Mark D.
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Posts posted by Mark D.
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Try some range orders on your midday trades and go do other stuff instead of watching every tick
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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.
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Beautiful!
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nice! i'd recommend position sizing your sims trade as realistic as possible to what you plan on taking on your real trades. i did the same thing you did taking 1000 shares in sim but now i only take 100 shares live so when i started trading live i had a hard time scaling out because the commissions are a considerable chunk of each trade on small share size so i started scaling out less. Same with commissions, make sure you're taking commissions into consideration.
I did not do that and it threw me off trading live. So once i went back to sim again after a couple weeks, i positioned and took commissions in to consideration and it made the transition back to live trading go much easier.
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Hi AA,
thanks for sharing! these are live trades correct? have you considered lowering your share size can help with you're wanting to get out early. great trades! missing more of a move on a winner is a good problem to have
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I would have taken that same long in GM had i not already hit max loss.
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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
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Wednesday July 31st, 2019
Sleep: 7 hours. Mood: good ready to trade. Doubting my ability to trade earlier but i've decided to be more determined in my trades today.
First trade was a wedge in ENPH. took it long on the break higher. hit the wrong hotkey and got filled way too much so i took off half at breakeven. sold another half on the break of the whole dollar and the rest at break even. shocked and dissapointed i lost money on this trade. i knew i didn't make a whole lot but i thought with everything at b/e or above it would be a green trade. i was wrong.
GOOD: timing on entry, reducing risk on hot key error
RFI: hot key error
MOOD: fine, played the price action right
CONSISTENT: yes
Next trade was a moving average trend short in AMD. took that price action as a pullback and got in anticipating new lows. i got some of the move i wanted but i got out too soon. i also got in too soon. had my entry and exit been about 4 minutes later it would have the best trade of the day
GOOD: right call on the price action.
RFI: too early on both the entry and exit. should have held a little bit in case it broke lower like it did
MOOD: good.
CONSISTENT: yes i'm happy with my decision even though it moved without me.
next trade was in AMRN. my worst trade of the day. i should have used that crazy candle as an indicator to stay way but it was making new 5min and 15min highs on volume. it just didn't work out. i did a good job seeing it wasn't going to work and then bailing.
GOOD: got out limiting loss
RFI: dumb trade to be in
MOOD: good
CONSISTENT: yes
then i took pretty much the same trade i took in AMRN in AAPL. also didn't work. had i waited or flipped my position, this would have been an amazing short.
GOOD: got out before stop
RFI: too early on the entry.
MOOD: good
CONSISTENT: yes.
last trade of the day was another short in $AMD. took this as a failed bull flag. i kind of wanted to take this to the long side but there was just too much resistance above. so once it made a doji and a new 5min low i got in on the short side. got out once it kept buying up over the whole dollar. glad i got out.
GOOD: entry and exit timing
RFI: flipped my position
MOOD: good
CONSISTENT: yes.
What i did good today: got out of my comfort zone and took some quick trades near the open
What i did bad today: took those two dumb ABCD trades in AAPL and AMRN that don't make any sense
What can i do better tomorrow: take more trades than earlier in the week but less than today. too much journal-ling with six trades.
Other comments for tomorrow: I know i need to take more quick trades right at the open but i over did it today. i'm limiting myself to three total trades a day. happy with how i read the price action except for getting out of the first AMD short.
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love that MU trade. that's right where i got stopped out of my short.
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Tuesday July 30th, 2019
Sleep: 7 hours. Mood: good, ready to trade.
first trade was an ORBU in$MU. felt good about the trade. my stop loss was far away so i was a little concerned about making it to the HOPM but with a lot of MA support under i felt confident. it sold off the first couple of minutes then bought up to break the HOTD where i got in long risking right below the LOPM. it went in my favor so i set my range order and left to do other things and by the time i got back it had dumped. thought about getting out but spent the entire time second guessing myself until my range order hit. lost a little extra on slippage.
GOOD: setup was good, entry was pretty good as well.
RFI: could have got out much earlier
MOOD: ok not happy about it
RFI: get out when the trade clearly isn't working
i took $MU again. i was long biased because of the daily chart but i was seeing it below the MAs on all charts but the daily so i went against my bias and short on a pullback. it went in my favor but bought back up. again, i held on when i shouldn't have and got stopped out.
GOOD: trade made sense, better entry than the first
RFI: should have got out when it broke the LOTD and then made a new 5min high
MOOD: frustrated on two stop outs
CONSISTENT: followed the plan but i could have cut these short.
What i did good today: didn't have any losses greater than planned.
