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Personally I like to make my notes right on the chart; often I will make them while I am trading, just drag them outside the existing view area until I'm ready to put it all together at the end of the day.
It's nice to be able to pull up a screen shot and see exactly what you did, and why you did it, without having to do a lot of shuffling. More difficult (for me) to follow is having the trades listed in the text of a message and then having to refer back to the chart.
Trade 1, I did this... (pull up screen grab... exit screen grab)
Trade 2, I did this... (pull up screen grab... exit screen grab)
So on and so forth.
Nothing wrong with doing it that way, but I think having concise notes on the screenshot makes it easier for me to review, and hopefully for people following along. I'll post an example a little later when I get back to the PC. HTH.
Looks like you are getting some solid advice here and are off to a fine start. Keep up the good work.
I just have the same chart open on a different tab that I use to annotate on whenever I take a trade or see a trend line, measured move, leg1=leg2 or whatever that I used to justify the trade. I hold my log in a notepad cause I think it's important to capture thoughts realtime instead of at the end of the day. You want to capture your exact thought when you entered a trade. Then you want to measure if those trades are successful so that you can relate a mental state to success or failure which makes trading a lot easier.
(More binary decisions, less doubt).
Another thought that ran through my head last night: @Calming, since you say you're trading Al Brooks, and you're trading the ES, wouldn't it make sense to join his trade room? I think it's USD 99 per month or so and there is a trial.
Full disclosure: I have never been in there, but I only know from people that have been member. I don't trade ES so for me not interesting.
There's also a web page with EOD charts from Brooks. I used those after I annotated my own charts to compare his with mine.
Grateful for your info. The idea of comparing notes with Brooks is great.
As for Brooks' forums, I am still exploring potential benefits but I prefer learning by books and in free forums rather than in follow-the-leader setups.
Do you use an actual notebook or an app/software? I keep a notebook lying around to jot down trades and reflections.
For journaling I just have notepad open on the pc and I have a separate tab in NT8 that I use to annotate on. That way I can keep the trendlines and such that I used to enter a trade.
On my actual trading display I draw lines, redraw them, remove them, etc. I don't want to see anything else on my trading screen than price action.
At the end of the day I copy/paste my notepad into my journal and the annotated chart with it.
frankly, books are not great source to trade from
When I started near 3 years ago I also bought 2 books and began read one of it and applied to the market. When I read m b ½ I’ve realized reality is different, very different. From that time I read m b 2-3 books about the market. I found useful Linda Raschke Street Smarts: High Probability Short-Term Trading Strategies which describes different trade patterns (if you want trade it), Thomas Oberlechner - The Psychology of the Foreign Exchange Market, The Psychology of Ethics in the Finance and Investment Industry (I trade currencies its more about psy), heard Mind over market s (MOM) and Markets in profile – Dalton also worth. But key teacher is the market and price. You have 2 ways how to study – do it by yourself or … I quote of answer someone from another site which I liked (its about FX but it doesn’t matter)
“-It takes 1-2 years to figure out your trading style and know your strengths and weaknesses. During this time, trade small positions and put into your account only money that you can afford to lose. Have another income stream, so that you are not depending on success in FX trading to make a living.
-Seek out seasoned traders who have had consistent success trading FX. Find one or two mentors, as well as other traders who you can share ideas and market color with.
-Most importantly, put in the time and hard work. Many retail traders view FX trading as a short cut to making loads of money, but the reality is that being successful takes as much work as any full-time job, perhaps more. Spend at least 8 hours a day reading research, studying charts, and following the market. Be on top of every data release and central bank meeting. Network with other FX traders and learn from them. Be a student of economic history and observe how the markets reacted to past events.”
Concerning the books… I’m reading now about intermarket correlations – was published right before crisis 08 year. look what is author writes:
“Consequently, as of this writing, the forward oil curve, which projects oil prices into the long-term horizon, suggests prices are likely to remain well above $100 per barrel into 2016.”
LOL. At the beginning of 2016 price of oil / Brent was 27,49 $
My opinion – books it’s just supplementary. If you want to save your time -> find someone who can work with you on daily basis at least for 1 year. If you cant afford it // don’t have possibility, be ready to invest your time. Bit of my experience here.
I’ve started very closely work with market from Feb of 2017. Each day I spend 8-12 hours for market. No, I don’t stay every second at front of the screen, tons of time I wait for my conditions to enter into trade or exit + different work – I analyze markets, work with history and amke different stuff; every day on morning I write review of the market with screens and forecast + each trade with screen (better to do screen before enter and after exit from trade) and deep description (when, how, why) with conclusions. At the end of the day (usually at 10-11 PM due time zone difference) I also made 2nd review with results of my forecasts )If I don’t trade H4 – it takes more time). These reviews are key parameter of my trade. My experience dramatically grows when I started to make detailed descriptions + I have my own business-plan (because trade – its some kind a business) which reflects: general conditions (when I trade or don’t trade, timeframes for work, no of trades per month and etc), conditions to enter and exit, aggressive / conservative trade conditions, money management, behavior in trade, plan B if someth goes wrong, visual description of different patterns, trade risks, description of trade rules. I also have near 1-1,5 hours of free time at the morning and same at evening . I’m out of market and have some sport activity or just walking, while I do that I think about market. Its very useful and allows to look at the market from very different side.
I do all stats & description in Excel . Each month I split on 4 weeks (in Excel 1 shortcut = 1 week). At the weekend I make general review of the past week with trades. And also make global review of the market. It’s also very useful because I’m out of trade; market stood and mind works different and gives me sometimes very different vision. I also watch past possibilities and plane a new week. Each end of the month I look into all weeks and watch my final statement -> look again at stats of my trades. Because of experience is growing I see how I could make different trades in the past.
I dont think how to earn money, I think how to do trade in accordance with my rules - no matter positive or negative
PS sorry English isn’t my native and I use it differently
Maybe you could go into detail about a trade so we understand your thought process better. For instance, Brooks talks a lot about range vs trend bars, pressure, 3 peaks, and he also uses 3 moving averages.
I found the TalB thread helpful. It got me counting bars and seeing the bigger picture. He too was a Brooks trader. Bob Volman's second book (the blue book) may be helpful as well as he talks a lot about the nuances of breaks, reversals within the framework of what buyers and sellers are thinking and how they are positioning.
Do you consider the overnight action? It's on your posted image, however, going long in all that bear pressure seems challenging for a beginner.
Welcome to our discussion! The more fans of Brooks, the merrier.
I appreciate Brooks' book because of its depths. Eventually, I would like to get a good grasp of all his terminology. For now, I am trying to backtest two strategies, failed breakout and breakout pullback. I did not even count 3 moving averages, just one - 20 EMA. What are the other two?
Where is TalB thread? If it's here, the search did not bring anything.
Did you mean this book of Volman's, Bob Volman - Understanding Price Action_ Practical Analysis of the 5-minute time frame (2014, Light Tower Publishing). If so, I am currently reading it. It has a lot in common. Sometimes I wonder if Volman reads Brooks, paraphrases it in his head and puts it down on paper in simpler terms.
Tell me more about overnight action. I was told to avoid it because it lacks volume. Even Brooks makes it sounds as if he waits for the beginning of a day before starting to trade. On the other hand, price action should work everywhere and at every time, right?
Your advice is gladly accepted as I'll try to be more descriptive of my thought processes.
