January Monthly Recap Top Three Good Trends Emotional recognition is improving. I have been able to identify the couple of things that start to get my heart rate up when a setup is starting to appear My ability to focus on a process when the trade is developing and creating a routine to execute the moving average breakout strategy. Prior to this month I have been all over in how I approach determining if I should enter or not. I now have a process and an entry strategy to execute the trade that allows my emotions to remain in check I began developing a process to assist with the self-sabotaging acts I been having issues with entering the correct orders in the montage. I would have thought that this was basic but once I removed my focus from it and just started entering the numbers without double checking errors started to form. Bottom Three Bad Trends Self-Sabotaging acts by far have been the biggest negative trend this month. I have had several each week. Not all of them cost me as I found them before it affected the trade, none the less the acts were still there and need addressing. My emotions while in the trade need focus as those are the emotions that are causing me to reduce my profits and not stick with my trade plan I had an issue at the open where I am seeing setups that are not mine, but I am saying what direction the stock will go in. The stock than makes the move I called, which then builds this feeling of missing out on the trade even though it was not within my trade plan. I have made an effort to stop that and only worry about the trades that are within my trade plan. Focus for Next Month Top priority for next month is fixing the self-Sabotaging acts I am committing Continue to work on focusing on your mindfulness and how you are reacting to certain emotions. Start to hyper focus on your setups and not the other setups that you notice. Those other setups are not going to improve your trading just yet. Eventually you can add them to the tool box.

Friday 01/31/2020 I had a well-being score of 7/10 this morning. I took 1 live trade this morning with CL. My watchlist: NAV, CL, XOM, ADNT, POL and WWE. Actually I didn’t like anything on my watch list so I just watch all six at the open. Finally I saw CL setting up. It made a small hammer on high volume. When it broke the HOPM I went long. I felt like I took too many shares so I sold some quickly. Too bad the price instantly shot up afterwards. There were a lot of levels above it so I thought $75 would be the strongest for my target. My stop originally was the bottom of the wick, but then sold some shares so my stop was 73.30, which was sort of a level formed in PM just before the open. The price moved quickly higher so not a stressful trade. I was spooked out after that 1min tombstone. What did I do good today? Watching all 6 stocks on my watchlist and looking for volume more than price movement. What I am grateful from today? CL making my watchlist, it almost didn’t. So it is the last trading day of the month. I don’t write a monthly review anymore, because I don’t perform a monthly review anymore. I have been trying to get out of my habit of being flat every month. So I have stopped looking at my P/L for 3 months now. Though I can guess each day with a 1/2R accuracy what I did, I have not kept a running total in my head. This was the first of the 3 months where it feels like I did better than flat. I promised myself not to look so I won’t. But I will rethink my strategy over the weekend. Maybe it is time to start to looking again for next month. At least at the months end so I can analyze my trades more effectively. What is also nice about having a positive month day trading is I am up +14R on my swing trades this month. So it was a profitable month for me. My swing trade journal if you are curious: https://forums.bearbulltraders.com/topic/1536-rob-cs-swing-trading-journal/page/4/#comments