What i did bad today: Hesitation on trades that were clearly not working
What can i do better tomorrow: Practice getting out of trades that aren't working.
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Monday July 29th, 2019
Sleep: 7 hours. Mood: good, ready to trade.
almost took $MYL for an ORB but i was too nervous to pull the trigger. would have been a good trade. then it made an engulfing crack so i was looking for a short entry. I got in a small size on a little bit of a pullback risking the daily level of $21.24. then i doubled my position at the new 5min low, moving my stop to the new 5 and 15min high at $21.19. it came right up to my stop but never broke to a new 15min high. it was consolidating forever near my entry and i got up to use the bathroom and i was it wasn't moving and the volume was dying so i just got out at breakeven. not even 2 minutes later it dumped to my profit target. i haven't made that mistake in a long while and it's a reminder as to why i don't overthink my trades and just let the market do what it's going to do and not overthink it. oh well, try again tomorrow!
GOOD: waited for a signal for my entries
RFI: got out too early
CONSISTENT: no, didn't follow plan.
MOOD: ok, i'd like to get to my PT on this trade but at least i didn't lose money
What i did good today: took a good trade, played the entry well.
What i did bad today: let my snap judgement trick me out of what turned out to be a great trade.
What can i do better tomorrow: don't mess with your trades, especially when they're 5min/15min trending in your favor.
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12 hours ago, AAgnostic said:Thank you Mark. I will be posting my journal there or send you my journal. I don't know yet. I checked out the trading journals section of our forum and it seems that some of the threads get no response from others
it's true, there aren't very many of us and i think that most of us being new don't want to give advice but that being said i'll make a point to give my thoughts on your trades.
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Week 30 Recap
Another week busy with work, only able to trade two days. Took 3 trades, 2 losers and a winner, ending the week slightly green. Hoping this week will be significantly less hectic so that I can trade every day. I’d like to get back up in the 7 – 10 trades a week range. After looking at my trades for the month I can see that when I start doing well, I start to chase entries which leads to stopping out more. I realized this and starting looking for better opportunities on pullbacks and not chasing ORBs. Excited for next week, a lot of earnings coming up!!
· Weekly stats
o 2.4 planned R/R (Goal: above 3.0) [Previous Week: 2.3]
o 12/12 100% (Goal: above 80%) [Previous Week: 70%]
o $5.56 (Goal: $150) [Previous Week: -$17.09]
o 1/3 33% trades with the trend (Goal: 100%) [Previous Week: 20%]
o 0/3 33% Non-optimal Entries (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 20%]
o 0/33 0% Letting Losers Run (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 20%]
o 1/3 33% No Setup (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 20%]
o 1/33 33% true win percentage (Goal 45%) [Previous Week: 20%]
· Highlights
o All trades exited according to plan. Jeremy’s advice to having a consequence for violating rules has worked so far.
o Hit right on my expected win percentage and was green for the week, always a positive. Good trade management this week.
· Ongoing things to work on
o Need to focus more on better entries to improve win percentage. I’d like get it to 45% with 3R profits.
o Avoiding self-sabotage when I’m having green weeks. Still working on a solution to this.
o Take more good setup trades.
o Working on only taking my good setups. Thank you @Rob C for the Van Tharp criteria.
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Hi AA,
i'd be happy to share journals with you. if you don't mind posting your trades in the forum, you could post over here with some other traders and myself:
https://forums.bearbulltraders.com/forum/11-day-trading-journals/
i'm sure the other guys would be happy to give you feedback as well. if you're not comfortable with that you can always PM me your trades.
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Welcome Glenn!! nice trade on MGM
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i would love to take this test. so interested what it would say about me. i would also be really interested to see Andrew's results on a test like this. i don't think your scores are terribly bad. the IN score comes with training for most so with time you'll have the management and discipline section right where it needs to be. the low RS score is great and a critical piece to consistency. have you given any thought on your MT score? what are the reasons other than making money that you trade? i wonder about that question a lot about myself since it's a big topic in trading in the zone. thanks for sharing!
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even though it's sim that TSLA trade was still awesome
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Wednesday July 24th, 2019
Sleep: 7 hours. Mood: good, ready to trade. I have time to focus on the market at the open.
