January Trading Summary

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$670(22), NQ -$3781(362)

RESULTS FOR JANUARY
Contracts:	384
Net $P/L:	-4450
Wins:	30
Losses:	51
Win%:	37
$Commissions:	1075
Avg$Win:	225
Avg$Loss:	-220

Fri. 1/31 - The Final Day

1:20pm CST - Okay, as alluded to yesterday, I'm changing plans. At start of this year I was still determined to give discretionary trading more time. But after this month, I am concluding once and for all, I'm done with discretion. Today was the final day! Reasons why I haven't been successful with discretionary trading are many and I'm not going into them all here.

Going forward, I will be mechanically trading any number of systems I come up with that I think have merit. I've been working on an emini system which I hope to trade soon but right now I just have my 6E system which had exactly one trade so far this year and I wasn't around the day that signaled.

It's funny, to me anyways, how much unsolicited advice an anonymous blogger can get. It seems to come in waves, particularly during drawdowns. I know I open myself up to this with my results transparency and allowing anonymous comments.  I do read everything even if I choose not to respond.

Regarding daily blogging, it is time for an experimental change, perhaps just for a month. Starting in Feb., I'm going to post once a week, assuming I traded that week. And anonymous comments are going away. Mostly because of the increased spam I am getting that nobody ever sees but blogger sees fit to email me. Registered commenters, as always, are more than welcome. Or you can email me.

RESULTS FOR DAY
NQ Contracts:	30
Net $P/L:	-1479
Wins:	1
Losses:	5
Win%:	17
Avg$Win:	12
Avg$Loss:	-298

Thurs. 1/30

3:50pm CST - My two ZS shorts had potential but stopped out again. Change in plan coming soon! Nice Amazon move after regular close. Too bad we can't know the results of earnings releases just a minute early?

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$433(6), NQ -$47(50)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	56
Net $P/L:	-480
Wins:	5
Losses:	8
Win%:	38
Avg$Win:	254
Avg$Loss:	-219

Wed. 1/29

3:25pm CST - FOMC Day helped get me back to even but I continued trading and paid for it especially with some trades outside of my plan. Lesson learned.... Again.

RESULTS FOR DAY
NQ Contracts:	65
Net $P/L:	-1737
Wins:	1
Losses:	11
Win%:	8
Avg$Win:	1112
Avg$Loss:	-259

Tues. 1/28

1:40pm CST - Yesterday repeated, but instead of taking 3:35 minutes it took 7:18 instead.  I decided to delete the "R:R" at the end of my daily table.  I will likely just add this in on the monthly summaries instead as it's too meaningless to look at daily.  Plus it's easy enough to just divide Avg$Win by Avg$Loss to get the ratio.

RESULTS FOR DAY
NQ Contracts:	5
Net $P/L:	512
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	512
Avg$Loss:	0

Mon. 1/27

4:05pm CST -

RESULTS FOR DAY
NQ Contracts:	5
Net $P/L:	512
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	512
Avg$Loss:	0
R/R:	n/a

Fri. 1/24

1:50pm CST - Not sure if I should laugh or cry this week but I guess progress was made in my discretionary method as I made $329 net on the short week and had potential for so much more if I had been more patient with my trade management the past 3 days. More homework for the weekend to backtest the never ending flood of ideas I have to tweak things. I know, I know! You don't have to tell me the dangers and pitfalls of constant tweaking but it's in my nature.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $14(2), NQ $10(15)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	17
Net $P/L:	25
Wins:	2
Losses:	2
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	350
Avg$Loss:	-338
R/R:	1.0

Thurs. 1/23

3:05pm CST - Perfect discipline today at taking trades but in hindsight, piss poor trade management. Again, trailing stops to soon cost me dearly. 

RESULTS FOR DAY
NQ Contracts:	10
Net $P/L:	24
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	12
Avg$Loss:	0
R/R:	n/a

Wed. 1/22

2:25pm CST - Was almost a really nice day if not for my trailed stop being hit on first trade.

RESULTS FOR DAY
NQ Contracts:	10
Net $P/L:	299
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	149
Avg$Loss:	0
R/R:	n/a

Tues. 1/21

3:15pm CST - Retooled things a bit over weekend and added some filters to reduce overtrading.  Scratch day today.  Stats are a bit misleading today which isn't that unusual really.  2 of the 3 wins were BE for a tick and the other was $500. 

RESULTS FOR DAY
NQ Contracts:	35
Net $P/L:	-17
Wins:	3
Losses:	3
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	174
Avg$Loss:	-180
R/R:	1.0

Fri. 1/17

3:35pm CST - Followed my plan perfectly today but that, of course, doesn't guarantee profits. Need to do some retooling over the long weekend.

RESULTS FOR DAY
NQ Contracts:	60
Net $P/L:	-468
Wins:	5
Losses:	5
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	105
Avg$Loss:	-199
R/R:	0.5

Thurs. 1/16

2:55pm CST - Nothing like buying mostly at the highs and selling mostly at the lows to chalk up a red day!  I did over trade a bit too so still have some discipline issues to work on among other things...
Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$219(8), NQ -$1714(45)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	53
Net $P/L:	-1932
Wins:	1
Losses:	10
Win%:	9
Avg$Win:	14
Avg$Loss:	-195
R/R:	0.1

Wed. 1/15

2:35pm CST - Had to dig out of a hole today. Failed to hit 2.0 Reward/Risk.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$33(6), NQ $202(18)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	24
Net $P/L:	170
Wins:	4
Losses:	4
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	189
Avg$Loss:	-147
R/R:	1.3

Tues. 1/14

4:00pm CST - Time to get back at it!  Had a short vacation to clear the mind and had time to think about the plan ahead.  I came to the conclusion that I'm not ready to give up on discretionary trading and will continue that venture in 2014.  If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.  With this in mind, I plan to end most days with at least a 2:1 Reward:Risk ratio which will take some serious effort to break old habits.  Today was not the best example of letting my last trade run.  I got an RR of 2 for the day but could have had 10 or better if I had held the last 4-lot position.  I will also continue system trading development.  Right now, I really only have one 6E system that I will continue to trade.  Everything else I've tested and come up with has unacceptable stats or profit curves.  It's a never-ending challenge!

RESULTS FOR DAY
NQ Contracts:	14
Net $P/L:	123
Wins:	2
Losses:	3
Win%:	40
Avg$Win:	252
Avg$Loss:	-127
R/R:	2.0