Mon. 2/05 +0.3%

4:30pm CST - Total gut feel on this trade at close. Moved stop too soon. Would have had +$1000 MFE 10 min. later just before the 4pm close.  We'll see how it opens and responds tomorrow. I should sit on my hands when my gut gets ideas!  Some serious money can be made on days like this though (or lost).  Still working on CL stuff - hope to resume trading soon.

RESULTS FOR DAY
YM Contracts:	1
Net $P/L:	52
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	52
Avg$Loss:	0

January Trading Summary +7.1%

RESULTS FOR JANUARY
CL Contracts:	25
Net $P/L:	1081
Wins:	14
Losses:	3
Win%:	82
$Commissions:	99
Avg$Win:	110
Avg$Loss:	-153

Wed. 1/31 +0.8%

2:00pm CST - Still testing my current method but nice to have a nice win streak to start out for a change (after 8 days). I know better than to think I've finally found what will work for me but I'm cautiously optimistic. Then again, that's my normal default state of being!  I will have some $500+ losses at some point due to the nature of averaging in but the winners should offset those.  They won't however if I trade like I did today.  1st trade I just needed to hold 1 more minute and I likely would have quit for day.  And then the last trade I lost all patience and just bailed.  May take a day or two off to work on some stuff, we'll see...

RESULTS FOR DAY
CL Contracts:	5
Net $P/L:	130
Wins:	2
Losses:	1
Win%:	67
Avg$Win:	94
Avg$Loss:	58

Tues. 1/30 +0.7%

2:05pm CST -

RESULTS FOR DAY
CL Contracts:	3
Net $P/L:	108
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	54
Avg$Loss:	0

Mon. 1/29 +1.3%

1:10pm CST -

RESULTS FOR DAY
CL Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	212
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	106
Avg$Loss:	0

Fri. 1/26 +1.4%

12:50pm CST - For the week net +$631.

RESULTS FOR DAY
CL Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	222
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	111
Avg$Loss:	0

Thurs. 1/25 -1.2%

2:30pm CST - Tough day but limited the damage. Too many reversal signals.

RESULTS FOR DAY
CL Contracts:	7
Net $P/L:	-188
Wins:	2
Losses:	2
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	106
Avg$Loss:	-200

Wed. 1/24 +1.4%

2:00pm CST -

RESULTS FOR DAY
CL Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	212
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	106
Avg$Loss:	0

Tues. 1/23 +1.7%

2:20pm CST -

RESULTS FOR DAY
CL Contracts:	3
Net $P/L:	258
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	258
Avg$Loss:	0

Mon. 1/22 +0.8%

12:40pm CST - Back in the saddle, testing, for now...

RESULTS FOR DAY
CL Contracts:	1
Net $P/L:	126
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	126
Avg$Loss:	0

2017 Trade Analysis

I ended the year down -$3,787 or -20%.

Here's the data:

Happy New Year to all! May we all kick ass in 2018!

Quarter 4 2017 Trading Summary -7.6%

December Trading Summary +0.0%

RESULTS FOR DECEMBER
CL Contracts:	1
Net $P/L:	5
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
$Commissions:	5
Avg$Win:	5
Avg$Loss:	0

Wed. 12/20 +0.0%

1:45pm CST - Had to make a quick trade in 1 of my 2 accounts that hadn't been traded since Sept. to avoid the new $15 inactivity fee Gain Capital is now imposing! Good thing I got a tick instead of losing more than $15!  Happy Holidays to all!

November Trading Summary -2.6%

RESULTS FOR NOVEMBER
CL Contracts:	14
Net $P/L:	-405
Wins:	2
Losses:	12
Win%:	14
$Commissions:	55
Avg$Win:	216
Avg$Loss:	-70

Mon.-Thurs. 11/27-11/30 -2.6%

4:30pm CDT - Test traded a new method this week. Systematic entries, discretionary exits. A bit up and down as usual. Mon. -$300, Tues. +$206, Wed. +$108, Thurs. -$420. For the stats see the monthly summary in next post as I only traded these 4 days this month.  Back at it soon hopefully.

