Rob C

Friday 12/06/2019 I had a well-being score of 8/10 this morning. I took 2 live trades this morning with BABA. Very undisciplined trading today. My watchlist: BABA, ROKU, SAGE, BIG, DOCU and EVRI. So I had a swing trade sitting at a very critical point at the open. I am trying to learn swing trading now. The platform I am using for swing trading is giving me issues when trying to sell in PM. I even called their tech support yesterday about it and they didn’t have an answer for me. So I couldn’t take profit in the PM and I was stuck waiting until the open. So I was very distracted at the open. I tried to manage my swing trade and start and manage my day trade and as expected I mismanaged both for losses. Since the swing trade was already active I should have closed my day trading platform down and first managed the swing trade. Hopefully next time I will. BABA gapped up in PM with very strong volume. I waited for the big print signal and it didn’t arrive by 1min after the open. I did have a long bias and there was a somewhat bullish first candle but there was no other signal. If you have no big signal, then I like to have at least 3 small ones before entering a trade. I didn’t and went long on low volume anyway. My stop was touched 7 times during this trade and I still held on. The big bid finally arrived at 9:32:41 and was quite large at 400k. Five seconds later were the next big prints which give insight on direction and there were very bearish. I immediately stopped out of the trade. Even though I S/O under 1 sec after (I checked my video for this) my exit was 40 cents beyond my stop! I also flipped my position to short, which was filled in under 1 sec and amazingly the fill was 35 cents below my stop. The price fell 80 cents in seconds. I was now 2R from my stop and 1R to my target. I needed to get out of the trade fast. This is something difficult for me to do. This time I got out at -1R even though it was not at a level. Obviously if I did not take the first trade and waited for the signal I could have gone short where I was stopped out and possibly had a good run today or at least got some partial profit. Instead I got a -2R day. The big print The direction signal What did I do good today? I can say I did not break any rules. Only because my rules are not subjective. I don’t have rules like only take good setups. My rules are like trade half shares <1min from open, etc. No gray area. What I am grateful from today? I am glad I did get out of the second trade at -1R. That is usually difficult for me and I hold onto the original stop. What I should improve on: Don’t try to manage swing and day trades at the same time. Pick one and manage it. Hopefully everyone had a safe trading day. Have a good weekend!

Thursday 12/05/2019 I had a well-being score of 8/10 this morning. I took 2 live trades this morning with BABA and SAGE. My watchlist: BABA, ROKU, SAGE, WORK and ETSY. BABA gapped up in PM and almost made the gappers scanner. I had a long bias this morning. BABA opened with a bullish L2 signal (large ask at $197 and the current bid is 20X larger than the current ask) and a hammer. I went long only 11 seconds after the open (half shares). I got the usual bad fill. My stop was the bottom wick of the 1min candle with 197.94 daily level as the target. When I took the trade: I was almost stopped out but held on. Then the big print arrived 59 seconds after the open and was big enough 312k to hint that a move will be happening soon. 1min 17 sec after the open I saw another hammer forming and the L2 signal was larger now so I added shares to be at full size. When I added: The instant after I added there were large prints hitting the ask and the price popped. It popped so fast I couldn’t set a limit order. Very quickly I took two partials and the price reversed and I just got my stop at B/E order in right before the price hit my B/E. I was debating to take another live trade because I felt a little drained from the BABA trade. But I did. SAGE open huge and now was consolidating. The price just took a strong bounce up from 59.50 and I went long thinking it found support. My target was the high of the day with my stop all the way down to the 200MA-1min. But something happen to my scale when I took my trade. The Y-scale exploded to 50 points and everything flattened. I couldn’t watch the trade anymore. I did have SAGE on another chart on another monitor but it was a naked chart without any tech levels and not even the 200MA I was using as my stop. To make things worse the price reversed the instant I entered the trade. So the price was dropping and I can’t see my stop. So I got out. After I fixed the range on the chart SAGE still looked like a good setup. I checked my P/L and the SAGE stop out was a -0.6R loss thus it prevents me from taking a third live trade (I can only take a third trade if no loss is larger than 0.5R). Thus I missed the big run. My flatten chart: My naked chart: I tried 3 SIM trades and everyone I was stopped out in a few seconds. Not helping my confidence. What did I do good today? I did not break any rules. I did bail out of SAGE due to technical difficulties. What I am grateful from today? I am fine with being flat for the day. What I should improve on: I need to reproduce the chart issue I had so I can figure how to prevent and fix quickly if needed.

