed down.... price action and LVL2 started going my way again and my next partials were at 2R, 3R, later 5R and a super small amount back to BE.,.... +2.75 Rs Cons: Still not trusting DAS..... Pros: Took a position PM with serious positive news.... Took the position on I with a plan and executed it exactly how I wanted... Favorite Trade: I Notes: I will take trades with caution tomorrow due to the DAS bugs from today.... Rs: +3.75 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
