6/4/15 Thursday
Live Trades: 1 winner
Day’s P/L: $75.12

One trade, one win. Got back most of the loss from yesterday. It was a momentum play. Got out just in time since my rules would have taken me out at BE had I stayed.

Not much in the way of colored marker activity. Put in lots of neutral markers that fulfilled my set up criteria. Not a lot of them had good follow through. They are not included in stats because they were noncommittal.

6/5/15 Friday
Live Trades: 1 loser
Day’s P/L: -$4.90

One trade on 6E. Got out at BE minus commission. Considered taking an early profit of $100 but decided to let it play out because it had good potential. Simultaneously, there was a nice set up on GC but I didn’t want two trades on at the same time. The GC set up worked out well. I chose wrong.

Other than that, I was unsure where the markets were going most of the day after the employment report, so I stayed out. Good discipline. Several set ups carried too much risk so I passed, but of course they worked with very little pull back. Such is the nature of discretionary trading. One has to have the discipline to go with what they know in the moment, and the maturity live with the consequences.

Weekly Summary 6/1/15 to 6/5/15
Live Trades: 1 win, 2 losses
Week’s P/L: -$10.90

Starting balance for the week: $2942.01
Withdrawals for the week: $0
Deposits for the week: $0
Ending balance for the week: $2931.11

Beginning account balance from first live trade on 3/10/15: $3000.00
Total Withdrawals: $0
Total Deposits: $0
Total Gains/losses from 3/10/15: -$68.89

Summary of marker and trade activity:
17 marked or traded set ups
7 areas that reached 2R or more
4 areas that hit the stop at -1R
6 areas that got to 1R then came back to entry for B.E.



Takeaways:

-NQ had some fake outs at the open this week that produced well in the opposite direction.

-Reminder, "events" like large, quickly printed bars on ZN usually have follow through, so they are worth taking a chance.

-When a great set up is there, I have to take it. It can change everything. 6E on Tuesday morning as an example.

-Keep an eye out for TL break failures, then trade opposite, especially off S/R or in direction of trend.

-Avoid trying to catch the first moves of reversals unless it is off strong S/R or the set up is juicy good.

-Keep an eye out for momentum plays. They usually have at least some follow through.

-Look at TL breaks inside well defined two legged pull backs. They are good opportunities to get in a little earlier.

-Even though I only took 3 trades this week I began to get the feeling at the end of the week that entering was going to become easier and more frequent. I clicked in to the last two trades naturally and easily. We'll see how that plays out over the next week.

6/8/15 Monday
Live Trades: 0
Day’s P/L: 0

No trades. Very little energy at the beginning of the morning. Things picked up a bit but I wasn’t comfortable going live. Marked 7 areas in real time. In spite of the low energy they were pretty successful:

Marked areas:
4 winners
2 losers
1 BE

Knowing myself, I would have exited before the full losses, and probably would not have stuck with a couple of the winners, but it would have been a pretty good day.

No much in the way of news this week until later. G7 meetings could liven things up, depending on what the people controlling our lives have to say.

Waiting for more energy to enter the markets.

6/9/15 Tuesday
Live Trades: 1 win
Day’s P/L: +$5.40

One trade that didn’t go far. Got out near BE rather than wait for stop to get hit. Tried to get in a couple other times that didn’t trigger. Good news is that I took a trade early in the week rather than waiting later. Also, was more willing to get in more than once, but the entries didn’t trigger.

Need to be more willing to enter trades before 8am when the energy is highest.

Confidence is growing. The work I am doing with the markers is helping. I feel it coming.

Marker and trade activity:
1 win
1 loss
2 BE

6/10/15 Wednesday
Live Trades: 2 losses
Day’s P/L: -$8.62

Frustrating day. No follow through. No damage done to the account but my good stats took a hit. Two live trades. Both barely made it to 1/2R. Managed to exit both at BE. No regrets about the locations. They actually had good potential.