Wednesday 12/04/2019 I had a well-being score of 8/10 this morning. I took 2 live trades this morning with BABA and ARWR. My watchlist: BABA, ROKU, NVDA, ARWR and WDAY. BABA had strong PM volume and gapped up but was heading down into the open so I had no bias. The big print arrived quickly at 9 seconds from the open and reasonably sized 249K. A few seconds later a strong L2 signal (long) appeared. But that was the only signal. I had no bias, no signal in prints, there was a smaller bearish L2 signal at the same time and the 1min candle was red. So I let that signal go. It ended up being true and I would have made it to my first partial profit. But I would do the same thing again. A few seconds later a bullish hammer formed and we had a bullish large print. The price also broke the 195.59 daily level and above the last two 1min candles. So I went long with half shares. My target was the PM level of 196.23 and my stop the 195.59 daily level. The 1min chart when I got filled: The price didn’t move much for a minute then dropped and bounce hard off my stop. So I added more to full share size. The 1min chart when I added: Shortly after adding the price dropped and I was stopped out. I liked AWRW but the spread was so large. Then a really bearish 2min reverse hammer was created and there was a really strong level around 61.70. If it could break it, it may run. When a saw a mild bearish signal in L2 I shorted knowing the fill would be bad. My target was the 60.45 level with a stop 63. The 1min chart when I took the trade (note L2): The price came close to my stop out, but finally dropped. I had a limit order a couple a pennies above the 61.68 PM level. The price reached it but it did not fill, so I then quickly took a manual partial cover. I set an auto stop at B/E and instant later I was stopped out at B/E. I later took 3 SIM trades. Two were quickly stopped out and one I was able to get a partial profit before S/O. Essentially, it was a tough trading day for me. What did I do good today? I did not break any rules. I kept losses small. What I am grateful from today? Trading a stock live I have never traded before. What I should improve on: I forgot to check SPY before I added more shares to BABA. It would have prevented me from adding since they were diverging.

Tuesday 12/03/2019 I had a well-being score of 8/10 this morning. I took 1 live trade this morning with BABA. My watchlist: BABA, ROKU, NVDA, MU and UBER. BABA gapped down like the rest of the market with strong volume .It gapped a little too far down so I didn’t have a bias. The opening had some good volume even without the big print so unsure what significance the big print would have. It took awhile, but 52 seconds after the opening a 396k print hit. I couldn’t wait a few seconds for the next large prints because BABA was already setting up for a short. It made a nice reverse hammer on good volume (even without the big print). The spread was actually good for BABA (3 cents) and there was a L2 signal. Though not a really big bid there were moderately sized bids, two bids 10 cents below the price and two bids 20 cents below the price. I liked that there multiple sizeable bids. I hate entering a trade on one large bid which disappears just after you enter the trade. Since it was <1min my rule says I can’t take full share size so I went half size. My target was the 189.68 daily level with a stop at the top of the hammer. Because of the tight spread I actually got an OK fill. The 1min chart and L2 when I took the trade: Because of my half shares I set my limit order at 2R (thus equal monetarily at 1R with full shares). It was filled quickly. I was going to take another partial at my 189.68 target but the price didn’t quite get there. Price retraced and I was out at B/E. I really liked how ROKU was setting up, but I am not ready to take a live trade with ROKU so I switched to SIM. The price broke through the 139.21 daily level and I went long with half shares. I learned you have to add shares to ROKU. The price dropped and bounced and I saw a L2 signal and added the rest of my shares. I took a quick partial since it may bounce for the 200MA-5min, which it did. Then I was out at B/E. Then I took a second trade from an ABCD formation when it looked like it will hold the 140.86 level. The price popped and I got 3 partials, then exit on a new 1min low. What did I do good today? I did not break any rules. I watched BABA spread closely. What I am grateful from today? I am grateful that BABA gave a multiple bids for an L2 signal. What I should improve on: I need to start taking ROKU live with small share size.

Monday 12/02/2019 I had a well-being score of 8/10 this morning. A new month. I will be solid this month with no rule breaking. I took 1 live trade this morning with BABA. My watchlist: BABA, ROKU, CVLS, MU and APA. BABA I was short bias’d this morning. But BABA had some major levels both above and below it, so I was worried it may bounce around. I didn’t have to wait long for the opening big print. 17 seconds after the open a 355k print hit T/S which hints that there may be a reasonable move at the open. I waited for the next prints. My rule is at least a 3 second separation after the big print to use any other prints as a signal. Five seconds later a 5k sell at the bids 16 cents under the big print. For BABA I need to see at least 15 cents separation from the second print compared to the first large print. So it was good enough to be a short signal but not enough to enter the trade. At the same time a small bearish L2 signal appeared. But not strong enough of a signal to enter the trade. Then the price broke both the 198.41 daily level and the 198.30 tech level. So I went short with half shares since it was <1min from open. The 1min chart when I took the trade: The price bounced around a little, but I was still short bias’d so I took the other half of the shares as a 1min ORBD. My target was $197 and stop of $198.50. I did set a limit order to cover some at 1R, but I turned it off since it looked like it will easily reach it. I didn’t partial very well. Too often and though I tried to look at the spread I was not very discipline to take partials based on the ask and of course got poor fills. I finally held onto some shares if it reached my second target (195.59 daily level), which it did. Then I exited the trade with a bullish L2 signal. What did I do good today? I did not break any rules. What I am grateful from today? I am grateful that BABA gave multiple signals to enter the trade. What I should improve on: It seems I always need a limit order to mentally aim for and help prevent taking partial profit too often.

Congrats on the +21R month. I have heard that >+20R is the magic number for becoming a CPT. The rest is position sizing depending on the consistency.

