$NQ

I've been trying to get a handle on holding futures positions overnight, specifically in things like $ES or $NQ. The gaps can be brutal, and even with stops in place, sometimes the market just blows right past them before you can react. For those of you who regularly hold overnight, what's your primary strategy for managing that gap risk? Do you just use wider stops and accept the potential heat, or is there a specific technique or position sizing adjustment you employ to mitigate the damage if a move goes against you early in the Asian session?

Hey everyone, just joined. Been trading for about a year, mostly discretionary equities, some $SPX options. I'm struggling with how to properly size positions when I have different strategy types running simultaneously. For example, a swing trade on $GOOG vs. a short-term scalp on $NQ futures – should the risk per trade be a consistent percentage of my total account, or should I scale it based on the expected holding period/volatility of the instrument? Feels like I'm either under-risking on one or over-risking on another. How do you all approach this when managing a mixed portfolio?

My biggest recurring mistake, especially in faster moving markets like $NQ or $ES futures, is subtly moving my stop loss when an initial thesis doesn't play out immediately. Instead of accepting the small loss, I'll shift it 'just a bit' to let price breathe, usually leading to a much larger loss when the move extends against me. It's an insidious form of hope trading.

I've been trying to get more serious about tracking my trades, mostly futures, $ES, $NQ, and $CL. Everyone says "journaling is key" to improvement, but I'm finding myself just listing entry/exit, profit/loss, and a vague "why" that often sounds like hindsight bias. It's not really helping me identify patterns or fundamental flaws beyond the obvious. For those of you who have successfully refined your process, what specific metrics or qualitative observations are you including that genuinely move the needle for your learning? Are you tagging trades by setup, market condition, psychological state? Just trying to figure out if I'm overcomplicating it or just not digging deep enough.

Been mostly trading futures ($ES, $NQ) for a bit now, still finding my feet with position sizing. For those of you holding multiple contracts, how do you typically manage scaling out? Do you pre-plan specific levels for each piece, or is it more dynamic based on price action and volatility?