I've decided to start this journal to continue charting my progress with a trading method I discussed in my ipad contest thread ( last month.
I will be trading CL exclusively in this journal. The basics of the method are as follows:
Chart type: 512 tick chart
Indicators: 12-period simple moving average (SMA); moving average envelopes placed 25 ticks above and below the SMA
Entries: With-trend only; generally enter on first break of H/L of previous bar after pullback to SMA in direction of confirmed trend
Stops: 2 ticks beyond swing H/L immediately preceding entry
Target: Varies
My prior thread (linked in the first paragraph) contains greater details about how I measure trend and how I time entries. My primary goal for purposes of this journal is to work on exits. I realize that I need a more precise, less discretionary approach to determining when to take profits. Part of this is understanding more specifically how CL tends to move: how many legs in the typical trend, how long a move before a micro pullback can be expected, etc. I've developed something of an intuitive feel for this but recognize that I need more hard data, so I expect to report on various backtesting and manual backtesting projects as the thread progresses.
Attached is a chart showing my setup and walking through my thought process as a trade develops. Hopefully someone out there gets something out of this thread. I look forward to the chance to engage in some dialogue with other CL traders.