Revist

3:30pm CDT - Should be obvious to all but I've been in a rut.  Ya think?!  I haven't made many live trades of late and spend most of my time, when I'm at my desk, looking at charts with infinite combinations of settings, indicators, and such.  It takes time to find a needle in a haystack, or so I tell myself.  My expectations have certainly become inversely proportional to the time/years I've spent in this endeavor.  Every time I think of a new trading idea, scroll through charts, and record some results in Excel I run into unacceptable results.  I like to do this first before deciding to invest the time to "code" the strat but I honestly haven't coded much of anything this year besides a handful of indicators.

I need to get out of my routine. A start at that was today where I decided to revisit some past strategies I have coded.  I randomly picked a few and guessed at some settings and what instruments to run them on.  The third one in (coded 4.5 years ago), using NQ, produced the below.  Sure it's only 2 ticks gross profit per trade average but that's just with my "guesses" at settings.  Maybe there's something here?  Or somewhere else in my archives, with my lowered expectations...

October Trading Summary -5.1%

RESULTS FOR OCTOBER
CL Contracts:	6
Net $P/L:	-834
Wins:	0
Losses:	5
Win%:	0
$Commissions:	24
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-167

Mon. 10/30 -2.4%

2:50pm CDT -

RESULTS FOR DAY
CL Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	-378
Wins:	0
Losses:	1
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-378

Wed. 10/18 -2.8%

12:55pm CDT - First trades this month, testing a new method. It didn't go so well. You learn so much more in 1 day trading a system live than you do in weeks of backtesting. Neither can be excluded imho.

RESULTS FOR DAY
CL Contracts:	4
Net $P/L:	-456
Wins:	0
Losses:	4
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-114

Quarter 3 2017 Trading Results

September Trading Summary -2.6%

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ES +$39(4), CL -$160(5), 6E -$318(9)

RESULTS FOR SEPTEMBER
Contracts:	18
Net $P/L:	-439
Wins:	5
Losses:	12
Win%:	29
$Commissions:	67
Avg$Win:	211
Avg$Loss:	-125

Wed. 9/27 -1.8%

1:50pm CDT -

RESULTS FOR DAY
ES Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	-293
Wins:	0
Losses:	1
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-293

Tues. 9/26 +1.0%

10:40am CDT -

RESULTS FOR DAY
ES Contracts:	1
Net $P/L:	160
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	160
Avg$Loss:	0

Mon. 9/25 +1.1%

10:35am CDT - System testing.  Good first trade!

RESULTS FOR DAY
ES Contracts:	1
Net $P/L:	172
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	172
Avg$Loss:	0

Backtesting

I'm still here. No posts lately 'cause no live trades.  I was optimistic about my latest method (below) but then I backtested even further back in time and became less so.  This is the norm it seems with nearly every idea I think up.  Perhaps I expect too much?  I just want a smooth-ish equity curve without major drawdowns. It can be easy to get fooled by randomness. The quest continues...

Previous ~6 months (I had only manually backtested 4 months which looked great).  And before anyone asks, this method is not easily programmable so these results are from manually going back in the charts and recording in Excel trade results. 

Thurs. 9/07 -1.9%

1:45pm CDT - Well I knew it was risky to hold into CL inventory report and turns out my stop WAS too tight. 

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
CL -$198(2), 6E -$117(1)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	3
Net $P/L:	-314
Wins:	0
Losses:	3
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-105

Wed. 9/06 -2.1%

1:20pm CDT - Kicked right between the legs.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
CL -$174(1), 6E -$189(2)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	3
Net $P/L:	-363
Wins:	0
Losses:	3
Win%:	0
Avg$Win:	0
Avg$Loss:	-121

Tues. 9/05 +0.7%

1:30pm CDT - CL saved the day from Euro chop.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
CL +$306(1), 6E -$189(2)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	3
Net $P/L:	117
Wins:	1
Losses:	2
Win%:	33
Avg$Win:	306
Avg$Loss:	-95

Fri. 9/01 +0.5%

1:50pm CDT - Tough day at the office. Quit while I'm green.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
CL -$94(1), 6E +$177(4)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	5
Net $P/L:	83
Wins:	2
Losses:	3
Win%:	40
Avg$Win:	208
Avg$Loss:	-111