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02.Aug.19 Red day. -1R. I was down -4R after the open, but ended at -R. Watchlist - $PINS, $SQ, $MU, $NVDA and $CRON. Watching $PINS(gapup) and $SQ(gapdown) at the open. Trade 1: $NTAP. Very good trade today. I took a reversal on this and made 2R on it. It's one of those Rubyred stairs setup, kind of rare setup. Trade 2: $CRON. Very Good trade. Took Reversal on 5min shootingstar/15min 200MA bounce. I just didn't have the patience till my target is reached, I got out early. Trade 3&4: $AAPL. $SQ did not give me the pullback that I look for at the Open. $PINS was very choppy. I moved to other stocks, Found $AAPL to give VWAP pullback short. Took 2 trades on it, didn't work out. Could have waited for more time Trade 5: $CC. $CC also provided the VWAP pullback short, a hotkey mistake resulted in -1R . Good: Traded 2 good setups on $CRON and $NTAP - Shootingstar/MA bounce reversal & RubyRed stairs setup. Both are A+ setups and had good RR. Improvement: I could have waited for more time when my watchlist didn't give any setup at the open. Instead jumped into $AAPL on a Ok setup. Both my good trades in $CRON and $NTAP offered me more, I was not patient enough to take it. I like to trade at the Open and finish in few mins. I just don't seem to have the patience for mid day trading. Not sure how I am going to deal with it, anyone has any suggestions?

Friday 8/02/2019 I had a well-being score of 6/10 this morning. My nerves were fine. 45 minutes before the open I was going through my checklist and that is when I noticed Centerpointe has no shorts available on any stock. I called them and they said they are aware of the issue and are working on it. 15 minutes before the open I decided to restart DAS in case I need to do that after they fixed the issue. But still no shorts. I made sure to change my order templates back to live after the restart. But, since everything was setup and my two stocks I want to focus on were already in the right charts I did not touch my watch-list table. Thus the order template did not get activated in the montage. So I accidentally traded only in SIM today. About 10 minutes before the open we had shorts available. If I didn’t see shorts by the open I was planning on placing an application to IB today. I took two SIM trades (though I thought they were live until I looked at my P/L) with MU. I liked a lot of things in the premarket, but only focused on AAPL and MU. Both were too choppy at the open so my first live trade actually a 5min ORBU on MU. The 4th 1min candle was really strong then the price consolidated forming a little ABCD. I went long on the break of the 4th candle. PDC was my target and my stop was the 200MA-1min. I did take a quick partial at the HOTD, but instead of using my original S/O or B/E I moved my stop to the 42.85 tech level. That was bad and I got stopped out for a loss. If I kept the original, I would not have been S/O. Or B/E for a profit. When the price rebounded and broke the high of the day again I went long. But my nerves were not so good now after the S/O and I took partial profits quite poorly. Too bad the price reached and passed my target. It was still a nice winner, too bad it was on SIM. Even though I thought it was live I will not add it to my sample set. It’s time I stop doing that. I made a mistake and I won’t act like I didn’t. The chart when I took the trade. The entire trade: What I did good today: My winner was 2X times my loser. How did I challenge myself today? I thought I took a 5min ORB live. What can I do better: Need to regroup after a stop out. Need to double check montage is set for live trading before the open.

Friday August 2nd, 2019 Sleep: 7 hours. Mood: good, ready to trade. tried to take a 2min ORBD in MU failed immediately. should have been a sim trade but i took it live because i didn't want to risk missing a live trade. i positioned above the 9 and 20 MAs for my stop loss. should not have taken this trade live. GOOD: positioned for stop, stopped out RFI: not my style of trading MOOD: frustrated i let myself take that trade CONSISTENT: yes Took what i thought was an ABCD in SQ that was a snap judgement call that also didn't work. frustrated i'm taking really bad trades this week. GOOD: position size and stopped out. RFI: not an ABCD pattern, extended on the 15min, didn't break lower. terrible price target. CONSISTENT: yes. MOOD: frustrated, done live trading for the day. What i did good today: positioned and stopped out as planned What i did bad today: Took setups i don't take or no setups at all. awful emotional control today. What can i do better tomorrow: maybe trade sim for awhile to get back in the grove. really off my game this week. shouldn't have tried to change my style of trading. also having a really hard time managing emotions this week.

