I thought I would post my journal to make me more accountable also. The journal layout is the actual digital journal format that I keep. I started out with some very detailed journals and have whittled it down to this. It works for me maybe it will help some of you if you are having trouble coming up with your own journal.
I also keep a detailed journal on a spreadsheet that I use to keep track of each strategy which I use to review at the end of the week for performance and trouble shooting (mostly the latter lately...unfortunately!! )
The screenshots with notes and journal notes are all on the attachment.
P.S. I changed my grade concerning focus from a B to a F after reading it over again. Lack of focus was definitely there!
Regards, NMTrader
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5 trades 0 losses for a total of 12 handles! I had a good day today. I guess the course with The disciplined Trader has come through again by going though a few of their mental exercises last evening and this am before the market. Rest of details on the attachements.
Regards, NMTrader
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Fantastic job!!
I really like the "Journaling Notes" section of your Word doc. Excellent!!
Now just make sure that when you have a day when things aren't going so well that you recognize it and either stop for the day or take a break, etc, don't lose that focus!
Thanks for posting your journal! This is of help to me.
I'm testing EOTpro indicators right now, also.
Can you post a screenshot of your settings for the billschoparrows? On my 4 range chart, I've got a lot more arrows than you show on your chart which can be distracting. I use Ninja instead of multi-charts but that shouldn't affect the # of arrows...at least not by much.
Tomorrow, after market close, I'll post something in my journal on this forum and you can see my EOTpro charts for ES.
Thanks Mike for the encouraging words! But I have to tell you...knowing I am going to post my results and journal on your site also helps with the focus.
If you are just using the standard settings for the arrows, then no need to post your settings. I'll post my chart at the end of today and we can compare.
Thanks,
Todd
BTW... I'm not always in the EOT room but when I'm there, I'm "Todd C"
I almost didn't trade today since I did not get much sleep last night. A little over 3 hrs is all. Don't know the reason why but that's okay. I will probably not have any trouble tonight?
Very low volume and movement today. Would have been a good day for speed trading but I'm a little out of practice but something to consider later during the next few weeks of summer.
Simple rule for a day like today. "One loss and your out!" 2 trades= 2 winners! 4 handles gross for the day. As I mentioned in my journal entry for today....a little money is better than losing money!!
Regards, NMTrader
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I went ahead and took a screen shot of the settings for Bill's Choppometer indicator settings. I'm sure I didn't change any of the settings from the original but thought it would be a good idea to send it to you just in case.
One of those days..No Focus, No Plan Parameter met and absolutely no risk management discipline...above all wrong emotional state of mind....So why did I trade today is the big question I am asking myself. Back to the drawing board!
BTW, I was so upset at myself that I forgot to take screen shots of them along with saving them. (Subconscience you think?) But here is the journal.
Bad Day today. Went back to old habits of wishful trading. Not managing my stop on one trade cost me the whole days worth and more. Back to mental work again. Comments are on the chart also.
I did not trade today....Dr's Visit and three other issues I had scheduled appointments for. After looking at the charts for today it seems I might have saved myself some money!! Till tomorrow!!
Today was a good day! The ES moved great after FOMC day which could be expected. Today's news was good also and reflected by the market later as it rallied all afternoon. I missed the up move since I had already stopped trading for the day. I am back to working on basics since the big loss on Monday.
Trades were on the ES and only one method utilized; EOTPRO.
2 trades today. Both winners for a total of 5.50 points.
Please read the notes on charts and also grades in my journal.
Regards, NMTrader
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Thanks DabaDave! Although I have to admit I did have reservations initially it has been a good decision. I hope you get to the point of posting yours because it really helps make you a more responsible trader. I'll be looking out for your first journal post!
EOTPro is a great bunch of indicators. I do feel more comfortable knowing what they do exactly and Bill and the rest at EOTPRO do a great job of explaining all the nuances of each indicator. Since I am a just starting out coding (actually just received my first course on Easy Language) I cannot look at the code and know what it looking at exactly. But bottom line, what EOTPRO's indicators have done in making sure I understand each indicator is to make me more confident in using them as a tool. And that is what counts...being confident in ones tools.
I've babbled on long enough...see you on the forum and good Luck!!!
No Trading for Friday July 17th. Not feeling well and not much sleep. I did look at the market for a couple of hours and sim traded the CL...1 trade 1 win utilizing the EOTPRO indicators. I'm glad the weekend is here and will give me time to regenerate and start fresh on Monday.
I'lll post todays journal tomorrow along with tomorrows journal. Hummm. Does that sound right? Anyway, still not feeling well but traded..short summary was that I made good trades and all but one were hit but never filled then came back on me for loses. One big loss was in CL...that was a heartbreaker...touched my 4 ticks several times and never got filled then came down against me quick...Lost for the day.
Bad and Good news!! Bad news: worse two days of trading in my life. Good news: found out why!! My main methodology is utilizing fibs, S/R, MA's and price structures on a 3 min chart of ES. WELLLL! After fine tuning my pc this weekend and going through my setup screens i made a few changes in them. Taking off the status bar from my windows cleaned them up pretty good. I had also tested a few new indicators on my main chart.
