Leaderboard

May 21, 2019 - $AMD (Partial) I took 1 live trade on $AMD a couple minutes before the 15 minute candle closed, but I saw the pullback towards VWAP, rejection of VWAP, and a break of the previous 1 minute. Along with this the moving averages were above on both the 1 and 5 minute charts, so I entered. I got a partial and was looking for it to go to the 200 moving average on the 15 minute for a second partial and let it run to the profit target, but it pullback and I got stopped out at the breakeven. Unfortunately, I could not trade longer than the first 30 minutes due to work, but looking at the price action this evening, that is probably a good thing. Sample Set Results S P P P P S P P 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

I just finished listening to the NIKE podcast that Andrew recommended. They didn’t really mention too many steps on how to improve one’s sleep. I just went through a very successful sleep improvement program, so I thought I would list what worked for me. I will quickly mention where I am coming from. My daughter had serious sleep issues for her first few years. This forced me to get ~3-4 hours of sleep a night (not in a row) for a couple of years. I survived it but it left me sleeping like a cat and would wake up continuously all night long. Compounded was family/work limits my sleep to ~5.5-6 hours a night. I live in California so I wake up at 4:45am to get ready for the day and prepare for the market open. So I really need a good night sleep. In this list I won’t mention the obvious (caffeine, consistent sleep time, alcohol, stress, temperature). I also won’t mention the more holistic (grounding, meditation, message). I am listing in the order of impact it had to improving my sleep. 1) Where orange glasses when looking at a screen at night. Yes, it’s easy to say to reduce screen time at night, but realistically none of us can do that. I tried the blue light reduction app, but it didn’t make much difference. I bought $10 blue block glasses from Amazon and it made a world of difference. Actually I just continuously where them after the sun goes down to reduce all blue light exposure. I tried the more expensive ones (Swannies) but they break easy. 2) Where clear sunglasses when driving to work in the morning. I was brought up that you should where the darkest brown sunglasses whenever your outside. That’s obviously wrong. There is time for sunglasses and a time not to have them. This is a great way to get you Circadian cycle started on time. Again $10 Amazon for UV protective but clear sunglasses. I use them for my morning drive. Actually not only did it help my sleep, but really helps you wake up in the morning. Don’t worry you stop squinting in a few weeks. 3) Read this book: Sleep Smarter by Shawn Stevenson. I have read a lot of books on sleep. This is by far the best. All but three of these tips that I am listing here are in his book. If you want a free Audiobook copy, send me your email. You are allowed to send a free audio book to anyone once from Amazon Audible. 4) Use a sleep tracking watch. By chance I bought a Garmin for running that happens to have a sleep tracker app. It made a huge difference. Most of these steps I took I could not feel the difference, but my watch would detect that it did. So I try a new habit each week and see if my watch detects anything. Once you add a few of these new habits together you then feel the difference. 5) Darken your bedroom. My daughter had poor night vision. So our house was filled with light at night. After reading the impact of nightlights on children’s vision I changed that. The house is dark now with blackout curtains. 6) Don’t take multi vitamins before bed. For decades that was exactly what I was doing. That was my normal regime. Take a vitamin and head to sleep. I was reading a book on genes and it just happen to mention, “and of course don’t take B vitamins near your bedtime since they are a stimulant.” I was totally shocked by this and stopped immediately. That really helped my sleep. 7) Walk don’t run. I love running, but I am also fond of walks and hiking. A recent study determined that walking induces better quality sleep than more vigorous exercise. So I now always walk at lunch and sometimes give up my evening run for a walk if I can convince a family member to come along (it’s usually my son). Hopefully you found this useful.

