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Hello Everyone and welcome to my futures trading journey!!
I'm just another young person who's getting into trading recently (~3 weeks ago). I've enjoyed trading futures for around the 8 days that I've been trading with it. I opened an account with $1000 capital and baaasically blew it (I was still able to trade because it was a SIM).
I was hesitant to create this journal thread at first but it would be a way to take accountability for my trades. My plan is to grow my $1000 live paper account to $3000 and then start the TopStepTrader Funding process. By trying to grow the small account, I can try out different strategies and get some experience under my belt.
Any feedback is welcome and appreciated.
I will update my journal on a google doc and then paste it on the thread.
Learned that Mondays are usually the best time to buy stocks due to the Weekend Effect. Although today is a Tuesday, President’s day was on Monday which means markets were closed on Monday.
I got into some pretty good trades. Waiting for the proper to show up and not try to get FOMO’d into a trade.
Since today was a slow day, I just took profits and did not lose money. (finally!)
Weaknesses:
Adjusted my take profit on Trade 4 too much. I was too fixated on trying to end off on a profit rather than trusting the analysis that was there.
Lesson:
Weekend effect: start of week stocks hit their lows and good time to buy. But it also means that day trading on this day may be a bad idea.
Don’t focus on one indicator only. Relied on the Volume Profile which costed me $150 on Trade 3
Trades:
Trade 1
Took this trade because buying below the VWAP line and bouncing around this range. Thankfully I got out because it started to dip quickly right after this. So I was lucky
Trade 2
Below the VWAP line and showed a strong upward trend
I tried to get in at an earlier spot, but didn’t get filled. Sat on my hands for too long, but at least I got extra confirmation
Trade 3
Got too fixated on the volume profile and got faked out by the 3 green bars right before. (3 bullish soldiers)
Should’ve looked at the 2000tick chart
Saved by stop loss
Trade 4
Also FAR below the VWAP.
Everyone’s stop loss should’ve been filled as it was dipping heavily, so I bought after a bit of confirmation that it would go back up
What I did wrong was moving my take profit because it was starting to look choppy. My mental got messed up
*My formatting is still kinda bad but I'm close to linking the images within the actual posts.*
If I trade a choppy area, at least increase the stop loss and try to go longer.
I didn’t see any opportunity to short it because it was all below the VWAP line.
Admittedly, I did overtrade today in hopes of making it in the green.
I enjoy quietly sitting in this trader discord calls and hearing their analysis and predictions on what might happen.
Allows me to learn more about the chart patterns.
Strengths:
I was pretty good at changing my take profits higher and realizing that I was on the right side.
Pretty strict with my stop loss which saved me multiple times!
Weaknesses:
I kept having an entry on a chop which is very risky because I don’t know where I’ll end up. Or my stop loss gets eaten up during the chop.
I did lower my take profit levels because I was too worried about ending the day in a profit.
Overtraded...
Lesson:
Again, stop having an entry on a chop. I got killed by it at least twice.
Once my original target has been reached, it’s a good idea to move the stop loss to the breakeven point so I don’t incur such a huge loss to a runner.
Trades:
Trade 1: Win
Slightly risky trade because it was chopping around the VWAP line, but it showed a strong upward trend. It was a good decision to only stick to one contract if it flopped.
It was near the VWAP line so there was no point in having a runner.
Trade 2: Loss
Saved by stop loss. Good thing I’m pretty strict with my stop losses because this would’ve been a large loss.
Tried to do the similar strategy as trade 1 but got trapped at the top.
Should’ve realized that it was making a lower low.
Trade 3: Loss
This was a consolidation point. I don’t do well in consolidation points, only trends. It was chopping around in the VWAP Std Dev -1.
Also should’ve realized that it was making lower lows.
Trade 4: Loss
Thought it was going to bounce to VWAP but it ended up catching my stop loss.
This seemed like a revenge trade from me and got FOMO’d… Should’ve realized that it might challenge the VWAP line. Bought high instead of low.
Trade 5: Win
Caught the bottom finally followed the trend to the VWAP. Since the candles were using the VWAP Std Dev -1. Good idea to buy at level.
Trade 6: Loss
Saved by stop loss. Thought that it would use the VWAP Std Dev -1 as a support line and go towards the VWAP line.
I should’ve realized that it was an overall downtrend for the past 10 minutes. Take a 3 point profit if I bought during a downtrend.
Trade 7: Win and Loss
Should’ve moved my runner’s stop loss to the breakeven point. Realize that after the original target is met, move the runner stop loss to the breakeven point so I don’t go in the red.
Trade 8: Loss and Win
Since the price was quite a bit below the VWAP line and near the day’s low.
