Leaderboard

8-12-19 5 hrs sleep and rested well. Up at 7:30 SSS and Bucci Pay Attention To: Trading into Resistance .......... Taking proper share sizes......... No Trading in the first 5.............. stick to stocks 15.00 - 90.00......... My Sticky Note (Spreads, R/R, Pattern, LVL2) Here early after two very bad trades....... Will wait for the right set up and use smaller share sizes as I am near my max loss for the day after these two..... In total this is a Blowup Day, just glad Im in SIM for at least another 2 months .......... +MU got Stopped out below VWAP.... Had bad entry and rushed into it reading chat for ABCD........ (41.00) -AMD ORB Engulfing crack...... not only got a very bad entry but also took a strong stock and tried to short it..... I did not even notice the 200MA I was trading into......... (80.00) Traded two more + GGAL this should have been a looser as I did not respect my stop............. +58.00 .............. and +NUGT ABCD again I did not respect my stop below 20MA but once it came back close I got out (I also was frustrated and stopped watching it for about 3 min.) .......... (70.00) I will go pack up orders for the day and come back fresh I hope........ Came back and still couldn't find what I was looking for ..... So I just started playing around with some other stuff and coming back and forth to the chat.... Ended up taking -AMD for two trades... First one I seen a 90k BID on LVL2 so I jumped in for a scalp then reentered later with an add on on a pull back for some nice profit. My R/R was 5r or more and I am still in some till I have to head to work in a bit.... Profit thus far ..... +243.97 total after I go stopped out +289.19 CONS: Adjusted share size too much and was now taking too much......... I felt very scattered when market opened and I should have just walked away......... GGAL and NUGT were more revenge trades than anything else....... I did NOT respect my stop losses on GGAL and NUGT....... I did trade into a 200MA that I did not notice till now........ PROS: Even though GGAL and NUGT were revenge and I did not respect my stop loss I did go by the LVL2 and it did move in the direction that was predicted NOTE TO SELF: Follow Sticky Note...... readjust my share sizes for max loss of 50.00........ Call it a day when I've made bad trades and I know I am not thinking clearly....... Look out for strong MAs.... Need to get back to my basics and stop trying to rush / mirror trade..... Take my patterns and do my normal partials and honer mt stops.... I am starting to feel Like my trading is better late morning early afternoon..... P&L Target 50.00: +156.19

Monday 8/12/2019 I had a well-being score of 7/10 this morning. My nerves were good. I took 2 live trades with AAPL and a few SIM trades. I did not have AMD on my primary focus charts this morning because of its poor performance last week at the open. So of course it had a great open run. But that is OK it gave me a chance to trade ROKU at least in SIM. AAPL also looked OK and was my primary focus. AAPL opened a little choppy but was making a nice reverse hammer about 15 seconds after the open with a good R/R. I took the trade and got a really bad fill. This happens so close to the open. The R/R is now poor and I need to get out of the trade. But I really have issues bailing on trades when I get bad fills. This is something I need to work on. Even though the reverse hammer looks even better after my bad fill, my target of 199.21 is actually closer than my stop (50MA-1min). But it’s OK the market is really good about trying to teach me lessons and very quickly the price reversed. I even got a bad fill on my stop as well. The chart when I took the trade. Sadly I tried to enter the trade at 199.60. The entire trade: AAPL quickly turned around and looked strong. It reached the 200 level and found resistance. Then made a pull back to the 199.80 level which was respected in the premaket and I went long. I got another bad fill and entered the trade at my planned first partial profit location. But R/R was still OK. My target was the PDC with 50MA-1min as my stop. I took two partials, one at 200.50 (another bad fill) and the other at 200.75 daily level. Both partials were small since I was hoping for a red to green so I was saving my shares. It didn’t happen and I tried to exit at B/E, but just like my other exit and two entrances there was slippage. What the chart looked like when I entered the trade: The entire trade (there is a 3rd trade that I took SIM - S/O) I then took 5 SIM trades and was stopped out on 3 of them. But, I did learn quite a bit today from the SIM trades. Score Card (live trade) AAPL AAPL 78% 89% What I did good today: Learned quite a bit from my SIM trades. What I am grateful from today? That my nerves were OK today. They are usually worse on Mondays. What do I need to improve on: Exiting immediately on the bad fill.

