Greetings. First I'd like to thank Mike and all the members who've made this a congenial and useful community - I've been able to get some great things from this site in the month or so I've been lurking and I look forward to more of the same.
I'm going to start a trading journal here - my goals are:
1. make myself more accountable. I don't expect hand-holding, just the mirror that comes from presenting oneself to a like-minded community.
2. improve my methodology. I do keep a private journal, but I am hoping that a public journal will lead to more reflection on and analysis of my trading decisions.
3. help others. I'm not so brash as to suggest I have ultimate answers but I hope that others will either learn from my mistakes or, in that rare case, learn from my successes or observations.
4. be consistent. Although in life "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds", I believe that in trading consistency is the core of profitability. Consistency in maintaining this journal will provide an exercise in, and a fulcrum of, developing consistency in trading principles.
Some background on me: 40-something, ex-scientist (molecular biology), and ex-real estate developer (can you say "bankruptcy"?). Two years ago I decided I need a new career, one that supported the self-employed lifestyle I'd come to enjoy. Trading seemed a good fit - however I had no idea at the time how hard it would be. I've been through much of the "natural evolution of a trader" in that I've finished with the search for the approach and am now working on the implementation (personal psychology and a more and more precise definition of how I make trading decisions).
I am currently trading the TF, ZC, and a little bit of 6E and 6J. I have traded CL and I would say that is my preferred instrument except that i've discovered (the hard way) that I am undercapitalized to trade CL.
My approach is a price action approach. It is discretionary. I do not use fixed stops or fixed targets. I trade:
1. pullbacks in a trend. I recognize that pullbacks can take infinite forms and apply principles that minimize risk and maximize the likelihood of continuation.
2. breakouts. I trade failed breakouts and breakout pullbacks - if I'm not in a trade prior to the initial breakout, I do not enter on a stop on the breakout.
3. ranges. Mainly this will entail entering on the opposite side of the range than the side I think price will break out of.
4. I do not trade reversals (I have my fingers crossed behind my back right now).
For charts I use a 3m candle chart as my "trading timeframe" and I watch a 1m chart to get a finer picture for entries and sometimes exits. I watch a 30m chart as my "higher timeframe" with a 10m chart to get a finer picture if needed. I keep a 240m chart up as well which provides a longer term perspective used to understand more of a "daily" context.
My charts have 3 EMAs - the 8, 20, and 100. My 3m chart has the daily pivots and Yesterday's HLC. My 10m has the same on a weekly basis, and my 30m has the same on a monthly basis.
How do I make trading decisions?
1. For Pullbacks I'm looking for a convergence of factors - the primary requirement is for a trend to be in place on the 3m with some distance to the next point of heavy Support or Resistance (S/R). Mainly I like to see the pullback make 2 attempts to reverse. In addition I like to see S/R for the pullback to fail at - this can mean prior swing hi/lo, fib retracements, EMAs, and/or pivots.
2. For Breakouts I need to feel that a trading range has developed. I want to see some higher timeframe support for the direction I'm going to trade in. If I see a weak breakout into S/R opposite the direction I think the higher timeframe is "pointed in" then I'm more likely to trade this as a failed breakout. If there's a strong breakout in the direction I want to trade followed by a weak pullback I will look for an entry in the direction of …