2/8/19 feeling better today, got a much better sleep so feeling more positive today, lets hope it makes a difference and who would have guessued it, a muuuuch better day. Trade 1: okay this one i just got in because andrew said it was long so not good trading on my part but still got a decent scalp with half my shares. Trade 2: after an engulfing candle and increasing volume on the 1 min i tried to get in on a pullback but got stopped out. Trade 3: This just really looked long to me, had increasing volume with price on the 1, low volume pullback then a hammer forming so i went long expecting a pop but it went against me so i got out. Trade 4: CLDR was really weak from the open. saw it pop above VWAP and come straight back down, so went short on a VWAP false breakout and had a nice trade, shouldve stayed in this longer because after the pullback i got out on it just kept going down, but i hit well over my 2:1 RR so im happpy. Trade 5: MU was very strong at the open, when it started to sell off i was expecting a VWAP bounce so waited for it to come back up and went long. was hoping for a pop above PCL but it never came. i also accidently added on my second partial so i raised my stop to above b/e. Trade 6: SQ broke above VWAP with alot of volume so i went long on a pullback with a really tight stop, but got stopped out. with was a false breakout, shouldnt really have taken this since it had already done the same thing 30 min previously and bounced off the same level. Trade 7: This was supposed to be a trend trade trying to get in on a pullback but stopped out at the 20EMA Trade 8: a triple bottom had already formed so i went long with a small size, after the 4th bottom formed i was more confident, i drew a wedge and once the price popped above it i added more and it turned out to be a very nice trade and i caught most of the move. Trade 9: trend trade on APHA, saw higher lows and higher highs, waited for the hammer on the 1 min like kurt says and went long with stop below the wick of the hammer. I was near my goal and needed to get off to do something so got out but wouldve let it run until it didnt make a new high. still a nice trade.

8-2-19 Rested good up at 7:30 SSS and coffee Felt good lots of research (maybe felt too good) Overall a Bad trading day due to lack of patience to wait for a setup that I am familiar with. I will let my charts do most of the talking. +AMD for ORB worked out OK...... second trade was a little FOMO as I was looking at the ABC after it happened and my R/R was not good,..... third trade was taken as a reversal but yet again I came back to the chart late and had FOMO again and got stopped out...... and yet again on a fourth trade I went long on a reversal that I was right about but instead of sticking with my plan and partialing out I added to my position and did not make much on it as I should have. +MU thought it was bouncing off the prev. day close and going to the high of the day, got stopped out at just under prev. day close..... second trade ABC breaking the 50 and 20 partialed out twice and closed at BE..... third trade Thought it wasgoing to prev. day close as it was crossing to 50 but got stopped out. +SQ I was watching the 5min only and took the trade thinking that it broke VWAP and was heading to low of pre-market, but if I would have paid attention the the 1 min. I would have seen the DOJI along with no new Hi. EDIT I took -PINS at 34.62 (the spread was higher than I anticipated) at 12:01 s/34.74 above the 9 t/33.76 5min. VWAP, took 25% 33.99 to protect earnings, 25% at VWAP 33.78, 25% 33.25 hi of pre-market...... brought stop loss up all the way and final stop is a new high on 5min of 33.33 Overall I would have lost 180.00 which is above what I should allow. My R value is 50.00 after my walk away and return to trade I found this reversal and end up with a $300 Green Day..... This makes my weekend much better...

Beautiful!