Thursday 11/29/2019 I had a well-being score of 8/10 this morning. Trading in SIM due to breaking rules this month. I took 2 SIM trades this morning with BABA. My watchlist: BABA, ROKU, CVLS and DIS. BABA was a slow grind down in PM with huge volume. So I was short bias’d. I wasn’t sure if we would get the really big print in the first minute due to the large PM volume. The market opened and I waited. No really big print arrived, but without it there was a large opening volume and the 1min candle created a nice hammer. Then we had a good L2 signal and I went long. 1min chart when I took the trade: $201 was my target with 199.30 (bottom of two previous candles) as my stop. The stock popped a little and I took one large partial. Then the price reversed and I exited at B/E. I flipped my position with and shorted. I took one large partial at the low of the day and then exited at B/E. I did miss the big move but I caught two 50 cent moves which is fine. The really big print did arrive 10 seconds after my first trade (~170k), but all the big prints stopped afterwards. So not much of a T/S signal today. What did I do good today? I didn’t break any rules. What I am grateful from today? I am grateful that BABA gave a strong L2 signal. Without it, it would have been difficult to go against my bias.

Wednesday 11/27/2019 I had a well-being score of 7.5/10 this morning. Trading in SIM due to breaking rules this month. I took 2 SIM trades this morning with BABA and DE. My watchlist: BABA, ROKU, DE, DELL and DIS. BABA gapped up with good PM volume. Also, the price had a slow upward movement even after the initial gap. So I was long bias before the open. I only had to wait 6 seconds after the open and I got the biggest prints I have seen with > 1M volume. So the stock was going to move. I waited for the next print which can give me a sense of direction. Three seconds later a 2.5k print hit the ask. Not big enough to enter the trade but gives me an even stronger long bias. The price bounce off the $197 level and started making a bullish hammer. Then the final signal a large L2 ask 20 cents above the L1. So I went long, got the usual bad fill. My target was the 198.41 daily level and stop was the $197. The big print (the last 6 prints were all reported simultaneously): The big ask on L2: What the 1min chart looked like when I entered the trade: I took my first partial when the price seemed to stall. The price retraced a little and I added more on a standard 1min ORB. I took 3 more partials on the daily level, $198 and the target 198.41. The price then dropped quickly. It seems I always get stopped out by a penny before the big run so I set a stop order 2 cents below B/E. It didn’t matter I was stopped out by a penny again and missed the rest of the run. But, still a profitable trade, I shouldn’t complain. After the BABA trade I was watching DE. If it dropped down and bounce from VWAP I was going to go long. As I was watching and waiting I realized, “shoot I am in the middle of a live swing trade with BABA I entered a few weeks ago and I reached my target.” I quickly opened up my Etrade platform and sold my shares. By the time I got back I missed my entry on DE. I did chase this one a bit, because now the R/R was not that good. But I went long with 9MA and bottom of the candle as my stop and the 170.84 as my target. The price did reach my target then I exited the remaining shares at B/E. What did I do good today? I didn’t break any rules. What I am grateful from today? I am grateful that BABA gave several long signals so it was easy to enter the trade. What do I need to improve on: Watch the chasing. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Yes, the really big print I wait for is never seen on L2, so I assume it is a transaction from the previous day or from the infamous dark pools that is finally hitting the books. Again no direction from these prints but if really large it is a good indicator the price will move. Just not sure which direction. I have to wait for other prints or signals to determine. that. Thanks for the link. I have watched quite a few videos on reading the tape and haven't found any useful, even SMBs. I will have a look at Udemys.

You mean time and sales prints? Only 3 times it gave me direction. Once it was today, which I ignored to my regret. There were two other times it helped on direction. Though historically, when I wasn't using it yet, the prints correlated with direction, For the most part it helps in two ways. First it is a starting gun. Until the really big print hits, the price action is not trustworthy. After the big print the movement tends to be directional not random. Secondly is the size of the big print is a good predictor if there will be a big move >$1.5 at the open. If it is >150k it seems likely that it will have a move. If the big print is Green or Red or White doesn't seem to have correlation to the direction. But the next sizeable print >5k, after the really big print, tends to give some hint of direction. At least for the past few weeks. In general it has been very helpful, but I have been mismanaging the trades so I am only slightly positive from these trades. Managing trades seems to be my weak area and I think BABA is one of the worse to manage. At least when I finally start managing BABA well I will probably be able to manage almost anything. Not sure why, but I always wanted to be able to read the tape. I have watched a few videos and really haven't learned much. Finally I took Brian's advice when he was asked about reading the tape, "you just have to keep watching it to learn how to read it." So I started recording it and after watching the recordings for two weeks I started to see patterns emerge. Still a lot to learn about it, but making progress. Thanks for the note.

