Hi everyone,

Here's a link to my introduction - actually I can't post a link yet, as this is only my 2nd post.

I'm day trading ES based on a couple years experience trading/watching the market and some things I've learned over the years:

Median Line Analysis from watching countless daily videos by Paul Coghlan at CoghlanCapital.com
Various technical analysis techniques from John Carter, Henry Gambell and Neil at SimplerOptions.com
Trading in the Matrix - Van Tharp
And most recently some Price Action Trading Strategies from PATs Trading (priceactiontradingsystem.com)

I've swing and day traded ES for a couple years now but tried the PATs stuff for the first time today.

Today's results (one contract only):
21 trades
9 wins
9 losses
3 b/e
P/L -$72.34 (including $84.84 in commissions)

I started off with a long at 9:59. Stopped for max loss 8 ticks. I was watching a 2000t chart of price with a 21 EMA. I thought I saw a consolidation pattern forming and was trying to fade a false breakout to the downside. It ended being a real breakout to the downside! Lesson learned: DON'T TRADE COUNTER TREND. The market was already trending down pretty strongly in the first 30 minutes of trading and if anything I should have been looking for a good place to get short, like at the top of that consolidation pattern.

Next there was a consolidation pattern between 81.5 and 77.75 as the market digested the large move down. I faded the top of that range 3 times, one b/e, one win, one loss.

(I have some nice screenshots for this but can't post those either, due to being new to futures.io (formerly BMT))

Next the market started trending up. I used a couple pullbacks to a trend line to get long and scored a few points. Then it started consolidating again between 99.75 and 3.50. During the consolidation the market broke the up trend and I was flat.

The market started chopping down. It formed another consolidation pattern between 96.5 and 94. I faded 2 false up-side breakouts for 3.5 more points. At that point I was up 4.25 points on the day, about $180 profit after commissions. It was a little after 12:30 EST and I really should have quit for the day. Lesson learned: IF I'M UP $100 OR MORE BEFORE 1 PM, JUST QUIT FOR THE DAY.

Even though the market had started gently trending down, I tried to fade what I thought was a false down-side breakout below 94. A repeat of my earlier mistake, and an extra big loss of 3.5 points. For some reason my automatic 2 point stop loss order didn't trigger and I had stepped away from the screen for 2-3 minutes. Ugh!

At 12:57 I shorted a down trend line I had drawn in. The pattern was a sloped head & shoulders. It was good for 2.5 points. I tried to do the same thing at 13:21 based on a different line. It went against me right away but didn't stop me out. The market seemed pretty well bid at the moment so I bailed at b/e when I had a chance.

From 13:30 to 14:00 I tried getting long 3 times, 2 losers and 1 winner, lost 1.75. From 14:00 to 14:30 I tried getting short 5 times, 4 losers and 1 b/e, lost 9.25. I kept finding new down trend lines and trying to short them.

It was bad. I was down 8 points on the day plus a lot of commissions. Finally the market started trending up really strongly. I got long at 14:57 and rode the position for 7 points. Then I got one little scalp long just before the close, 1 more point.

The PATs Trading book says to go through the chart each day and I am finding this exercise very helpful. I was getting everything wrong in the afternoon between 13:30 and 14:30. I've heard that trading ES can be rough after 12:00. In the future I'll try to make my nut before noon and just observe the rest of the day.

Thanks for reading and for anything you're willing to contribute.

-bbdsan

Today's results similar to yesterday:
6 wins
8 loses
3 b/e
17 trades
Net +0.25 points
But so many commissions
P/L -$56.18

I'm still unable to post pictures. I need to have at least 5 posts.

4 posts here, plus my intro post. That should do it.

Okay, so now that I can post pictures, here is my chart today:

This is the whole day, including pre-market through RTH:


Then I have some close-ups, showing my trades and comments:





I'm finding it extremely useful (and very time consuming) to go through the chart and my trades after the market closes. I continue to make mistakes with trading counter trend. I guess I need to zoom out and get a broader view before I take a setup.

It was also interesting to learn how my Median Line Analysis (MLA) skills could have helped me so much today. I was so busy looking for 2nd entries, false breakouts, etc. (thing's I've learned from PATs Trading) that I forgot how useful sliding parallels can be.

Until tomorrow,

-bbdsan

I have just recently stumbled across Mack's PATs website and only watched a couple of his videos, but I liked his stuff, very similar to Al Brooks. One thing that I noticed is they talk signal bars and entry bars and the way I understand it is the first bar to make a higher high(or lower low in a downtrend)is the signal bar. The entry bar, at least taught by Al, is the break of the signal bar. From the couple videos I've seen of Mack he does the same but has enough experience to have a good idea of when to enter with a limit order and not wait for the break. Looking at your charts it looks like taking the break of the signal bar would have kept you out of a number of losing trades. I like your work and plan to continue reading as I am working with similar ideas.

Ridgcap

Thanks for reading. Yes, I'm trying to trade like Mack. I am learning a ton! It's been so helpful to review my chart at the end of the day, go over all of my trades, and then watch Mack's daily YouTube video.

I'm not an expert by any stretch, but here's my understanding of the "2nd entry" that Mack is always mentioning:

Suppose prices are trending up and you're looking to get long. Prices start pulling back and each bar has a lower high and a lower low. You start watching for a 1st entry - when a bar goes higher than the previous bar's high. Mack says that inexperienced traders take that 1st entry long. It might go up a couple ticks but usually the "1st entry" fails. With the 1st entry out of the way, prices continue down with each bar making a lower high (a lower low is not necessary - again, as I understand the "rules"). The 2nd entry is the one you want to take - same thing, when the current bar goes higher than the previous bar. Typically I trigger a 2nd entry by placing a buy-stop order one tick above the previous bar's high.

Here's a picture of one that worked well today:


I would recommend buying Mack's Price Action Trading manual. It's only $99. (I am not affiliated with PATs in any way!)

Good luck,
-bbdsan

Huge improvement today!

20 trades
12 wins
5 losses
3 b/e
+4.25 points net
$131.70 profit (incl. commissions)

The most important thing I learned today is that entries do not necessarily only have to be "with the trend". I mean, it seems that way to me. Maybe that's only the case on a "range day" like today. I suppose it wouldn't work well on a purely trending day. Anyway, on to the charts...







Oh, also I calculated what my results would have been if I altered my rules just a little and traded 2 contracts instead of one. So, I would still enter using the same rules but with 2 contracts. My initial stop would be 2.5 points instead of 2.0. And my scalp target on one contract would be 1.25 points instead of 1.0. Then I would allow the 2nd contract to run, setting its stop back at b/e. Turns out I would have had 13 wins, 4 loses and 3 b/e. Most of the runners stopped out at b/e but a few of them could have been trailed up for more profits. Altogether it would have been possible to take 28.5 points today!

I will not trade 2 contracts though, until I have a proven track record. I'll try to stick to only taking the 1.0 scalp profits and just work on improving my win/loss performance.

I won't be trading much tomorrow (which kills me because I think we'll see some big moves). Until next time, good trading everyone!

-bbdsan

I agree with your understanding of a 1st and 2nd entry, but the way Al teaches and I think Mack would suggest for less experienced traders to use a stop one tick above the signal bar which in the case of this picture would actually be 1 tick above the bars you have marked. The entry gets farther away but it prevents a few more stop outs just like the 2nd entry does. Also in the case of the 2nd entry in your example the entry bar also goes 1 tick below the signal bar possibly trapping shorts. I tried attaching your example not sure it will work since i've only posted a few times.

ridgcap

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