01.Aug.19 Green day. Today I wanted to try my other setup for the Open. I have seen this work on other stocks too (E.g $AMD yesterday). I was watching $WLL and $PS for this setup at the open. Watchlist: $AMD, $MU, $FB, $QCOM and $WLL, $PS Trade 1: $PS. The stock had gapped down today at the open. And during premarket, it kept selling. At the open it pulled back to MA (due to all the shorts covering at the open) and then $PS continues to go down. My main focus was getting the perfect entry today. My entry was just below VWAP. My stop was 5c above 50MA on 1min. And I had partialed at 2R, 4R and 6R. Entry - $20.9 Stop - 5c ($21.04) Profit - $20.71(2R), $20.5(4R), $20.26(6R) Price dropped to $19.42 (ie more than 20R) but I had no shares left Trade 2: $PS. I took 5min conventional ORB again, as the stock was very weak, but it failed me again and I got stopped out. Good: My objective was met in this trade, ie) attempting this setup and getting a perfect entry. Improvement: I could have held on to 10% of my shares, as the price dropped over 20R. I felt bad about leaving so much money on the table, but again my objective was met and I should be happy.

Thanks for your feedback, I will definitely keep in mind my sim share sizes vs my live share sizes. Well, right now I'm using CMEG. The commissions + ECN fees are per share so I think I can scale as much as I want which is nice.

Thursday 8/01/2019 I had a well-being score of 5.5/10 this morning. My nerves were fine. WIFI was poor in our hotel room, the last 3 days, so I couldn’t even trade SIM. But it was a family vacation so I probably shouldn’t have been watching the markets. I have not taken a live trade in a week. I took one live trade with AAPL and one SIM trade with MU. I only liked AAPL in the premarket. I had MU on my secondary chart but was not planning to pay attention to it until 9:33am. I had no bias on direction on AAPL. Though I would likely need a hammer or weak first candle and pull back on the second 1min candle to go short. To go long my setup was simple, if it breaks the high of premarket <1min with high volume go long. I was betting on the 200MA-5min being a magnet to pull the price up. I usually would shy away with that big resistance in front of it. But I have been noticing the 200MA-5min is really good price magnet very near the open <1min. Though it may bounce and retrace to stop out. It’s a good place to take a partial and get out at B/E, where the price usually keeps retracing. Though it has a lower chance of working out it has a lower chance of a full -1R stop out. So, I took the trade when it looked like it broke the HOPM. Though looking at the chart now, it actually didn’t and I entered the trade a little early. My target was the 216.50 level and my stop was all the way down to the 200MA-1min, so I had to go a little light on the shares. The price touched the 215 level twice and took some restraint not to take a partial there. Then I almost got stopped out. But, I waited for the correct first partial at the 215.23 level. Then I was about to take another quick partial at the 200MA-5min, but the there was a really big ask (unusual for AAPL where L2 is not very useful at the open) for 215.50, so I waited. The price popped and I took another partial. Less than a minute later the price had a big and instant spike down through my B/E stop. So I took another partial, since I was losing faith in the trade. Once it broke back through the 215.23 level I exited. The chart when I took the trade. The entire trade: I took a SIM trade on MU, trying to practice my 5min ORB. MU opened strong and I saw AMD was really strong as well and I was hoping MU would follow. MU created an ABCD and I went long at the break of the 5min candle body. The same story with the 200MA-5min. Was it a hard resistance level and I shouldn’t take the trade or a good magnet for the price? Since this was SIM it was worth a try. My target was 45.81 level and my stop was VWAP and the 45.31 daily level. I took my first partial at the 200MA-5min then partialed when the price seemed to halt. I finally exited when we had 3 LL/LHs in a row. Score card AAPL 87% What I did good today: Waited for the correct first partial on AAPL. How did I challenge myself today? Traded with the higher risk per trade ($30) What can I do better: Wait for the proper entry.

I would have taken that same long in GM had i not already hit max loss.

