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Tuesday - July 28, 2020 Futures Watch /ES continues to consolidate within the VA High and Low Range. We tried to climb through the volume pocket above and fell back to balance, so this may dictate a test of the VA Low 3190. Keeping an eye on range of V POC 3214 and 3231 level from previous resistance and breakout areas. 10D 30M Chart /NQ passed through VA Range and tested VA High 10755 area before falling back to V POC 10595. We can either find support for another move to and outside the VA High similar to last week or a move through the range to test VA Low 10400 area. 10D 30M Chart /RTY continues to stay within now lower VA High 1490 and V POC 1465. A move away from VPOC lower has poor volume structure below and may lead to a quick selloff, but above VPOC we simply target VA High again. 10D 30M Chart Premarket Review at 9:00 ET Interesting Futures: Silver down over 2% after reaching 26.25 highs, may settle down after US dollar Index appears to have settled. Natural Gas up over 2.5% and holding 1.62 level well, targeting prior pivot high. VIX Index up around 3%, continues to find support at 24 area and possible breakout above 28.50 or breakdown below 23.50. Premarket Sectors at 9:15 ET Strong Sectors: Not much starting the day strong, so watching overall strong sectors Tech and Health Care. Weak Sectors: Metals down 2.5% after Gold and Silver showing topping action, other sectors flat to correlated with SPY, so no interest. Things to Watch: Earnings Plays: $PFE, $MO, and $MCD $SLV - Nice PM range after losing highs. $TSM - Selling off after major rally yesterday.

I was rereading Van Tharp's 40 principles for reinforcement and thought it would be good to post them. These are from a free book on the website: https://www.vantharp.com/home-study Most of these principles you will find in Andrew's book but stated differently. Also, Van Tharp is much heavier into position sizing strategies. I can post more about that topic if there is an interest. Here they are: Tharp Think Principles 1. Successful trading can be modeled and taught to other people. 2. Learning to trade well requires as much work/education as any other profession. 3. You need to find a trading system that fits you. 4. In order to accomplish that, you must know yourself: a. Your values b. Your strengths c. Your weaknesses d. Your parts e. Significant beliefs f. Trading edges g. Trading weaknesses 5. You can only trade your beliefs about the markets, not the markets themselves. Thus, you should know and understand your beliefs and whether or not they are useful. 6. System development is 100 percent (1) beliefs (2) mental states, and (3) mental strategies. Thus, it is 100 percent psychology. 7. You must know your personal criteria for being able to trade a system with confidence. 8. A mistake means not following your rules. If you don’t have rules, everything you do is a mistake. 9. It is much better to trade a lower-scoring SQN system that fits you than a higher-scoring SQN system that doesn’t fit you. 10. You are responsible for everything that happens to you. When you understand this, you can correct your mistakes. We call this respond-ability. 11. Repeating the same mistake over and over is self-sabotage. 12. A trader who makes one mistake in 10 trades is 90 percent efficient; that 10 percent drop in efficiency could be enough to make him/her a losing trader. 13. Fifty percent of system development is thinking through and clearly defining a set of written objectives. Those objectives should address your desired gain, your maximum acceptable draw-down, and the relative importance of each. 14. You need to design core objectives that fit you. 15. There are potentially as many objectives as there are traders. 16. You meet your objectives through position sizing strategies. 17. The overwhelming majority of your performance is due to your position sizing strategy and your efficiency as a trader. 18. You must know your mission/purpose in life and incorporate that into your trading. 19. You need to know your financial freedom number (passive income per month less monthly expenses). When it’s positive, you are financially free. 20. Never open a position without knowing the initial risk. 21. Define your profits and losses as a multiple of your initial risk (R-multiples). 22. Limit your losses to 1R or less. 23. Make sure your profits on the average are bigger than 1R. 24. Never take a trade unless the reward-to-risk ratio of that trade is at least 2:1 and perhaps even 3:1 25. Your trading system is a distribution of R multiples. 26. When you understand #6 you should be able to hear/see a description of a system and know the kind of R-multiple distribution it would generate. 27. The mean of that distribution is the expectancy, and it tells you what you’ll make on the average trade. It should be a positive number. 28. The mean, standard deviation, and the number of trades determine the SQN score for your system. 29. Your SQN score tells you how easy it will be to meet your objectives using position sizing strategies. Other than that, your system has nothing to do with meeting your objectives. 30. Systems are usually named after their setups, which are usually based on some attempt to predict future prices. Prediction has nothing to do with trading well. 31. System performance has to do with controlling risk and managing the position through your exits. 32. There are at least six different market types. You should understand how your system will perform in each of them. a. Bull volatile b. Bull quiet c. Sideways volatile d. Sideways quiet e. Bear quiet (almost doesn’t exist) f. Bear volatile 33. It’s easy to design a Holy Grail system (one with a high System Quality Number score) for any one market type listed above. 34. It’s insane to expect that trading system to work in all market types. 35. The biggest mistake people make is to try to design one system to fit all markets. 36. You should only trade your system in the market type for which it was designed. 37. Good traders understand the big picture, know how to measure it, and become aware when the situation changes. 38. Media and academia know none of this and will not teach it to you. 39. For each market type, you need a large sample size to estimate what the population is for that system. 40. You also need to Monte Carlo simulations with your system’s R-multiples to get a better idea of what to expect in the future. This will work if the sample you draw from is similar to the population.

