My trading - how I trade for a living

[tech/a]

I don't see any opinions.

I'm interested in your management.
I can see that you've widened the initial stops on some trades,
That is odd?
Still will see what the weekend brings.

Market profile should be interesting --- a topic I am well versed in!
What software are you using for M/P ---- or do you hand plot the distribution?

 

[rmt]

Here is the update for the 13th of Dec.

 

[rmt]

I can see that you've widened the initial stops on some trades,
That is odd?

No which one? That would be a mistake. I am using agena trader for my managing. And my broker is IB.

Like I said I try to do my best but please do not be impatient.

 

[prawn_86]

I'm still failing to see a point for this thread. An excel file which can be manipulated, not a single chart posted, and no explanation of trading methodology.

I'm just waiting for the link...

 

[bailx]

Here is the update for the 13th of Dec.

prawn_86

I'm still failing to see a point for this thread. An excel file which can be manipulated, not a single chart posted, and no explanation of trading methodology.

I don't mean to have a go at you rmt As does any else I'm sure? But your really cutting it fine on methodology or system if you like. Since all you are offering is excel spreads. I had a review and noticed that your open positions haven't changed a bit since you opened them. Now don't you think that, odd. I mean don't you think a successful guy like you, would open a position to trade and make money. Not to stair at in the mirror all day and dream. Please Explain!?*$@&% We already know how to do that!

Nothing worse than being on a thread that has no answer or educational dialogue.
Are you sure Agena Trading, aren't doing the work for you. they look all very good quite professional. but problem is they can't speak a word of English much like yourself. rmt. :frown:

Sorry Big fella, But please don't lie and show a bit of b**** & Cuts.

 

[rmt]

I am posting the excel file and you can check it every day. There is no manipulation.

No Agena trader is doing a lot of work for me but I programmed it the way I wanted. It is a great tool and you will hear about it a lot the coming years.

My trading is most of the time like that. I have some long positions some short position. Buy strength and sell weakness, most of them will have a small gain or a small loss. SOme will have a bigger loss but not a single position will have a huge loss.

But some positions will have some hugh gains and that is how I make money. For example ZC is working pretty nice, but unfortunately I dont know stuff like that in advance. I had a good setup I took the trade and than I only can manage the trade.

Look I just want to post my trading for some time and than I want to talk about it. I perceive you as bulling me and as you are great traders. So why do you want to learn from me. You are not really polite and it doesnt seem to me that you are really interest exchanging ideas. I am sorry that english is not my native language I try my best.

If you want pm with your email or fake email and I will email you the excel sheet before the us opening . All my posts with the list are before us opening.

 

[CanOz]

RMT, perhaps the blog facility is the best for this?

CanOz

 

[rmt]

update for the 14th Dec

 

[peter2]

Seems you're buying break-outs/break-downs using stop orders. Your initial stop loss is miles away so they can't be used for an effective position sizing model. I assume they are only disaster exits and you hope that they never get hit. Your trade management seems aggressive as you trail an exit stop very close. This sees you making many small wins and small losses as your stop distance is well within 1ATR. However if you get lucky and price moves in your direction for several days you will get the occasional larger win. Your overall profitability will depend on these occasional larger wins as your W% will be < 50%.

If it's your intent to provide any educational content then you should explain briefly how you select your stocks, how you manage your exits and how you manage your money. Some past trade statistics would also be good.

You can be profitable doing what I've described but this would depend on your consistency. It's very hard for most people to remain patient while seeing small wins and small losses accumulate. It's hard for people to persevere when they become frustrated by lack of progress. Most people don't apply the discipline required to stick with their plans.

It's far too early for us to assess your competency in these aspects, hence our skepticism.

-------------

I do see evidence of inconsistency in your trade management.
IPGP: Has not moved higher after your entry. If price drops to your exit stop this loss will be much larger than your occasional larger wins. It would have been better to close this trade earlier for a small +/- once price didn't go higher immediately.

 

[rmt]

Hello Peter,

many thanks for your post. My risk and money management is my key to success. Exactly the first stop is a disaster stop in the end it is all about preserving capital. I think I should enter another column because I have different risk with different trades.

Like I said I test the market but when one trade works for me I will add to the position. If you see my trading for a longer time you will see that I have some big winners and they are in charge for my performance.

I will try to further improve my excel sheet. It is the first time I am sharing my trading therefore the presentation is not perfect. I really need some time and if members rush me it will not help. If members do not like it they should not read the thread. Hopefully it is useful for some members to see my kind of trading and to see that you will have quiet some loosing trades but you still can make decent money with it

My hit rate is 62% on average over the last 10 years.

 

[rmt]

Ok today I want to talk a little bit more about my trading, so that it will be easier to understand for you.

First of all I am trading for a living for 10 years now and for me capital preservation is the most important factor. Without capital I cannot trade and I cannot make money.

That is the reason why I am talking about my Risk- and Money management today. I will talk about my entries later, because they are far less important than my Risk and Money management.

During the last 10 years my hit rates is on average 62% of course it is higher or lower from time to time.

Due to the fact that I don’t have any magic indicator and that I cannot predict the markets I do not know which trade will work out for me and which one won’t. That is the reason I am entering most of the time with ¾ or ½ of the risk my first position.

For example HP my Buy Stop Limit was 53.10 USD and my initial stop was 48.80 USD. Let’s assume we have a 250 K account and we want to risk 1.5% per trade. This means 1 risk unit for me is 1.5% for another trader 1 risk unit could be 2% etc.

Unfortunately I forgot to post this column so far that is the reason why I improved the excel sheet with this column. For HP my risk unit was ¾ instead of 1 because most of the times I want to test the market first.