I wanted to post this experience I had as a word of caution to all traders in the BBT community. I come from a background of successfully managing a sizeable IRA account as the result of 40 years as a medical imaging engineer. I guess I've been a swing trader since before that was a thing, and have always been very happy with my results, and I enjoy it very much. Early in my career, I helped write code for some of the earliest CT scanners, and later MRI machines. When we started installing these machines, there were some extreme high pressure situations. These machines were not on every corner like they are now, and if I didn't keep mine running, there might not be another one available for several hundred miles. I loved it, and still do. This past September, I found Andrew's book, read it right away, then got his second book and read it, and then I did the same with Bryan's book. I became a lifetime member to BBT, and proceeded to paper trade with a 3 month subscription to the BBT DAS software. I probably opened my CMEG account sooner than I should have, and went live too early because hey, I'm different, right? I have years of "experience" with trading the market, right? Then in the beginning of December, I opened my IB account, with enough to make sure I didn't have to worry about the PDT rule. I've been struggling, good days, bad days, but had not yet lost anywhere near what I have been able to make in my IRA account. Not as well as I would have liked or expected, but considered the losses the cost of opening a new business, and education. Looking at it like that, it has been a bargain, and if I hadn't done it, I would always have wondered "what if". Enough background. Fast forward to December 23. ITSC was in play. I had decided that it was time to take it up a notch, increase my shares, but I had been struggling with it a bit. ITCI had beaten earnings, and had several analysts upgrades. It started with an opening range breakup, and I got in with more shares than what I had been doing. Not a lot more, and still probably would be considered small by more experienced traders. The stock then shot down like a rock, and I saw my unrealized drop to negative $800, which was way more than I was willing to lose. I did the classic, psychological reaction that we have all been told about. First I completely locked up, panicked, and sold everything, even as it was starting to reverse. It then took off, and hardly even did as much as a pullback, all the way up to what I remember as something like a $6 climb. Because of my intervention, I turned what should have been a $4000 plus gain into an $800 loss. I felt like someone had hit me in the face with a 2 by 4. In the words of that great American philosopher, Mike Tyson, "Everyone has a plan, until you get hit in the face". I then watched it drop back nearly to where I had gotten out, and then run back up to a double top. But I was still in no condition to get back in. I was petrified. Until..... By the afternoon, I had gathered my senses, and followed the price action of this stock that had beaten me so badly. So the next time it dropped and started to reverse, I had decided that it was time to get my money back. Most of you probably know where this is going. I decided to get in with smaller size, and as it went in my favor, I would add size. Sounds like a plan, but ITSC still had other ideas. Then it took another leg down. Hey, no problem, just add, and you've got a better entry. Then came a big dump down. I can't even explain what had taken me over, but I added again. After watching it continue to grind down, I was eventually forced to come to terms with the fact that I had just managed to double my losses, and by the time I got out of the nightmare that I had created, I was down $1600 for the day, December 23, 2 days before Christmas, ITCI. I will never forget it. The "Hulk day" that could never happen to me, had happened, and I honestly had no idea what happened. I'm fortunate that I was able to absorb the loss without having to give up trading altogether. My strong belief is that no matter how many times you get knocked down, the only thing that matters is how you get back up. I was surprised how quickly I was able to recover, and a month later, things are actually starting to "click". I actually feel like I am developing a process that I can execute, and one day, have the consistency that I need, and I'm working very hard with dealing with the fear. Also, please know that during every moment, I was completely aware of the fact that I had done this to myself. I was to blame. Not ITSC, or the market. But, as some time has passed, I now know that I did learn a very valuable lesson that day, and I now follow my rules without question. Mechanical stops 100%. I decided to share this in the hope that it will help others. I had thrown out all my rules. I was sick of seeing trades hit my stop, and then turn and burn. I was going to force the market to act how I wanted it to act, and it cost me more than just money. If it can happen to me, it just might happen to you. If nothing else, if you should happen to take a bigger loss than you might have been prepared to take, is that you will keep this in mind when you think about what happens next.

Perfect Mike .... Thanks again....

I I use the moving average crossover as an indicator to find a possible breakout trade. Rob C, asked me about it and if you look midway down on page 18 of this journal you will see a post and discussion between Rob and I that I think will answer your questions. About 3 months I noticed the same thing you did but could never really figure out the right entry point until I watched Thor's price level breakout video. This gave me the entry point on the trade and it has been working good as of late. If the post doesn't cover everything you need, hit me up with your questions and I am more than happy to assist.

I noticed you are trading on MA crosses. Just wondering what your rules are for these trades? I have been using these crosses as confirmation on other trades but have not used them for a trade with other confirmation. I have been spending more time in my Playbook lately and like to document everything I can for a trade and have been noticing a bunch of moves just after (sometimes seconds) MA crosses. Thanks in advance

1-27 to 1-31-20 What I did bad this week: I jumped the gun not waiting on proper confirmation and on one I completely misread an ABCD then stopped out too early as it was a nice trend Over-trading.... Early Exit for no reason.... Let one run past my stop... I failed to get in on a couple adds and partials with too much hesitation Did not act on a solid PM Plan What I did good this week: Was able to calmly correct a mistake while in a trade Trading with more confidence Feel like I am getting control of some of my Gamble Feel like I found a good small group of 3 traders (including me) that I can relate to and stay calm with while trading throughout the day.... This week has proven the same for me... Changes to be made this upcoming week: Allow all time frame trading in SIM but only with A setups Rules to stick by this upcoming Week: After I call it a day by either MAX Loss, Profit Target or what I am comfortable with, only use the rest of the day for Chat, Journal, Playbook ect. In-Trade and Daily Stops Do Not chase or revenge trade Live Only one loosing trade before 1100 Challenges for myself this upcoming Week: Only A or better setups at time of trade No BBT Voice Chat before 1000 Take a planned break at 1100 for other Bus. @ 0905 do some exercise and then meditate to calm myself Stay unbiased Notes: Rules are not to be broken, these will cost money every time My Challenges are almost as important as my Rules, Pay attention to them If I feel overtired I will try going back to bed and coming back to Trend Trades later.... Goals and Rewards: +20Rs or more at end of the month to consider trading with more size in the future two months +7.5R for the week +23R for the month

Hi everyone! I created a spreadsheet with a compilation of the watchlists that BBT moderators used in in 2019. I used Abiel's chatlogs to create it (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZqRvuYLACi2mWwUUs5KsKQiluLo8WvgT). I already posted this in off-topic, but I think it'd be helpful to post it here too for those of you interested in using it with the replay feature. It works better if you download the spreadsheet, otherwise the colors get a little messed up when you open it with google docs. No idea why. The link below will open the spreadsheet. Hope it helps! https://drive.google.com/open?id=1lZZpy8r7bMosSDwUBdqmuEMD8Ap7NCxo