What does this do: This 2 part script will allow you to set a stop loss, set a future price on your chart where you want to enter, and dynamically calculate the shares you can afford based on a fixed dollar amount. What do you mean by “2 part”?: With the current limitations of DAS, it's required to use two scripts (hotkeys) for this to work. 1. The first hotkey will set where you want your Stop Loss to be 2. The second hotkey will set where you want your Entry to be Example: The High of Day is $49.99 The current price is $49.50 and trending back up towards HOD The L2 has lots of strong ASKS at various price levels above $50.00 You want to enter if it breaks $50.00 Double click on the chart where you want to set your Stop Loss - $49.90 You hit Hotkey 1 Double click on the chart where you want to set your Entry - $50.01 You hit Hotkey 2 If and when the price hits $50.01 it will automatically enter you into the trade with your fixed $Risk and place your Stop Loss. ------------------------------------------ I used this on NVDA today at 9:51 ($415.63) for a HOD break. Luckily my preset stop was also set right below $415 at $414.97, so I didn't get wicked out I actually set it up around 9:40 and wasn’t even looking at the chart when it entered for me! By the time I noticed I was in the trade I was already in the money! Scripts: Long $20 Risk: Part 1: StopPrice=Price Part 2: DefShare=BP*0.97;Price=Price-StopPrice;SShare=20/Price;Share=DefShare-SShare;DefShare=DefShare+SShare;SShare=Share;Sshare=DefShare-SShare;Share=0.5*SShare; SShare=Share;Share=Price*100; Price=StopPrice; DefShare=Price*100; Price=Share/100; Price=Price+StopPrice; StopPrice=Price; Share=SShare; TogSShare; Price=Price+.05;TIF=DAY+;Route=Stop;StopType=Limit; Buy=Send; Share=DefShare;Price=Share/100; StopPrice=Price; DefShare=400;TriggerOrder=RT:STOP STOPTYPE:MARKET PX:StopPrice-0 ACT:SELL STOPPRICE:StopPrice QTY:Pos TIF:DAY+; Short $20 Risk: Part 1: StopPrice=Price Part 2: DefShare=BP*0.97;Price=StopPrice-Price;SShare=20/Price;Share=DefShare-SShare;DefShare=DefShare+SShare;SShare=Share;Sshare=DefShare-SShare;Share=0.5*SShare; SShare=Share;Share=Price*100; Price=StopPrice; DefShare=Price*100; Price=Share/100; Price=StopPrice-Price; StopPrice=Price; Share=SShare; TogSShare; Price=Price-.05;TIF=DAY+;Route=Stop;StopType=Limit; Sell=Send; Share=DefShare;Price=Share/100; StopPrice=Price; DefShare=400;TriggerOrder=RT:STOP STOPTYPE:MARKET PX:StopPrice-0 ACT:BUY STOPPRICE:StopPrice QTY:Pos TIF:DAY+; Known Issues: I have seen the script fail and only enter me with a small number of shares. Uncertain what caused this, but I’ll be looking for it again. Final Thoughts: I’ve been testing this in SIM for a week and wouldn’t advise using it live without doing the same. I know a lot of people have been asking for something like this - I would love to hear what other scenarios people would use this for!

Thanks Tom, I won't have them for a few days as I am converting my day trading over to DAS.....stay tuned for more.