Thursday August 1st, 2019 Sleep: 7 hours. Mood: good ready to trade. tried to take a 2 min ORBU in $GM. i wanted to get in before the break of the HOTD trying to get to the HOPM. Because I've been waiting too long on other trades and getting bad fills so i got in just before the break. i did not position correctly because of greed i took a full position with my stop loss at the break of the last 5 min candle of the premarket. But realizing that's too much actual money to risk, i got out at around my typical $10 loss. then i did the exact same trade again out of revenge and held this one to the actual loss. i'm really embarrassed with my trading today. i'm positive that's the fastest i've ever hit max loss. GOOD: good getting out of the first trade. RFI: position size appropriately, don't try the same trade again that still isn't working MOOD: embarrassment, ashamed CONSISTENT: no bad trades What i did good today: remembering why i don't try to trade momentum right at the open. I'm not emotionally ready for when i get stopped out for a loss that fast. What i did bad today: took the same trade twice which is against my rules. What can i do better tomorrow: i thought i could handle practicing trading the first 15 minutes on a 2min chart live and it was ok yesterday but today i see why i need to practice these in sim for a while before i start taking them live. I still realize that i'm going to eventually need to take more than 1 trade a day to do this full time but the losses this week are a direct result of me trying to push myself to make more money when i'm just barely squeaking by/ pretty much break even on my well thought out trades. Other comments for tomorrow: Last week i instituted my cardinal rule of never going past a stop loss and I've been skirting that rule by taking full size on my trades but having stop loss points that far exceed my actual dollar loss tolerance. so starting tomorrow i'll add the rule that my position size must always match my stop loss point on the chart. had i done that today i would have lost significantly less money. another comment is that i feel like i'm self sabotaging by changing my slowly winning strategy with trying to take more momentum trades that i'm not good at. only taking one live trade tomorrow and then regrouping next week and going back to focusing on my thought out trades that are showing more potential

July 31, 2019 - Nothing What a way to start a vacation. Terrible trading all around. I gave into FOMO and took a trade that wasn’t even close to anything I trade. Why? Simple, For two days in a row I have no setups and I have this huge urge to work my profit taking plan. Absolutely, positively the worse trading day in a very long time. I even took a sim trade because nothing was there and then went back and took a live trade. No Trading for me tomorrow as I will be on the road. Hopefully, I will trade on Monday and Tuesday. There is one good thing. I stuck to my stop loss and only had a 1R loss. I guess that is a highlight to focus on. Sample Set Results, S E P S P 16 17 18 19 20

8-1-19 Woke @ 8:00 very tired from last nights work. didnt eat well and had a lot of problems at work. SSS, coffee and a bar. I feel like I am getting much better with the pre-market and gathering my watch list I missed SPWR on ORB because of my past false reads within the first 5 min. I was having serious FOMO but I did not take it 9:45 +AMD ABCD on 1 and 5min, s/31.04 just below the 9, t/ 31.33 a daily that I have marked. I did take two trades because I wanted 500 shares and I only have hot keys for 400 and 100 (Ill fix that). This is the first day that I am now trying to work onj a fake $5K account (which is where I plan on starting). Took 50% Partials at 31.34 and 31.42, kept my stop trailing at under the 9 and got stopped out at 31.23 for a GP of 92.25 and 88.87 after fees This is my first one and done (in SIM)

