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lovetotrade's YM Breakout Journal


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lovetotrade's YM Breakout Journal

  #211 (permalink)
 
lovetotrade's Avatar
 lovetotrade 
Rockledge, FL
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Sierra Chart
Broker: Gain Capital, OANDA
Trading: GBP
Posts: 416 since Oct 2014
Thanks Given: 1,059
Thanks Received: 813

No trades yesterday, as my brokerage apparently had their feed to Sierra Chart turned off? Which are the charts are do my morning prep with, so decided not to trade without being prepared for the day. Got turned back on around 10 a.m. after another SC user contacted them. Nothing worthwhile there.

So today price action was pretty much crap, but I squeaked out some profits with no losing trades. Got 2/3rds out of a 30 point range, I'll take it! The hardest part so far has been trying to figure out when to dump my core position before getting completely reversed on. My patience during trades is paying off though, and I am balancing managing the positions between time frames pretty well. Arrows were potential adds I passed on, essentially because I was waiting for the day to develop a bit more. Execution pretty good overall though.

I have decided my goal is to enter when the momentum shifts in the direction of the trend, and just let the market do its thing whatever that might be. But as long as I am aligned right, it will more often than not take me where I want to go.
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We have been trapped in a serious range for a week now, and was looking to potentially break out of that. Moving higher on the 30 minute chart, and above VWAP meant I was looking for a long.

Just so happened to have some confluence at W+1SD and daily VWAP. Which reminds me, we were outside of weekly SD bands, another reason to be bullish and gave me a line in the sand area. That became my core as price action continued to chop around. Once we moved higher I got a nice PB scale out.

We continued to fail at the overnight high on lower volume, so after another failed B/O I bailed on the position. There were definitely some opportunities I passed up, but trying to be a little bit more conservative while my account hovers around the B/E level.

Patience has become my biggest asset for sure, waited a long time to get my next entry, but it was in a good spot and made sense. After that move looked vertical I just scalped out for a quick profit, and wrapped up the day.




Rule number one in the markets is to never lose money. Well since that isn't realistic, I say if you're going to lose some money anyway then lose small, but when you win, give it all you've got and win big!
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  #212 (permalink)
 
lovetotrade's Avatar
 lovetotrade 
Rockledge, FL
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Sierra Chart
Broker: Gain Capital, OANDA
Trading: GBP
Posts: 416 since Oct 2014
Thanks Given: 1,059
Thanks Received: 813

One break even trade this morning before my wife had to go with our daughter on a field trip. OF course this is the morning that the market moved, such is my luck. See ya Friday! Not looking so good to finish combine by the end of the month now.

Rule number one in the markets is to never lose money. Well since that isn't realistic, I say if you're going to lose some money anyway then lose small, but when you win, give it all you've got and win big!
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  #213 (permalink)
 
lovetotrade's Avatar
 lovetotrade 
Rockledge, FL
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Sierra Chart
Broker: Gain Capital, OANDA
Trading: GBP
Posts: 416 since Oct 2014
Thanks Given: 1,059
Thanks Received: 813


Pretty disappointed with price action today. I was trying to give myself a hard time, but I like to trade directionally, and the market definitely messed with my head today. I would like to think I am getting pretty good at pinpointing entries, and areas of opportunity, but days like today show me there is still plenty of room for me to grow. Although I didn't lose a boatload of money, so there is always that to be thankful for!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was targeting Weekly +1SD for entry after the morning news selloff. Initially I was scaling in towards VWAP to setup a long when my news alarm went off, which means I automatically exit my trade. Followed my rules there. Then there is always about a 40 minute gap where I potentially have to watch the baby depending on what time he wakes up, while my wife takes our daughter to school. Well that perfect entry came a few minutes before she got home, which I feel would have put some money in the bank for sure, but then given me the confidence to trade more effectively.

Got a good opportunity to short at VWAP which I did, but my long bias spooked me out of my position, which would have been a great ride down to W +1SD again(again first good missed trade messing with me here). I had a limit order that never got filled at the bottom, which obviously started to suck relatively quickly. I need to learn to jump into the move sometimes. Got long on a move pulled back to VWAP, and got spooked out of that. Quite risk off in my nerves today. Obviously not a great week, but ending just about flat I will take it. Tomorrow is a new week.