Such an awesome post...wanted to share it here...

and some more trades from Monday

Day 135 - Jul 27 , 2020 28 Tickets 6 Symbols Green Day Personal: Rested up, morning routine complete, ready to go. Goal for the day: Get back to the basics, one good trade after one good trade. Watch list: RVOL at open: VXRT: 115% MRNA: 300% TSM: 700% Trades VXRT (1)- Short - ORB / Technical Breakdown (-1 Adjusted Stop) VXRT was looking weak into the 10.25 PML level. 10.26 had a big bid and was decrementing quick - took it short as the bids dropped. Broke through that level but then ripper back up, took half off on fake breakdown. Adjusted the rest to just In front of 10 and then stop on break even. Improvement: Not my strategy, but I am ok with taking this half size. Should definitely do more research on this though. TSM - Short - Descending Triangle TSM consolidating around VWAP after an extended move up, thinking we could see a break of LOD and potential gap close. Had a nice fake breakout collecting stops, and entered short on break of 80.8 which was the base. Improvement: Pivot point for a stop loss is way too far - not a clean setup. SOGO - Long - Ascending Triangle Not my usual play. Had a long consolidation just above VWAP - took it long as it broke out on volume. 10:30 - clearly a distribution phase, will be looking to short this once it comes down. Getting stuffed every time it tried to spike up. Ended up being an absolute sleeper…..didn't do anything. Improvement: Wasn’t that clean, touched briefly earlier but got rejected, need to have more confirmation. Just all over the place. Not happy with my trading. Got caught up in a typical rookie setup SOGO chasing the breakout on a not so clear ascending triangle INTC - Short - Descending triangle (-1 Adjusted Stop) HUGE bid 4000lots at 50 was taken out, took it short thinking we would see a huge resolution but got bought right back up. SPY also looking like its going to bounce. Ended up doing a fake breakdown and then rallied to VWAP Note: Notice the Exhaustion volume, this is a sign of bottoming. VXRT (2) - Short - Descending Triangle (Sub: 3 bar play on 15) Took it short as big bids at 9.5 were decrementing quick, got In front of them as saw size reducing. Didn’t like SPY bouncing - but lots of selling coming in. got a quick flush for first partial and then bounced right back up stopping me out. VXRT (3) - Long - Reversal (-1 Adjusted Stop, Not in Playbook) VXRT had climactic volume fake breakdown and then came up and broke through downtrend forming ABCDish with low vol pullback. Got in on new 1 min high after holding 9.62 to the penny, stop just below. SPY not looking great here, but thinking we could see a rally up to VWAP. Diud exactly what I thought it was going to do plus more…micro managed and ruined the trade. Good: Good job noticing the strength on the climactic reversal Improvement: Put the order in and leave it. Then adjust to B/E and let it be. Manually adjsuted, and ended up missing a potential DKNG - Asymmetrical Triangle DKNG had some nice bottoming volume on a huge extended move. Was looking for a potential reversal. Put in a consolidation above that level trying to find a direction. Ended up giving a nice shakeout candle and then popping up. Took it as it pulled back on love volume and broke back out. Good: Patience on the entry, waiting for shakeout candle, and then low vol pullback. NKLA - Asymmetrical Triangle Short NKLA on the drop and confirmation of breaking previous low, Below VWAP and PoC. Not much time left in the day, but thinking we could see a sell off. 1600 Lots jumped in on the bid at 33.04 after the fake breakdown. Good: Had the right idea, just not long enough for it to play out. Trade Ideas 9:38 - FE above the gap level, look for a gap close - but would like a pullback (Loser) 9:42 - MRNA short on ABCD right at that level, 78 entry 78.9 stop. (Winner ~2R) 9:46 - INO 22.5 PML breakdown which has held multiple times, very low RVOL tho (Winner ~2.5R) 9:56 - VXRT holding 11 on the ABCDish/flag - look for a break above 11.15ish? Stop below 11 (No Entry) 10:18 - VXRT was watching for a break of 11 for an ABCD setup here. (No Entry) 10:21 - NIO looking like a 5 min ABCD (Winner ~3R) 10:21 - INO 5 min ABCD (Winner ~9.2R) 10:22 - VXRT looking for a descending triangle here. Watch for VWAP Break and Go (Winner ~6R) 10:29 - PFE potential ascending triangle rally (Didn’t breakout = No Entry) 10:39 - ABUS looks like double bottom of PCL 5.06 would be entry and stop 4.94? (5min is a low vol pullback and this isnt in my setups. Loser) 10:43 - INTC potential bottom, huge lot at 50 - 4000lots (Loser) 10:46 - INO and NIO asymmetrical triangle (Noted, not sure which direction I would have taken though) 10:47 - MRNA Kind of a VWAP break and Go but didn’t come back into VWAP. Holding above the major support level 78.18, entry would be 78.6? Stop 78.14ish Missed the MRNA range above VWAP, pullback and shakeout candle (Winner ~4R) 10:55 - NIO asymmetrical / descending looking interesting on the 1 min. 5 and 15 dont look special. (Winner ~4R) 11:06 - TSM ascending triangle breakout (Loser) 11:14 - No trade just noticing DKNG and VXRT extreme volume - potential bottoming coming (VXRT was thinking of getting in 9.76 after the spinning top indecision doji 11:47 - INTC took me out fake breakdown and then popped - low vol pullback entry (Winner ~3R) 12:48 - DKNG long of pullback. Thinking we will see VWAP + (Loser) 13:06 - ABUS Descending triangle (Winner ~2R) 13:13 - NKLA asymmetrical getting real tight. 13:33 was looking for a pop to 33 which happens, but then want the big bid at 32.8 (300lots) to decrement to show confirmation of breakdown.Bids stepping up to 32.85 another 400lots. Sign of strengh (No Entry) 13:29 - ABUS potential double bottom would like to see a low vol pullback. 13:56 - broke through, would like to see a consolidation and then continuation to downside. (Loser and Loser) 14:08 - TWTR igniting volume, a little late would like to see a low vol pullback and hold of Mas (Right idea, not real entry) 14:12 - NVAX Setting up for descending triangle ish at 137 - (pivot point way too far away = No Entry) 14:34 - AMD descending triangle at 68.8 (Loser) 15:04 - VXRT asymmetrical triangle. Had it at 10.9 but wanted to confirm and wait for a low vol pullback for confirmation. Missed the entrance it just took off (Winner ~6.8R) Trade Review Goal 1: Hotkey Limit Orders (Entry, Profit, Stop): FAIL Was an average day. Dropped back to previous size as I got shit on last week. This is a mental error - need to keep the size in order to get used to growth and more risk. My Trade ideas have continued to show profitability, but I just don’t think its sustainable to be taking 15-20 trades a day……Noticing my favorite setups haven't been working that great (Triangles) so will be looking for a different setup to add. Really liking the reversal, Climactic, with confirmation of hold / double bottom and getting it on a low vol pullback. Also thinking of doing a week of just taking all my trades in trade ideas. Will be too many trades to journal, so might just do a full page screenshot and show executions rather than a full write up. Things I did well: Stick to the plan for most of the day. Things I did poorly: Adjusting partials Daily Report Card 1. Auto Calc Entry, Profit, Stop (Adjust only in front of Major Level, and on Major Reversal Candle) = 5/8= 62%

