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This journal contest could not have come at a better time, I finished 2016 strong and was super pumped coming into 2017. I was so confident and had high hopes of January being a great month of trading to kick start the new year. Instead, January has been a nightmare for me on several fronts. My balance in my live account has taken a nose dive and I decided to start the year taking another go at qualifying with TopStep Trader only to be way down there as well. However, as the saying goes, "I was knocked down BUT not knocked out."
I started my comeback by reaching my daily goal the last two days. However, I have also realized that I can take nothing for granted and need to get back to the basics. One of the most fundamental basics is keeping a trade journal and when trading was going well, I eventually stopped keeping my private trade journal all together. So, to help me get back in the habit of doing a daily journal I have decided to do my journal here at nexusfi.com and to have increased accountability I am entering the February Journal Contest because I know more people will be reading it. I intend to be totally open and transparent with my trading and the results.
I am a daytrader, and a scalper who trades price action for entries and exits. My targets usually range anywhere from+8 ticks to +40 ticks depending on 3 things: (1) the instrument, (2) where I am in the price action cycle, and (3) the chart setup. I have slowed my chart way down after a disastrous January and will be trading a 2500 Volume Chart for CL, NQ and the YM. If I do take any trades on the ES it will be on a 15,000 Volume Chart. I prefer a blank chart but when I do add indicators here is what I usually look at:
Price Action Swing with the only value showing being the length in ticks
Swing Lines at a strength of 20
Pivot Zones Daily based on the Floor with mid-pivots showing
My version of a supertrend based on the high's and low's of a certain number of price bar's back (usually 4)
Volume Counter
If I do decide to throw a moving average on the chart it is usually a 21 EMA or 50 SMA but as I said above, "I don't like clutter and prefer a clean chart." My risk to reward runs anywhere from 1:1 to 1:4 and sometimes I may go for a 1:5 but I have a difficult time staying in the trade that long.
Unfortunately today, I couldn't trade my normal time but I was okay with that because of the CL Inventories report at 10:30 EST. When I did get to the computer I had just missed a 2nd Entry Long Failure (2LF) and attempted to get in with a retest of R1 and what would have been a super small stop with big reward (1:4). However, the trade never triggered, so now I am waiting again.
My 2nd trade filled and was on the NQ. It was a 2nd Entry Long (2L) and good for 16 ticks with 2 contracts (2Ks). That is $160 to start the day. A nice beginnining!
This was an aggressive trade on CL. Overall bullish market with a current bias to the short side and in a trading range. I am expecting price to test the 53.22 to 53.30 area at least for a "bull trap". So, I placed my profit target at +11 below the current major swing high and tightly managed my stop. Once I hit +10 I moved my stop to breakeven, then when price stalled forever at +10 I closed the trade at +8 only to watch it go to my target zone and above. That's is what I deserve for not letting the trade play out! Rats.
It is getting too close to the major news at 2:00 pm EST so I am going to go and have some lunch and come back around 2:30 to see if I may be able to take one more trade for the day. I am currently up $240 less commissions so about $225.
What mistakes have I made so far?
* On the NQ trade - The setup was a 4L so I should have had my runner on for 40 ticks instead of settling for +16 on both contracts.
* On the CL trade - I should have let the trade play out instead of being greedy and taking a measly $80.
What have I done right today?
* I am reading the market correctly and my entries have been very good.
My first trade was on YM. It turned out to be a real bummer. Price went +10 but because I didn't use my ATM and I got interrupted I ended up with a major loss. I placed a catastrophic stop at -12 as I left the computer. When I returned I was stopped out. If I would have used my ATM I would have lost only 3 ticks instead of 12. Oh well, I need to get focused again. Here is a quick pic.
Once again I was interrupted today and unable to trade the remainder of the day. So I thought I would take an early trade here near the market open. When I saw that price was not able to close above yesterday's close I entered short for what hopefully will be a quick scalp for around $200. I have a tight 1:1 trade for 7 ticks with 3Ks anticipating that price will test the pivot line at least. We will see what happens. I will return to the computer after dinner and check everyone's blogs for the day as well.
