Not entering the competition as I am too late to the party but it inspired me to start an online journal. If I can do this for 88 days then I can do it for another 88. If I can do it for 888 days then I can do it for 888 more. Let's say,
"If one journals for 88 days then one shall be blessed by the God of Fortune for the next 88.".
With you as my witness, let's start here. Focus on good set ups and learn day by day.
Maze
Goal:
Build positive habits to be a consistent trader
Get funded
Main method, trading /ES:
Price action - Al Brooks, the Strat, Volume Profile
Chart timeframe - 60 minutes, 5 minutes, 2000 tick
Active trading hours - US RTH session, trying to avoid trading past 12pm EST as it's getting into the sleepy hours here in Australia + London closed
R:R - risk 2 to 5 points, TP 2 to 10 points
Routine(in EST):
5am - Review yesterday and do the homework for today
9am - Trader bites time
930am to 12pm - Focus time
12pm to 4pm - Observe the market, journal trades, take trade if I see great set up
The following 2 users say Thank You to thatAmaze for this post:
20210216 Tuesday, first RTH session after long weekend.
Traded short in premarket around 7am. Good rejection of vwap.
Tried to trade the open on 2000 tick chart, got chopped. Should realise market is indecisive at ATH and after a long weekend.
Clearer setups on 5min chart.
10am measured move down - did not hold for the full measured move - bad
1040am double top reversal - did not take straight away but waited for one more bar to enter - okay
1140am potential bigger measured more forming, 17 points down to at least 3920, took the trade but got stopped, scratch, tight stop - okay
Approaching 12pm EST now. Not trading anymore as stated.
Total 10 trades, 1 contract in and out, 6.5pts net profit. 66.67% win.
The following user says Thank You to thatAmaze for this post:
Told myself to not trade as much as yesterday. Expansion of range pre market so allowed for a 5pts stop.
6am long bounce off of vwap - got out as weakness shown in 2000 tick chart, right before a big drop lol - okay, not great entry(heat 3.25, +4)
930am short from 5min chart reversal - did not realised there is a bigger measured move - good(heat 1.5, +5)
943am long failed second entry short 2000t chart - out when shown weak bars but this time it continued up - good(heat 2.75, +4)
1020am short after double top - 2000t entry - okay, paper hand took profit before measured move(heat 3.25, +4)
1045 stopped trading as big bear bars and big bull bars shows potential trading range/chop
Total 4 trades, 1 contract in and out, +17pts, 100% win.
Happy about myself to not trade so much yesterday. Did some calculation, will do 4 /MES and scale out from now on. Max 5pts stop = $100 which is okay risk for me.
540am short - scale out 2, stopped out BE 2 - good (0 heat, +3.5)
930am long and short many times lol - watching 2000 tick /ES chart and trade 5 min /MES chart got real confusing real fast - bad (heat 5*a lot, -12)
10am short failed second entry long 5m chart - good (heat 3, +9)
1020am short but got confused between charts again - (heat 5*some trades, -17)
1045 lets not trade and think about how I can trade /MES with /ES chart properly. Also not sure about putting stop at BE after 2 contracts' out. Market is very efficient in taking the BE stops out. Tomorrow no trading just try to observe.
Total 32 trades, 4 contract all in and scale out, -16.5pts, 30% win.
Yesterday was not actually 32 trades, at least I don't think I have the ability to trade that fast. Must be the Ninja trader's Trade Performance counting my scale outs and partial fills and such. Today I was not gonna trade but just observe. However, I saw a really good setup premarket so I decided to trade. Figured out how to trade /MES with /ES chart after a quick bing search.
7am long - scaled out 2, stopped out 2 trailed - good (heat 2*4 contracts, +41.5)
1045 long failed 2nd entry short 5m chart- stopped out - okay (heat max, -20)
1210 flipped short after long taken out, failed 2nd entry long 5m chart - good (heat 2.25*2 contracts, +7.5)
1235 short rejection of IB - (heat 1*2contracts, +5.5)
1337 long fail break down of bull channel 2000 tick chart back to 3909 - 2 contracts, can't be bordered to think about scaling out, also trade small after the morning loss good (0 heat, +7)
1430 a lot of whips and big trades looks like big bois are out for the weekend. Time for me to stop too. It's 7am here on Saturday now. Happy that I got to spend more time with the market today. Thanks @SBtrader82 for stopping by. Hope you had a nice day!