I’m using it everyday as well and it’s working great.

It works great and I use it everyday.

Consolidation is where it's at man, it's where trends start from. Bears push down and wait, we get consolidation on lower volume testing bull sentiment. No bulls present, Bears rally again. That's how I see it anyways. Nice job today, keep it up!

One other thing to note is that when you do hit the second hotkey, your order will look like a range order (see picture below). This is actually visually showing your "fill up to" range (Thanks for explaining this Kyle!) This is a little embarrassing, but I think I had this hotkey working quite awhile ago, I just didn't understand what I was seeing! I thought it was some kind of weird range order, that the script wasn't working, and so I always cancelled it before triggering and went back to the drawing board! And just going to tag some people who I know were interested in this in another thread: @Travis Weirich @peterB @JenniferL @WindssKat @Ryan Wilson

5-Minute Opening Range Breakout (ORB) 5_MIN_ORB.pdf High of Day Break / Low of Day Break HOD_LOD_Breaks.pdf VWAP Reversal VWAP_Reversal.pdf Mountain Pass Mountain_Pass.pdf 1-Minute Opening Range Breakout (ORB) 1_MIN_ORB.pdf Rising Devil Rising_Devil.pdf Falling Angel Falling_Angel.pdf Parabolic Reversal Parabolic_Reversal.pdf

Hey Teruki, sorry this went unanswered! I think this is what you are asking for, but I can't test it quite properly as the market is closed. StopPrice=Price;DefShare=200;Price=Ask;Route=LIMIT;TIF=DAY+;BUY=Send;TriggerOrder=RT:STOP STOPTYPE:MARKET PX:StopPrice-0 ACT:SELL STOPPRICE:StopPrice QTY:Pos TIF=DAY+; It should allow you to place a stop where you want by clicking and allow you to buy 200 shares at the ask. Of course you can change the qty of shares and ask to bid if you'd like (in bold). Also swap the orange ones if you want to use the hotkey for shorting. Is this what you were hoping for?

What does 5 second resolution mean though ? like it's updated every 5 second ?