Weekly Summary 7/6/15 to 7/10/15
Live Trades: 11, 4 winners, 7 losers
Week’s P/L: $34.18

Starting balance for the week: $2309.59
Withdrawals for the week: $0
Deposits for the week: $0
Ending balance for the week: $2343.77

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: -$656.23

7/13/15 Monday
Live Trades: 1 win, 1 loss
Day’s P/L: -$6.00

Both trades on ZN. 1st trade was a loss and the next trade caught the move I was originally looking for.

Still looking at the 3X charts. I need to adjust my perception of a good pattern when looking at the 3X. It is easy to pass on a lot of trades because the patterns look too small. On the 1X charts they look fine.

7/14/15 Tuesday
Live Trades: 1 win, 3 losses
Day’s P/L: -$200.60

4 trades today. One was accidental. The three purposeful trades were on ZN and resulted in 0t, minus commissions. I find myself gravitating to ZN more and more for a couple of reasons; most trade-able patterns involve relatively low risk, and I seem to be more confident in my read of this market. It has performed the best of all the instruments I trade.

The accidental trade was on QM, and a bit costly. I had inadvertently left a limit order in the market, thinking it was cancelled. When I came back to the screen later it had filled and stopped me out. The stop out was twice what was required. The trade was actually a decent set up and could have easily reached target on another day. Unfortunately I find that the market gods rarely give a break on a mistake.

7/15/15 Wednesday
Live Trades: 1 win
Day’s P/L: $14.23

One silly trade on M6E with one contract just for kicks. The trade actually worked out nice. I’m happy my judgement was correct even though it didn’t make much. M6E is actually a nice alternative for anyone wanting to trade the Euro with reduced leverage. Commissions are a bit high for the tick value but if you trade bigger patterns it shouldn't be a problem.

The big miss today was on ZN. There was a textbook set up that for some reason I was reluctant to enter. I could have added in a couple of locations, with hardly any extra risk, and ridden it for some really nice gains. I will use it as a model on how I might pyramid ZN in the future.

Everything else was pretty quiet. I placed more real time markers today with decent results:

Trade and marker results:
4 wins
2 BE
2 losses

Of the last 30 trades and/or markers I am hovering between 65% and 85% to +1R before -1R. I think going back to focusing on the 3X charts has contributed to these improved results. As a result my confidence is improving.

Traveling for the next week so I am not sure there will be much trading or journaling. I may sneak a peek every so often.

7/22/15 Wednesday
Live Trades: 1 win, 1 loss
Day’s P/L: -$5.77

First day back after a week off. Two trades, one on ZN and one on YM. Basically the trades cancelled and I lost commissions.

Trade 1: ZN. Got to +7 ticks. Could have taken +1R (+5t) but held out for +2R (+10t). When it broke a new trend line I exited. +2t

Trade 2: YM. Looking for resumption of the down trend. After a couple of failed attempts it was evident that it wasn’t time. Exited at a minor loss. -6t

Placed a lot of markers at valid trade set ups. Results were good in the morning with 5 out of 6 getting to +1R. Got a little chopped up in the afternoon.

Marker and trade results:
4 wins
4 losses
4 BE

7/23/15 Thursday
Live Trades: 1 win
Day’s P/L: $0.98

One trade that didn’t go far on YM. Paid for commissions.

Very slow start to the day but picked up after the natural gas report. That along with oil were the big misses today. Even though the equities moved a long distance there were not very many entries according to my rules. Some days are like that.

Marker and trade activity was mixed:
1 win
3 losses
3 BE

Still slightly ahead if all profits taken at 1R, but behind if I were to hold off for 2R.

7/24/15 Friday
Live Trades: 0
Day’s P/L: $0

No trades. The early slow activity threw me off a bit. There were some great opps later but I did not have the wherewithal to take advantage.

Weekly Summary 7/13 to 7/24/15
Live Trades: 10, 5 winners, 5 losers
Two Week’s P/L: -$197.16

Starting balance for the two weeks: $2343.77
Withdrawals for the week: $0
Deposits for the week: $0
Ending balance for the two weeks: $2146.61

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: -$853.39

This weekly summary covers two weeks since I was on vacation half the time.

The majority of my losses these past two weeks came on an accidental entry (-$191.69). An order was in the market that I thought was cancelled. It filled and stopped out at twice the normal stop value while I was away from the screen. Of course, if good fortune were smiling on me that day it could have worked out well, but as with most things in trading, mistakes rarely make money.

I am continuing to get more comfortable with live trading. Despite being down $850, live trading isn’t the bogyman I once feared. Slippage is not a factor, and a good portion of the losses have come from accidental entries and commissions. 93 live trades taken since March 10. Commissions represent $349.02. Eliminate the accidental entries and I am close to break-even with my deliberate trades.

Of course, this is not how one makes a living trading! My trades tend to come in areas that are more “comfortable”. Often these are areas where price has tested and retested again. The problem is that this retesting is often nothing more than the beginning of chop, or even a reversal. The best trades seem to be those that don’t stick around very long and these are the ones I hesitate on for fear of getting trapped. I need to be more willing to put myself out there without confirmation, with the belief that I will win more than I will lose.

Additionally, there are many trade areas where I have a strong positive feeling but am still paralyzed to enter. The bottom line is that I will not fully realize success in trading until I am willing to take them all. As I have documented in other posts this is a bit scary since taking them all could also mean losing them all, for big losses.

In any case I feel I am progressing, even though the results do not show yet. Getting accustom to live trading was always the next necessary step. Now I need to get a bit bolder and put my money towards more of my ideas.

My real time marker and trade results for the last two weeks were pretty good:

8 reached 2R or more
13 reached between 1R and 2R
12 hit the full stop at -1R

In conclusion, 21 trade areas made it to at least 1R while 12 areas hit the full stop of -1R. If R = $150, and I took all profits at 1R, I would be ahead 9R or $1350 per contract. In the future, 1R could be my first shed with multiple contracts. Now I just need to swap the markers for real trades and let the trades run to their logical conclusion.

7/27/15 Monday
Live Trades: 2 losses
Day’s P/L: -$33.62

Two trades two losses. M6E and QM. Both ended up being traps and actually went a nice distance in the opposite direction. Didn’t get hurt too bad though. Got out at -1t on QM and only traded one contract on M6E.

7/28/15 Tuesday
Live Trades: 1 win
Day’s P/L: $135.40

One trade on NG for +14t. Managed to hold it through a 1R gain, looking for 2R, before it came back and stopped out around 1R.

Failed to take advantage of relatively easy trading on the rally in the equities and oil. Sometimes my attention wanders to other things, and I look back to notice some missed trades. After missing the first trades I become skeptical that the next area will be successful, and pass on that too. I’ll need to work a little harder on staying focused as it seems the equities have come alive.

One interesting point about today. It started out looking very uninteresting and unclear from 5:30 to 7:30. By 7:30 the equities, CL, and NG all broke open and began to show their true intentions. I need to remember this when feeling impatient to trade, or lackadaisical about a particular day's action. Wait patiently and the answer will often reveal itself!

Real time marker activity, combined with the live trade, was mixed:

3 wins
4 losses
1 BE