My original target got stopped. Made sense since the entry point was choppy.
I held my runner’s stop loss below the day’s low just in case if it did want to go even lower today. However, I kept moving my runner’s take profit level to make sure I end the day green.
Took a look at Edgewonk which is a good trading journal to further find my edge and see my patterns.
Market is volatile today and couldn’t make sense of most of the chart.
During mid-day I was able to catch the trend and catch another 12 point runner.
But I was too slow to increase the take-profit on it.
Started playing with some fibonacci retracements as I was listening to other people use it on the trader call.
Strengths:
Strict with my stop losses again. My stop loss saved me twice today.
Started moving my stop losses to above my point of entry of my runners in order to decrease my risk.
Good thing I didn’t overtrade today because this journal would’ve taken me a lot longer to put together.
Weaknesses:
I keep buying on a downtrend in hopes for a reversal. I should take a step back from predicting reversals OR get more confirmation.
This was probably due to me looking at the NQ as a sign for predicting the SPOO.
Also making boredom trades because I was eager to jump in even though I couldn’t read the chart properly.
Lesson:
The runners that I set between 8:30AM PST and 9:15AM PST seem to work out pretty well. This is the second time in the same time period that I had a really good runner.
I might want to start shorting on a downtrend.
It seems relatively safer to short on the mornings due to the volatility of the market.
I know one of my rules is that I don’t short below the VWAP but looking at Trade 1 and 3 show that shorting on a downtrend is relatively safe.
Change my strategy rule to being able to short in the mornings around VWAP to VWAP Std Dev -1 ON A DOWNTREND.
Trades:
Trade 1: Loss
Hoping to bounce back to the VWAP after it bounced from the VWAP std dev -1. This was just a bad entry for me because it was at the end of the pattern of bouncing from the VWAP lines.
Should’ve realized that this was a lower point on the RSI at the same price point which was indicating a downtrend. Also I shouldn’t have hoped for reversal. TRADE WITH THE TREND!
Saved by the stop loss!
Trade 2: Win
Uptrend and making a higher high and lower low after it hit its daily low.
Good and safe entry because I bought on an uptrend. The only way I could’ve improved this trade was to buy two contracts, one of them being the runner.
Set the runner to the light blue dotted line or purple VWAP.
Once I’ve hit my target, I would’ve moved the stop loss to at least break even point.
Trade 3: Loss
Tried to trade for a reversal to the upside. Same mistake as trade 1. I should’ve shorted this instead of buying it even though it was below the VWAP.
Trade 4: Loss and Win
Got stopped but then picked up another 12 point runner.
I was gonna move the take profit level higher, but it moved too quickly.
This seemed to be honestly a lucky trade because I still bought during a downtrend. However, I looked at the NQ starting to take an uptrend and trying to get to VWAP so I took this entry. Still not a safe trade though.
Dang it really sucks having to write a journal on such a huge loss. Today was the end of my NinjaTrader trial too so I don’t receive any more free market data. It’s actually the reason why my journal was late too.
4 Total Trades
0 Wins : 4 Losses
Volatile market that just kept going down and chopping
Strengths:
I stopped trading after I really passed my huge loss. I didn’t bother trading later in the day even though some setups throughout the day looked pretty good.
Weaknesses:
I just kept losing which kinda sucked. I couldn’t read the market when it’s volatile. I really should’ve stopped when my losses were already sitting at around $450 but I was really hoping that one trade could save me.
STOP TRYING TO TRADE ON HOPES OF A REVERSAL!
Lesson:
If I can’t read the chart properly and it’s chopping, don’t trade it. I make most of my losses on choppiness.
Don’t double up on the first trade; I have to get time to warm up first. My first trades are usually losers, so don’t put a runner and a target on it. If my first trade is on a huge loss, then it’ll mess up my mental for the rest of the day.
Trades:
Trade 1: Loss and Loss
Shorted on a downtrend however it started to reverse on me. Set the same stop loss for both runner and target because it really did start to reverse.
Sucks to start the day -$300
Trade 2: Loss
Believed that there would be a short at this level. It might have been right to short here, but not at this entry.
Trade 3: Loss
Another attempt at a reversal trade. I thought it would go back to VWAP but my analysis was incorrect. I shouldn't have taken this trade because the general direction of the trend was still down.
Trade 4: Loss
Kind of a last ditch effort to try to make a profit but was unsuccessful. This seemed like I was trying to take advantage of the choppiness during the day but was unsuccessful.
Don't worry this is just a small loss, you perceive it big because you are trading on a small account. Can I ask you if you are trading micros or minis? I cannot really tell from your charts. With this small account you have no chances if you trade minis.
