Discipline in FX Does Not Translate to Discipline in Futures
I'm just speechless at my performance. Today was just a day when I just fucked shit up. I am better than this. I have the discipline to sit out certain setups on my FX account, yet I'm jumping into every opportunity trading this futures account. I just don't understand why I do this. If I were to speculate, I perceive that the FX market moves slower because I look at the daily timeframe. In contrast, I'm watching the futures market live.
To recap on my performance today, let's go through this in "psychological" stages:
Stage 1: Off to a strong start
Having been hit by a big loss last week, my account was at approximately $50.3K going into today's session. Due to a previous rough week, my maximum trailing drawdown ended up being $50K. This means that I would fail my 50K Combine if my equity dipped below $50K. As you can see, I don't have much of a leeway.
As the market opened, I hit the ground running and was off to a great start. I timed my trades to the major levels that I plotted so I essentially traded my plan. I was up to $51.1K about an hour later and my profit for the day was about $930.
Stage 2: Greed
Here's where everything completely turned to hell. I wanted to make a profit of an even $1,000. Seriously, all of this for 70 bucks? This is not my brightest moment to be honest. This is when I began to force my trades a little bit. I took a few trades hoping to scalp off of the trends. These trades weren't near the major levels and did not represent huge imbalances that my strategy was designed to capitalize on.
Stage 3: Snowball Effect
One thing led to another and I ended up returning all of my gains. As we neared the afternoon, the e-mini S&P began to die off. Determined to end the day with +$1,000, I kept trading even as the markets became more and more choppy. This was honestly not my best moment. I ended up hitting my maximum drawdown limit. This marks the end of my account.
Stage 4: Life Lessons
Chalking this up to a learning experience, I paid $99 to reset my account. This is now my second chance at a fresh start. Before I even think about trading, I will make a follow up post to formally document my strategy. Given how fast this market moves, I need to remember that cash is a position and sitting out is absolutely alright.
I will also be staying away from the S&P while focusing on the Dow. The tick value of the Dow is at $5, which I'd say is more manageable.
To recap on my performance today, let's go through this in "psychological" stages:
Stage 1: Off to a strong start
Having been hit by a big loss last week, my account was at approximately $50.3K going into today's session. Due to a previous rough week, my maximum trailing drawdown ended up being $50K. This means that I would fail my 50K Combine if my equity dipped below $50K. As you can see, I don't have much of a leeway.
As the market opened, I hit the ground running and was off to a great start. I timed my trades to the major levels that I plotted so I essentially traded my plan. I was up to $51.1K about an hour later and my profit for the day was about $930.
Stage 2: Greed
Here's where everything completely turned to hell. I wanted to make a profit of an even $1,000. Seriously, all of this for 70 bucks? This is not my brightest moment to be honest. This is when I began to force my trades a little bit. I took a few trades hoping to scalp off of the trends. These trades weren't near the major levels and did not represent huge imbalances that my strategy was designed to capitalize on.
Stage 3: Snowball Effect
One thing led to another and I ended up returning all of my gains. As we neared the afternoon, the e-mini S&P began to die off. Determined to end the day with +$1,000, I kept trading even as the markets became more and more choppy. This was honestly not my best moment. I ended up hitting my maximum drawdown limit. This marks the end of my account.
Stage 4: Life Lessons
Chalking this up to a learning experience, I paid $99 to reset my account. This is now my second chance at a fresh start. Before I even think about trading, I will make a follow up post to formally document my strategy. Given how fast this market moves, I need to remember that cash is a position and sitting out is absolutely alright.
I will also be staying away from the S&P while focusing on the Dow. The tick value of the Dow is at $5, which I'd say is more manageable.