CanOz's intermittent and sporadic trades

Re: Scalping the DAX (SIM)

cynic said:

Now I know who was on the winning side of my losing trades this quarter!
A begrudging congratulations to you Canoz on having acquired some skill in taming that daemonic son of a bourse!

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"Some" being the key word cynic!

Re: Scalping the DAX (SIM)

CanOz said:

"Some" being the key word cynic!

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Yes! There's always plenty of fight left in that beastie!

Re: Scalping the DAX (SIM)

Great to see your hard work paying off CanOz

Re: Scalping the DAX (SIM)

Thanks 58!

Maybe if one of the mods could change the thread title I might use this thread as a bit of a journal for developing context before the session. Since I don't really scalp, it could be just trading the Dax....thanks in advance.

Re: Scalping the DAX (SIM)

Since coming back from the new year I've struggled a bit with my trading. The first week i was profitable the first 3 days but yet i was really struggling to pull the trigger. The third day i had a shocker, breached my day stop taking all the weeks work and then some off. This week I've managed to claw most of the pre-Christmas profit back but i still have not recovered last weeks profit. The day i hit my day stop i was not prepared well, i had no homework done and i was just getting back from the city....i was really trying to get four winning days in a row... I dug a small hole, but instead of stopping i kept trading, even during the lunch period If i had just not traded that day, i would have had a winning week and a boost to my confidence.

I've really got to stop focusing on the P/L and just on trading well when the order flow supports my trading style and plays.

Yesterday was a great day for fast Dax order flow. I'm still working on a pullback type play where i sell a pop back into a resistance level (or visa versa). My momentum play was there too yesterday and at times i think i was confusing the two. I was up on the day 15 points or so. But I got caught when the market was trying to flush lower, but shorts kept covering, so i exited for a loss. Then it looked like the shorts were going to get flushed and i was long 2. I was wrong and got caught for 26 points. Then i got swept (thanks TH) at 16:59 for another 12 points. At that stage i was down nearly to the day stop with one more try left. I could pack up and walk away with my tail between my legs, or keep jobbing away. The order flow was still moving very quickly and market suddenly looked heavy on the offer again and the bids were getting smashed, so in i went again. i managed two more trades, the first one got my minimum take profit and stopped out on the second. The next one i managed to get in and stay in for the first target of a few points, then the second one at 40.5 for a total of 43.5 points. I was actually back in profit and finished the day up 10 points...

Lots of reflection when i was reviewing my trades today. I need to take the trades that are hardest to take. Looking at the chart today, i can see that my levels are really solid and i need to practice entering on pull backs into these levels. Its where you can get the least heat and get on a move that is more rewarding than my other momentum plays. I have those levels marked on my Dom too, but i focus on the chart too much. The chart is good for giving clues as to who is winning and if the bias is still working, but that's it, I need to get better at the order flow on the depth.

Yesterday i tried to practice with market replay, Unfortunately NT was not cooperating, as usual.

I'm also trying to develop a play to use on the FESX, a thicker market. However, i just can't seem to focus on that order flow after being involved in the DAX order flow. So for now, I'm going to focus more on the DAX plays whilst keeping an eye on the FESX for the fade play.

Anyway, that's it for this week, +34 points. Friday is Austin's day with Dad....

Re: Scalping the DAX (SIM)

A shocking visual of the above summary to start the new year...

Re: Scalping the DAX (SIM)

CanOz said:

I need to take the trades that are hardest to take.

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That's always one of the struggles with day trading and having to make quick decisions. We're hard wired to avoid risk and rewiring your brain to think in terms of probabilities rather than the natural fight or flight response is a constant battle.

It sounds a bit odd, but one of the things I consciously do when putting on a trade is tell myself to breathe. Not a deep breath that will cause you to hyperventilate but just a conscious effort to breathe. Sounds like BS, but I found it worked for me.

Re: Scalping the DAX (SIM)

captain black said:

That's always one of the struggles with day trading and having to make quick decisions. We're hard wired to avoid risk and rewiring your brain to think in terms of probabilities rather than the natural fight or flight response is a constant battle.

It sounds a bit odd, but one of the things I consciously do when putting on a trade is tell myself to breathe. Not a deep breath that will cause you to hyperventilate but just a conscious effort to breathe. Sounds like BS, but I found it worked for me.

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Too right Captain, i try and do the same. Actually after i had nearly hit my stop, i took a few deep breaths in order to re-focus. I'm also learning to meditate, in order to gain more control over my awareness during critical 'fast thinking' periods. I have to laugh at people that say this job is adrenaline fueled....in my case its exactly that which i am trying to avoid. We need to stay as calm as possible in order to process a ton of information flooding your senses every second, adrenaline certainly makes this worse.

