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Hello to all and thank you for stopping by to check out my journal. I feel I need to let you know a little
about myself. I am 21 years old, married to a beautiful wife, work as an associate at an adult day care
program for special needs adults and I am a complete “Newbie” to trading. As a result, I am sure that
my journal will not be as extravagant as others but the key I am told is to “Do it, Review it, Learn from it
and Apply it to my trading” or I am just wasting my time. My dad is the one taking the time to assist me
in my growth process as I desire to become a full time trader, able to work from home. His philosophy is “Keep it Simple Silly”, so that will be mine also.
Let me say to all, “I am under no illusion that this will happen quickly but I am willing to put in the time
and effort to make it happen.” The following applies to this journal:
I am not trading with real money but have joined TopStep Trader to get as close as I can to live
trading and have some skin in the game.
I only have a few hours each day to learn how to trade, and unfortunately the times will vary as
to when I am able to trade my TopStep Trader account. Right now my primary time will be
between 3:30 am and 5:30 am (AZ time) just prior to going to work.
I will use market replay to aid in my learning as my dad says, “Nothing is more important than
time in front of the charts.”
In the beginning I will only be trading Crude (CL).
I will only be trading 1 contract. My focus is NOT on the money right now but learning the
process so I can duplicate it over and over.
I will be using slower range bar charts since my dad says, “They eliminate much of the noise on
the charts, are easier to learn our trade setups, and allow us to know our exact entries ahead of
time”. He had some other reasons but I don’t remember them at the moment.
I will only have 2 indicators on the chart: (1) 21 EMA and (2) Range bar predictor so I know
exactly what price the range bar will close at. I may put on the Super Trend Indicator just to
remind me what type of trades I should be focusing in on – Long or Short. Again, my dad says,
“You don’t want a cluttered chart just - Keep it Simple Silly”
Sometime in the future I hope to have learned and mastered five key setups which will provide
more than enough opportunities to trade on a daily basis.
This journal will document my trades with chart pictures, briefly list what I did right for the day,
what I did wrong and what action I can take to improve. That’s it. I may post pictures of my
TopStep Trader trade report as well but that is not the focus.
Again, thank you for taking the time to look at a novice trader’s journal and I hope you will follow me on
my journey to becoming a successful day trader.
The learning has begun! Today, was my first trade ever. Oh yeah! What an awesome feeling! I used the 28 RB chart which is a very slow moving chart. This worked out great since there so much going on this morning. In addition, to everything else I was learning for the first time, I was also being shown price action on a tick chart so I could see the difference. We were too late for the aggressive entry short with trend and had the option for a stress free counter-trend trade and took that.
What did I do right today?
I followed my plan
I didn't panic when my trade was down
Once I was shown that my trade wasn't going to work out I was able to get out for a small gain and start my Combine on a positive note!
What did I do wrong?
I didn't have my 2nd entry in place on the lower range of trigger zone 2. This would have enabled me to exit today with $200+ instead of just $50
I was distracted when price was in that area and missed the opportunity to enter that 2nd entry
What can I do to improve?
Keep learning - Practice, practice and practice
Review my trade plans until I know them inside and out
Trust the plan and follow it completely
The only bummer about today was that we were really confident that price was going to continue its way downward which it ended up doing but I wasn't able to take that setup with trend because I had to go to work.
I didn't take any trades yesterday and I was not at the charts for the ideal entry points today. However, I still had a nice understanding trade. My dad told me to get out +15 instead of +21 so I did and it turned out he was right. I am watching the price action while typing this and price fell 3 ticks short of +21 and has retreated to below my entry point.
Today was a great start to the trading week especially after a good holiday! I finished my day in less than an hour and it feels good knowing I can go back to sleep before heading to work. I took an aggressive counter trend trade for + 16 ticks.
Today, was a rough morning. I overslept and am super tired. Trade bias was long for today. However, I couldn't get a good setup to enter on my charts and when the big channel broke down I didn't have a setup as well. My first setup was a 2L after channel break but it was way below the moving average on a sharp drop. I did enter on a delayed entry and price went +8 ticks in my favor. Then when a red bearish bar occurred I knew that the trade wasn't going to work out so I looked to exit and got +2 ticks.
I missed the next 2L setup as I was in the shower which did work out so I ended the day at +2 ticks.
What did I do Right?
Did my morning prep
Turned what would have been a losing trade into a small gain
Today was a very slow moving day but rewarding. My first trade was a 2L which I expected to go +18 ticks. Price advanced +8 ticks and then had a red bar closing. So I closed the trade at +1. Price did continue on to reach the target but I am content because price didn't behave the way I expected it to. After a long wait of slow price action I was able to go in on a 2S signal which filled at +21.
What did I do Right?
Did my morning prep
I was patient
I took the set ups that were given to me
What did I do Wrong?
I didn't stick with the original stress free trade plan
What can I do to Improve?
Continue to take the set ups provided for me
Allow the trade to run its course
I attempted a stress free long trade on CL at the lower price level of trigger zone 2 tonight before going to bed. Unfortunately, the market wasn't moving at all and after 1 1/2 hours in the trade I closed it at +1 tick. I have to get some sleep and didn't want to leave the trade unattended. I will try to get another trade in the morning before going to work.