Rule number one in the markets is to never lose money. Well since that isn't realistic, I say if you're going to lose some money anyway then lose small, but when you win, give it all you've got and win big!
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  #214 (permalink)
 
lovetotrade's Avatar
 lovetotrade 
Rockledge, FL
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Sierra Chart
Broker: Gain Capital, OANDA
Trading: GBP
Posts: 416 since Oct 2014
Thanks Given: 1,059
Thanks Received: 813

Just got off the phone with John Hoagland @Hoag, and had a great conversation during this month's coaching session. Very cool to be able to chat one on one with that guy, you can tell he is just a book of knowledge and trading wisdom.

As he reminded me this is an FOMC week, and volatility has been absolute crap. I have been looking at Forex factory calendar by the day each morning, but perhaps I should be reviewing the whole week eh?

Pissed away some beans the last couple days, looking forward for market vol to normalize. Still hovering around combine B/E, but things are looking good. Got some new tools in my bag that should improve my edge.

Ciao

Rule number one in the markets is to never lose money. Well since that isn't realistic, I say if you're going to lose some money anyway then lose small, but when you win, give it all you've got and win big!
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  #215 (permalink)
Topstep
Chicago, IL
 
Posts: 293 since Feb 2013
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lovetotrade View Post
Just got off the phone with John Hoagland @Hoag, and had a great conversation during this month's coaching session. Very cool to be able to chat one on one with that guy, you can tell he is just a book of knowledge and trading wisdom.

As he reminded me this is an FOMC week, and volatility has been absolute crap. I have been looking at Forex factory calendar by the day each morning, but perhaps I should be reviewing the whole week eh?

Pissed away some beans the last couple days, looking forward for market vol to normalize. Still hovering around combine B/E, but things are looking good. Got some new tools in my bag that should improve my edge.

Ciao

We love to hear great feedback like this. Hoag is exactly that, a book of knowledge and trading wisdom. In addition to that, a very valued and respected member of TopstepTrader. We're happy to hear he was able to give you some helpful advice during your performance coaching session.

Trade Well!

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  #216 (permalink)
 Sk8ter 
Beaverton, Canada
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Ninjatrader
Trading: Currency Futures
Posts: 135 since Dec 2012
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@lovetotrade
It looks from your charts that you are trading 6B during the US morning hours, is that correct? and if so, do you find enough opportunities during that time period? I've been looking at 6E again during this time period and seems to be quite slow. thanks.

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  #217 (permalink)
 
lovetotrade's Avatar
 lovetotrade 
Rockledge, FL
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Sierra Chart
Broker: Gain Capital, OANDA
Trading: GBP
Posts: 416 since Oct 2014
Thanks Given: 1,059
Thanks Received: 813


Sk8ter View Post
@lovetotrade
It looks from your charts that you are trading 6B during the US morning hours, is that correct? and if so, do you find enough opportunities during that time period? I've been looking at 6E again during this time period and seems to be quite slow. thanks.

Absolutely! The only reason I am not a millionaire doing this is because of my own failures to fully capitalize the opportunities presented every day.

Now I have no idea what time frame you trade or how you trade, but for myself there are plenty even in this low vol environment.

How is the Euro range nowadays? I trade from 7 a.m. to noon, and the average range right now for that period is around 50 points, with your occasional 100+ point news days.

Rule number one in the markets is to never lose money. Well since that isn't realistic, I say if you're going to lose some money anyway then lose small, but when you win, give it all you've got and win big!
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  #218 (permalink)
 
lovetotrade's Avatar
 lovetotrade 
Rockledge, FL
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Sierra Chart
Broker: Gain Capital, OANDA
Trading: GBP
Posts: 416 since Oct 2014
Thanks Given: 1,059
Thanks Received: 813

Alright, well I have been going through some growing pains in my trading process, and to be honest, I have proven to myself that I should not be trading during this phenomenon.

I have a tendency to overwhelm myself with research ideas that I gather from the trading day, that will take me in several directions at once, and then my trading suffers tremendously as my focus becomes that of bird shot rather than a laser beam. Then the losses(even though small) compound until I start questioning my abilities, and before you know it, it has been two weeks since my last profitable day.

