This morning started off with a $3K loss, which I was able to turn around to a $700 gain by around 1 PM. The day was downhill from there though due to technical issues. Tradestation's trade server was having some issues and would not let me cancel a few Buy orders I had placed at key S/R areas. So it didn't fill the orders, but at the same time, it wouldn't let me cancel the orders either. Turns out, somehow TS filled the orders 40 minutes AFTER I had canceled them and I found myself in a Long position with 20 contracts! Meanwhile, during this 40-minute window, price on the ES had moved 20 pts away from my entry and I was looking at a big $10-15K loss. This totally screws up my stats in Tradestation, and I don't know if I should just reset the Sim account at this point, or just eat the loss and try to work my way out of it. Either way, it's very frustrating.
I'm also still struggling with the ideal stop-loss.
Lessons for the day:
NEVER try to catch a falling knife!
ALWAYS have a backup broker in case something like this happens in your real $ live account.
Equity Curve for the Day
Market Structure Chart (5-min)
This market structure / balance chart continues to put price action in perspective, while highlighting some key S/R areas. You can see how price tested the first-hour high a couple of times, and couldn't push through it, which gave way to some heavy selling. First stop on the way down was the Globex Low around the 792 area; price bounced off that area a few times. When price blows past a support area, prior support becomes resistance and that's apparent on this chart as price then bumped up against the 793 area a few times before heading down to the first hour low. Beautifully done!
Hopefully had the trade been made in a cash account then they would have made good on the canceled orders and you would not have had the big loss. If on the other hand they would stick you with that loss than I'd keep it in there to keep things real. I'd also consider another broker for your trades and keep TradeStation for charting if they left you hanging. Big technical glitches like that are a nightmare.
ReplyDeleteI used to have an account with Open E Cry back in the day. I experienced a similar tech issue with them that ended up costing me a few hundred dollars, and they credited my account for the loss without any problem. But I don't know how TradeStation would handle this situation. I just attached the daily equity curve chart to show how that afternoon tech issue ruined the P&L for the day.
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