Futures Trading Journal Real Money

I've been trading a long time. Had many strategies over the years. I've been working on this since August 2021. It's good enough to go live. I've spent 1000's of hours back testing many strategies and this works the best. Have not found a losing month but live is always different. Trade emini, crude, gold, Euro USD, Canadian dollar USD, and 10 Year T note. Trades are based on 20/10/4 stochastic, 13/26 MA, and short vs long term market movement. It's slow and boring, averages 30-60 trades a month. However the brokers do not get rich off me. Trade 7am to 12pm CST. The real good trades can carry for days. If it goes as good as promised, I will throw more money to it. At the start of this account is 14,925.02 USD.

*****Update 5-24-23: this account has been switched to stock options due to time constraints. Starting balance is 7911.37. I currently have a list of 150 stocks I check every morning. Same system, use a 20/10/4 stochastic with 13/26 MA. More will be deposited as time goes by.
*****Update 7-24-23: Accout balance is $23,630 from $23,000 deposit
*****Update 8-26-22: Account balance is $25,514 from $23,000 deposit

4-5-23 at 7:47am sold 1 Euro, looked good but odd PMI report got me. Moved stop to even but trade ran past and ended up at a loss of 82.44.

4-6-23 sold 2 CAD. Trade moved where stop went even but ended up coming back. 39.88 total loss.

4-10-23 bought 4 micro emini at 11:13. Trade moved to even and kept running. Overnight looked weak so took profit at 15:10 for a total gain of 685.24.

4-12-23 bought 2 MGC at 9:01 at 2021.2. Trade started looking weak really quickly, I tried to save it and reversed at 9:35 at 2023.2. Saw pressure to keep from going lower so got out at 2020.7. I should have just reversed again and let it ride since I wasn't protecting much gain. Would have been an OK trade. Had a stop I forgot to remove get filled. Total profit was 56.56.

4-14-23 sold 3 mcl at 8:43 am at 82.85 with a hard stop at 82.99. Stopped out. There was a second opportunity for a trade at 9:03 but was not clean enough for a go. Total loss was 60.72.

Nice journal!
Good to see other Futures traders.

The varying spreads and rollover rates dont help with the forex. It's hard enough without those to make money.

4-19-23 bought 1 ZN at 10:06 am at 114'025 with a hard stop at 114'000. Stopped out. There was almost a second opportunity at 11:25 but I needed to see a bar close at 114'000. Total loss of 78.13.

4-20-23 sold 2 MGC at 7:46 am at 2019.2. I ended up getting in the bar before this which was early. Was able to get out of wrong entry without any major loss. Move stop to even after trade got to 2016.7. MGC was primed for long term so took this marginal trade but didn't materialize.

4-20-23 bought 2 6C at 10:32 am at 74345. Moved stop to even after 74375. Ended up hitting even and 6C has moved lower.

Total loss for both is 31.84.

4-21-23 bought 4 MCL at 11:50. Ended up missing entry do got 3 at a limt and another one lower on market. Trade ended up stopping out. Upside potential was very good, just didn't pan out. Total loss 71.96.

Last trade for the of April month. Sold 3 MES on 4-28-23 at 4174.75 @ 9:35. Moved stop to even and got out at 4175 as trade was going against me. Total loss was 18.57. Month gain was 519.12. Nothing to write home about. Unfortunately I will be traveling to India more than I would like for the rest of this year. It's difficult to trade over there as I have to stay up late. This account is idle right but I have another that has been using this same concept but for stock options but a non intraday setup. Plan to move this money over and just do options. Profit is slower but I don't have to watch a screen for most of the day. 1-1.5 hours a day and works better for India time. The money will be moved next month and I will just switch this journal over when it starts.

Went live 5-24. Starting balance is 7911.67. I have about 150 stocks I watch. Option will be bought and sold before expiration hopefully for a profit more than a loss. This is much easier to manage. Check charts in the morning before open. Make trades when market opens and I am done for the rest of the day. Can be done with 1 or 2 screens. No need for 4 screen like with futures. I will move more money in here as time goes by.

5-24-23 Bought 1 Call JNPR at 29 with expire 6-30 for 0.98
5-24-23 Bought 1 Call JNPR at 30 with expire 6-30 for 0.50
5-30-23 Bought 1 Call MET at 52 with expire 7-7 for 1.97
6-1-23 Bought 2 Put INVH at 32.5 with expire 7-21 for 0.80
6-1-23 Bought 2 Call PARA at 15 with expire 7-14 for 1.10
6-2-23 Bought 1 Put DHI at 108 with expire for 7-14 at 3.20

Update for week of 6-5-23 to 6-9-23

Added Trades:
6-5-23 (add postion) Bought 2 INVH at 32.5 with exp 7-21 for 0.45
6-6-23 Bought 2 Put CAH at 83 with expire of 7-7 for 1.6
6-6-23 Bought 2 Call MO at 44 with expire of 7-14 for 1.02
6-9-23 Bought 8 Call AES at 21 with expire of 7-21 for 0.45
Also moved an additional 15,000 to account, makes total put into account 23,000.00

Closed Trades:
6-8-23 Sold 4 INVH at 0.4 for loss of -95.30
6-9-23 Sold 1 DHI at 1.36 for loss of -185.33

Current Portfolio as of 6-9-23

5-24-23 Bought 1 Call JNPR at 29 with expire 6-30 for 0.98
5-24-23 Bought 1 Call JNPR at 30 with expire 6-30 for 0.50
5-30-23 Bought 1 Call MET at 52 with expire 7-7 for 1.97
6-1-23 Bought 2 Call PARA at 15 with expire 7-14 for 1.10
6-6-23 Bought 2 Put CAH at 83 with expire of 7-7 for 1.6
6-6-23 Bought 2 Call MO at 44 with expire of 7-14 for 1.02
6-9-23 Bought 8 Call AES at 21 with expire of 7-21 for 0.45

Update for 6-12 to 6-16. I don't have time to type much and I type really slow so here is a short summary.

Closed MET on 6-13 for a gain
Closed 2 CAH on 6-13 for a partial loss (PSO, partial stop out)
Closed MO on 6-14 for PSO
Closed 2 JNPR on 6-15 for a gain

Bought NEM on 6-15 with a 7-21 expiration.

The account has not grown much because when I added on money I took a string of losses. However the ratio, which is what's important, is OK at 5. Total month ratios of 12 or more I consider good. See excel sheet for all trades. The gross prof and net prof is what I calculate and the e net profit is the profit actually taken from etrade.

I have not had much time to post. Made many trades but a dismal 619.00 return to date. I am doing alot of backtesting for adding additional ways to make these options trades. I will provide a more thorough post after I finish the backtesting.

Making more trades and staying aggressive. Made several I shouldn't have but would rather make more and have winners in the mix than make a few and have nothing. Several trades in the money that should close out to the good. Will be depositing more money (robbing it from my wife) to keep this moving. $10,000 a month profit is the goal by the end of this year. Current balance is $25,514 off of 23,000 total deposit. Account balance and current trades posted below with some charts.

Other charts, all short term trades. Also excel trade log.