Will be keeping an eye on this thread from now on.

GL Can.

darkhorse70 said:

Will be keeping an eye on this thread from now on.

GL Can.

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Yeah i don't get much a of a chance to update it though. If I'm trading then I'm too busy preparing and then trading...sometimes you have time for a flippant comment here and there

This quote from TH basically describes the pullback plays i'm working on...

Have a 5 lot position and work in and almost out of it. For example the DAX looks to have made a low, jump in on a 4 lot, drop a 2 lot 10 ticks higher, then try and pick the next short term low hopefully still higher than the first low, add 2 or three, repeat. So you're picking direction from the 5 or 15 chart your working the 1 min chart.

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Re: Scalping the DAX (SIM)

CanOz said:

I'm also learning to meditate, in order to gain more control over my awareness during critical 'fast thinking' periods.

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One exercise on the sim I found that really sharpened my reaction times and focus was to set a time limit of a couple of hours and be either long or short for the entire period. I've gravitated towards "slower" markets like the Kospi and FESX so not sure how it would go on the DAX but I tried it for a couple of weeks early on and it improved my focus as well as reducing my slippage when I went back to trading my normal system.

I still do it as a bit of a warm up if I take a break from trading for a few weeks.

Re: Scalping the DAX (SIM)

captain black said:

One exercise on the sim I found that really sharpened my reaction times and focus was to set a time limit of a couple of hours and be either long or short for the entire period. I've gravitated towards "slower" markets like the Kospi and FESX so not sure how it would go on the DAX but I tried it for a couple of weeks early on and it improved my focus as well as reducing my slippage when I went back to trading my normal system.

I still do it as a bit of a warm up if I take a break from trading for a few weeks.

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Yeah i like that, I'll try that for sure.

The last few days were pivotal for me. I tried to implement my new plays this week, buying and selling pull backs to my levels. Monday was pretty brutal. I went very negative, past my daily stop. Determined to get it right however, i stopped, took a few deep breaths and pressed on. I got better at taking the trades that felt the hardest to took. I took my daily P/L from -2600 to just about -250.00 in 45 minutes. So having dug myself out of that hole, i knew that i can now execute my plays under pressure.

Today, i took a few trades in pre - cash and dug another little hole. I was down another -1800 just after the cash opened. By 5:00 pm i had just had my best day ever and my first ton day on the Dax (+1098 USD). The market has got a bit choppy now so i'll call it a day.

I did pretty much what TH had said above except i was only trading 1 lots. I think i got 2 lots on once. Other wise the market just wasn't moving far enough for me to scale in more contracts. I had a couple of momentum plays in there as well. I run two DAX Doms for this purpose because the momentum play uses the Auto Trade Manager in NT.

SO I've reached a new equity high and i feel pretty good about it, i just said to a trading buddy today before the open that i couldn't get into new equity highs...

Yesterday it took me over 50 round trips to get back almost square. Today i took only 17 RT's. I was more selective today, more patient. My average holding time has gone up as well, to over 1 minute from only 20 seconds with only my momentum play.

I've still got to refine my pullback plays a bit, so I'll spend the morning doing that....

I've also figured out a way to somewhat automate my trading levels, which is good as this was very time consuming doing it for 6 markets...

All in all, i wish it was Friday, i really feel like celebrating. Maybe a glass of Red with dinner.

Good stuff CanOz!

Congrats Can!

I nabbed a quick double ton for myself tonight too, I'll have a glass of red with ya :bier:

ThingyMajiggy said:

Congrats Can!

I nabbed a quick double ton for myself tonight too, I'll have a glass of red with ya :bier:

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Cheers Sam:alcohol:

Yeah, the biggest thing i keep thinking of is that if i hadn't had that big hole dug....but i think a little hole is helpful, sharpens me up it seems

Something is starting to work for you canoz.

Meditating on emotions is a great exercise. Well sort of great - the junk that comes out can be overwhelming at first.

It surprises me that many top tennis players have so much baggage (it spills out in interviews and big moments). Hewitt for example, when he wins a big point will look at the crowd with absolute fury and disgust as if to say "how you like me now, asrholes??". So it's definitely possible to be winner and have parts that are not integrated. Actually I wonder a lot about how such repressed parts drive the need for success. Maybe getting rid of that would make him uncompetitive - hard to know. Or would he have won 5 slams?....

I'm not very good or disciplined at my meditating yet, keep forgetting

CanOz said:

I'm not very good or disciplined at my meditating yet, keep forgetting

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Well something else is working for you.

Maybe the thought of returning to Oz? Mood and performance are massively correlated (studies on that around the place).