Total 5 trades, 4 contract all in and scale out or 2 contracts all in all out, +41.5pts, 80% win.
The following 3 users say Thank You to thatAmaze for this post:
Reflecting on Friday, I clearly stopped trading after making my loses back from the 1045 trade. Might just be lucky that I kept my head somewhat straight while semi revenge trading. The trades that I took were valid but they were scalps with the intention to make back some loses. It's okay to scalp but I completely ignored measured move and stuff like that and let winners run. Decided to downsize to 1 or 2 contract today in case of further tilt, and FT71's warning about Monday's low volatility.
0830 long 2 after higher lows 2000t chart - good (+2*4)
0950 long 1 after strong bull bar and inside up 5m - took profit early due to weak candle forming - okay(+2)
1000 flipped short - stopped out as price hit my previous long trade target 3888 lol, should have waited to go short, 2000t chart still above MA - bad (-4*2)
1025 short below vwap choppy as hell - should have exited if it does not go my way for a while? a lot of absorption at 3875 - okay (-4.5*2)
1230 Time to rest. Should have been focused on scalping instead of trying to swing, FT is right. Also not a friendly day for stop limit entries. Maybe don't look for shorts next time when the 1st 30min bar is quite a strong bull bar. Try again tmr!
Yesterday had further confirmed that I might trade better during the RTH. RTH's price action can confuse me sometimes. As RTH is always late at night for me, I seem to perform not as well as in ETH. Today I decided to avoid RTH and the news event.
0318 Short failed 2nd entry long - took a scalp and ended up watching the drop and did not re enter, might want to be more greedy next time - good (+3 +4.5)
0609 Long failed 2nd entry short - good (+4.25 +11.5)
0930 Just sit back and watch /ES. Also buy stocks that I like on this incredible down day. Have a feeling that I might be too scared to trade the RTH now. Really need to work on it if I want to get funded. I don't think we are allowed to trade ETH in funded accounts.
Reviewing yesterday's price action, found one major measured move from 1pm. These are tricky as I might not have the patience to hold them in RTH. Trading 2000t chart ETH and see what I can find in RTH with 5min chart.
0556 short failed 2nd entry long - TP 1 at 1:1 RR, TP2 at yesterday close - bad, above MA, should have scalped out both (+4.5 -4.5)
0833 try short again - TP 2 at 1:1 RR, TP2 at yesterday close - okay, moved TP2 to vwap but price ended up going much lower (+2.5 +9)
1025 waited for a while to go long - TP1 at prev. close, TP2 prev. close +10 - okay, price went a lot higher, did not realise a measured move developed (+5.5 +15.5)
1200 Did not expect such a strong trend day. Feel fomo but time best to go to bed now.
Reviewing yesterday's price action, it trended nicely after my last trade. Good bounces off of MA. Typical bull trend day action. Reviewing yesterday's trades. Did not like my last trade at all, the stop was way too far away from my entry. My entry was probably a fomo entry as well.
0305 short rejection of vwap - TP RTH poc quick scalp - good (+8.5)
1025 long after strong bull bar - ouch, good trap, don't go long below MA next time - (-9.25)
1230 upset about my bad trading in RTH, need to study the charts better. Not sure if I want to trade friday but let's see. Off to rest now.
Reviewing yesterdays price action, it was trending nicely down. My 3AM trade was good but RTH trade was bad. The size of the candles might be too big for my risk tolerant too. Mainly willing to risk 5 points. Doing more research on PATs as it mainly uses 2000 tick chart. 2000 tick chart has much smaller candle size compare to 5m charts in these more volatile rth days.
0245 long after bounce off of support - TP1 before vwap TP2 swing got stopped, might just want to scalp out all next time when price is below vwap. It went to TP2 eventually after one more pull back could re enter next time - okay (+6.25 +0)
0930 - 1230 Been just watching the market on 2000 tick chart instead of 5m chart. It's quite busy but will try to study more over the weekend.