After two days of trading and following the usual method in entries nothing worked. And I kept losing and losing yesterday and today. Finally this afternoon I decided I had had enough. Had the methodology stopped working or was it me? I went back and checked my screens and found them all to be good entries according to method. Then the light bulb went on!!! I turned on the status line for the chart and found it to be set at 233 ticks and not the 3 minutes I always set it for. No wonder I was making a lot more trades (losers at that) than usual.. a lot more! Well I was mad at myself for a while but really felt releived that the issue was corrected. At least I hope it is and tomorrow will be a fresh new start
Although I do have to say I did lose all of this months gains plus a couple of hundred more during the last two days. I did have a few bad trades in Crude Oil that did not help the situtation at all on Monday but did have a couple of good ones on Oil today that helped for a while. So I will start posting my regular screenshots and journal tomorrow. I don't think I will ever be able to catch up on all of the trades made these past two days.
Pissed...Embarrassed....Relieved!!! are the words that best describe the past two days!!! Oh by the way, I have reinstalled all of the status bars in each window and made them bigger and brighter than ever.
I will also make it a habit to run through a checklist each morning to make sure all windows and DOMS are set correctly.
May this be a lesson to everyone reading this journal so that you can avoid going through what I did!
Does your trading plan allow for a maximum daily loss, or coincidentally a maximum daily profit target? Not every day can be a winner, it is crucial to minimize risk and losses so that no matter what the cause for an off day you can minimize the negative impact.
No, I do not have any daily trading limits. I just trade the signals I see. Usually not many except for these past two days.
I have tried setting daily limits and it hampered my trading. I would be a lot more conservative if I had lost on my first trade or second guess myself to the point I would miss good trades and then start taking trades to catch up. I have taken a course to help me deal with such things since then so it may be a good idea to see how I would react now.
I will be revamping my rules this weekend and begin using it next week. The one thing I will start utilizing are daily goals both in profits and losses. Other than that I will review the rest of the month, weeks to see what else may need to be tuned. The first half of the month was going along great...then seems I hit a wall of something!!! I need to figure out what that was.
I will also be adding VMWare so that will be interesting.
Hi Caprica,
Revamping might have been too harsh of a word to use. All I really did is review this past months journal to see if there was anything that may have effected my trading this past week and to also keep my losses low.
I look for a divergence on my RSI chart (top right) and also another chart I use to verify has been Crude oil (CL) at 20 ticks (not shown in snapshot). The Cl has been leading the ES lately.
After both RSI and leading chart confirm reversal I'll enter at the first tick past hook point. I will then place my stop two ticks below the low pivot point. If you use 3 contracts your targets would be the mid-keltner line and the second target the upper keltner line (in this case since we are going long). The third can be used as a runner or you can set a target also as I did today at one of the major fib retracement levels.
There is another way to limit loses if the hook is far... get in right after the first bar reverses thereby having less risk in the trade.
I hope this gives you an insight. It is really very simple and basic.
Regards, NMTrader
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If you have time to start another thread, I'd love to see a new thread/discussion solely on trading divergences... it is something I've never been very good at.
My Journal for Wednesday, 29, 2009. I had one quick and deadly trade. Out for the day per my daily loss limit. Read my chart and journal for further details.
Well I never thought It could happen but I traded all day and did not take a single trade! The surprising thing about it is that I feel great that I did not as I look back at the charts for today.
I have attached a couple of snapshots of my normal methodology that I trade and am now trading live exclusively. While I look at and trade the EOTPRO in sim to get a better feel for it and make a decision as to its usefulness for me.
Take a look...I have included comments on each.
Till tomorrow!!
Regards, NMTrader
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i really know this feeling - although it sounds a bit grazy and people who havent "enjoyed" that yet, cant realy understand it :
as daytrader beeing happy with having taken NO trades !
But it shows the high quality of a system / set of rules
it prevents you of a loss in special market-conditions (this realy could be a whole day)
and so at the end this is a winning day for you !
Today's Journal was again short and sweet except that there was one trade for the day. I was spooked the rest of the day with the market since it was so jumpy at times and semi-narrow range to boot. So I feel fortunate in getting one winning trade out of todays market!!
Everyone have a great weekend and get rejuvinated and ready to trade next week...the start of a new month!!! Yep, August already....can ya believe it!!
Here is my journal for Monday, the first trading day of August!!
It has been rough trading this methodology the past week and today but it has been very slow. Anyway, tried to force one in and had a small loss of 2 ticks for the day (1 tick on 2 contracts). Other than that I had a setup early in the day but the market failed to get to my order. Oh well, it will work out next time!
Today's trading was another day of frustration. One trade is all it took to get me way behind for the day. Read 'em and weep...I am feeling upbeat regardless how the first two sencences come across. I know what I did wrong and corrected.
)
Regards, NMTrader