Remember my goal is capital preservation that is the reason I am acting very cautious.

No let us do the math:

1.5% of 250 K = 3750 USD = 1 Risk Unit
No let’s check out the HP trade where I only used ¾ of 1 Risk Unit.
¾ Risk Unit = 2812.50 USD that is the amount I am willing to lose with the HP trade.

Now let’s calculate how many shares we can buy.

Entry: 53.10 USD; Stop: 48.80 USD; Risk 4.30 USD

This means I can buy (2812.50 USD / 4.30 USD) shares (654)

IMPORTANT: Do not forget to calculate the transaction fees, because they will add up over one year. I always calculate 1 cent per share, but if you compare brokers you can find flat rate deals with 9.99 USD for 5000 shares. It always depends on your Portfolio size. Always try to find the best deal, because it is hard enough to make money in the markets but it is much easier to save some money to boost the performance. Just do some calculations what amount of money you can save over 10 years.

I will try to do more and more explanations about my trading. If you have any questions please ask me I will try to answer your questions.

 

[howmanyru]

Well, weird thread but I might join in anyways. I want to trade for a living, but have not been sucessful so far. My new approach is to follow very closley only a couple of stocks and get to know them intimately. I feel you can reasonably get to know the way a stock moves if you spend a LOT of time observing it. You don't need many stocks for trading, if you can trade one well it's all you need. So I am trading only AUT for now because I feel I know this stock very well. My plan is to take small profits often where as I used to hold for months to try and make more profit. This approach has mostly only frustrated me as the SP wandered up and down, up and down. My last trade on AUT saw a $730 profit in 5 days, in at $3.41 and out at $3.61. I was tempted to hold for more but will see how this shorter term approach goes. Been trying for 7 years to turn pro, maybe i should give up ? Nah, It's a whole lotta fun.

 

[Julia]

You don't need many stocks for trading, if you can trade one well it's all you need.

Really? All you need to achieve what exactly?

 

[rmt]

Ok now I will explain a little bit more of my trading. I think the best way would be a webinar, so if there is any interested please tell me. (Post, PM me).

If there is enough interest maybe we can do that in the future.

The first picture is a screen shot of DAN. This is how one of my screen looks like. I always have a monthly, weekly and daily chart on it. Of course my screener is doing the work for me to find setups like that.

I can see a positive trend on the monthly and weekly chart and the trend continuous on the daily chart. I want to trade the break out and I will place a stop below the low. That is the reason why it was below 12.60 USD

Why I use buy stop limits

DDD is a very good example why I use buy stop limits. It opened with a gap and came back. I got filled and after that it went up again. Of course it will not work always like that but I will not chase a trade. There are so many opportunities so that it makes no sense to chase any trade

HP that is how a trade should look like

HP is a very good example to see my trading tactics. The break out occurs and the trade immediately kicks off. But a couple of days later we have a negative candle with high volume. This is a warning and I adjust my stop, because I don’t want to risk my gains. So I put the stop below the candle.

Corn

I like commodities because they have nice moves. You can see red candle in the chart this are moving days which my software marks for me. There was a mowing day and after the moving day we had sideway action. I wanted so short if the market breaks out of the sideway action. Furthermore the COT data and Weather made me bearish.
Corn so far was my best trade since I am posting my trades here.

 

[daveM]

Thanks for documenting your technique, your ideas will probably help many others.

 

[Trembling Hand]

I want to trade for a living, but have not been sucessful so far. My new approach is to ..
..
..
last trade on AUT saw a $730 profit in 5 days, in at $3.41 and out at $3.61. I was tempted to hold for more but will see how this shorter term approach goes.
..
..
Been trying for 7 years to turn pro, maybe i should give up ?

Be surprised if you get there with that approach. Forward testing with real money a strategy you have no idea if it works.

There is also a HUGE risk in concentrating on just 1 stock. They very often change character and just go to sleep for years. So the chances are you could have a year of making money, decide to step it up and run right into a change in the way AUT move. End up just wasting more time.

Most pros I know who concentrate on one instrument do it with futs or fx. Seems like a crazy business decision to do that with 1 stock.

 

[tinhat]

Hi rmt. Thanks for posting the charts. what do you mean by "moving days"?

 

[tech/a]

Fixed fractional position sizing.
Without a return of over 1.2 R
at 62% success rate your not going to turn a profit.
Then there is brokerage.

If you have the 62% figure you should have all the other figures I
enquired about earlier.

Do you know your win/loss rate?
Do you know your average win to average loss?
Do you know your longest run of losers to winners?
Do you know how many winners it takes to knock out your average draw down?
Do you know your initial Draw down value?
Do you know your peak to valley Draw down?
What is your average position size and how do you determine that?
What is your average % return year in year out over the last 10 years?

Put up a view on this over here.

There is also a HUGE risk in concentrating on just 1 stock. They very often change character and just go to sleep for years. So the chances are you could have a year of making money, decide to step it up and run right into a change in the way AUT move. End up just wasting more time.

Most pros I know who concentrate on one instrument do it with futs or fx. Seems like a crazy business decision to do that with 1 stock.

https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25764&page=3&p=741898#post741898

 

[bailx]

' Can we play Cowboy's and Indian's Now? ::1zhelp: MA's

 

[rmt]

@ tech/a

I will have a look to find the figures, but like I said i am doing for 10 years and I know it works.

Please read with more attention. Without a return of over 1.2 R

My trading starts with a test position and some positions will work out and I will add up. These are the positions which makes huge R multiples but of course I dont have them every day.

Do you trade for a living? Please tell me a little bit more I am curious.

I am calculating with brokerage fees I exactly know how important it is.