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Reet’s 2 Trades a Day Keeps the Drawdown Away Journal – ES
I’m just going to do it. Starting a journal will hopefully structure my trading a bit.
I’m 35 years old, based in Amsterdam and only interested in daytrading (futures for now) since the beginning of this year. I read a lot, watched a billion of Youtube videos and webinars, downloaded almost every platform as a trial, exceeded almost all free data limits, and tried a bunch of methods. Now what?
A bit of structure please. SIM trading. One product (ES during European session for now), max 2 trades a day, using price levels, some order flow (in the DOM) and no (other) indicators. Different platforms for now, depending on my location.
All of this can change later on, but by committing this to the forum I hope things will get consistent.
Noticing an early morning reversal, from a double top. Bearish now. Waited for a consolidation that came right above VWAP and another support level.
Trade 1: entered short @2826,25, at the top of the consolidation block. Stoploss: 4 ticks @2827,25.
Unfortunately price goes up again right after. Stopped out for -50 USD
Trade 2: Still, my bias was right. After going up for a couple minutes (on low volume), price shoots down (on big volume) again. Waited for a minor consolidation again above VWAP, and entered short @2825,50.
Stoploss @2826,00 (taking no risk this time).
Target @2819,00, slightly above a support level (in fact low of first 15M candle of the day)
Price fell, momentum halted at some support. I moved my stop to BE+6. After 3 indicisive candles I decided to exit @2822,25 for 162,50 USD. Right after that price continued to drop to my target and even lower...hmm
Lessons: 1. How to foresee that pop-up that killed me at first? Keep an eye on volume? Actually wait for the breakout before entering market? 2. Don't exit too soon, but how?
The first was -50 USD loss. I didnt save any charts unfortunately.
Trade 2: At the US open, 14:30 in Amsterdam, I noticed a range day. I drew a nice red box around the opening 30M. Waited for a break out and retrace/bounce. I missed a few (because of other work). Caught a nice entry 16:49 @2809.50.
I was too quick to enter. Price neared stop to 1 tick, but then did in fact drop.
Momentum wore off, I moved stop to BE. I should have cashed here, because of the momentum being gone. Price went up again and I got stopped out. (After which price dropped again ...grmbl) Profit: 0 (which I'll count as a loss, commissions and all)
4 trades today. Whoops, breaking the rules already. But it were clear setups I think. 3 wins, 1 loss.
Waited til US open, due to work and no movement in ES. Waited for some direction, bearish (at first) it turned out.
Trade 1: Kept on eye on support @2822.25. Price always seems to retrace after a big move. In this case the big move was this morning. Expecting a reversal. Entered a buy limit order slightly higher, leaning on a big bid. Got filled @2823,25. At the low point, so not sure how realistic that sim fill was.
Stop @2822.00 (5 ticks)
Target @2825.25 (small, because it was against the trend, and just below a big pending order on the offer)
Immediate win: 100 USD
Trade 2: Noticing a consolidation/rectangle. Entered at the bottom with buy limit @2829.00.
Stop: @2828.50 (2 ticks, no risk/ too tight?)
Target @2831.00 (high of last bunch of candles)
Quick win: 100 USD
Trade 3: So of course I got reckless. Tried to do the exact same thing again. This time my too tight stop did get touched.
Loss: -25 USD
Trade 4: I wanted to make up for the dumb loss. Revenge trade again, not good, especially because i got rewarded with a win.
Waited for a break out of the range, waited for the fade. Which came quick. Entered with a buy market order @2832,25
Stoploss: 2830,00 (11 ticks. Too much! Again reckless)
Target : 2834,75 (shifted it around a bit to stay under a big offer)
It went against me first then rallied up to exactely my target. In reality I might've had to close for a lower price. Win: 125 USD
Looking back at that picture above now, I am thinking that I could have had that complete swing in 1 trade instead of 3. I did call exact bottom and tops. O well, just need to learn to keep it cool i guess.
Trade 3: was experimenting on M5 with MFI (Money Flow Index), a 'volume weighted RSI'. Saw a bearish divergence (see chart) so entered a sell limit order @2872,25 when price actually started falling.
stop: @2874,25 (8 ticks, just above a big pending order)
target: none
Price reached a plateau @2870.50. I put a target there and got filled the second time (right after US market open). Profit: 112,50
I just saw another opportunity with the MFI. A bearish divergence again. on the M1 this time. Entered on a bullish candle, while the MFI fell. There was some heat, but in the end my target profit got filled. Profit: 150 USD. I won't count it though, as it was a extracurricular trade But I'll keep that MFI for now.
But I'll keep that MFI for now.