Monday 11/25/2019 I had a well-being score of 7.5/10 this morning. A very good learning day. Some IT issues with Centerpoint. I took 2 live trades this morning with BABA. My watchlist: TSLA, BABA, ROKU, NVDA, AMTD and TEVA. I had 3 chances to make a winning trade with BABA at the open and mismanaged each time. BABA gapped up with OK volume in PM, and has a great daily chart. But I also liked NVDA. Even though BABA was on my main screen I was eyeing NVDA at the open. I followed my usual procedure. I waited after the opening bell to see how large would be the big print on BABA. I had to be patient this morning. 45 seconds after the open a 282k print hit, thus making it probable BABA will move at the open. There were also 3 more prints that were recorded within the same second which I usually don’t put much weight on if they arrive at the same time as the very big print. Also one was green, one was red and one was white. Thus inconclusive T/S signal. At the same moment there were conflicting L2 signals. There were both large asks and bids thus cancelling each other out and also being an inclusive signal. I am not use to two inconclusive signals so I didn’t take the trade. It is too bad I had enough signals (long bias, good hammer, strong volume, 200MA showed strong support and T/S went all green). But the inconclusiveness of the large prints and L2 made me balk on the trade. Which is unusual for me. Since it was <1min I would have gone half shares with $188 as my stop. The price did hit the $188 a minute later, but with half shares I am less jumpy and would like to have think I would have survived without stopping out and would have caught the run up this morning. What the BABA looked like when I did not take the trade: My second chance, that I mismanaged arrived soon after. The price started to drop and that is when I noticed the 5min chart looks bearish with a double/triple top and 4 red candles, in a row, stepping down. So I planned to take a 1min ORBD. I remember checking L2, which was neutral, before taking the trade. So I shorted but made three mistakes. First, I did not check T/S which had a large 12k print on the ask 6 seconds before I took the trade. Thus it would have stopped me from taking the trade. Second, I took the trade with half shares, though I am suppose to take full shares after >1min. I did not think of it since I was still in <1min mode. If I would have taken full shares I would have reached my 1R where I would have taken a partial and brought my stop down to B/E and thus making a small profit. Third, once I realized I took the wrong shares I re-evaluated and saw the price break the 188.07 level and I added shares. Adding shares was not the mistake if based on breaking the level. My mistake is before I added I noticed the 12K bullish print. Not only should this have prevented me from adding shares it should have told me to take some profit and move my stop. I didn’t and the price reversed the instant I added. I tried to S/O where I entered the trade but BABA slid right through that. What it looked like when I took the trade. There was a 187.55 daily level that I was using for my target. After stopping out, BABA made one heck of a strong hammer on the 5min chart. A 5k print hit the ask and there was a L2 signal on the ask. Plus my bias in PM was long. So I flipped my position. My stop was the 188.07 daily level. My mistake this trade was I stopped out at 188.09, 2 cents above my planned stop. Not sure why I did that, but I have been stopping out early lately. At 188.06 the stock turned around and went for its strong run up without me. It is amazing how many times in my journal I wrote those words, “…stopped out, then a few pennies later the stock turned around and went for its run without me….” Then I tried to take a SIM trade on NVDA but Centerpoint had an IT issue on the demo accounts today, so it didn’t happen. What did I do good today? Though my trading was really sloppy today, I didn’t break any rules. What I am grateful from today? I am grateful that I walked away from my platform. Since I had a -2R day and my demo account stopped working which made it was very enticing to take some more live trades, but I didn’t. What do I need to improve on: There are a lot of things to watch, but the clock should be very high priority. Still having trouble using T/S and L2 after I am in the trade. I need to take early profits when I see a reverse signal. Will start taking slightly less shares on each trade. I need to give a little bit of room on my stops. Just a couple more cents could make a big difference.

BABA has quite a personality and the spread can explode without warning. But with the trade wars on, it has some really nice moves. Have a good weekend as well.

Thanks Glenn. Actually I don't use Kyles Keys because I trade so close to the open, it is not fast enough for me. My B/E exit script looks almost identical to yours except instead of MARKET, I pay extra and use the fastest market route Centerpoint has to offer (FANM). This works for all stocks except BABA with tight exits. But even the fastest route is no match for BABA. Though it doesn't happen often I have actually had all my profits of the trade disappear on the slide of B/E stop market order. Though uncommon it is always on your mind. It is quite a shock to the system. I am thinking, "OK, good trade, OK profit, I will let the stop order exit the trade and I am done for the day......what! I am back to flat! OK, looking for another trade...."

Friday 11/22/2019 I had a well-being score of 6/10 this morning. Due to breaking a trading rule yesterday, I am back on SIM. I took 1 SIM trade this morning with BABA. My watchlist: TSLA, BABA, ROKU, JWN, PSTG and FL. BABA had an uneventful PM, but had enough volume (>100k) to be on my main screen at the open. I had no directional bias. I followed my usual procedure. I waited after the opening bell to see how large would be the big print on BABA. I had to be patient this morning. Then 41 seconds after the open a 183k print hit, which is just large enough that it is probably likely BABA will move at the open. The next print arrived 2 seconds later, a 4k buy at the ask but only 3 cents above the big print, so it doesn’t really give much info. So I was going to go with candles and try a 1min ORB if it breaks the 185.78 daily level. It did and I shorted. Since I was going off of only 2 signals (I usually like a minimum of 3) I took a reasonably wide stop to $186, a level which was respected in the PM and my target at PDC. As usual I got the expected bad fill. I didn’t trust myself partialing so I placed a limit order at 1R. It did fill and then the stock went sideways for 2min and the I saw a 7k ask so I sold some more to reduce the risk. I made a hot key mistake and shorted more and quickly covered for a loss. The price dropped a little more and I covered some then the price shot up fast. I don’t trust a stop order at B/E for BABA, the price tends to fly through and you lose all your winnings. There seemed to be a level around 185.55 so I exited when it broke that price. Of course it reversed to the penny of my exit and dropped all the way to my target and beyond. What did I do good today? Waited patiently for the big print on BABA. Didn’t break any rules. What I am grateful from today? I am grateful for a good watchlist today. Usually I can’t find enough stocks that I can short to fill my display. What do I need to improve on: Rule breaking and watch your exit with BABA.

