aztrader9 

I am making a change from candles to bars on the time chart, I can see the open and close better with them. ... .

a step in the right direction, candle is just too overwhelming and distracting from watching PA activity. One guy goes further he colors all price bars in two tones gray.

I hit my daily stop today. First time in a while....( my attempt to spin it positive).

Since this journal is for me, I am gonna be honest here. After all the progress over the last few weeks, I feel like shit today and for the first time in a long time, felt like giving up. Seems like its two steps forward and three steps back. Wondering when the quantum leap comes? Will it ever?

Ok enough self pity. Time to focus.

What I did right today:
1. My morning routine.
2. Reasonably good job of holding trades both for targets and stops. I resisted the urge to just get out when price was against me. This was good and bad today.

What I did wrong today:
1. Everything else.
2. To be more specific, I tried to trade both a three minute and a five minute chart. That worked well.
3. I traded to soon after news. I got killed there with two large stops. From now on, wait for two bars before and two bars after.
4. I traded to many lots when I was losing.
5. I started to get an itchy trigger finger and it was HARD to not just trade regardless of signals. I did it twice and immediately exited the trade. That cured that for the day.
6. I was down a lot after the news and then I buckled in and almost got positive, but I collapsed under pressure and got careless. Daily stop hit.

Plan for tomorrow:
1. Back on the 5 min chart. Fewer signals and fewer head fakes.
2. Breath
3. Hold my trades.

Even though I feel like crap today, I know I am on the right track. Less is more, fewer trades is better. Bigger charts generally is better. I am actually confident now in what I am doing.

One thing I am struggling with is the outside bar. It takes out stops on both sides and it seems impossible to know which way to trade that thing. If anyone has any ideas, please jump in. I read the Three Setups thread but could not find any real help there. Maybe I missed it.

Only one chart today. To bummed out to do much else right now. Might put the rest up later.

Cheers

I know how you feel...yesterday was one of those days for me...

Get away from the screen for a while, do something non-trading related for a couple of hours, then reflect on your day. I find that is when I get my best answers.....

Papa15

cory 

a step in the right direction, candle is just too overwhelming and distracting from watching PA activity. One guy goes further he colors all price bars in two tones gray.

Like this?

aztrader9 

One thing I am struggling with is the outside bar. It takes out stops on both sides and it seems impossible to know which way to trade that thing. If anyone has any ideas, please jump in. I read the Three Setups thread but could not find any real help there. Maybe I missed it.

I don't trade outside bar setups as I haven't found them to be very reliable. They strike me as indicative of chop rather than a directional bias in either direction.

I remember from the three setups thread that the idea was to enter in the direction of the second break. So for example if the current bar first breaks above the high of the prior bar, then reverses and heads toward the low of the prior bar, you set a sell stop right below the low of the prior bar in order to go short if the low is broken.

worldwary 

I don't trade outside bar setups as I haven't found them to be very reliable. They strike me as indicative of chop rather than a directional bias in either direction. I remember from the three setups thread that the idea was to enter in the direction of the second break. So for example if the current bar first breaks above the high of the prior bar, then reverses and heads toward the low of the prior bar, you set a sell stop right below the low of the prior bar in order to go short if the low is broken.

I get this part of it, when to enter, I guess I should have been more specific.....After you are already in a trade, say an inside bar entry and THEN you get an outside bar. What then?

I added a chart so you can see what I am talking about

In that case you can stop-and-reverse, or just stop out if you think the second entry is too risky.

Hi Az
IMO...Typically an OB is considered 'strong' if it closes near its extreme - then typically it is played in that direction. ie if it closes bullish ( like in your example) then it is a bullish signal or at least confirmation of bullish momentum. In your example it took several bars to play out but it did. If the close of the bar is at or near SR then that might be a good place to close the trade or reduce risk if your were not coinfident that it would push through. A really good OB will engulf a number of prior bars AND close above ( for buob) the range of the previous bars or above SR.

as always nothing is 100% of the time. and jsut my pov.

regards

aztrader9 

One thing I am struggling with is the outside bar. It takes out stops on both sides and it seems impossible to know which way to trade that thing. If anyone has any ideas, please jump in. I read the Three Setups thread but could not find any real help there. Maybe I missed it. Cheers

I got a lot of negativety the last time I've shown how I trade them, but I am attaching the charts of how I have traded them the last two days. Hopefully the negative people can constrain themselves from commenting this time.

I trade them in the direction of strength/weakness. If I cannot easily see if the market is strong/weak, I skip the trade. I marked up the outside bars I have traded over the last two days in the attached pictures.

6 trades:
5 x 20 tick winners
1 x 15 tick losers

thatguy 

I got a lot of negativety the last time I've shown how I trade them, but I am attaching the charts of how I have traded them the last two days. Hopefully the negative people can constrain themselves from commenting this time. I trade them in the direction of strength/weakness. If I cannot easily see if the market is strong/weak, I skip the trade. I marked up the outside bars I have traded over the last two days in the attached pictures. 6 trades: 5 x 20 tick winners 1 x 15 tick losers

I recognize those bars....my trouble is this, on the inside bars just prior, I entered in the trend direction....long in this case. And then the outside bar happens. I normally have my stop just below the inside bar. Is the procedure to simply stop and reverse? I did that once today and got stopped twice on the same bar.

I guess what I am most interested in is how to handle an outside bar if you are already in a trade from a previous entry....If I am not in a trade, I can figure out how to enter the outside bar but today, they were vicious since I don't really know what to do with them if I am currently in a trade.