There are absolutely some benefits here. One is that I am growing as a trader, but I need to learn to streamline this process. I had my winning streak, and instead of just focusing on repeating my process, I had to look to see what I could have done better, and then sent myself into a tailspin. Good news is I am finding my way back.

Second is that I am not losing my own money while I continue to learn in the correct environment. Everything about this screams "real money" in my gut, so I know I am truly growing and stretching psychologically. Both of these are very real, and really important. Again I do think it is better to figure this stuff out in the combine rather than in a funded account.

Back to the grind. Tomorrow will be a better day.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sucks when you have the right plan and targets, but fail to execute them. Purely psychological. Now I have a better plan to help me tomorrow, with my shortcomings of today.

Also I couldn't pull the trigger on the easiest trade of the day, and then want to jump in as the trade starts working against me. Gotta love it.




Rule number one in the markets is to never lose money. Well since that isn't realistic, I say if you're going to lose some money anyway then lose small, but when you win, give it all you've got and win big!
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  #219 (permalink)
 
lovetotrade's Avatar
 lovetotrade 
Rockledge, FL
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Sierra Chart
Broker: Gain Capital, OANDA
Trading: GBP
Posts: 416 since Oct 2014
Thanks Given: 1,059
Thanks Received: 813

Today was definitely better as far as execution goes. My goal for today was to trade the specific levels I thought were in line with the market direction, and then hold that position until the market told me the level was invalid. I can confidently say I did that. Direction was a little hard to read, and I did not allow myself to flip short once the market moved below W-VWAP and I exited my position. There was definitely some heavy resistance and support, that held the market in a tighter range than the ADR. I have to take profits quicker on days like today instead of holding for the range fill. Always have more to look into. Moving in the right direction.



Rule number one in the markets is to never lose money. Well since that isn't realistic, I say if you're going to lose some money anyway then lose small, but when you win, give it all you've got and win big!
Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Started this thread Reply With Quote
  #220 (permalink)
 
lovetotrade's Avatar
 lovetotrade 
Rockledge, FL
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Sierra Chart
Broker: Gain Capital, OANDA
Trading: GBP
Posts: 416 since Oct 2014
Thanks Given: 1,059
Thanks Received: 813


Alright so I think I am back to where I need to be. I was about $400 down in the combine, so I went ahead and bought a new combine. Which kind of makes me wonder why I ever paid for the reset, besides impatience. So anyways starting out fresh on Monday.

I'm almost 100% sure I just got bogged down with the few different directions I was heading. I also use yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily VWAP along with their corresponding standard deviation bands to feel out direction, and trend strength. I started to get away from this as I was focusing more and more on price action alone. For this reason I was beginning to feel out of sync with market direction, which is my most important PnL factor. Which fortunately puts me in risk off mode automatically. So with a little addition to my morning checklist we are back to good. Probably gonna take the weekend off from anything trade related minus a little prep Sunday night.

----------------------------------------------------
One of the new things that I have decided to change in my trading is how I exit my trades. I think this will be very beneficial in the long run, even though it might cause my initial loss to be a little larger. When I choose a level, I will not exit unless the market has shown me that my thesis is invalid. Or at least that is the idea anyway, rather than place a stop initially where I think it is no longer valid. This should improve my reading of price action over time, and keep me from jumping out of trades at the worst possible price.

Today was a big report day, so I got a sweet perfect entry/exit on a PB to VWAP. Next trade was an attempt at a long that would have been profitable minus an improper stop placement. I noticed a level that I had used to enter the position was off between to charts, and by the time I adjusted it I was already stopped out. My initial hard stop is 10 points, I should have focused on this first.

Next was a short that I scaled into. Mind you I wouldn't normally take this trade, but the combine was ending as of today so I took a shot at it. Didn't work out, so I was convinced long, and sat through that until I felt the attempt was over. Without the short it would have been a profitable day, even with the stop error earlier.




Rule number one in the markets is to never lose money. Well since that isn't realistic, I say if you're going to lose some money anyway then lose small, but when you win, give it all you've got and win big!
Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Started this thread Reply With Quote




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