Thursday 11/21/2019 I had a well-being score of 4.5/10 this morning. Disappointed in myself for breaking a rule today. I also had a bad hotkey mistake. I took 3 live trades this morning with BABA and ETFC. My watchlist: ETFC, BABA, ROKU, M, AMTD and SCHW. BABA had an interesting PM. The price dropped one dollar then rose two dollars to drop back down to PDC before the open. The PM volume was just enough (>100k) to have it on my primary screen at the open. I had no directional bias. I followed my usual procedure. I waited after the opening bell to see how large would be the big print on BABA. I didn’t have to wait too long (~12 seconds) and we got a marginally large print for 162K. My rule says >150K OK to use this method, but I have never traded on this small of a print before. I am assuming this print is large enough to say BABA will move, just need to get some hint of direction. I waited for the next prints, it didn’t take long. Five seconds later there were two large bearish print. But they were only 12 cents under the very large prints. I like to see at least 15-20 cents from the really big print. If it is only 10 cents I wouldn’t have used it in a signal. 15 cents I would have, so this is a gray area. After the bearish prints, the opening candle became a bearish reverse hammer and the 5min chart looked bearish. Also, bids were building, but not big enough I would call a signal. But all these signals combine was enough that I went short with half shares. My target was $181 (LOPM) and my stop was the 200MA. This is what it looked like when I took the trade: The price reversed the instant I got my fill and I was stopped out in a few seconds. It took about 15 minutes for BABA to settle down then moved higher. Was this stop out just probabilities or the marginal size of the really big print and the marginal delta between the first print the second? Will have to collect more data. I then moved ETFC over to my main screen to look for a raising devil play. The price was moving up and reached VWAP. The moment it hit the screen I saw a L2 signal and the price move passed VWAP. I immediately went long without a full plan. There were a ton of levels just above it and it gapped heavily down in PM, not the smartest play. The L2 signal disappeared immediately after I entered the trade. I usually wait around a few second to see if the ask will stay. The price quickly dropped and I was stopped out of a few seconds later. I then flipped positions. I would like to say it was just a reflex, but I knew I was breaking my trading rule. I had a full -1R stop out so I am limited to 2 live trades. So I consciously broke the rule. Even though I had an OK short with ETFC, the market was nice enough to teach me a lesson. After I exited the trade I walked away from the screen to clear my head before starting SIM trades. I didn’t notice I still had my order to cover at B/E. The price spiked up just high enough to fill my order (as a long) and spiked back down for a >-1R loss. I did have a good SIM trade with SCHW to the short. What I am grateful from today? Actually, I am grateful for the market teaching me a lesson about rule breaking. Making a profit from breaking a rule would have been bad. What do I need to improve on: Rule breaking and trading without a plan.

Wednesday 11/20/2019 I had a well-being score of 7/10 this morning. I took 1 live trade this morning with BABA. Disappointed with my watchlist today. There were so many gappers but very few Centerpoint had shorts for. So based on the short availability I created my watchlist: AAPL, BABA, ROKU, TGT, LOW and URBN. BABA gapped down in the PM with OK volume. There were so many strong levels above the PM price that I was doubtful it could punch through them easiIy. So I was short bias’d. I followed my usual procedure. I waited after the opening bell to see how large would be the big print on BABA. I didn’t have to wait too long (~11 seconds) and got the largest print I have seen since I have following this procedure at 367k. So it is likely BABA will move, just need to get some hint of direction. I waited for the next prints, it didn’t take long. Two seconds later there was a large bearish print. A few seconds later the price dropped through 183.38 daily level which the PM showed respect. I shorted and of course got a terrible fill, but that is to be expected. I took half share size since it was so close to the open. My stop was the 183.87 level. But, there was no good target. The next target was the 180.40 which was unrealistically too far away. The price dropped fast and quickly reached my first target for a partial (182.58 LOPM), where I took a large partial. The other partialing was taken mostly at price stalls. With my half shares this was only a 1.2R trade compared to my fix risk. But the return vs risk particular to this trade was 2.5R. So I was happy with that and I didn’t feel like trading live anymore. I had my one good trade. I took a SIM trade with URBN and got stopped out. Then I took another SIM with ROKU for a +3R trade. Now that is a big deal for me since I almost always get chopped up by ROKU and was thinking about not trading it anymore (even in SIM). But, the setup and entry it gave this morning looked too good to pass up. What I did good today: Didn’t break any rules today. The prints were correct and BABA did make a nice move after the open. Today I guessed the right direction. What I am grateful from today? I am grateful BABA gave more info on the T/S to help me determine direction. What do I need to improve on: I like my trading today. I am going to leave it at that.