Monday August 12th, 2019 Sleep: 7 hours. Mood: good, ready to trade. first trade was a 2min ABCD in FTCH. didn't take it the first one for the ORB because i didn't like the spread. then i didn't take the second one out of fear, finally took it on a pullback with a new 2min high hammer. great entry. it went up close to the HOTD but couldn't punch through and i got stopped out. GOOD: entry, R/R, exit at stop RFI: felt the trade wasn't going to have the volume and momentum to follow though on the move. gut was right. MOOD: fine, glad i got out at my stop CONSISTENT: yes, exactly to plan i noticed in my July trade review session that if i get stopped out. I pretty much always stop out on the next trade so I was thinking about only taking 1 trade a day to combat this. i decided though that i can't just take a 1R loss and be done with my day every time i stop out on my first trade so i took another trade in FTCH. it looked like it found a bottom and came up above VWAP and was holding the MAs on the 2min chart. i waited for an entry right on the MAs. nailed the entry, it just couldn't get the momentum to make a new highs and once it made a new 5min low, it dumped. i blame myself for not getting out on that new 5min low. i half figured that it might do a fake out and head higher but i should have been watching, instead i chose to shut the window and use the bathroom. got stopped out at my original 1R loss. GOOD: entry, stop loss level, setup RFI: should have got out earlier. MOOD: disappointed to start the week down -2R CONSISTENT: could have bailed earlier but i stuck to my plan. took a reverse ABCD in AMD on SIM that worked perfectly. should have just waited for that setup. didn't take it live because i'm at my max daily loss and it would just stop me out the moment i get in. What i did good today: did a great job with my entries and exits today. What i did bad today: traded FTCH which didn't have the volume to follow through on moves. What can i do better tomorrow: stop revenge trading the same stock i get stopped out in.

12.Aug.19. Green day. 1.5r. Decent trading day, esp on a Monday. Watchlist: $MU, $ROKU, $GGAL, $AMD and $RKDA (LF/LP). I didn't trade till 9.45AM, as I couldn't find any pattern. Trade 1: $TS was setting up for 9/20 MA cross above 50MA, I took Long small share size got out for a small profit. Trade 2&3: $MU. Took break of the wedge setup. This is not my A+ setup, so again took half sharesize. Got stopped out, flipped my position and got out for BE. Price couldn't break 50MA on 5min. BE. Trade 4: $GGAL. One more Wedge setup, again half the share size. Stock stopped me out, and went in my direction. Slippage was very bad 10c. -1.5r. Trade 5: $AMRN. My best trade of the day. Took a reversal, after price appeared to be bottoming out and forming double bottom. I preempted the setup a bit on 15min for the price to break the previous candle. Targeted 2r and Got 2r. I should have gone with Double share size (to the risk R). +2r Good: Decent trading day. Improvement: Good trading day, if only I could get rid of that slippage, but it happens. Also, remember to increase the sharesize, when my A+ setup appars ($AMRN).

The last couple of weeks I was working on a software to automatically import all trades from DAS Trader, so I don't have to manually copy the trades (entry, exit, etc) everyday to my technical journaling to get an overview. I would love to share the first version with you guys. It is by no means the final product that I have in plan. In the first version my focus was to find a consistent way to import all trades, show a small performance statistic with this data and an equity graph. The project name is „Trade Analyzer“ but I'm very open for your suggestions. This software only works for daytrading. Swing trades are not supported yet. Please share your thoughts, bugs and feature requests with me! All the best, Igor Features: - Import Past Trades - Split positions of the same stock in same direction into separate trades (not like DAS positions window) - Group positions to trading days - Equity Graph - Statistics for: - Trade winning accuracy - Avg. trade P/L - Avg. daily P/L - Avg. trades per day - Avg. winner profit - Avg. looser loss - Highest win - Highest loss - Avg. scale ins / outs per trade Planned Features: - Automatic import in realtime - Save trades locally (no re-import on start) - Change trading accounts (e.g. Sim, Real) - Charting / Visualization of trades - Journaling - Cloud Function (import data from multiple computers) - Goal Tracking - Performance statistics and reports by - Time of day / Weekday - Stocks - Strategies - Compare Days / Weeks / Months Updates: v0.0.1 - 2019-07-19 - initial release Download: Trade Analyzer - v0.0.1 (2019-07-19)

No trades again today. I only had about 30 minutes available this morning before having leave for the train. Everything seemed to choppy for me, as I am not one of those traders that trade before the 5 minute mark. There were some nice 1 min and 2 min Orbs this morning. Looking forward tomorrow.

I have noticed that but the 1R out helps with my emotions. I am now tracking, the difference between taking the 1R and not taking the 1R out before the 2R level. This may help with my emotions as well.

Week 32 Recap Ok week for me. Two live trades both winners. I regret not taking a couple other trades I was on Tuesday and Wednesday. Friday, I saw a trade in the afternoon that I almost took live but didn’t because I don’t trade in the afternoon but it ended up being a great trade. · Weekly stats o 2.9 planned R/R (Goal: above 3.0) [Previous Week: 2.5] o 8/8 100% (Goal: above 80%) [Previous Week: 94%] o $41.50 (Goal: $150) [Previous Week: -$73.67] o 2/2 100% trades with the trend (Goal: 100%) [Previous Week: 33%] o ½ 50% Non-optimal Entries (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 42%] o 0/2 0% Letting Losers Run (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 0%] o 0/2 0% No Setup (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 17%] o 2/2 100% true win percentage (Goal 45%) [Previous Week: 33%] · Highlights o All green trades this week o Great handle on emotions o Taking 1 live trade a day seems to be the right thing to do. · Ongoing things to work on o Have to take that 1 trade everyday o Try next week to take 1 live trade every day. o I’d like to work on my ORB setup in sim next week o Keep working on sticking to 3R range orders.