Also marked 5 other areas, most of which did not work out. This was one of those days that had no follow through (except on NQ). They happen. Hopefully it won’t happen very often! There were a couple of good moves but I would have had to take everything to get them. The only regret is passing on a couple of NQ trades after the open. The move was incredible.

Days like today are often followed by good days so I will be looking forward to the next two days.

Marker and trade results:
1 win
6 losses

6/11/15 Thursday
Live Trades: 3, 2 wins, 1 loss
Day’s P/L: $89.40

Three trades. The good news is that the 1st trade was a $100 loser but I kept trading and the next two were winners. Gradually getting more comfortable taking risk and trusting my judgement.

Marker activity was better today:

3 wins
2 losses
3 BE

6/12/15 Friday
Live Trades: 1 win
Day’s P/L: $75.13

One trade on ZN. Several other great possibilities that I got cold feet on. Getting better feelings and more willing to enter. Tried to get in a couple on limit orders but did not fill. Obviously I wasn't exceedingly motivated to enter or I would use market orders!

It was a lackluster day in most markets in spite of the numerous reports. I identified some really nice areas in 6E and CL that would have produced good results. I feel that, with a bit more conviction, I will be able to do well even in slow times. With 6 markets there is always something happening.

Marker activity good again:
2 wins
1 loss
1 BE

Weekly Summary 6/8/15 to 6/12/15
Live Trades: 7, 4 winners, 3 losers
Week’s P/L: $161.31

Starting balance for the week: $2931.10
Withdrawals for the week: $0
Deposits for the week: $0
Ending balance for the week: $3092.41

Beginning account balance from first live trade on 3/10/15: $3000.00
Total Withdrawals: $0
Total Deposits: $0
Total Gains/losses from 3/10/15: $92.41

Of the 7 trades:
Only 1 made it to 2R or beyond
Only 3 made it to 1R
The other 4 did not even make it to .67R

These stats indicate that I was not taking the best quality trades. I was fortunate to get out of the week positive. I will continue to micro-manage my trades until these stats improve.

On the other hand, when combined with the real time markers, my set up choices were pretty good.
Summary of marker and trade activity:

30 marked or traded set ups
11 areas that reached 2R or more (since only one trade got to 2R this means I passed on 10 set-ups that would have made it to 2R. Yikes!)
12 areas that hit the full stop at -1R
7 areas that got to 1R then came back to entry for B.E.

These stats indicate that I have an edge, but for some reason I am pretty good when just putting in a marker, but not so good when choosing an actual trade. I think I want so much confirmation that I let good trades go and take areas that end up being choppier. My goal is to replace all set-ups where I would normally place a marker with actual trades.

Overall I am pleased with the direction my trading is going, if but a little slow to get off the line. I have managed to get back above my original balance and am more willing to jump in to trades. One thing giving me confidence is knowing that of the set-ups that don’t work, if it were a trade I would be getting out before the full stop was hit. It is often pretty obvious that price has hit a road block and has no interest in going further. There is no reason in these situations to hang on, hoping. In doing this my average loss would be much less than -1R. Of course, I would also miss a few trades that went on to become winners, but I think the savings of getting out early would overcome the missed opportunities.

As always, I am looking forward to next week with continued progress, and the possibilities that lie ahead

6/15/15 Monday
Live Trades: 1 loss
Day’s P/L: -$4.00

One trade. Markets were slow once again. Really blew my chance to make something of nothing on NG. Two areas that produced very well. Just gotta click in. All other moves were few and far between and the action was not clear.

Happy I took a trade on a Monday though. Clicked in with little thought. It just didn’t work.

Trade 1, ZN: 0t. Moved 4t in my favor. It stalled so I moved to BE and it took me out then went 29t against.

Marker and trade activity was not so good, but in all instances I would have exited at BE before taking a full stop due to the nature of the price action. This gives me confidence knowing many of the failed trades would be exited with little damage.

Marker and trade results:
3 losses