Making Money Trading

[Devilicus]

Good stuff TD.
Where are you working now if you dont mind me asking?
I saw a post from you a while ago saying that you were starting your new job but I dont follow the thread enough to know about any previous post regarding the discussion..

Good luck

 

[RichieE]

My first trade as a professional albeit on paper.

Short Soyabeans based on the daily pin bar high, the failure of the right eye to hold above the high of the left and a subsequent breakdown of hourly support.

Sold it on the open and closed when it came into my first target pivot area near 1250.

Made 106 ticks or $1,325 per contract* in the first half hour of pit trading!

* that doesn't take into account possible slippage and doesn't include spread or commissions either

Congratulations! Quick question for you... are you going to be trading outrights only or are you going to play with spreads too?

P.S. Shame you couldn't make the meeting on Tuesday. Would have been great to catch up...

 

[shadowninja]

Eur/usd 4h

Pin; entry still possible.

Has also touched 50% fib from 20th Dec and heading back up, so could be a goodun.

 

[trader_dante]

Congratulations! Quick question for you... are you going to be trading outrights only or are you going to play with spreads too?

P.S. Shame you couldn't make the meeting on Tuesday. Would have been great to catch up...

Hi Ritchie,

I'll be trading outrights only...

 

[1Pipped]

USDJPY chart attached. I spotted a bit of divergance on RSI and I missed entry by 12 pips so put trade in on demo only.

 

[shadowninja]

Pin; entry still possible.

Has also touched 50% fib from 20th Dec and heading back up, so could be a goodun.

Since it retraced back to 14600, and bounce back up, I decided to open a second position.

 

[noworries]

USDJPY chart attached. I spotted a bit of divergance on RSI and I missed entry by 12 pips so put trade in on demo only.

Hi 1Pipped,
If you missed the entry by 12pips surely it is still worth going for if you confident in your setup? If you target is large then 12 pips here and there is not much really is it?

 

[1Pipped]

Heres an updated chart of the USDJPY 4hr trade, turned around right on the first area I had noted.

Hi noworries, if the trade had caught 100 pips then the 12 pips (doesnt sound like much) would be 12% (sounds like a fair bit). I wouldnt trade USDJPY with a 12 pip spread for the same reason. That was my thought process at the time.

I suppose if you were to take all trades you missed by a bit though, some would be 12 pips better off as well, and offset the 12 pip worse ones in the long run... but also, if there is a higher probability that my signal is right (and I think there is or why bother trying to trade it), then Ide usually be taking trades I missed at worse prices and this would maybe kill (certainly affect) profits in the long run... Better to just get the right price, or forget the trade instead of worrying - for me anyway.

 

[trader_dante]

Just want to say a huge thank you to everyone that voted me for in the T2W awards.

I feel like this thread is slowly drifting towards its end now but at least the slower rate of growth should help those of you that got left behind.

I still intend to release a word document (or pdf) that collects the lessons from this thread but I've had a lot on with the new job and also filing my self assessment for the tax year which I left right to the last minute, so I am not going to commit to a time for this.

I am also contemplating writing a journal of my time as a professional but I would like to get permission before I do it.

If you are interested in being updated on this idea (if, when and whereabouts it might appear) then send me a pm. You can just put the subject line "journal" if you like and I will then get back to you as the idea develops.

Tom

 

[trader_dante]

One disadvantage of trading 1hr TFs in a prop firm is you need almost inhuman discipline and patience to stay out of the market when you are surrounded by scalpers - particularly good ones.

The 18 year old boy next to me ("Pelzar" who appeared a few posts back) is absolutely caning the market.

Until the sims are up we've been supplied with sheets that have sections with headings such as "time", "entry", "reason" and so on.

Whilst I've been filling in my "reason" box with clear and reasoned analysis - "pin bar at swing high on daily, right eye resistance holds eod, hourly support breaks", his first trade of the day reads "thought it opened too high".

What is perhaps more infuriating than this is that it's 9.41am and he is up 47 ticks on 9 round trips while I've read an article on poker and eaten half a chocolate muffin.