22.Mai.19 Red day. I had a good Premarket analysis and most of my expectations came out well, but still I lost in my only trade of the day (on $PINS). It is a lengthy journal today. I was keen on $TGT and $LOW earnings. But my final watchlist was $CRON, $PINS, $SE and then $TGT, $LOW. Apart from that I had few other stocks I wanted to check at the end of the day($QCOM, $BYND etc.,) The reason for picking $PINS was that it was hanging by a thread to fall down below the PCL and YY low on daily. The premarket low was $25.12 and it had the setting to come down till $23. $PINS indeed dumped after the premarket low of $25.12. The reason for picking $CRON was it gapped up while most other stocks gapped down with $SPY. More importantly it was sitting above the 20MA on the daily, and it had the setting to go up till $17.3 once it popped above the 20MA ($15.76). $CRON did popup till $16.48 and was a great 5min ORB. The reason for picking $SE was that it had gapped up due to earnings, but it had a high short float of 41% ($TSLA short float is 28%). Shorts tend to cover when the stock gaps up. I have never traded $SE before, and that is why it was no 3 in the list. $SE did popup and ended at premarket high of 34.85 (although tough to trade) Why i didn't pick $TGT and $LOW as first choice. Though $TGT had gapped up, it had 200 MA and 50 MA as resistence on the daily, I was not sure how it will play out. Similarly, $LOW had gapped down but I wasn't sure how it will play out around $100 support level. Eventually $TGT did close below the 200, 50 MAs on the daily and $LOW paused at $100 and eventually went down till $97.50. Back to my $PINS trade. I had $CRON and $PINS on 2 montages. $CRON went down at the open and i was thinking may be it will trace it back to 9MA daily and continue to dump. It took 5 mins for the price to be bullish again. In the mean time I already jumped Short into $PINS the moment it broke the $25.12 level. I had given only 10c stoploss (till VWAP). But the price traced back to premarket high (25c) before it dumped. I was just watching the price to cross my stoploss and go against me, but eventually stopped out. Then the dump came which is what I expected. Entry: 25.10, Stoploss - 10c (VWAP) Profit1 - $24.4 (RR-3/1) Profit2 - $24.1 (RR-10/1). Stopped out at $25.32 Good: Premarket analysis was good. And most of them eventually would have worked out. I don't think I made a mistake in keeping VWAP as stoploss, it has worked for me before and this was one off. Improvement: The volume was low at the open and the price tends to fluctuate big due to that (like a low float). The spread is also high. When this happens wait for 15 mins. I learnt this today. After 15 mins when volume came in, $PINS traded very nicely. I just now noticed that there was no candle formation on the 9.30, Nothing, no body, no wick. I should wait for the setup to pan out 100% instead of jumping in the moment it meets my target expectation. I let the price go past my stoploss. I would have stopped out early, but having one trade per day is playing out in my mind again. I don't want to miss the party.

Wednesday 5/22/2019 I had a well-being score of 7/10 this morning. My nerves a little bit negative, because AAPL looked really good in the premarket so I will probably be trading it again. I took two live trades, both with AAPL. Yes AAPL. The plan, based on back-testing, was not to trade AAPL but it looked really good in the premarket. After the open I actually was waiting for the entry with TSLA, but I took a glance at AAPL when TSLA went through my entry point. So I missed it. So instead I focused on AAPL which was setting up. AAPL had a mini ABCD/Bull-flag. I waited for a clean break of the 185.11 daily level and went long. What it looked like when I took the trade: 1min 5min This was a very stressful trade. There were 7 near miss stop outs in the first minute. 5 times it touched my S/O and twice it blew right through my S/O on a spike. I survived the spikes and the touches but it was not easy for me. I usually have a trigger finger for my S/O level. The price finally started to move up and I got 3 partials at stall points. Then out at B/E. 50 cent move on AAPL is OK, but not really worth the stress. I actually had to take a break from the screen it was so draining. When I came back it looks like I missed some good moves on the stocks in play. I saw AAPL again and it looked interesting. The price has been holding above VWAP for several minutes and I like there were three 1 min candles of HH and HL. Also I really liked the R/R. I am so use to low R/R in my trades (barely ~2), that it was nice to see a decent one. The conservative target of HOTD (and 50MA-15min) gives an R/R~2.5 and using 200MA-1min as the target is a R/R~4. I also liked the 15min chart, it was higher highs for the last hour from premarket. So I waited to see the color of the next candle. When it looked like it will stay white I went long at the break of the 15min candle body, with 1min VWAP as my S/O. The price moved up to create another 1min high so I was initially happy with my trade, then it immediately reversed and I got S/O. So again my 1min/2min ORB paid for my learning for other trades. My score card for today: What I did good today: Even with the stressful first trade, in general I had fun trading today and every day this week. This is highly unusual. I think it’s because I am trading new setups/stocks each day. How did I challenge myself today? I took a 15 minute ORB. I can’t remember the last time I did that. What I did bad today: Yes the 1min and 15min chart looked good, but there was no confirmation on the 5min chart for my 15min ORB when I took the trade. What can I do better tomorrow: Keep learning the 15min ORB.