Only trade today was an ABCD in SNAP. i missed the ORBs out of fear. i've been getting stopped out often on ORBs the last couple of weeks so i wasn't ready to jump in on this ORBU but it would have been a good one. instead i waited for the pullback and traded this as an ABCD with an entry on a new 2min high after a doji. my stop loss was a new 2min/5min/5min low. I had to leave my desk to travel for the day so i set my 3R range order. got within 2 cents of my profit target at around noon
GOOD: good entry
RFI: could have waited and got more shares. profit target was a bit far
MOOD: good, I didn't have a choice but to hold on but i'm glad my order got filled. i was going to pull over and get out of the trade at 3:50 if neither my PT or stop loss was hit.
CONSISTENT: yes, exactly as planned.
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2 hours ago, IamKarthi said:I don't specifically have this problem, (but lot of other issues
) or the solution to this problem. But, do you have weekly targets, as you are trying to stay green for the week? If so, is it possible for you to have a monthly target, instead of weekly. That way, you don't have to stress out everyweek, but only once in a month. Since it will happen less often on a monthly basis, it may go away after a while. my 2 cents.
I have heard people saying hide your P&L. Personally, I don't know how much that helps. I look at my P&L all the time. In fact, when I am in a bad trade and if I don't respect my stoploss, Looking at the P&L makes me stop out immediately as it is going from negative to Big negative. Also, Once I know I have achieved my P&L then I cut my share size. It's much more peaceful. I guess it's down to personality. You may try this option of hiding P&L too if it works out for you. Stay Green!
Hi Vikram,
Thank you for the advice. I think i'll try not worrying about P&L for the week starting August 1st. and see how it plays out. I don't look at my P&L during the trading day but i'm so used to thinking in "R"s and using a fixed dollar amount for risk, i know all the time pretty much spot on what my P&L is.
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Monday July 22nd, 2019
Sleep: 7 hours. Mood: good, ready to trade.
first trade was an ORBU in MU. got in right at the break of the body of the first 5min candle. set my stop loss for the VWAP. got stopped out. i need to stop getting in to these trades that late. need to get in on pullbacks on the 2min. it wouldn't have worked either way but i've been getting in when it's too extended and just getting burned.
GOOD: got out at stop
RFI: should have just past on this trade
MOOD: frustrated.
CONSISTENT: yes
last trade of the day was a wedge/ hoping for a break of the LOTD in $MU that didn't work. it did break the LOTD but had no follow through and got stopped out.
GOOD: got out at stop
RFI: i need to wait for confirmation of the move
MOOD: frustrated. so tired of being wrong so often, it is extremely frustrating
CONSISTENT: yes
What i did good today: stuck to my stops
What i did bad today: not taking good setups at supports. being wrong way too often.
What can i do better tomorrow: no idea, i need to regroup and look back on my past trades and see what i can do to improve my accuracy. I don't know what to do, i've been wrong 6 out of my last 7 trades and it's really frustrating to keep getting stopped out.
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19 hours ago, JD said:I can relate but don't really have an answer for it. I did basically ask this question for the podcast with Dr. Steenbarger next Friday. One interesting thing that I saw during the interview that William did with Jerremy on Youtube was to have a pain or consequence for breaking your rules. Jerremy would take away something that he enjoyed as a consequence to breaking his rules. They mentioned to start small and progress to greater consequences for rule breaking so I was thinking that it's worth a try. For example, Jerremy used to take away milkshakes for 2 weeks when he broke a rule since he loved milkshakes.
I actually tried something similar which was to cut myself off from live trading for the rest of the day when I broke my rules and it was working out well because the next day I knew I wouldn't be able to take any more trades if I broke my rules. The frustration from having to watch a good setup go by when your montage is locked because you already broke your rules that day is quite painful.
William mentioned something in that Youtube video which was to work on discipline outside of trading to influence trading by starting out small. Setting a task that you have to complete everyday and build it up as you accomplish completing that task. Here's a link to the video if you haven't already watch it.
hi JD,
thank you for the advice! i did watch that video a couple days back and i have giving some thought to consequences in the past but i never thought of one that was painful enough to work. like in the past i would go back to sim if i broke a rule but it wasn't enough pain to stop me from breaking my rules. I've been brainstorming about this with my wife and I've decided that i'll give up video games for two weeks if i let a trade go past my stop. I play games everyday so this one would be sufficiently painful and allows me to trade live even if i break rules. i also removed the single trade auto stop from my das platform because it's not consistent enough and when the stock approached my stop in the past i would just let the auto stop get it instead of me and that's not really taking responsibility for getting out of the trade. we will see how it goes!
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Week 29 Recap
Not a great week for me. Win percentage was pretty awful at 20%. Too early on my entries was the biggest reason for my low win % this week.
