tderrick 

Well, I've come back home. After my crisis of confidence, I went from trying a bunch of indicators and having a chart that looks like modern art, to what I feel most confident with - One MA, my hand drawn S/R lines, Prior day OHLC, volume and the glorious 5 and 15 minute candles I have grown to love.

Nice work, keep it up

Mike

tderrick 

the only time I feel lost is when there is breakout into new price... It's like a rocket ship leaving earth. I have no SR Lines - no bearing... I end up just watching, lost...

A couple of things...

1. If you keep trading like this, you will never need to worry about money again.
2. I feel the same way when price breaks out of my predefined areas of S/R......so most of the time I stand down....not sure what to do about either.....I hate feeling naked.

aztrader9 

A couple of things... 1. If you keep trading like this, you will never need to worry about money again. 2. I feel the same way when price breaks out of my predefined areas of S/R......so most of the time I stand down....not sure what to do about either.....I hate feeling naked.

It's remarkable that the more you study this art form, the more the players gravitate toward the same concepts and
conclusions. They just approach them in different ways.

This trade I took a little earlier than I like - 8:40 cdt. It was moving well, however ,and with the
overnight and previous day sentiment. It hit my profit target with an almost instantaneous swing up.


PA retraced just a bit and hesitated. I jotted down a few notes in my Pen and paper log and when I looked
up, it was on it's way to another 3 point move. Lesson- don't jot notes until the PA has settled down completely.

I was tempted to just rewind the Market Replay, but I promised myself I would not rewind nor look ahead. Only
FF to a new set up area if PA was consolidating for an extended period.

So I let the irritation settle in, just like it would if I were live. I was under much better control now, however.
In the past, that would have p'd me off, even studying in SIM.

Trade missed, no big deal.

Price consolidated a bit and I started jotting down a few more notes, and I didn't realize the consolidation
bars were moving up slightly - a signal I like that it may break out again... ( see lesson not learned yet from
above )

Missed another one.. still not irritated... doing well. Having 14 ticks under my belt was helping I'm sure.


So I will call this day with the gains I have. 75% to my daily profit target in 45 minutes. I'll take it.
...shoulda, coulda woulda have at least doubled my daily target, but this will be the real world when
I return to live trading. I am going to learn from as many mistakes as I can under real world conditions
during this traing period. I even try to trade at the same time of day as the Market Replay so I will
be in the same energy plane... when I go live again, I should all be in a good, familiar comfort zone.

I may test a few more entry / exit bits, just to get some more screen time up to my normal 11am shutoff,
but I feel that if I were live, I should be out at this point.

Have a great day trading the Real Coin today, gang!!

Ended up finishing the trading day in some consolidation formation. This test shows if I keep my
wits about me, I should finish my scheduled trading hours ( 8:45a to 11a), if I have not met my profit
goal. Missed trades are simply that - missed trades. Not bad trades. No harm, No foul.

Trade 2- Probably pushing having 3 decent breakout runs, I caught a few ticks as PA gasped for air
after a failed Breakout. No need to let it get close to my stop at the bottom of that entry bar
after the stall was obvious. It is best to count on two solid pushes then work the inside game
in the range bound consolidation channeling.

Trade 3 - A well thought out plan of trading with the trend on a bounce after after a failed break.
I Knew PA would attempt one more time. I gathered just enough ticks to put me over my
profit target and cover comissions. I will never be greedy in this game.

three for three... just how I like it.


Should have more time tomorrow to try again...

The edge is getting sharper...

I'm tempted to go live again soon, but I will wait. I would like a few more weeks to gather some data
on the TF. I also need to run into a drawdown day or two...

the overnight session had mixed sentiment, so I knew I was going to be in for a battle this morning.
This is about as choppy as it gets, but I still saw a couple of opportunities.

I was not going to play anything over a long time period in this chop so my game plan was in quick,
out quick.


1st trade... a good bull run formed after two failed attempts to sell off. I caught the acceleration
move as it broke through an old high, but I was out as soon as it stopped. Had 6 ticks
but slippage only left me 3.

2nd trade... similar setup... acceleration after another failed break of yesterdays close. Snagged the
almost guaranteed ticks as it broke through my resistance line. Once again, I wasn't sticking
around to wage war. In and out as soon as it slowed. 4ticks or so...

I felt uneasy as soon as I loaded up this chart...

Overnight had a slight downtrend but was jumpy...


I put on my chop plan and got ready for battle...


trade 1 - My normal trade ... find momentum and jump in on break of prior SR. +6 ticks.. I bailed out
Quickly as soon as it approached previous highs.


trade 2 - PA pulled back a bit and continued on pretty hard continuing the same move. Thought I had
a breakout, when all evidence was to the contrary. -10 ticks... bailed before taking a full stop.

mistakes....
overconfident - I hadn't lost a trade in a while and I was feeling the juice.
Wrong game plan - I should have been playing my inside / range bound game instead
of breakout thinking.

trade 3 - simply a bad trade. Went in on a second attempt to break out. I didn't even wait for it to
get to my SR line... bailed before I took full stop. - 8 ticks or so...

Here is a good lesson about choppy markets

The problem with trading chop is that it gets you out of your main plan, which should be 10 to 20 tick trades.

When you get in and know you have to get right out to save your gains, your playing a dangerous game.

My third trade on the previous chart was correct, just early.... the correct trade was right around the corner.

I salvaged a little cash as it broke, but even that was a chase trade and I just got lucky. The entry should have

been one tick above the prior breakout at the coral colored line. That trade along with my first trade would

have been close enough to profit target for the day...

Lesson.... be very careful of chop. I must wait for true trends and hold the line.

I'm not good enough yet to have two plans although I have good idea of what they should be. I need
to just trade with an established trend no more than 3 times.


Didn't have the sharp mind today.

Revenge trading at it's finest ...

good trades for all the wrong reasons...


1st trade on the way down - thought I could catch a bounce and retest of the bullish high... bailed when
it turned. - 5 ticks or so

2nd trade - My normal entry on momentum as it crosses an SR line, exit at the next line. First correct trade
of the day !! +10 ticks I held this through some good heat.

3rd trade - Same trade... a retest break of the low... exit at yesterdays close. +8 ticks or so....


the result of all this nonsense is as close to BE as I deserve. The last three entrys in this journal are an example of how NOT to trade....

Patience
Patience..... keep cool
more patience.....


Let's try this again tomorrow....

Price was moving right out of the box this morning, albeit counter trend.

!st trade - Price was bullish quickly with good volume. It moved well across both MA's and I entered
as soon as it passed an SR line. Exit at the next.

2nd trade - I let price attempt to break low again and when it failed I Knew it was coming back up
for more bullish testing. Entered on a recross of both MA's (5 and 15min chart) and a break
of the second SR line AND the high of the previous push. Exit at next SR line, which was a strong
confluence of my SR line and prior day close.

Profit target met.... I'm going to enjoy some weekend...