I think having a daily profit goal is incredibly important, not only for the obvious reasons of income to live on and invest further, but psychologically, it sets up a framework that minimizes risk and maximizes the chances of success. Assuming you have been successful at historically hitting your target profit, having one serves to set an attainable goal and ultimately, a daily "reward". Conversely, consider the concept of "more", in our little monkey/reptile brains, "more" acts like a short circuit that can lead to illogical and impulsive actions. More is almost always perceived as better, at least on the surface, but it has a vague and nebulous value, more is always more, when you get more, you want what? MORE OF IT ! In trading, this is a recipe for disaster as the amount of risk is infinite and entails almost no chance of success, this of course is what we traders seek to reduce, not enhance. I'm no psychologist so please pardon my rather primitive explanations below and also, the following is ONLY my opinion and personal perspective on the topic. We humans are reward vs threat based creatures who despite different ways of going about it, are simply looking to have our needs met with as little exposure to risk as possible. Setting a daily goal accomplishes this through first off, setting a benchmark at which (X) amount of daily profit meets whatever daily needs we require. You hit your goal, you get the dopamine reward, you've accomplished what you set out to do, life is good right? So why push it further which simply invites risk and loss? Not only that, how many solid trades can you find in a day? To some extent, its a numbers game with the opportunity limited by our capacity to find the good ones. Also, in our heads, taking a loss after meeting a goal can feel far more devastating than simply having a loss/random difficult day, while this pain/anxiety is good in the sense that it is how we learn what NOT to do, how many times do you need to go through this to learn that it was NOT the right path to take. Again, setting up a rule that says, when I hit (x) dollars for the day, I walk away, creates the framework in which this risk of highly minimized. Now, let's consider one possible scenario of what MIGHT go through the mind of a trader who does not set a daily goal. He starts the day with the concept of some nebulous dollar figure in his head that has no upper limit, it's something unattainable, he has no goal other than "MORE", what is more? More is always more and you always want more of it because it is scarce and hard to come by. It's a bit like the idea of doing something you need to do, but saying, you will do it tomorrow, tomorrow often never comes, just like more is never enough, more is always more, it ultimately becomes greed, carelessness, and drastically clouds sound judgement. Setting a profit goal allows us to attain a finite, acceptable, and definite value of what "more", is. I mean it is more than you started with right? I think most of us have noticed that, and I have for sure recognized, that the more you trade, the more chances there are of a loss, and possibly a big loss, and worst feeling of all? unnecessarily losing a previously attained "reward" , which is something we all strive to avoid, so why do it? Psychologically, we are always scanning the horizon for the thing that will meet our needs, we scan endless candlestick patterns, our scanners, etc. left unchecked, these "needs" become exaggerated, endless, and grow into expectations we will never meet, and hence, create disappointment and end in failure. So lets break this down into the base psychological components, (Reward): Rewards drive us to do the things we do, ((rewards being the serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, etc. released in our brains when we do something positive towards our survival), these chemical responses are incredibly short lived, which drives us to continue to seek them and hence, repeat previously successful behavior in order to get yet another "reward/winning trade". Over time, we come to expect these rewards and along the way, we learn how to best attain them. Creating these behaviors takes time as the brain adjusts to it, positive change is always difficult, a bit painful, and never comes fast enough as it MUST be repeatable over time, however, it is a critical component to our survival/trading success, we need to do it over, and over again for it to become a learned and natural response that we can then do without expending much effort. Applied to day trading, setting a daily goal sets a baseline that at the fundamental level, accomplishes 2 things we all seek, meeting a need/reward/feeling good, that is repeatable as often as possible, and minimizing the threat/risk of loss. A daily profit target is a line in the sand that says "this is a goal I can hit daily with the maximum amount of success while still meeting some external financial need with the minimal amount of financial risk of loss". Basically, a profit target is an optimal balance of practical need, reward, effort, and risk aversion. The other side of the equation is (Threat, risk/anxiety/pain), the 2nd primary driver of our actions. Think back to a time when you ended a trading day with a large loss, think about how you felt then, and how it makes you feel now. Now do the same exercise and think back to a day when you had highly profitable trading day. Which experience do you recall with more intensity and emotion? If you are like most of us, the loss will trigger the stronger emotion