A bit frustrating trade. But I would blame myself for taking it. I missed nice inside bar trade in morning at 10am. So I thought it should be a good day for I/B trades. At 10.30am I got another inside bar after long run of CL. So entered long at 77.96. A couple of ticks up, then it went down to form outside bar. Stop loss 1 tick below inside bar. There were two major mistakes I did here,
(1) 77.96 is close to major price mark 78.00. I should not have taken that entry.
(2) 78.04 was high for the day, If I enter at 77.96, means I am targeting 78.04 for 8 ticks. 78.04 could act as resistance.
Third mistake probably was, I tried to do an inside bar after a long run of CL. CL was exhausted. I knew someone mentioning Inside bar after long run could be misleading. But I ignored it.
After that I just kept myself away from trading. I was not feeling ready to trade.
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Total profit : 70$ (1 trade, my setup)
Finally some profit in my real account. lol. CL started moving up to test yesterday's high in morning. After 11am, it started moving downwards. I got a small pullback at 77.50. I drew a support line there and shorted at 77.49 with 7 ticks profit target and 10 ticks stop. +1+2+3....+7. Hurray!
After lunch, CL jumped in down direction suddenly to touch day's low 76.20. So I waited for some pullback. Got a nice support line at 76.50. So shorted at 76.49. Again I got 7 ticks easily. I quickly went to check my account balance. But my balance was still same. I was wondering what happened, then realized my DOM was in SIM mode. I forgot to put my DOM in real mode before entering trade.
Anyhow that would have been second winner. But I am still happy, at least it's not another losing day. As Mike pointed out earlier, I need to develop same attitude and strategy that I was having with my SIM account. I know I have it, but it disappears with real money.
Charts coming soon...
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Total Profit : -100$ (1 trade, my setup)
This is not good. 3rd losing day. CL was sloppy today with inventory report news at 10.30am. At 11.30am, I drew a resistance line at 75.70. CL touched this price almost 3 times. Entered long at 75.71. It moved 3 ticks and came back to hit my stop of 10 ticks.
Not sure what I did wrong here other then tried to trade on a ranging day. My bad, looking for some real positive trades.
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You're right Mike, I wouldn't stop trading in SIM. But with real money I get scared so much. So I skip probably good setups as well. I need to overcome this problem.
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Good, I am glad you recognize it. The moment you alter your behavior just because of SIM vs CASH, you've already lost. Market doesn't give a flip about sim or cash right? More to the point, market doesn't care how much you lose or if you need rent money, etc. One person may think losing $100 is a lot, another person consider $1,000,000 the same way. Market doesn't care.
So, this means its on you. You cannot bend the market to your will, so if you've found a method and you've executed that method in sim and found an edge, then it is up to you to try to execute it on cash the same as on sim. Now, this doesn't mean that if you cannot afford to lose $5k go out and blow 5k in a week. You have to trade sim in a way that is consistent with your personality and financial situation and trading plan.
It means that if your sim method calls for a $500 stop, but in cash you would NEVER feel comfortable taking that stop, then your sim method is worthless waste of time. So, find a sim method that truly fits you, then just focus on gathering enough evidence/research that you believe in the method over the long term, and then from there just focus on executing it the same way.
Don't lose sight. I've seen it happen too many times. Don't forget what results you were getting with sim. Don't start changing charts, indicators, methods, etc (unless your sim method is inappropriate for your true situation).
if it can help you and everybody reading, you traded as planned but on the 'Wacky Wenesday' as discribed here by Joe from school of trade, so to me you were right to try the trade though I would not have traded this false break.
I understand you very well because I still stop trading after one loss, especially if it was the first trade of the day.
Big mike is right and his comment apply to me also because I know damn well that in Sim I would re-enter many times so let's keep working fighting fear .
Knowing the market condition before the day is a must and school of trade is very good at analyzing before and after the market.
No trades today. There was no clear setup for my method of trading today, and so for many others I guess. Lot of spikes and cofused market ahead of options expiration day tomorrow.
Thanks Pico for the video link. Yes I need to learn to read type of day before I start trading for the day. It will keep me safe. I am not so expert yet. Need to develop that skill for successful trading.
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