· Weekly stats
o 2.3 planned R/R (Goal: above 3.0) [Previous Week: 3.0]
o 14/20 70% (Goal: above 80%) [Previous Week: 83%]
o -$17.09 (Goal: $150) [Previous Week: $21.00]
o 1/5 20% trades with the trend (Goal: 100%) [Previous Week: 100%]
o 1/5 20% Non-optimal Entries (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 17%]
o 1/5 20% Letting Losers Run (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 17%]
o 1/5 20% No Setup (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 17%]
o 1/5 20% true win percentage (Goal 45%) [Previous Week: 50%]
· Highlights
o Good trade in MU on Friday
o Only lost 1.7R for the week even with my bad win percentage
· Ongoing things to work on
o Removed the per trade auto stop so that I’m solely responsible for my stop outs.
o Kept the daily max loss.
o Slipping back in to getting in to trades too early. I’m going to work on being more careful next week.
o I’m against the trend way too often this week.
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Friday June 19th, 2019
Sleep: 7 hours. Mood: good, ready to trade. happy to be home with no distractions.
First trade of the day was an ORBD in AMRN. didn't break the LOTD and stopped me out in 10 seconds. should have waited for the break lower before getting in but i liked the spinning top on the first 5min candle it just didn't work out.
GOOD: good setup, entry spot was good, just a little too early
RFI: too early on the entry, could have waited for a break of the LOTD and still had a good R/R
MOOD: ok, i thought the trade made sense, it just happened to not work.
CONSISTENT: yes, got out as planned.
I was done for the day and then i saw MU making a double bottom. i thought about getting in at the PDC but i was too afraid since i was 0 in 4 on trades this week so i didn't jump in. what i noticed though was the hammer holding the low of pre-market on considerable volume and thought i have to take this long. i got anxious it was going to run away on me so my entry wasn't great. i though about adding but didn't. original target was 45.34 for 3R but then when it bounced off that high from a couple days ago, i adjusted down to right below it and got filled. i did not need to move my exit.
GOOD: held this trade for a while even though i was starting to have doubts. didn't bail on that big pullback at 11:40/
RFI: so many opportunities for better entries. did not need to move my profit target.
MOOD: happy to get a win this week.
CONSISTENT: yes, i'm fine with the adjusted R/R. even though i didn't end up needing to move it, better to get 2.5R than -1R
What i did good today: Getting in the MU trade after taking losses all week.
What i did bad today: entries were too early. all week i've been too early on my entries.
What can i do better tomorrow: Have to wait for the confirmation the move is happening. i'm throwing away money trying to guess the move too early.
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15 minutes ago, Rob C said:I don't have any answers though I am started to search in a new direction and read Van K. Tharp's last book (which I got free on his website). I am now reading a second book of his and like his stuff. I ordered his course "Peak Performance 101". I am assuming it will probably take me a year to go through all the worksheets if I do it right. I was thinking about posting my completed worksheets on BBT to pressure me to do the course right. I do recommend you checking out his site, if you haven't already. https://www.vantharp.com/
As for the stops, when I had an auto stop I had trouble not using it. I am so glad I made the plunge and turned off that hot key. I keep to my stops better now (manually). I keep working the mental muscle. And yes it still takes effort for me to stop out every-time.
thanks Rob i'll check it out. i was thinking maybe it's better to remove the per trade stop loss so i have to work on doing it manually. a lot of the time i hesitate to exit because i know the auto-stop is coming. I'll remove it starting tomorrow and see what happens.
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Mark D. Day Trading Journal - Live 2019
in Day Trading Journals
Posted
Week 31 Recap
Rough week for me. Hit my usual 33% win percentage but none of my winners were greater than 1R. Decided to start taking more live trades at the open and I just got beat up Thursday and Friday. Back to my slower trades after the first 15 minutes are over.
· Weekly stats
o 2.5 planned R/R (Goal: above 3.0) [Previous Week: 2.4]
o 45/48 94% (Goal: above 80%) [Previous Week: 100%]
o -$73.67 (Goal: $150) [Previous Week: $5.56]
o 4/12 33% trades with the trend (Goal: 100%) [Previous Week: 33%]
o 5/12 42% Non-optimal Entries (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 33%]
o 0/12 0% Letting Losers Run (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 0%]
o 2/12 17% No Setup (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 33%]
o 4/12 33% true win percentage (Goal 45%) [Previous Week: 33%]
· Highlights
o All stops respected
o Added rules for position sizing
o Had a good 3R trade in MYL that would have worked had I not given up on it
· Ongoing things to work on
o Have to capitalize on winning trades
o Practice taking all setups next week
o Better entries