Wow! Great day!!

Hi Glenn. Do you use market limit orders or market orders when you partial out or exit. I use market limit orders (my hotkeys are set that way) and MYOV was moving so fiercely they were not working. I had to switch to market orders to sell. Maybe you saw the same thing.

Tuesday 11/19/2019 I had a well-being score of 5.5/10 this morning. I took 2 live trades this morning with BABA and MYOV. My watchlist today was: AAPL, BABA, MU, ROKU, MYOV and YNDX. BABA gapped up some in the PM with OK volume. I followed my usual procedure. I waited after the opening bell to see how large was the big print on BABA. I didn’t have to wait too long (~15 seconds) and it was large 260k. So it is likely BABA will move, just need to get some hint of direction. I waited for the next prints, but the were inconclusive. There were some white bids 15c below the large print but there was a big print at the ask an instant after. Thus no help. The price movement was bullish. The price had a bullish 1min candle just before the open and another bullish hammer was forming after the open. Then I saw a L2 signal, though not too big. Then T/S went all green and I went long. The chart when I took the trade: My target was the $187 level. My stop was the $186 level. Unless a got a great fill my R/R would be ~1. So not the best setup. But I really liked the volume, the candles and the L2. The price did move upward and almost made it to my first target (HOPM) but then it retraced and I got stopped out. MYOV gapped up big in PM and was strong at the open. Both the first minute and second minute volume was good. MYOV made a nice hammer with the 2nd 1min candle and I was seeing some bullish prints. But then I thought heard Andrew getting out of MYOV. Uh oh, so I paused for a moment then I saw a L2 signal. Not a big one but enough. Then the spread decreased to 2 cents and I decided to go long. I didn’t really have a good target so I had to use the solid dollar and my stop was the bottom of the current candle which happens to be the bottom of the previous two candles. Soon after I entered the trade the spread increased to 1%. The price quickly dropped to half way to my stop but the L2 kept looking better and better. I was not use to a stock with 2-3% swings so I set a limit order not too far above my entry to decrease my risk. Shortly after my limit order filled the volume increased to levels I have seldom seen before. I was unable to read the T/S anymore. It was too fast. I thought I heard Andrew enter back into the trade. I took two more partials on the way up, then held onto 1/8 of my shares and exited on a new 1min low. Again, I am not use to these huge price movements. Holding onto 1/8 my shares through a 10% pull back is pretty wasteful. What I did good today: Didn’t break any rules today. The prints were correct and BABA did make a nice move after the open, I just happen to guess the wrong direction. I took a trade with a large gap up, I usually shy away from those. What I am grateful from today? Very grateful for a +4R day. Too many days these pass two months I have been stopped out by a couple of pennies and miss huge moves. It was nice to finally catch one. What do I need to improve on: Need to create a plan for the large price moving trades. They don’t happen often, but would like to be ready for next time.

Monday 11/18/2019 I had a well-being score of 5/10 this morning. I have a few minor ailments lowering the score. I took 2 live trades and one SIM trade this morning with BABA and YNDX. My watchlist today was: AAPL, BABA, MU, ROKU, AMRN and YNDX. BABA gapped up some then lost most of it in late PM, then moved back up some before the open. Thus giving no direction except to say it was moving today. BABA was on my main screen and after the open I waited to see the big print of the day. It finally arrived after 59 seconds and it was very large at 312k. Thus, it is very likely BABA will make a substantial move, I just need to determine direction. Very soon after the price started to drop without any more large prints. I liked that the 1min candle already engulfed the PM 5min candle and it broke through a level the price was holding in PM for the last 20 minutes. So I shorted on a standard 1min ORBD. I got a terrible fill but that is so common with BABA that I already compensated with smaller share size. PDC was my target with the PM level of 186.85 was my stop. The price did retrace and touch my stop twice. Then there were some prints, on the large side, that were bullish and I stopped out a few cents early. I don’t know what was going through my head and why I did that. I know I have been upset of myself not acting on the prints, but this was just a few pennies from stop out. There is no savings to stop out early by a couple pennies. Especially, since it found resistance twice at that level. Of course the price never broke my stop and started to drop fast. This would have definitely been my trade of the week or month if I just stick to my plan. Before the price started to make its big descent, I flipped the position. Unsure if it was revenge or not. There was an OK setup IF the price broke the 186.85 to the long. But I never waited for that so it was not a full setup, thus another poorly executed trade and was stopped out quickly. I did take a successful SIM trade on YNDX. What I did good today: Didn’t break any rules today. My trade plan for my first BABA trade was correct and would have been a big winner if I stuck to my plan. What I am grateful from today? Even though it was a SIM trade, it was nice to see the YNDX trade to be larger than the sum of the two live trade losses. What do I need to improve on: Trade execution.

