syxforex 

Brian, please stop with the what I did wrong list. Analyze yourself, analyze the market, analyze yourself, analyze the market, repeat ad infinitum. Always check yourself before taking action, quick self check, will this go on the right list. We are doing this, be strong, be cool, be calm, be your best, always... SYX

Hey SYX,

I appreciate the sentiment in which this was offered. I know you have my best at heart....but I believe one must take notice of the negative without dwelling on it. How else will you improve it? Therefore the "What I did wrong" list every day. Each day I list both right and wrong....hopefully a pattern will emerge. Patterns are actionable whereas randomness is not. If you notice, I place the right vs wrong in order of whether I made money or not that day. A loser, then wrong goes last, a winner and right goes last. Again a pattern.

Its just a mechanism for me to keep track of myself and in time, analyze myself against a proven pattern. This is how I was able to over come my fear of pulling the trigger. I watched the pattern, and I interrupted the negative pattern by carefully establishing a new one. I did that by making myself accountable to this journal to list it every day...good, bad or indifferent.....

Anyway, I hope you did well today. Thanks for looking out for me.....

syxforex 

Brian, please stop with the what I did wrong list. Analyze yourself, analyze the market, analyze yourself, analyze the market, repeat ad infinitum. Always check yourself before taking action, quick self check, will this go on the right list. We are doing this, be strong, be cool, be calm, be your best, always... SYX

I think some people believe this is the best to do, while others need a different way. The people who only look at the positive in my opinion will never have what they believe to be reality as they have always learned to scratch out the negative and rarely see things for how others perceive them.

I am reading a very good book on String Theory and this stuff goes pretty deep into the 'is any of this real' or are we just living different reflections as we progress through life. Maybe one of those be a nothing but positive route.

Actually its bee a seesaw week. Up and down, down and up.....back and forth....I'd rather be on a set of stairs than a seesaw...

Profitable today. Thats a good thing. But gave back most of my profit, well almost all of it in the chop, the got back half of it at the very end of the day.

I had fun today, talked to a trader from our neighbor to the north....another small account holder like me but now a successful one. I was inspired. Great job....you know who you are! Picked up a couple of what could be very profitable ideas that could fit nicely inside my trading plan. Gotta try them out on sim first though.

Last night we went to the county fair. My kid and her little friend rode the rides and I rode one with them...the roller coaster. Dang that thing beat me up. I was stiff and sore this morning getting out of bed! Not as young as I used to be. Got to bed about three hours past my normal bed time and the temperature has been climbing lately and it got warm yesterday....slept terrible but to tired to get up and turn on the fan.....guess I'm just lazy. So the result was a bit of oversleeping.

Due to the aforementioned, I got to the charts just after the 140 tick run up began. Missed 100% of it. There was no rule based entry and so I just watched. My conversation with my trader friend open a possible door on how to participate in runs like these I miss the opening move. Will need to give that a try as well.

So I knew I was in for a more difficult trading day given the narrow range these last few days and I would need to be spot on with my entries and exits.

My first trade was a counter trend trade that met all the rules for a CT. I set a deep target and moved it up as the MA gradually rose to meet price. I took the trade off at +18 ticks and was very satisfied with that. Next was a break out trade I took just prior to news. Had to bail quick to be out and I got +6 on that. The remainder was chop and while I did get hurt a bit in there, I managed to salvage a profitable day.

What I did wrong today:
1. Was a tad impatient after the long break out trade to get back in. Took a trade that did not meet my rules for a pull back trade. This almost always results in a stop out.
2. I sized at the wrong time.
3. I took a break out trade that I managed improperly. First I wanted in earlier but I decided to take the later entry....second once it was a winner, I let it turn into a full stop out for me.
4. I placed the stop in the wrong place for the break out trade. Had I done so, that trade would have eventually paid off or at least gotten out at a better price. I doubt I would have held long enough for it to have paid.
5. I trailed my stop to close on the last trade and left about 12 ticks on the table.

What I did right today:
1. I waited for the correct look on the counter trend trade.
2. I modified the target based on price action.
3. On the last trade of the day, I went with my gut on not only the trade but where to enter and on where the target should be. This resulted in +35 ticks. (See #5 above for more)
4. I had fun.

Plan for tomorrow:
1. Be more patient...although I am getting better and better at this
2. Be somewhat more aggressive with certain trades in terms of the targets.
3. Try...it will be difficult...to hold for at least one larger target. Larger being defined as bigger than 20 ticks.

All in all, a good day, could have been better without the mental errors but I suppose that is to be expected at this stage of the game. I am essentially a break even trader right now which is a lot better than I was 6 months ago.