 

[shadowninja]

Fascinating stuff to hear how things go on on the other side.

Beginner's luck, maybe? Or he has a feel for the market in the genius sense of the word. What indicators does he use?

 

[firewalker99]

What is perhaps more infuriating than this is that it's 9.41am and he is up 47 ticks on 9 round trips while I've read an article on poker and eaten half a chocolate muffin.

Perhaps he feels it's infuriating that you are reading an article about poker and eating a chocolate muffin while he is doing all the "work".

 

[trader_dante]

Fascinating stuff to hear how things go on on the other side.

Beginner's luck, maybe? Or he has a feel for the market in the genius sense of the word. What indicators does he use?

Not a single indicator. 5m TF only, candlestick charting and NOTHING else.

Day one and two he was onside so often I lost count of what he was making.

I asked him why he was taking a trade and he replies with a smile and the words "gut instinct".

Infact he seemed interested in the horizontal lines that I was placing on my charts and I then had to show him how I draw support/resistance lines. Later on I saw him browsing through a book on technical analysis.

We're both long indices right now. I point to my Dax chart and tell him the morning gap has been filled resulting in a one hour pin bar at an s/r pivot and the 61 fib from the last hourly swing low to high.

I glance at his reasoning sheet and see: "expect option expiry squeeze".

 

[firewalker99]

Not a single indicator. 5m TF only, candlestick charting and NOTHING else.

Day one and two he was onside so often I lost count of what he was making.

I asked him why he was taking a trade and he replies with a smile and the words "gut instinct".

Be interesting to see how far gut instinct takes one. Keep us up to date

Btw, t_d, just being curious, how many hours do you have to "trade" each day? Do you have to be in at 9am or can you for instance come to work at 4pm and stay there till 11pm?

 

[trader_dante]

Be interesting to see how far gut instinct takes one. Keep us up to date

Btw, t_d, just being curious, how many hours do you have to "trade" each day? Do you have to be in at 9am or can you for instance come to work at 4pm and stay there till 11pm?

While we're in training, which essentially means looking at and trading different markets to find what we want to trade, we get in at around 7am and most start to leave around 5pm.

However there are no strict guidelines and traders come and go on their own time.

Once you have chosen a market to concentrate on then you will probably stick to its open and closing hours plus time to prepare for the open and perhaps analyse the session after the close.

For example if you were trading the agriculturals you could conceivably get in at 3pm and leave at 8pm (which gives you 30m pre and post pit trading)

 

[timsk]

t_d,
Don't be put off by these young(er) whippersnappers. It sounds as if your new colleague is trading what he thinks and not what he sees. He's trying to predict the market as opposed to responding to it. This will always get him in before you and, when he's right, he'll make larger and faster profits. However, it's MUCH riskier and when his luck runs out - as it surely will - his losses could be substantial. Stick to your guns, I say and remember Aesop's fable 'The Tortoise and the Hare'. You'll be churning out consistent profits long after your young friend has burnt out and blown up.
Tim.

 

[pelzar]

What's luck got to do with anything?

 

[RichieE]

The 18 year old boy next to me ("Pelzar" who appeared a few posts back) is absolutely caning the market.

What is perhaps more infuriating than this is that it's 9.41am and he is up 47 ticks on 9 round trips while I've read an article on poker and eaten half a chocolate muffin.

Pelzer, what the hell are you trading to get an average of over 5 ticks per round trip? I trade oil and it's impossible to do that in the calendar spreads and absolutely suicide in the outrights...

 

[RichieE]

The 18 year old boy next to me ("Pelzar" who appeared a few posts back) is absolutely caning the market.

What is perhaps more infuriating than this is that it's 9.41am and he is up 47 ticks on 9 round trips while I've read an article on poker and eaten half a chocolate muffin.

Pelzer, what the hell are you trading to get an average of over 5 ticks per round trip? (Especially by 09h41 in the morning). I trade oil and it's impossible to do that in a fly, difficult in the calendar spreads and absolutely suicidal in the outrights...

 

[pelzar]

Hello mate, I trade FTSE and BUND!!