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Been standing by, practicing, more practicing, etc...
Realizing something very important about my trading:
1. Only trade in major areas
2. Trading w/ the trend is very important
Michael H. wrote an interesting comment on another thread about why you don't go against the trend etc.. I found it enlightening and realized I am forcing things way too much as I think "man, this thing should drop"....
Yesterday, I sim traded, up 100.00 or 3 ticks per contract and then went into 'play mode' of trying to hit the pivot. I was wrong, over and over, but did end up hitting it and probably would have been back to BE had I continued 'playing'. I would have stopped as I could tell it was still Holiday trading.
Today, I hit the top right from the open but closed after 1 point (10 ticks!)... I was going to call it a day and then it started moving again, gift (-5 ticks), gift (-5 ticks), then voila, blamo, NICE 4 point run (+40 ticks per contract).
Ended up today at +33 ticks per contract but only because I was trading w/ the trend and I identified the weakness. I tried a breakout trade and it failed w/ only the 5 tick stop.
Anyways, may start back for real tomorrow or may just wait till Monday but Volume seemed decent today for sure.
I was up as much as +13 ticks per contract, but I believed a short was coming, but I couldn't seem to find it, so I gave a little back. It is a bit later than I normally trade so I walked away.
Also, I traded ES today as an experiment. I think it was good for me, but not used to it. I will just stick with TF for now and use ES as a guide.
TF Trades:
1. -6 ticks, I took this premarket and I believed it was a top. I just was a bit early.
2. +15 ticks, this was the short, but I envisioned it going a bit further down. I scaled nicely at a pivot and let my last contract hit BE. Happy here. At the same time, I took trades on ES.
3. -6 ticks, Close to entry, but it had one more pop. This had significant resistance right above, so I figured I was somewhat protected.
4. +6 ticks, I thought this was a good pivot, however, it seemed very bullish after the pivot so I figured I would take a little profit. News was approaching and it was close to my entry so I put it at BE +1 for last contract.
5. -5 ticks, Ok, I saw the good pivot at the 50% retrace and would have taken it but I was taking a break and it made it there sooner than I thought. So I was going to wait for a pullback. It shot down, I entered, couldn't get filled, chased it, filled me low. GIFT.
6. -5 ticks, Can you say Deja Vu? Wow!
7. +6 ticks, Ok, fianlly hit the 'pivot', but I was a bit shy at this point. I scaled WAYYYYYY too early. It was in those 3 bars for like 5+ minutes, so I just exited and put the other at be + 1 and walked away, then moved it up some. It knocked me out. I believe I could have held my stop and still been in by 1 tick for a nice little profit.
ES Trades:
1. +5 ticks, Premarket trade, nice looking entry. Knocked me out at BE + 1 for last contract.
2. -5 ticks, Gave it all back with what I believed to be a bounce on resistance.
3. +1 ticks, expected more down like TF, however it seemed too weak to me so I exited.
Summary:
I was holding out for better trades, longer trades or I would have ended my day +385.00 (SIM).
I do feel I traded reasonably well, however, my early scaling on trade #7 shows an old bad habit.
I believed I saw a good short entry, but today in the morning it wanted to range a bit before heading down. I do believe we will most likely be headed in that direction shortly. My Target is the 50% retrace or about 748 - 750 which is a substantial drop.
Red arrows are trades that I wanted to take as being more aggressive.
I realized I most likely would not be at the pivot which I drew up last night which is the 89% retracement on the longer term by the tick. Anyone who doesn't think Fibs work need serious education. Before that it hit the 76% on the TICK for a deep retrace. Seems like a lot of traders use those to form strong opinions.
Trades:
1. +12 ticks, This was a breakout, and not my typical trade, but I had nice divergence and a strong trend down. I saw a good retrace coming so I scaled out two, then the 3rd after it looked long to me.
2. +1 ticks, (1 contract) I took another breakout on this short, but lost confidence very quickly.