You're doing well! Skimmed through your journal, I love how you trade, especially with you being a beginner! That's really awesome!

Hello Traders, We are planning a meet-up in Zurich Switzerland (Andrew is in town) on Sunday, August 18th in the evening. (Either at the the lake or close to the airport) Anybody interested? Greetings, Tom

I just started the Van Tharp Institute Peak Performance Course for traders (home study edition). I really need to improve issues with my trading (fear, self-sabotage, over-trading, etc.). I think this course could really help. To place some accountability on myself to finish the course I plan to post my reading notes and assignments online. Hopefully, the info provided will help others as well. Van Tharp Institute Peak Performance Course Vol 1: How to use Risk Preface: The three stages of growth for a trader. 1) They think they can make easy money from trading. They think the most important thing to investing/trading is picking the right stock. 2) A substantial change has to occur where the trader begins to asks, “how should I trade to make money.” Thus, they start looking for a trading system that fits them. 3) The trader realizes that trading success does not come from external control, but from internal control. Controlling risk, profit/loss>1 and position sizing all comes from internal control. Chapter 1 Commitment means congruency. It means the whole person is working together for a common purpose. No internal conflicts. When committed, trading is no longer just a hobby. The moment one definitely commits one’s self, then Providence moves too. I translate that as: when you are committed to work hard, luck will be on your side. To develop commitment first you must determine your obstacles. Second, and more difficult, you need to determine how those obstacles reflect what is going on within you. The last step is deal with them. Make peace with the obstacles by making them unimportant. Below I created my personal obstacle table: Obstacle Internal reflection Make them unimportant Fear 1) Fear of being wrong 2) Fear of missing my stop 3) Fear the loss will affect my trading and mood. 4) Fear the little success I’ve had is due to an accommodating market. Once the market changes I will fail and quit. 1) Your supposed to be wrong at least 50% of the time. If you are wrong less than 50% you are scalping too much. 2) You are working the mental muscle, it will get easier. I do have risk controls, if I miss my stop I can’t lose too much. 3) If you learn something from the trade, it was still worth while taking it. 4) Have faith in yourself that you will learn and adapt. Self sabotage 1) Every streak of good trading is ended with catastrophic failure. 2) I take way too many partials hurting my win/loss ratio. 1) You will wind down your streaks with smaller share size and SIM trading. So it will end with a whimper not a roar. 2) With more trades, more data will be available for analysis to determine proper partialing. Data is stronger than my nerves. The math will prevail. Over trading 1) If you only take one trade the whole day, but it had a poor setup, you already overtraded. 1) I am having slow progress, but I do see progress. My trades are slowly getting better. I have the time to learn. I am in no hurry. As long as I have progress there is no issue. Health 1) Not enough sleep and exercise 1) My family is slowly becoming more accommodating. It is taking time but they will come through for me. In the last 6 months my average sleep has increased from 4.8 hrs to 5.7 hours a night. Still a far cry from 8 hours but again as long as there is improvement.