So I was just wondering what peoples' experience has been with placing stop orders. I have heard it said by some that you should never send actual stop loss orders to the market because the market makers will somehow manipulate the price to go down to the level of your stop trigger and then the price will continue on upward after you get stopped out (assuming you had a long position). So the remedy, they say, is to never place an actual stop loss order, but instead to just have a mental stop loss price in your head and manually hit the bid when/if the price falls to that level. I would like to hear from people with experience whether they think there is any truth to this or not. I would like to send stop loss orders to the market at the same time I buy the stock so I do not have to think about it anymore if the price goes against me. However, if doing so is going to be like a magnet to suck the price down to that level, then of course I do not want to do it. I do not have much experience trading, only about 4-5 months of limited trading just in the mornings before I have to go to work. I live on the west coast in Arizona so I trade from market open for about an hour or so, unless it's daylight savings time of the year, then I get to trade for 2 hours because AZ does not adjust clocks for daylight savings time. Anyway, I am not sure my opinion matters much due to my limited amount of real world experience in trading, but it seems to me that if I were taking a relatively large position (meaning relative to all other outstanding positions in the market at that time on that stock), then maybe, possibly, somehow somebody could manipulate the price down to run my stop (not sure how they would do that and still come out on top, but there is still a lot I do not know about how the markets work behind the scenes). On the other hand, when I am taking relatively meaningless positions, I mean not small positions to me, but small in the grand scheme of things, like 1,000 shares on a stock with volume in the millions, I seriously doubt my puny share size would have any impact on the price at all...but maybe I am wrong, I don't know. Your thoughts on this matter are much appreciated. I am trying to decide if I should place actual stop loss orders or just keep them as mental stop loss orders in my head and not show my hand to the market makers, if it would make a difference.

Hi everyone! I created a spreadsheet compilation with the watchlists of the moderators in 2019. I used Abiel's chatlogs to create it (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZqRvuYLACi2mWwUUs5KsKQiluLo8WvgT The link below will open the spreadsheet. Hope it helps! https://drive.google.com/open?id=1lZZpy8r7bMosSDwUBdqmuEMD8Ap7NCxo

Goodmorning! Good end to the week and I'm actually up! Took one trade today WWE WWE 5 min ORB, took it long and the rest was history. Hit my goal and some more for today! Was going to trade some more for practice but my favourite set ups weren't popping up so I will call it a day. Have a wonderful weekend and thank you for all the support!

1-30-20 Alright, still out of state working on this new job prospect. Had to leave early in the morning to take care of some things for the new employer. I was able to trade for about an hour. I was able to take a trade on NNVC. NNVC I took a trade on the 5 minute ORB. Got in on the trade short, went to take a partial at the first technical level where I saw it was meeting some support however, when I did this the price literally shot back up around .10 to my break-even as I hit my hotkey. I continued to watch the 1 minute chart and saw it bounced off VWAP twice on a reverse ABCD pattern, so I added to my short position for a target of low of the day, around a 3R. Stop loss for the trade was set slightly above VWAP. I Watched it break and then covered my position right above my target. I really like when multiple strategies come together. More people are apt to see the trade from their respective trading strategies, which makes for a promising trade. I unfortunately had to leave my Airbnb shortly after for the rest of the day. Hopefully, I'll be able to trade tomorrow morning for the first hour or so. I'll be flying back home on Sunday, so i'll be back on my regular schedule next Monday thankfully.

Wednesday 01/29/2020 I had a well-being score of 7/10 this morning. I took 1 live trade this morning with AAPL. My watchlist: AAPL, AMD, XLNX, BA, LB and GE. Good watchlist but AAPL was the only stock I liked the PM. AAPL was creating a pendant as it went into the open. I had 4 PM levels which was unusual for me. 30 seconds before the open the price broke one of those levels and had a bullish L2 signal. I went long with very small share size. Two seconds after the open we already had huge volume and price moving up. There was also another bullish L2 signal, so I added to my shares, but still not at full size yet. So we had three big asks. One at 325, second at 325.50 and the third at 326.The price dropped and tested my stop (VWAP/200MA-1min/50MA-1min and the $324) and bounced so I added one last time to my shares. I was now at full share size. The price moved up reasonably fast and I took partials to 327 then all out when it broke back through VWAP. L2 when I took my PM entry: L2 when I took my second entry: The trade: What did I do good today? Good use of L2 and I really like my 3rd entry. What I am grateful from today? Trading AAPL. It has been awhile.

definitely CBOE and CBOT future, but it also states NASDAQ will be delayed 15 min -- that's the main kicker.