Wednesday May 22nd, 2019 Sleep: 7 hours. Mood: good, ready to trade. first trade of the day was an ORBU in NEO. i did not like the time and sales before getting in but it looked like it was going to break with some movement and it did for a little but then the T&S slowed down and the spread got really bad and i got stopped out for a little more than i wanted to lose. I did not like that i got out at the low of that candle, could have held for a couple more seconds and got out at a better stop. GOOD: good setup, good R/R RFI: bad time and sales. shouldn't have taken this trade. MOOD: mad about getting out at the low of that candle and not giving it a second CONSISTENT: yes, got out at my stop next trade was an ABCD in QCOM. this thing was really flat and not trending but i reasoned if it broke above the MAs on a new 5min high it may start trending up. it did and i got in risking the lowest point of the low move. it broke over to a new 15 min high but as soon as it did it came right back down and i saw that as stops being hit with no buying pressure behind it and i thought about getting out but didn't. then it sold off below the MAs for a new 15min low and i thought this is going to hit my stop i should get out but i didn't and then it hit my stop and i got out. GOOD: respected my stop RFI: so many signs saying get out of the trade and i was just too stubborn. also this was too flat to trade to begin with. MOOD: mad at myself for being so stubborn about bailing CONSISTENT: yes, i stuck to my plan. Last trade of the day was an ABCD in TGT. I just wanted to catch a winner but this was so late in the morning, it just fell flat. took an ABCD and got in on a new 5min high, risking a new 5min low at the daily level. Got stopped out pretty fast. Should not have taken this trade, it wasn't a bad setup exactly, it's just that i was more willing to take a risky trade after i stopped out twice that i'm sure i wouldn't have taken this trade had i been green for the day. GOOD: respect my stop RFI: dumb trade. MOOD: frustrated. CONSISTENT: yes I was feeling really down about my trading today but now that i'm writing this out it wasn't a bad day. yeah i didn't take the best trades today but i respected my stops and took setups and followed my trading plan. I think the only thing i would change is that i should have stopped trading or took a break once I felt mad about getting stopped out in my first trade. I was upset solely because i lost money and that's the worst reason to be upset in trading. I will work more on noticing my emotions when i get stopped out and use that to judge if i should keep trading. What i did good today: Took only setups and respected my stops. What i did bad today: let my emotions about losing money throw me off my trading. What can i do better tomorrow: Notice emotions after each trade and decide if i'm in the right frame of mind to keep trading.

may 21, no trades for me. i had the intention of taken a day off, i did log into the chatroom and my das was ready just in case... But i stopped checking it after half hour and logged out without trades. may22 i start again in Sim. Before i go back live i have to prove myself in Sim. i'm not sure how long it will take. My first goal i want to set myself is a win ratio of over 65%, so to focus on making good setup trades. If i can reach this PL would be a next goal. hopefully with a good winratio the PL would be there automatic. this all depends on the loosers. its easy to let them run some in Sim and get lucky but i will try to not do this .

Tuesday 5/21/2019 I had a well-being score of 7/10 this morning. My nerves a little bit negative, already feeling the AAPL FOMO since the plan was not to trade AAPL at the open until more favorable data is collected. But seeing Andrew’s T-shirt got me in a better mood and eager to trade. I took two live trades, one with FB and one with MU. The plan, based on back-testing, was not to trade AAPL and have FB as my primary focus. FB quickly got the minimum trading volume for its setups (>300k in under 1 minute is the minimum for FB). FB had a OK setup bouncing off the 184.25 support level. I didn’t want to go long at the VWAP since the PM high and the $185 level was just above it. So I was waiting for the break of those levels, but thinking it would be above the Boulinger bands and extended at that point. So I was a bit on the fence on this setup. Then a large ask appeared on L2 and went long. Actually the stock moved so fast I had a 15c slippage and not a great fill. What it looked like when I took the trade: 1min 5min FB moved higher quickly and I got 3 partials in the next minute, each time when the price stalled a bit. Then volume really dried up and I exited on weakness. My next trade was with MU. I was waiting for the 5min candle to finish, but then I saw a really strong bounce from the 9MA and punched through VWAP. I did see that AMD was continuing its slide so I made it a tight stop but I still went long. Price reversed and I got out as fast as I could, but it was dropping fast so had a bit of slippage. I probably shouldn’t have taken the trade since MU may follow AMD. Even though setup no longer looked like a flag I took the trade since it bounced so strongly. I was wrong. At least the 1min ORB on FB paid for my learning on MU. My score card for today: What I did good today: I like I was able to utilize L2 for the entry on FB. How did I challenge myself today? Traded a new stock at the open. Controlled the FOMO on AAPL. What I did bad today: MU was too weak to go long, more than half of the bull flag pole was already lost. AMD was falling and I ignored that signal. Plus I should only trade the bull flag/ABCD. What can I do better tomorrow: Keep learning the 5min ORB.