Updated: 8/8/2019 @ 12:44pm (PST) Finally out of the alpha stage and releasing this to the community, I've been using it with success. Because I had to do some musical chairs with memory I made a configuration utility as the script itself is very ugly. This is more of a BETA release for this, so if anyone wants to try this out in SIM and let me know if you have any issues with the configuration sheet or the hotkeys themselves. It's based on the work started by @fjmocke here: https://forums.bearbulltraders.com/topic/469-das-calculate-shares-based-on-account-risk/ . What it is: It's a hotkey command script that can be used to dynamically alter the share total based on: Available Buying Power (capital) Stop Location (Risk) % Account Risk OR Fixed Dollar Amount The script includes purchase power protection and won't send an order that you can not afford, it does this by calculating two factors: A - Shares You Can Afford B - Shares at Risk Parameter (e.g. $25,000 account equity, 1% risk = $250 risk, $250 * a stop distance of .10 = 2500 shares) min{A,B} = 0.5(A + B - | A - B | ) But, why male models? I just told you. /Zoolander reference You'd use this to calculate your share total based on what you're willing to risk. So instead of blindly throwing 500 shares at every setup, you can dynamically alter risked amount based on the per-trade setup. I use it on my StreamDeck (will also release the icon packs soon) with modifiers of 100%, 75%, 50%, and 25%. 100% is the A-Plus setups I see, those I have HIGH confidence in. Alternatively, if a stock has a large spread or is low-float, I may only use the 25% modifier key for those. Instructions for Configuration: Go to this link: V2.0: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dvYeQWIqf7DQeiEy_C6XeDWth9L_Bjh ^^ Recommend latest DAS version of 5.4.3.0. Requires DAS version 5.2.0.34 or above (current BETA branch as of 11/19/2018) for the physical stop portion to work. If you don't use the physical stop, you don't have to worry about it. NOTE: Thoroughly test in SIM to make sure it's doing what you expect it to do. Choose: Download the ZIP file and unzip to where you want. On "Setup & Instructions" configure your settings. Account Leverage (default for DAS is 4), this is the margin your broker gives you. Some off-shores give 6. It needs to match what is configured in DAS for proper calculations. Max Account Risk %. This is the maximum percent of equity you're willing to risk on every trade (default is 1%). You can always risk lower (more on that later). % of Total Buying Power. If you don't want to calculate based on the total buying power of 100%, you can set this to a lower percentage (example: 100,000 buying power with 60% here equals $60,000 maximum position size) Route. LIMIT, MARKET, SMRTL. Default is LIMIT. Order Bid/Ask Offset. This is the offset you use when you send the price for order, e.g. "Ask + 0.05" (meaning fill me up to 5 cents above ask) Time in Force. Default: Day+ Default Shares. This is the amount of shares you want to set as the DEFAULT SHARES for all trades (e.g. when you click a Symbol and it loads, this is the share total). You can see why this is here in the technical breakdown section below. Minimum Stop Buffer. This is an offset to the stop distance. If you set this to 0.05, it'll add 5 cents to the stop distance calculation (so if your stop distance is 0.05, it'll be calculated on 0.10). Switch to the "Hotkeys" tab. Choose your preferred style. % Risk of Equity (Dynamic) or Fixed Price (e.g. $150 risk). %Equity Risk: Use the drop down to select what you want the value to be % equity. NOTE: This is a modifier AFTER your account risk maximum %. So if you have 1% account risk, and set this to 50%, your effective account risk is 0.005 --> 0.5%. $ Fixed: Use the drop down to select what you want the value to be for dollar risk. Select "long" or "short" to flip the script's direction. Click the cell that contains the start of the command (E column) and Ctrl + C (copy). Paste it into DAS. It should look like a sample command below. Instructions for Usage: First, you must have "Double Click to Trade" turned on in Chart, Right-Click --> Configure --> Settings --> Double-click to trade. Double click the chart where you want to set a mental stop (it does not place a stop order, you can always put one in after). Hit your configured hotkey. Sample Scripts: LONG: DefShare=BP*0.98; Share=DefShare*0.25* Price * 0.01; Price = Ask - Price + 0.02;SShare = Share / Price; Share = DefShare - SShare; DefShare = DefShare + SShare; SShare = Share; SShare = DefShare - SShare; Share = 0.5 * SShare; TogSShare; ROUTE =LIMIT; Price = Ask + 0.05; TIF=DAY+; BUY=Send; DefShare = 500; SHORT: DefShare=BP*0.98; Share=DefShare*0.25* Price * 0.01; Price = Price - Bid + 0.02;SShare = Share / Price; Share = DefShare - SShare; DefShare = DefShare + SShare; SShare = Share; SShare = DefShare - SShare; Share = 0.5 * SShare; TogSShare; ROUTE =LIMIT; Price = Bid - 0.05; TIF=DAY+; SELL=Send; DefShare = 500; Technical Breakdown: DAS has basic scripting. Montage commands have access to very few read/write variables, basic operations, and only operators of addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication. To do this calculation we need additional operators (min function, and absolute function) and more memory for storage of variables. This command gets around these limitations by using user-writeable areas of memory in the program. Since DAS is written in the C++ language (from what I can tell), it's strict on what can be done in these existing memory locations. The hotkey uses the following items (plus the usual Price -- FLOAT): (Assumptions on Datatypes) DefShare -- INT (Used as a temporary variable for storage) SShare -- Unsigned INT (Behaves like an Unsigned INT in certain situations. Used as a temporary variable for storage) Share -- INT (Used as a temporary variable for storage) With the 3 INT variables, objects are moved around in memory so that we can calculate and compare with our variable limitation (be much easier if we could assign our own). To facilitate the ABS() function, we use a trick --> When a negative value is placed into an Unsigned INT it loses it's sign (thus, it becomes a POSITIVE value in memory). A more detailed technical breakdown (step by step) is located in the Configuration spreadsheet up above. Future Enhancements: If need be, I can make a step-by-step video of this entire process. I have a version that uses an AutoHotKey macro to drop a line at the stop location, I can upload that as well if people want it. ^^ Update, I discontinued this as it was too cumbersome. You had to have two sets of hotkeys for each command. I may someday revisit it if I can build out a configuration tool for it. TLDR: It does the math for you so you can risk a known amount (% or $) based on your per-trade risk position (stop distance). And yes, I'm a bit of a tech nerd. Also, longest post .. ever. Would not read again, 0/5 stars. --- KNOWN ISSUES: %Account Risk gets smaller and smaller when subsequent open positions Reason: No Equity variable, we reverse calculate equity using Buying Power. On subsequent positions, the % (e.g. 1%) calculation will be based on the available buying power and NOT the account equity. Workaround: Precalculate the %risk and use it for the $risk versions. So 1% of $25,000 equity equals $250. SSR rejection on LONG position when scaling out; rejection message (e.g. "Short marketable limit order disable due to SSR!") if using the automatic STOP trigger. Reason: DAS calculates that the position will drop below the open stop order position and reject as this can cause the position to "flip" if it was triggered. Workaround: Have a hotkey to clear the open orders (CXL ALLSYMB), clear it, scale the position (e.g. 25%). Either replace the stop or switch to a