Friday 11/15/2019 I had a well-being score of 6.5/10 this morning. An interesting day. 7 trades (2 live and 5 SIM) and all stop outs. Definitely not a confidence boosting day. I took 2 live trades this morning with NVDA and BABA. My watchlist today was: AAPL, BABA, NVDA, ROKU, AMAT and JD. BABA gapped almost 1% up though only 100k PM volume. After the open I waited for the big print. After well over a minute I gave up and moved on to NVDA. Of course as luck would have it the print arrived just after and T/S and the 2nd 1min candle gave a good long setup. I would have only gotten to my first partial (1.5R), but on a Friday I would have called it a day. On the positive side I did get to trade other stocks instead of the same BABA every day. NVDA open strong on the first candle and pulled back all the way to the 200MA-1min. The price found resistance and bounce back I went long. My target was all the way to $215 which was a level in after hours trading the day before. It is a long way, but I had no other level. Since R/Rs that are too big don’t seem to work at the open for me I took a large stop all the way to $210 which was the bottom of the candle wick. I set my limit order at 1.5R and the price did move higher quickly. It got to about 1.3R and T/S was showing some bullish prints so I tried not to partial early. But the price retraced and I exited at B/E. Then I went back to BABA which was setting up for a 5min ORB. I went long a little before the 5min mark. I made a hotkey mistake, but I recovered quickly. My target was the 185.65 tech level with a stop at the daily level of 184.24 which also happens to be VWAP. Ten seconds after I went long large bearish prints hit which means I should get out of the position, but I held. I was stopped out shortly after for a full -1R loss. It is not a rule to bail on a trade when I get that signal, but it would be nice that I get strong enough mentally that I can start doing that. Maybe I will try and reduce my share size but not completely leave the trade on that signal in the future. The bearish prints I ignored. Then I took 5 SIM trades and got stopped out on all of them. The DIS trade looked like an a really good wedge on a 15 min ORBD. But that even failed. What I did good today: Didn’t break any rules today. What I am grateful from today? Trading new stocks. What do I need to improve on: Exit trades early when you see a T/S signal or at least reduce your risk.

Thursday 11/14/2019 I had a well-being score of 3.5/10 this morning. I have a reaction form an immunization shot I received yesterday. So definitely SIM only. Since I was on SIM I tried practicing scaling into positions today. I took 3 SIM trades this morning with BABA and AAPL My watchlist today was: AAPL, BABA, MU, ROKU, DIS and WMT BABA headed into the open quite strong. HH/HLs for 30min on the 5min chart. I waited, as usual, for the really big print, which took a full minute today. It was a 201k print so there was a good chance for the stock to move at the open. So I waited for the next big prints to help determine direction. None arrived, but the price action looked strong so I went long when the price broke the HOPM and the 200MA-5min with a nice hammer on the 5min chart. I went half shares since I still had no T/S or L2 signal. The price instantly reversed and touched my stop (PDC). When the price bounced at PDC there was a L2 long signal so I added to my position. I was still risking less than 1R. The L2 signal disappeared and the price hit my stop. Only a -0.5R loss. The 1min chart now looks bearish and there were two 5k bearish prints so I flipped my position and shorted at half shares since I was not trusting BABA today. My target was the $182 with a stop of the 182.68 PM level. I placed a limit order to take profits. The limit order price was reached but my order was not filled. If I was firing on all cylinders today I would have manually taken a partial profit when my order didn’t fill. But I had a fever and quite a headache so I was not on my toes today. The price then retraced and I got out at B/E. My final trade was with AAPL. There was an ABCD formation with the PM candles. The previous 1min candle was a nice hammer that found support near VWAP. I took a small entry long and waited for a pop or a better entry to use the rest of my shares. The price dropped back to VWAP and I went long with the rest of my shares. My target was PDC with a tight stop of the 200MA-1min. I thought I took partial profits well. First partial was at the HOTD, the second was at PDC and the final at the 264.80 level. Then exited the trade on a new 5min low. What I did good today: Good use of scaling in. Didn’t break any rules today. What I am grateful from today? I am grateful for having a win rate today of 33% and still up +2R for the day. What do I need to improve on: I need to get my health back to normal as soon as possible.

Wednesday 11/13/2019 I had a well-being score of 7.5/10 this morning. Back on SIM due to breaking rules again yesterday. Today it was all about sticking to the rules. I am not concerned with scorecard at the moment. I took 2 SIM trades this morning with BABA and ROKU My watchlist today was: AAPL, BABA, MU, ROKU, LK and VIPS BABA gapped down and I was short biased. I had BABA on my main screen at the open. After the open I waited for the big print. I only had to wait 9 seconds and a 239k print hit the T/S. I large print (>150k) usually means there will be a move at the open, so I waited for the next prints which are critical to determine direction. Then 20 seconds later some large bearish prints hit at the same time the price broke down through three tech levels. So I went short, half shares since it was <1min from open. When I took the trade: The price dropped but found support at the 184.88 daily level and retraced. Then found resistance at the 185.22 level. As it hovered around VWAP for a few seconds there struck the L2 signal, with a reasonable size ask about 8 cents lower than current price. I shorted with the other half of the shares so now at full size. My target was the 184.24 daily level with 50MA-1min as my stop. I placed an order at 1.5R (to cover 50%) of my shares and waited. Two minutes later it was filled. I waited a few minutes to determine if there was any more down side then I noticed a bullish wedge was being formed. So I exited the trade well before B/E was reached. My second trade was on a engulfing on the 5min chart with ROKU. I also liked it had an ABCD pattern on the 1min chart and it could go red to green. Price was finding resistance with the 200MA-1min and the HOPM. I never seem to get a good entry on ROKU so I decided not to wait. So I took an OK entry with a big stop all the way to VWAP. When I take trades with stops less than VWAP on ROKU I tend to get stopped out. My target was the 135.80 level which only gave a R/R~1.5. But I really liked the setup and the possible red to green. I took a partial at PDC in case it bounced hard. It didn’t and punched through easily. I definitely took too many partials, but ROKU usually burns me so I was a bit quick to take profit. I did hold onto a few shares to see if the price bounce back, but sold at PDC. What I did good today: I didn’t break any of my trading rules. That is all I am focusing on right now. What I am grateful from today? I am grateful for having a winning trade with ROKU. I usually get chopped up. What do I need to improve on: I am just focusing on complying with my trading rules.