Last Friday was a very big range day that long and shorts can have runners. Today I am trading 3 /MES looking to scalp or have 1 runner.
0400 Trade 1 short- got some room before vwap(good +8.75)
0540 Trade 2 long- in hindsight it looks like a trading range = (bad -21)
0655 Trade 3 short - (good scalp +9)
0830 Trade 4 short- vwap holding, up channel in play - (bad -14.25)
1030
Trade 5 - short for no reason, up channel still in play - (bad-12)
Trade 6 - looks like a short squeeze trend day now, moved TP to 3998.5 - good (38.25)
1230 Took profit of last trade and went to bed. Today reminded me that one time I was shorting the market like this while using my own fund. This time I know to just go long. Never short a dull market they say. It does not even pull back enough for you to scalp out. Should only focus on trading 2am - 5am, 930am -12am. Felt like I was over trading today.
This is something I should have done months ago. The purpose of this thread is just to track the changes that I make to the site over time. Some may find it interesting, but its mainly for me.
So, unfortunately most the heavy lifting has been done …
Yesterday was a nice trend day. I am glad to be able to identify it before it's too late. Did some more reading on opening types and cannot believe I missed out on this knowledge. I guess it's more on the auction theory side instead of the price action side of reading material. Trading 3 /MES today, scalp or keep 1 runner.
0135 Trade 1 short rejection of vwap - (good scalp +6)
0937 - 1110 Trade * 6 - some scalp, some attempt to swing, target if upside 3907 just before HVN, if down side 3873 just before previous IB mid, feel over traded, should sit on my hands more - (okay, did not manage to screenshot every trade entry and did not manage to keep track on the trade reasonings, a sign of over trading, had to pull up Trade Performance)
1130 Of course price went to 3873 after stopping my runners out twice. Sometimes I feel like I should leave the stop for the runner at where it was placed, which would be the last swing high/low for the runner to hit my target. However, 'protecting profit and move stop to BE' seems to be more commonly mentioned. Will think more about this tomorrow, time to rest.
@Bigmike Thanks for the quick response! I think it was on me. Trying to move pictures around. Still trying to get used to FIO
Decided to record my trading screen to learn more about how I trade today. Premarket had a very nice down move and looking for a bounce or trend continuation.
Was too eager to trade right after the open as I didn't trade the ETH today. Resulting in 2 losses. Soon was able to recover after realising it's a open test drive and we were going lower. Tried to swing the short trades and scalp the long trades. Still need to remind myself to sit on my hands more especially right after the open. Yesterday had 7 trades too. Losers were also close to the open. Maybe try limit myself to 5 trades max per day.
Told myself to not trade before Powell speech unless I see very clear set ups. Saw a very clear set up as soon as market opens but missed the entry. FOMO put on limit order to buy pullback. Stopped out as market reversed. Putting myself on timeout and just mark the trades throughout the session. It's amazing how clear you can see the trades if you don't feel the rush to trade. Need to train myself to be more patient.
Once again reminded myself to be patient. Reconsidering the chart I want to trade. Tick chart looked easy with PATS but might be giving me too many signals. That might be the reason why I feel so rush to trade with tick chats. Was trading 5 min bars but the bars are too big for my risk. Today I prepared a 2min chart and see if it can be a viable middle ground. I think Al Brooks trades it sometimes.
RR and trade frequency seem better today. Not able to stick around for too long this Friday night as we have plans tomorrow.
Total 4 trade, first trade only 1 contract did not double check, then 3 contracts all in scale out, +31.5pts, 50% win.
Short biased today after seeing the O.N. rally. Still trading 3 /MES and try to leave one runner but the runners get stopped out very quickly. Should have listened to FT again and just scalp. This is exactly what I wrote on 22nd February Monday: "Should have been focused on scalping instead of trying to swing, FT is right." Got to remember this next Monday lol.
Total 2 trades, all in, scalp out 2 with 3pts or more, leave 1 runner but stopped out at original stop placement(5pts stop), +2.5pts, 100% win(?).