mental stop. Alternatively, you can add "CXL ALLSYMB;" to the front of the scale-out hotkeys. You just have to be cognizant to replace the stop order. Equated position size if very small (e.g. 4 or 5 shares when expected is hundreds). Reason: Wrong side was used for the order. E.g. a long hotkey is used when trying to go short. -or- Stop Distance was calculated to be a negative value (clicked too close to current price). Workaround: Be cognizant of the hotkeys used and the stop distance clicked. Clicking too close (a really tight stop) can be very dangerous if you do it inadvertently. TriggerOrder for automatic STOP placement not being sent (no stop order placed). Reason: Montage is not set to a style that doesn't allow TriggerOrder input. Styles not compatible are: Default [DAS's, if you changed it], Basic, OCO, Option, Full Fix: Use a style that is compatible, they are: Stop Order, Detail, Trigger -- I recommended using the "Stop Order" montage style. To change this, right click the montage area around where you'd enter a price and select Style --> Your Choice. --- UPDATES: 10/17/2018 - Added v.1.1 link, you'd need to use the new version to change anything. - General cleanup of the script. Added instructions for the IB issue (discussed in this thread) - NEW FEATURE: Added a new section to the Hotkeys sheet, it will now create a set up for Dynamic Scale-In hotkey commands. You'd use these by setting a scale value (say you want an additional 50% of your current position size). The hotkey will calculate the maximum share you can afford (how much you can afford at the moment) and the scale value, choosing to take the least amount. So if your current position is 1500 shares (@ $50.00) and you want to scale in at 50% your current position, it'd check if you can afford an additional 750 shares, if you can't, it'll buy the maximum you can afford. For this example, you can't afford it (if Buying Power is 100k), so it'd buy roughly $25k worth (500 shares). - CLEANUP: Cleaned up the $Dollar Risk version and removed unnecessary steps. Don't really need to replace yours if they exist, but worth noting. 10/30/2018 - Added @Michael P's suggested fixes for Excel. Configuration tool should now work in both Sheets and Excel. - NOTICE: This was a configuration tool change, no changes were made to the hotkey scripts, so no need to change any existing hotkeys. 11/19/2018 - Shortened some of the commands so we don't hit any hotkey character limit, makes them less readable, but shorter. Couldn't get them low enough to fit the montage buttons though (although removing the portions for the buying power rejection protection would likely do it). - Added a section for SELL/COVER buttons for people who just need to create those. E.g. "Sell 25% position" or "Sell 33% position". - Added @Robert H's stop suggestion. New fields on the setup page for enabling physical stops. If enabled, it'll place a MARKET or LIMIT (settings included) trigger order to go into the market once the initial order is fulfilled, these are placed at the location you double-clicked on the chart. 11/20/2018 - Added a stop-order setting to set an additional buffer for the stop price (for those that want to include or exclude the double-clicked price). - Added conditional formatting to subdue the stop settings that aren't required if you disable sending a physical stop into the market. 12/10/2018 - Added a known issues section to this post and the spreadsheet (for when a new version goes up). 12/12/2018 - Updated known issues section to include the "Montage Style" issue for TriggerOrders. 12/13/2018 - Updated to new version 1.46. Fixed a bug in the Trigger Order script which could cause it to not be interpreted by DAS's command parser on certain user settings. - Added "modifier" extra hotkeys. See instructions next to these on how to use them. - - - Set Stop to Breakeven - Long or Short - Stop Limit or Stop Market (cancels any pending orders for SYMB) - - - Set Stop to Breakeven - Bidirectional - Stop Market (cancels any pending orders for SYMB) - - - Stop - Update Price - Long or Short - Stop Limit or Stop Market (cancels pending orders, double click chart where you want stop before firing hotkey) - - - Stop - Update Price - Bidirectional - Stop Market (cancels pending orders, double click chart where you want stop before firing hotkey) - - - Stop - Update Position - Long or Short - Stop Limit or Stop Market - Replace (requires you double-click the original stop in the Orders window) - - - Stop - Update Position - Bidirectional - Stop Market Orders Only - Replace (requires you double-click the original stop in the Orders window). 8/8/2019 - New version 2.0, download the .zip file and unzip it. - Fixed an issue with some hotkey configurations that may have caused them to be inaccurate in vary rare situations. Recommend recreating your hotkeys in this new version, just to be sure. - Added Profit Target hotkeys. - Added % Scale-In Hotkeys - Added $ Risk Scale-In Hotkeys - Added Short-SSR to Long/Short dropdown for SSR hotkeys (DAS Simulator) - Added Range Order hotkeys - Added Y-Margin Scale Increase hotkey, Y-Margin Decrease, and Y-Margin Reset - Added new sheet "Example - Equity%" and "Example - $Risk" to give a more workflow outlook on what is happening. - Included a ScaleOut worksheet to manually simulate what different scale percentages / scenarios look like (instructions will be in the video). ALSO: Video is done and rendering, I think it comes in at 45minutes with 3.4gigs (4k), so it'll need to be optimized before I upload it to YouTube. Will try to do it today and will update this when done. UPDATES: The majority of this side project is completed and besides a few requests I have in with DAS developers to optimize a few things, out of any major bugs or improved scripting features, I'd say this is about done. I'll provide any edge-case support as need, but I want to move on to other BBT-community projects. So what do I have cookin' for you guys, gals, and cat? You'll see a glimpse in the video of an early prototype (buggy! I programmed that in a few hours, so bugs are expected) of a DAS calculator side program. The newer version (need to finish the UI) will incorporate a lot more in ways of tools for you, including automatically calculating changes without a hotkey intervention. It also allows you to mass-process trade log .csv files you may have exported and compile it into Excel or .CSV for import into other programs. Configuration is drag/drop friendly, so rearranging your columns is as easy as click and holding. I'm also going to shift my attention to finishing my ORB-strategy research. Right now, my datapool encompasses 15000 news article, gaplists for 2011-2019, and 1second data for stocks in that range. It's a data store of roughly 80 gigs. The idea is to test for hidden signals we may not see that can indicate a potential direction of an ORB strategy (if no rare outside influence occurs, like a terrorist attack) by leveraging a consortium of machine learning algorithms to give us a higher probability of success for each day. Depending how the research works out, the end product would likely be a probability predictor for each day. I'll share the research results with the community and may incorporate some other tests as well. VIDEO: Ok, so I may have gone down an editing rabbit hole and that took longer than expected. The videos are up, came in quite long so I chunked it down. Sorry it's a tad scattered and not one-linear cohesive unit, but I tried to mark it up as best as possible. Part 1 - Config / Math - https://youtu.be/YrRrydwGyRY Part 2 - Setup, Quick Examples, Tips - https://youtu.be/pXLlWF7T6hw Part 3 - Sim Trade Example - https://youtu.be/SO9UhJh4dTc Bonus 1 - Scale/Price Excel Calc - https://youtu.be/KTr_iJ2p0TU Bonus Tips - https://youtu.be/sNHXFMoia7A