Tuesday 11/12/2019 I had a well-being score of 7/10 this morning. A big rule breaking day today, will be back on SIM tomorrow. I took 2 live trade this morning. Broke rules on both and was stopped out on both for a -2R day. The last time I had a rule breaking day I was down -15R in under a minute, so I guess I survived today with less damage. After my two trades I had to quickly shut off my platform and walk away. Rules broken today: 1) I did not complete PM checklist. I did not perform my morning reading through my list of rules and trading plan before the open. 2) Do not trade AAPL with a 1min ORB. I did and was stopped out. 3) Do not trade full share size when taking a trade <1min. I went full share size on AAPL. 4) When a bad fill makes your R/R<1 then exit the trade. I got a bad fill on BABA (which is not uncommon). I stayed in the trade. 5) After any partial profit, bring stop back to B/E. I had my mouse on the B/E stop hot key but couldn’t get myself to press it so I was stopped out at -0.8R instead. Plan for the rest of the week: SIM on Wednesday Break no rules. This needs to be completely flawless. My rule breaking has been poor in November and certain rules have always been bad. It is time to correct that. I will not move on until breaking a rule feels completely foreign to me. Score card and P/L are now meaningless. Making a good trade is now completely based on following rules. If I take B minus setup and partial too much, but followed my rules, then it is a good trade. I have no discretionary rules. Like only take A setups. That is too subjective. My rules are very clear cut. So I can still have a rule following but sloppy trade. Until I get this following rules issue fixed, that will be a satisfactory trade. If I am down -100R by the end of the month, but followed my rules, it was a good month. If I instinctively follow my rules it will be easy to adjust my trading for better profits later. I need to finish my training plan for the the next 12 months. After my big rule breaking day last week I have stopped working on it and tried to deal with the tactical planning instead of strategic. I will post the plan soon. I realize now I need to simplify it. If I have a solid rule following day on SIM I can trade live the next day. Break any rule, back on SIM the next day.

Monday 11/11/2019 I had a well-being score of 7.5/10 this morning. First day back live after my rule breaking day last Monday. I took 1 live trade this morning with BABA. My watchlist today was: AAPL, BABA, MU, ROKU, WBA and TSLA BABA gapped down and I was short biased. I had BABA on my main screen at the open. After the open I waited for the big print. On most days BABA has a really big print on T/S. It is not like AAPL where it is a small part of its volume and occurs right at the open. For BABA it tends to be at least 20 seconds from the open. I do not know if this is a live trade or a print from PM or yesterday that is reported now. But it gives some nice info. Usually the print itself gives no direction. Even if it is at the Bid or Ask it still gives no direction. What I have noticed, is if it is big enough (>150k) it means the stock may move at the open. Usually the next prints is what hint at the direction. After a big print you almost instantly get some smaller (but still sizeable prints). The secondary prints is what I see giving hints of the direction. Usually you have a signal from them or no secondary prints and no signal. Today was unusual is we got a lot of prints but they were conflicting. First a really big print, so good we may move today. Then you see three bullish prints, then three bearish prints with the last one selling below the bid which is really uncommon. So this left me without a signal. So I waited. The price was dropping and at 40 seconds after the open I got my signal. Four large bearish prints, a L2 signal and all of T/S went red. This occurred the same time as the price just broke through its daily level at 184.24. So I went short with half shares. Yikes! I instantly lost over 50 cents on the fill. At least I was half shares so I wasn’t too stressed. The price retraced and I took the rest of my shares short as a standard 1min ORB as the price dropped below $184 with 5 more large bearish prints. My stop was the 184.36 PM level and I really didn’t have a good target. The next level was too far at 180.41, so I used 182 as my target. It felt like I partialed too much but I caught a 5R move and I made 2.7R. If I make at least half of the move that is good for me. I exited the trade when it made two HH/HLs on the 1min chart. Of course the price then reversed at went lower 🙂 I first felt good about my one and done trade then I took 4 SIM trades and got stopped out on each one 😕 Score card (live trade). BABA 88% What I did good today: I focused on reading the tape. What I am grateful from today? I am grateful for having a good day back live. What do I need to improve on: I need to still work on those trades >15min from open.