Tuesday May 21st, 2019 Sleep: 7 hours. Mood: good, ready to trade. i had some personal stuff come up so i had to miss all my pre-market work and the first 15 minutes. when i finally got to trade, the only thing that looked like it was trending was ARRY and it was really extended so i didn't bother messing with it. Plus i just feel off without doing my routine so i thought it better not to take any trades today.

20.Mai.19 Green day, after 3 consecutive red days. I didn't trade on the 17.Mai, it was a No trading day, after 3 consecutive red days. Not my Rule, but just wanted to take a break. On the 20th May I had the following on Watchlist. $MU, $TWTR, $S, $PINS AND $OTLK (which I traded in SIM on 17.Mai). But I traded $PDD, after it came up in the TI scanners. Shooting star on the 15 min and I took short below VWAP. As always, I tried to put in 2 Range orders and move out. But a mistake happened, may be I typed the price wrong, and 300 shares got closed immediately for a small loss. I closed the remaining 200 shares after a small move (after a new HH on 5 min). I think I just wanted a Green day today to change the trend Entry- $20.65, Stoploss - $20.75 (above VWAP) Profit1 - $20.4 (RR - 2;1), Profit 2 - $20.2 (RR - 4;1), Size - 500 shares, Good: Very good A+ Setup. The price also reached my intended final target ($20.2), so reading price action was good. Didn't panic after first mistake on Range order. Improvement: It was a great setup, that I messed it up due to my error. I would not have profited early, if not for my first mistake and a small loss. P.S: Ignore the first trade, that can be seen on 15 and 30 mins. This was a reversal I took on SIM, after $20 support wall (which was also great setup) and worked well for me.

May 22, 2019 - $S (Stopped) I entered too quickly and should not have taken the entry were I did. I entered at the low of the day instead of a pullback towards VWAP and break. My entry should have been 4 minutes later (Maybe) it didn't break the previous candle, so I should not have entered there either but this would have been a better entry than the one I took. This is what happens when you trade a stock that is not in play (Rule 7) Sample Set Results S P P P P S P P S 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Interesting. I'll have to look into that some more. Thanks!

Thanks for the comment. The bright sunlight tells your body the day has started. So your body will stop Melatonin production and begin the Circadian cycle.

may 22, PL does not matter at this time i took 5 trades, 3 winners and 2 loosers. first qcom. i had my eye on it on the premarket and it looked like it wanted to break the premarket high, it broke it in min2, it went to test that level once but quickly got up again so i went long, stop would be a break below the support line. my target was 71,34 level. i took a partial then another which i actually tried closer to my target but was not that great, probably just popped back. then i got lower and i got out just above break even, from there it went actually to crack my target so maybe i should have stayed in. i went long once more after it bounced back from the support, my stoploss would have been below the support but i waited too long , this was a very bad trade. i also trade SE im trying to put more emphasis on the 5 min, there was an engulfing candle on the 5, most of the time it goes lower from there so i went short, it was at the low from the premarket so maybe a bit risky. i didn't really have any target nearby so i hoped for a big move but that didn't happen, still definitely not bad, my last partial was at break even which turned out to be just a spike but thats ok. i think this trade was ok i also traded roku my first trade, was pretty bad more like an impulse, there was this long wick on the previous candle and i went long but i really should have waited for some confirmation if this was actually gonna be a long so i got out and good thing i did. i continued watching roku i wanted to get in earlier around the moving average but i hesitated a bit. my stoploss would have been above the moving average, not a great entry. my last partial was too early but i knew that, there wasn't much shares left. i had more winning trades then loosers but 1 looser i let go too much so not good winning trade could have been better entry, it was too risky. i did try to pay more attention on the 5 then i did before. i will continue doing that, but i feel i need to see the 1 for a good entry

Need a really great discipline doing that, I think you made the good choice!