Market was 'crawling' after that and I took a few breaks, but the entries didn't look too great except the circled one. That looked brilliant and a money maker, but I didn't expect the market to run up another 2.5 points higher, but it was clear that it wanted to. The last arrow was VERY clear.
I did not want to give my ticks back to the market and I was a bit tired from lack of sleep so I faded. I am realizing my mental state much better and the need to not have to trade.
All-n-all, an OK trading day but still lacking on my fundamentals of holding my trades longer.
Ok, my profit was higher today, but my trading was still a bit poor.
1. Scaled out way too soon on both exits
2. Did not wait for area on first entry
There is a big move coming today. I could have easily held this last short till 749.00 if I had the courage to do so. It is too much of a hurdle for me. It retraced back to the 76% since I had made that trade.
There are very few trades as clear as that entry I took at 794.2
Trades:
1. -6 ticks, Premarket trade, seemed weak, was at area and it seemed that it could go down.
2. +9 ticks, 61% retracement area and this was a good scale out to keep profit and I did see the move coming to possibly knock me out. I am ok w/ this.
3. +25 ticks, I had this SLM in prior to it hitting the area. I had it off one tick though as my Fib was 1 tick off from the top when I scaled it. I hit it right at the tick which was the 76% retracement. I scaled two after 2.5 points which was way too soon. The market has been so up up up the last few months that I figured I would hold in my profit. I could have scaled it where I exited my last one. The last contract could have been exited on my second circled area. Had I done that I would have increased my profit by 50%.
Tomorrow is another day.
I will show all the MACD's on the entry area. The separation was huge, had a nice area and should expect a nice few points down.
Well, days like today are big money makers. The thing I have learned is when the market trends I should learn to keep trading. When the market ranges I should recognize and move on.
Well, there is still that 'fear' in me and I was satisfied after my first few ticks to just place arrows where I would normally have traded.
Live SIM TRADES:
1. -2 ticks, 50% retracement area, saw short coming, so I took it with small stop.
2. +21 ticks, 61% retrace & H&S location! This first scale out was a mistake. A hail back to my bad habit days. I was actually going to put a stop in just above that, but I didn't have the process in my head enough so I just scaled two. I wish I could break up the stops much more easily. So if I have 3 w/ a 5 tick stop, I can change it to break that up and move the stops by each contract. That would be nice. I would have caught another 70-80 ticks had I been able to do that correctly. For now, I will just put a buy stop in and could have it down in Ninja by now if I wanted it.
Again, market was trending nicely off good areas. I have a target around 749, and I believe it is going in that direction, so shorts should be focused upon.
I continued to mark all the entries had I continued trading.
Trades: (Just arrows, no clicking)
1. +1 tick, 50% retrace, looked good.
2. -5 ticks, 76% retracement. Looked decent enough, but 987 was saying could have more up.
3. +42 ticks, This was really nice and clear. I took the trade off the 76% retracement from higher timeframe! Perfect entry. I probably could have held the one last contract, but I decided I would just look for another run.
4. +0 ticks, I liked the pullback, from the 38% retracement, so I thought I would take it.
5. +6 ticks, this was a tricky breakout trade. I held it through a pullback by 1 tick! It had really nice divergence and the MACDBB's were saying that if it went through this support around here that it was going to fall rapidly. So I took it but it found support and quickly set to BE.
6. +1 ticks, This looked like a really good run. I had not hit the pivot because I was messing around w/ the breakout trade.
7. +1 ticks, It again, came back and knocked me out. I was ready for it to go up though because it looked so good.
8. +23 ticks, This was a really good trade. I believe I scaled out a bit soon on the first 2, but it was hitting an area and it stayed there for a very long time not pushing above the first time, and on this retrace I expected a possible reversal.
I want to disclose to everyone that reads this journal that I am not the best student of my mentor's, nor do I pretend to be a representative of the system taught.
I have a lot of issues about profitability and I believe things are sinking in again as to how to trade properly. He contacted me notifying me that he was not 'happy' and was concerned about my trading on this journal. I appreciate that kindness and feel it is a great way for me to air it out.
So I was going to wait for a 