Damn I watched the "Cat tries to eat dog" video instead of the hotkeys video LOL! Thx @KyleK29!!

Lol) It's ok buddy! I'm happy you found the help you needed in our community! I really hope this is the beginning of a very bright future for both of you!

Just watched you recap! You're doing well! Love your early entries, and entries on pullbacks, that gives u decent R/R most of the time! Keep up doing what u r doing right now!

Decided to make a video on this topic. Enjoy!

Rob, this is such a great thread. It's extremely interesting. At the same time, it makes me think that I have a lot further to go in my development as a trader than I previously believed to be the case. I really ought to look into taking this course as well. Thanks for the post!

Van Tharp Institute Peak Performance Course Vol 2: How to control stress Chapter 1 The first chapter of this volume essentially describes why stress is bad for you and your trading. I read the chapter, but there was nothing new or noteworthy. Chapter 2 This chapter was a self-assessment test. It comprised of 116 questions in three parts. 1) WT test = Worry Tendencies 2) LSI test = Life Stresses Inventory 3) SPI test = Stress Protection Inventory All three scores should be analyzed in conjunction with one another to determine your final assessment. How easily do you worry? How many issues in your life are there to worry about? What behaviors do you daily perform to protect yourself from these worries? So I scored a 38 on the WT test. This means I worry more than the average person and I may have psychological difficulties with any sort of investment. The LSI test first started that I have type “A” personality tendencies. Also, the test splits your amount of stress into 5 categories: personal, financial, health, job-related, and family. Sadly I scored “high” stress amount in all 5 categories for a total score of 110. Anything above a 60 is considered high. The SPI test I scored a 39 which means my stress protection is average. As a rule of thumb your LSI/SPI ratio should be <0.6 for a trader. Mine is 2.8 When you take the three scores combined, the book has a table. You take your WT score and match it with your SPI score than it has the LSI/SPI ratio you need to be a trader. According to this table the book gives me (and my scores) this warning: You should not be trading under any circumstances Ouch! What’s even more painful is I have really improved on all of these categories in the past year. I can’t imagine how I would have scored last year. I am hoping the course will improve the first two WT and LSI, but I will try and immediately improve the SPI. SPI is split into 5 categories. I did score well in two of them (Nutrition and problem solving). I scored poorly in Exercise, recreation and mental relaxation. I actually like exercising, but time constraints and the lack of energy has really caused an exercise deficit. See graph below which shows how my fitness level has really degraded this year The chart is VO2 Max versus month. I guess I should have shorted in July when it broke the 47 support level I will really need to get this curve moving in the opposite direction. I have increased meditation recently so in a month or so that score should increase. As for recreation, I don’t think I have done anything for myself in over 20 years. If I have any spare time I immediately think what can I do for my family. I am going to have to think about how to improve that area. I will retake the test at the end of the course or in 3 months. Which-ever comes last.