If you are consistently red, it makes no sense to be live. Don't think of it like you are missing out on good trades; you are saving yourself from further losses. My tips based on your journal: 1. Don't focus so much on the 1-min chart. It takes many years of experience to play price action. Beginners should stick to patterns and setups off the 5-minute chart. 2. Try using the 2-min as your smaller timeframe. Here's an example of where the ABCD was much more clear. 3. Overtrading and impulse trades. Read "The Daily Trading Coach" by Dr. Brett Steenbarger to kick bad habits. 4. Trading pre-market involves low liquidity, bad spreads, and unexpected moves. Stay away unless you have a working strategy. 5. Setups and patterns: define them in your playbook. Know what you are looking for everyday. This will help with the impulse trades. If it doesn't meet your setup: don't take the trade. 6. Prove you can trade consistently in simulator before going back live. Good luck.

I feel a little uneasy giving advice since I am struggling so much on my own. Plus, I am sure Mark can explain things better than me. But what I thought I would do is list the changes I made that helped me and maybe you can find something useful in the list. My first 3 months of live trading I had 6 hulk days and 16 max/loss days. Since I made these changes 3.6 months ago I have had zero hulk days and zero max/loss days. 1) Switched brokers to CMEG so I could reduce my account size so blowing it up is not as much of an impact. 2) Added risk controls from CMEG/DAS. Realized max so it would prevent me from going hulk and unrealized in case I lose internet in the middle of a trade. 3) Made a simple goal for 3 months. Don’t go hulk. I could trade terribly but as long as I never went hulk I reached my goal. 4) Started with 1 trade per day max. I tried the 3/day rule during my first three unsuccessful months, but I kept breaking it. 1 trade a day is very much an on/off switch with very little gray area. It was REALLY painful and FOMO was high, but after a week it got easier. The satisfaction of having enough discipline to stop at 1 trade was enough to be proud of myself. After about one month I switched to two trades a day allowed if the first trade was a winner. If the first trade was a loser, I am done for the day. I use to trade terribly after a loser. 5) Remove the unrealized gain window. This was tough, but surprisingly after a week I got use to it. So that worked for me. Hopefully that helped.

Don't be ashamed of bad trading or hulking out. We're all guilty of it and the whole point of posting is for reflection and where we can improve. One thing I do when I have a bunch of losses in a row is to go back to sim and just practice recognizing setups and getting good entries. If i get stopped out then I try to take notes on my feelings and frustrations to start to correct the behavior. The first step in changing patterns is recognizing them. Something else that's really helping me right now is recording my trading and watching the replays at night. You notice so many things not apparent in the heat of the moment. Above all, be kind to yourself and patient. The learning curve is very steep and while trading comes natural to some, most people take years and years before they're successful (if ever) so never forget its a marathon not a sprint.

Live trading summary for week ending 4/19/19. A good week. Both my health and my nerves improved. My first week, since I have gone live, that all may trades I evaluated as “good” trades. Not necessarily winners. Just trades that I followed my setup and execution rules. Stuck to my new 2 trades/day max. Even after my double stop out yesterday, I had no trouble sticking to my rule. My max trades per day are so ingrained into my brain now. Revenge trading seems to be under control now. It took 10 months to get it under control, but for my personality, that was fast!! Since all my trades are trending toward mostly good now (note the table below), I think the 3 tier trade critique does not have enough resolution anymore and I need to develop a new scale. Up until recent I really had three types of trades, 1) being completely stupid (usually trade without a setup), 2) not stupid, but still not following rules or 3) following rules. Now that I have been, for the majority of recent trades, following my rules, I will create a score card and start to evaluate my trades closer. So I can start fine tuning. I like the way Mark D does his trade evaluations and I will use it as a base and modify it a little to fit my style of trades. My trade evaluation by week: I usually increase my risk per trade at the beginning of each month (if the previous month was positive and void of hulk days). But, I also had a rule that had never been satisfied. If I go a week that has positive equity and I followed my rules on every trade, I will increase my risk/trade. So next week I will increase my risk/trade from $36 to $42. So next week I need to create a way to give each of my trades a score. Follow my rules and see how I handle the higher risk. I must keep are sharp eye on my chart configuration. I will be checking it twice a week. Still kicking myself that my chart configuration was wrong yesterday. Happy Easter!