I feel the only thing holding me back now is just discipline to avoid the mental errors or at least minimize the number of them and then to minimize the damage when they do occur.

Cheers.

PS. I am working on the score card I mentioned yesterday. Its done but looks like crap.....and I like pretty.....so it could be a bit before I post it up.....I am not the creative type at all......

"
If someone wants to jump in and educate me on how to properly take a break out trade, please feel free."


What is up arizona brother? How do you like waking up at before 6am these days to trade? Hahaha. Me too.

Today in CL after the incendiary rally it settled just below 106. I think it was turned away like 4 times BUT each time it was turned away it failed to drop as low as the last. TA dudes call this an 'ascending triangle'? Then it jumped up to the high 105's. If I recall, 105.98 went bid and never went offer again. That nuance presaged the jump, I think.

If I think it will breakout, I buy before the breakout UNLESS it was today's type setup wherein I bought before and after because there was some tension that needed to explode. So if I was wrong I would have taken a 4 tick loss, but if was right I already had a position to which I was adding lots. Only concern was slippage/position in queue.

For other less tense breakout plays, I buy when the last bid fails to go offer subsequent to the price running up to a watched area. Opposite for cracks to the shortside. When the momentum wanes, I cover.

I am just a beginner here, so take it for what it is worth. I am still trying to figure this out.

nepenthean 

" If someone wants to jump in and educate me on how to properly take a break out trade, please feel free." What is up arizona brother? How do you like waking up at before 6am these days to trade? Hahaha. Me too. Today in CL after the incendiary rally it settled just below 106. I think it was turned away like 4 times BUT each time it was turned away it failed to drop as low as the last. TA dudes call this an 'ascending triangle'? Then it jumped up to the high 105's. If I recall, 105.98 went bid and never went offer again. That nuance presaged the jump, I think. If I think it will breakout, I buy before the breakout UNLESS it was today's type setup wherein I bought before and after because there was some tension that needed to explode. So if I was wrong I would have taken a 4 tick loss, but if was right I already had a position to which I was adding lots. Only concern was slippage/position in queue. For other less tense breakout plays, I buy when the last bid fails to go offer subsequent to the price running up to a watched area. Opposite for cracks to the shortside. When the momentum wanes, I cover. I am just a beginner here, so take it for what it is worth. I am still trying to figure this out.

Breakouts suck in my opinion on CL! Stops too large and it could just be a nice head and shoulders pattern.

If it is an ascending triangle, then the place to buy is at the trendline bounce right. Stops can be much smaller.... Not a great safe trade though, so I think my answer for me is to just sit them out unless the market is exploding up and just crawling down etc...

Well not quite....but I stated I wanted to try for a 100 tick trade.....There were two of them today. One short and one long. I got a piece of both and ended +75 ticks today.

Today I made an error in execution but I did it on purpose. I used a limit order to get in a trade as opposed to the normal stop order I use. This resulted in a quick stop out as price just plummeted through my position. So I went back to the normal stop order I use to get taken into a trade vs having the trade trade through a limit order.

I also had a couple of non plan trades as I was testing some theories regarding S/R. Both these trades worked out well. I may add them in a week or so to my trade plan if they pan out.

I also had a break out/down trade after the short trend had gotten started. It was the first time I used this method on purpose. The idea is this, if price retraces a bit in a trend BUT not enough to come back to the MA, take the break out of that small pull back. I did and it was successful. Thank you to my trading friend from yesterday for this bit of advice.

What I did wrong today:
1. I used a limit order instead of my normal stop order. I won't be doing this again any time soon unless I figure out how to use them appropriately.

What I did right today:
1. I was much more focused today even after another late night at my mother in law's house for a mini family reunion. This is three nights in a row I have gone to bed hours after my normal bed time. Sleeping in tomorrow!
2. I did not second guess myself with regard to entries.
3. I was stopped out on a CTT but I never got a signal to go the other way and so I entered that same trade again but this time I used the break out idea from my trader friend to get back in.

Plan for Monday:
1. Continue with the idea of having fun while trading
2. Take my signals and only my signals. I will test the SIM ideas later. I found doing this kinda interrupted the flow of what I was doing.

Cheers

Keep this up AZ. We need a new Messiah

Mickey Caine 

Keep this up AZ. We need a new Messiah

I am not sure this is real. I think he really isn't from AZ and is really from New Mexico! haha...

Yes, great work! Keep it up!

Excellent trading! And I thought my day was good with 62 ticks

You have a very inspiring story.