Friday 8/09/2019 I had a well-being score of 6/10 this morning. My nerves were actually quite good. Eager for the open. Which is surprising since I had 2 days of all losses. I took 1 live trades with AAPL and a few SIM trades. Like the rest of the week, in the premarket I saw no reason not to keep AAPL and AMD as my two main focuses. PM looked OK for both but I had no bias for either stock at the open. AAPL dropped immediately at the open and bounce back making a really nice hammer. I am starting to really like entering a trade with the 200MA in my way. It seems to pull the price toward it at the open (at least with AAPL). Though I must take a partial there because it may bounce. There was no really good target, So I had to take the 202.50 level as my target. The price has been respecting the half dollar levels this week. My stop was tight at the 201 level, which saw respect in the premarket. This gave a R/R~3. I should have waited for the price to break the 201.39 daily level first. But I really liked the setup and was worried that it would pop when it broke that level, and I would miss my entrance. So I entered below that level and my shares were a little light since it was a Friday. I took my first partial just below the 200MA-5min and my next one just below the 201.96 daily level. The price just about made it to my target of 202.50. I exited when price broke back through the 202.10 level which the previous three 1min candles respected. I still had alot of shares left so I didn’t want to hold to break even. Though I took quite a few partials I was good about keeping each quite small. The chart when I took the trade. The entire trade: I then took 4 SIM trades and was stopped out on 3 of them. Wow, I have a lot of work still to do to find another setup. Score Card (live trade) AAPL 90% What I did good today: Though I still took frequent partial profits I did keep them small. What I am grateful from today? I am really glad I finished the week with a good trade. What do I need to improve on: Finding another working setup.

9/8/19 Feel pretty good today despite yesterday. not much to report. And had a reeeally good day, took perfect setups and was very patient. i think wednesdays and fridays are my good days 6 trades: 3 winners (ABCD, ABCD/VWAP bounce, wedge breakout) 2 losers (false breakout, trend trade) 1 at break even. (ORB) Trade 1:5 min ORB on AMD, got in before andrew though so i wasnt blindly following. had a nice entry on a pullback and got 1 partial then stopped out at b/e. Trade 2: FTCH very weak at the open, looked like a VWAP reversal then a false breakout was happening so went short below VWAP but stopped out. still happy with this trade as it was a proper setup. Trade 3: UBER was consolidating then punched through VWAP with volume then started consolidating. kinda like an ABCD i guess. got a great entry and partialled all at the right Rs for my rules. Trade 4: looked like the start of a trend trade so i tried to go short after a pullback but stopped out above the 20 on the 1 min. these usually dont go my way until later in the day, need to remember that. Trade 5: kinda the same trade as i took on UBER before. it came down and bounced off VWAP so i went long when it looked like it was losing it then patiently waited for my partials. Trade 6: this was my favorite trade. NKTR i was gonna get in and then it started running before i entered and it ran for $2 and i didnt chase it which i was happy and sad about. but later i saw this ascending triangle form, i got in near the bottom of the triangle to reduce risk and waited for it to pop, it did exactly what i thought and i was so confident i waited and got much more than my 2:1 Rs out of it so i was very happy. Really good day overall. hopefully many more like this to come.

have you noticed that in the majority of your trades which worked you could start to partial at 2R instead of 1R?

Latest version (2.0) is up. See changelog in original post. Video is rendering and will be up today or tomorrow. The video came in around 45minutes to 1 hour, so I'll include timecodes to jump around. I try not to ramble, but I cover *a lot* of scenarios to try and simplify this as much as possible for people. I also included a voice-over trade of me using it that I recorded a few days ago so you can see my workflow and how I use it in everyday trading.

