I think the worst part of a losing day like yesterday is the anticipation of having to wait so long to get back in the market to get a fresh start. Come to think of it, weekends are kinda the same way for me now.
It’s ironic that when I was working a construction job that I hated, I couldn’t wait for the weekend, and when it came, in the back of my mind I was always dreading the fact that it would be over so quickly.
Now, when we are done day trading on a Friday, I’m bummed out that the week is over so quickly, and I have to wait through a weekend before getting into the market again.
Definitely not bummed about not having to get up at 4:30am for the 6E is a nice weekend perk.
I started in the 6E at 5am today (see video here), hesitating a little too long on the first trade and not getting filled. There was a time at which this would have been a devastating lost opportunity, since the 6E doesn’t provide quite as many good opportunities per session as the ES.
Sorry for the blurry chart see video below (Day Trading 6E EURUSD)
In fact, if I were obligated to trade strictly according to “the rules,” in this session I would have either made no trades at all, or felt “forced” to take a valid trade that I wasn’t quite comfortable with toward the end.
Having begun to get a better understanding of momentum, however, I was able to make 3 trades, and finish this session with my goal of 10-ticks.
Not a huge amount, but in the 6E, so far my testing has indicated that it’s best to lock in profits at a certain amount, rather than depending on the market to continue moving nicely.
It’s better to call it a day with a profit rather than be greedy and not have a good day at all.
An interesting turn of events happened in this session as well: I checked my email at one point while the market was being “boring,” and a suggestion from Marcello Arrambide was in my Inbox.
He wanted me to start recording my live trading in video captures so I could improve even more and so we share them on The Day Trading Academy website, so I started right away. (About 30 minutes into my session.)
I also recorded my trading session in the ES later on (see below), which will also be available.
Funnily, I didn’t realize that our video-capture software recorded audio from the internal PC as well as from my headset microphone, so if you watch this video I hope you’re a David Bowie fan. I was listening to his new album on Itunes while trading the ES, and there’s no way to get that out of the video. 🙂
Luckily we were able to spare you the David Bowie album and replace it with Brazilian Jazz. You would understand if you saw what Marcello & Brice’s life was like in Brazil.
Personally, I never start out expecting to trade for longer than necessary on a Friday.
I haven’t officially “backtested” the results, but I’ve noticed a tendency for Fridays to have decent opportunities for a while, and then just when I think things are REALLY taking off, all the other traders just stop for the weekend.
I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ve read that most traders prefer not to trade 5 days a week, and many who are trading on Friday are doing so simply to recover some losses, or to get the extra point or two they need to reach a weekly goal. This would seem to make sense, but I digress…
I had some plain-old bad luck at first, with a seemingly great trade to the downside that hit my 5-tick stop PRECISLY, and then resumed the original momentum.
Based on this activity, I re-entered with a pro-trade that lost an additional 3-ticks.
Having determined that the momentum had shifted (for now,) I took a quick scalp to regain a couple ticks, and sat tight waiting for a 9:55 news-spike to die down. This boost from the news was just what the doctor ordered, allowing me to take another 2 points, and finish the session with a positive.
Did I leave more money on the table with some other trades? Probably. I don’t know.
I shut Ninjatrader down, because why would I keep trading longer than I am comfortable with, on a Friday, after I was able to recover my losses and holding a total profit of 3 points for the day? Not my personality.
So now I’ll just suck it up, and wait for the drudgery that is “the weekend” to be over so I can get back to the fun stuff on Moday. 🙂
-Jonathan
Disclaimer: Video is over 20 minutes
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Hey jonathan. I dont know if its me but there isnt any sound.
Would love to here your trading.
Marina we know about the sound.. thanks for the heads up