| RESULTS FOR DAY | |
|---|---|
| Contracts: | 44 |
| Net $P/L: | -1852 |
| Wins: | 3 |
| Losses: | 7 |
| Win%: | 30 |
| Avg$Win: | 108 |
| Avg$Loss: | -311 |
3 hours ago
Friday, May 1, 2009
Friday Blues
1:45pm CDT - I typically have problems after a down day and today was no exception. I'm stopping early due partly to tripping my circuit breaker and partly due to getting pissed at this market action and breaking my rules. Trading pissed is never smart. I plan to do some number crunching this weekend and reset/refine rules that were working well most of last month. Good weekend to all. Go Bulls!
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Bad days are part of the game, or at least that's what I'm told. Looking over your results for the past week, your avg win/avg loss ratio was kind of a concern. I used to focus heavily on win-rate; trying to shoot for 80-90% winners, and my avg-win/avg-loss ratio looked similar to yours (bigger losing trades). I turned that around a couple of months ago, and began focusing on taking setups that offered at least a 1:2 risk reward, and that's the only reason I can be net positive on days when my win rate is as low as 30%.
ReplyDeleteEveryone trades differently so I'm not saying you should change your method since there really is no right/wrong way to trade. But just wanted to share my personal experience. I wrote a little bit about it here: http://eminiplayer.blogspot.com/2009/02/monday-020909-rr-is-holy-grail.html
Hi MGH,
ReplyDeleteSorry about what happened. I've been there - many times this year - having net gains for days in a row, only to have all winnings wiped out on a bad day. Back then, I didn't use a hard stop at all, so I had no protection when I froze. Now, I use a loose stop, and a daily loss limit. Once I've hit either one, I stop trading. My daily loss limit is actually lower than my stop. My loss limit is usually hit on days I lost more than I won. For someone aiming for a high winning rate, that would be a valid sign that I wasn't reading the market so well that day and the best thing to do would be to call it a day.
I'm not going to console you - it won't help, I know. I just want to share my experience, so you know you're not alone.
E-Mini and Jules - thanks for the feedback. You're right that focus can not be on win rate - it's on net P/L for me. But the other stats are useful to look at I think. Jules, I've never liked having a daily loss limit but there are times when it could have saved me some coin. But I would have missed out on the times I was way down only to come back and close above water! Seems like if you do have a loss circuit breaker, you also have to have a target to stop trading if you reach a daily profit...
ReplyDeleteI have a down-side loss-limit but no upside profit target. I want the loss-limit to keep me from getting in too much trouble, but don't want to cap my gains when I'm in sync with the market.
ReplyDeleteYes, I do have a daily profit target, MGH. You should be able to tell how much I'm going for each day :-) I adjust the figure from time to time.
ReplyDeleteE-Mini, I guess if you can insure you STAY in sync the whole day that works. My luck if I took that approach, would be that I would finish off my highs (or whatever my daily profit target might be) and miss the chance to lock max profits in. If you lock in losses and quit trading, it seems you need to do same on the profit side to balance things out. Just my 2cents... Whatever works for you.
ReplyDeleteJules, enjoy the time away from blogging!