08.Aug.19 Green Day. 2R(4r) . I took a Pre-market trade in $ROKU after watching the earnings last night. I almost met my goal this morning even before the open. I could have stopped trading, except I didn't Watchlist: $ROKU, $AMD, $CRON, $GDOT. $ROKU and $AMD watching at the open. Trade1: $ROKU. Took this premarket at around 7AM EST, very small sharesize. On the 5min, it was a Clear ABCD pattern. Got 2R for the trade (I have 2 Risk sizes - regular 'r' that goes with A/B setups and Big ''R'' that goes with my A+ setups) Trades 2&3: $AMD. Gapped up on good news. Took it long after the pullback to VWAP for long. Made a hotkey mistake and got out. Took another entry (Chasing) got out at 'r'. Total loss 2r. Trade 4: $UBER. dropped at the open pulled back to 200MA-1min. thought it was breaking down and took it short. I was quick to stop after not getting the price drop. Good move. It was strong. 1r loss. Trades 5&6: $ROKU. took VWAP breakout for Long (as the stock was very strong) got stopped out. Went long after the bounce off 200MA(1min) for Trend trade. Got 2$ move. Good: Was very patient today with my partials, esp the last trade on $ROKU and got 3$ move. My last one trade covered the losses of 4 losing trades. I added to the position too and stopped out at the right time (before the dump). Traded premarket against strong fundamentals and was patient with partials, Held this for 2.5hours. Improvement: So after my first premarket trade I was up 4r. I made 5 more trades and back exactly at the starting point ie) 4r. May be I should stop after one losing trade beyond achieving daily target. Pay less commission.

07.Aug.19 Green day. 2r. Overall good trading day. Losses were small. Cut down losses where possible. Some good winnners and some scalpers. Today was tag-team trading with JaredC at the open, as we exchanged updates in the chat. Watchlist: $MTCH, $DIS, $TEUM and whole lot of other stocks which were moving with SPY. was watching $MTCH and $TEUM (i had a small position premarket) at the open. None traded very well in the first 5 mins. Trade 1: $BAC. Jared took a short at the open. I liked it and waited for a pullback. Entered close to VWAP. It was a nice trade, but the Harmonious setup didn't give lot of move. It formed Double bottom and moved against me. Trade 2: $TEUM. Took a long Premarket for a pop up to 4$, didn't give me the move, I got out Breakeven. Trades 3&4: $NEWR. $NEWR was forming a wedge Took it short at 9MA stop 20MA, price moved 1R and stopped me out. Took Long at the MA cross got stopped out again. Trade 5: $CVS. Scalped 3 times on a good trend. Would have been nice trend trade, had I held on to my 2nd entry. Trade 6: $DIS. Moved with SPY, took it short below VWAP. Partialed at 1R, 2R, 3R as was worried about the false breakout. And so it happened. Trade 7: $MTCH. Another scalp on a trend trade. Good: Losses were small. Partialed and moved the stop to BE. Scalping worked in some cases to lock profits. Improvement: Sclaping on a Trend $CVS and $MTCH, missed big profits. Overall happy today, after the 2X max loss yesterdady. I am working on different Rs for Different setups. Will implement this soon.

Van Tharp Institute Peak Performance Course Vol 1: How to use Risk Chapter 8 The danger of risk-taking occurs not only when you don’t recognize that you’re taking one, but also when you do not recognize the extent of the risk you are taking. Risk can be objectively stated using these methods: 1) The standard dev of your return over a 12 month period 2) The probability of success with a 95% confidence limits 3) Calibrating your ability to predict with your game plan 4) The trading salary and overhead If you are a net loser, then your risk of ruin is 100% if you continue to use the same strategy. Standard deviation of the percentage change in your account is a good indicator of the “risk value” of your account. The issue with applying this to my account (besides I have only been trading effectively for 6 months) is I have been keeping my fixed “R” very low while I am in the learning phase. In addition I have been essentially flat P/L each month for the last 6 months. So my standard deviation of my percent change is near zero. Thus I am taking on almost no risk. Which I knew, since I am keeping my “R” very low. But, I will use this later, when I increase my “R” to determine my risk. Then the course asks you to calculate your 95% confidence interval. I will use the last 3 months of data for 1min/2min ORBs. I took 93 trades with a success of 46%. So my interval is: =0.46+/-(1.96*sqrt((.46*.54)/92) = (56%, 36%). Thus there is a 95% confidence my success rate will be in between 36% and 56%. The course also asks the reader to retake the prediction test with their own system. Hopefully there will be better correlation. I am setting that up now, but since I will remember the trades after I set it up, I will test myself a couple of weeks later to make sure I don’t remember the trade. The last part of the chapter is a test you take to determine if trading is more like a business or a hobby. Obviously profits are more critical as a business, but if you are really enjoying it as a hobby, profits become less critical. Though I can’t list the questions due to copyright issues I will list one example so you can understand the test: I enjoy listening to financial discussions. Respond with a score from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The higher the score on all the questions, more likely it is a hobby. I scored a 37 on the test. They say 40 and over you consider trading a hobby. So I am borderline, when considering trading between hobby and a business.