as it has made a larger impact on your psyche and is more committed to memory. This makes sense because our ultimate goal is survival, and despite our technology, glitz, glamour, and advancement, our base brain, the limbic system (sort of like the little lizard part of our brain), is still driven by the same primary survival driven goals as our ancient ancestors, we subconsciously see a losing trade as a threat to our existence regardless of what your HUGE cerebral cortex says. In nature, rewards and acts of survival are continually necessary and short lived and while you may not reach every reward you seek, you usually still live to fight another day. Threats however, one is enough to mean that no, you don't live to fight another day. A trading loss has this same psychological effect on us which is why they are so much more intense than the short lived pleasure responses we get from meeting a small goal. Given you only survive so many threats, if at all, the memory of such events creates a more intense response. Now bringing this back to trading and applying the same concepts, this is why listening to your gut is so important and why a daily profit is such a critical tool to ultimate success. A single bad loss has the intensity of five nice profits. We humans are the only creatures that can make a single mistake yet relive it over, and over, and over again, sometimes for our entire lives. As traders, we need to accurately assess risk vs reward with a clear head, allowing anxiety to cloud our judgment through experiencing excess and repeated losses is entirely detrimental to our success, confidence, decision making, and emotional well being, etc. So again, setting a daily profit that maximizes the probability of maximum repeated success over time with minimized risk is more than just financial protection, it is psychological protection. It creates a psychological environment where we make the most of positive reinforcement all the while learning the most we can from a minimized number of risks and losses. Now granted, a set profit target will be fluid over time, not static, and will increase as our skills grow, which is truly the beauty of the way the mind/brain works and why I find understanding these concepts is beneficial to advancing the very complex skill of day trading. While this explanation may seem rather tedious, which it can be, I truly believe that understanding these primary drivers as they apply to not only trading, but life in general, gives us control over outcomes and truly puts us in the drivers seat of our actions, emotions, and ultimate success. Now, aside from the goal of making money, which is why we do this to large extent, setting an attainable daily profit provides value beyond the simple matter of providing income to meet our need for resources. For me personally, the way my trading day ends sets the tone for the rest of the day for either good, or bad. For those of us on the West coast at least, day trading is the first thing we do on a weekday. When I have profitable mornings, I'm left with a feeling of accomplishment and financial security that colors how I perceive the rest of the day and in the best way possible. More than that, when the next trading day starts, I recall the previous days success, I start the morning trading with confidence, optimism, and a positive outlook, I'm better able to pick out good trades and execute them efficiently, success breeds more of the same, its a vicious cycle of achievement we all strive for. Now, When I end the morning with a loss, its very easy to brood about it, ending with a loss sets a far less desirable tone for the day. Even more detrimental is that the next trading day can also be colored by the previous days loss. I may start the day with a feeling of anxiety, fear, and apprehension, which ultimately clouds my judgement and successful trading becomes inhibited, something no trader wants. So to put some perspective on this, on days that that started with hitting my profit goal, im not thinking for the remainder of the day, ""oh I COULD of made $750 instead of my daily $500 goal"", I'm thinking ""hey, I had a profitable trading day, and that's enough"". There will always be money left on the table to some extent and as psychologically healthy traders, we need to be ok with that and as Andrew always says, DONT CHASE IT Ultimately, we are all seeking happiness, if setting and reaching a reasonable daily profit goal can provide this on a near daily basis, why would you NOT do it. Bottom line is this, money is simply a means to an end, there is never "enough" of it, even many Billionaires continually seek more of it yet, are they really any happier than the man who sets realistic expectations, has his basic needs met and experiences many small rewards over the course of the day vs. the billionaire who continually has to seek ever larger and even harder to attain rewards for the same chemical reward response in his brain? I believe the former has the more desirable life. Almost no one is going to make so much money in a short period of trading that you can take the rest of your life off, so why NOT set a daily profit goal and then go on to enjoy rest of your day with a sense of accomplishment and well being vs. not having a set goal and chasing that ever elusive and never ending psychological rabbit hole of "more"? As traders, we have a huge number of tools in our arsenals to achieve success and I believe a profit target is a critical factor in the pursuit of that goal. Andrew, I hope this helps you, Scot