Rob C
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Posts posted by Rob C
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Friday 10/11/2019
I had a well-being score of 6.5/10 this morning. I was not able to trade yesterday due to power outages.
Took 2 live trades this morning was with AAPL and BABA.
I still like the daily charts and PM on both AAPL and BABA. I was long bias on both before the open. I essentially took the same trades I did Wednesday when I got stopped out on both. And today I also got stopped out on both.
Volume was instant for AAPL and a large hammer was created and I went long when the price broke the 200MA-1min. The only target above that price was the 233.49 daily level. But that is an R/R~1.7. My stop was the PM level of 232.65. I set a limit order at 1.5R, which was just below the target. Two minutes later the price missed my order by a nickel and retraced back to B/E, where I had a stop order to exit the trade for no loss. A few minutes later AAPL started its run up.
BABA had a really strong volume quickly and I really like the bullishness on the 5min chart with PM. I saw a L2 signal and a break of the 171 level that was resistance in the PM. I also liked there was a daily level 1R away that seems to pull the price up near the open. I had no good level for a target so I used 172, with my stop at 170.50. Wow, the price instantly reversed and I was stopped out in seconds. The one bad thing about the trade is I used the wrong share size. I saw the stop was 50 cents away but I used shares for a 35 cent stop. For some reason my stops coincidentally have been 35 cents for BABA for almost two weeks. So I think it was a reflex. But that stop now cost me an extra -0.5R. BABA did go for a run up later. Which is good because I have a swing trade on BABA.
5min chart when I took the trade:
The total trade:
Then I took a few SIM trades for +2R profit.
Score cards (live trades).
AAPL
BABA
93%
90%
What I did good today: I like that I followed my new B/E stop out when price reaches 1R on AAPL. That is not easy for me. It’s difficult to S/O at B/E unless I take a profit.
What I am grateful from today? That the power outage didn’t last longer.
What do I need to improve on: I think I may move my backtesting from weekly to daily. I think AAPL and BABA stopped being in play at the open by midweek, but I kept trading them at the open. I just have to be careful not to make decisions on one point of data. Need 5 min. So I have to use the backtest data as a moving average.
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A solid day trading!! Great discipline to stop while you are green!!
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Thursday 10/10/2019
I had a well-being score of 6/10 this morning.
Took 2 live trades this morning was with AAPL and BABA.
Probably shouldn’t have traded this morning. I wasn’t planning on it because there were planned power outages to occur 4am. I woke up and there was still power and the outage was moved to noon. But I wasn’t in the right mind set and the usual nightly tasks to prepare were not completed. Adding to that I injured my food last night which I thought wasn’t bad. Then I saw how black and blue it was this morning and realized I probably under estimated the injury. Essentially, I was not in the right mind frame and should have skipped trading today.
Though the trades, on their own, do not look that bad. I have no memory of looking at SPY, L2 or T/S before I took either trade. Actually, I don’t even remember looking at volume before I took the BABA trade which is a must. So I consider this a bad trading day and it was not bad luck for my -2.3R loss today. I traded poorly and should have not even opened the platform today.
I still like the daily charts and PM on both AAPL and BABA. I was long bias on both before the open. Both stocks, especially, BABA were showing strength right before the open.
Volume was instant for AAPL and a small hammer was created and I went long when the price broke the HOPM. My target was 228 with the bottom of the candle as a stop. I usually like better stops this close to the open. The price immediately went against me and I was stopped out a few seconds later with a >-1R.
BABA had a really strong last 5min of PM and I waited for a pull back. An incomplete hammer was created and I went long at the bounce of the 165.20 level, with 165 as my stop and 166 as my target. There was volume, but honestly I didn’t check it at the time. Just like AAPL the price retraced immediately after I entered the trade and I was stopped out a few seconds later.
Got my head spinning to be -2R just after 9:31am and done with my live trading for the day. I did take a SIM short on BABA for +2R, but it didn’t really help my mood. I shouldn’t have traded today.
One note. PG&E are planning proactive power outages in my area to reduce chance of fire. I may not have power for 2 to 3 days. So if you don’t see any journal entry from me the rest of the week, you know what happen.
Score cards (live trades). I can’t really blame myself for the long bias, both looked strong in the PM. Not following my entrance checks were my main errors.
AAPL
BABA
85%
88%
What I did good today: Took a good SIM trade.
What I am grateful from today? Stopped trading at 2 trade limit
What do I need to improve on: When not to trade when you don’t have the right mindset.
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Tuesday 10/08/2019
I had a well-being score of 6.5/10 this morning.
Took 2 live trades this morning was with AAPL and BABA. I like my trading today.
I really like the daily charts on both AAPL and BABA. Either could break high (AAPL) or low (BABA) or bounce from the resistance/support. Thus I had no bias in the direction of either stock.
The volume arrived quickly on AAPL and about 20 seconds after the open a nice hammer was formed. I went long with PDC as a target and a reasonably large stop at the bottom of the candles wick. This was a R/R~3 which tends to be too high for an opening trade. I sent a 50% sell order at 1.5R and waited. The price went to 0.8R and stalled and I noticed SPY was dropping hard. I was nervous about being S/O so I sold 25% shares at 0.8R. I only had to wait 15 more seconds and the price reached my 1.5R limit order. Ten the price retraced fast. I was nervous about the price dropping faster when it broke the 226.08 daily level so I sold the rest of the shares before B/E. And as usual the price reversed to the penny of my stop and went for a big run without me. But, I still liked the trade and happy with my +1R. Much better partialing than I usually do.
A few seconds after I entered the AAPL trade, BABA setup as well with a hammer, good volume and semi strong levels to help pull the price through. I went long with the 165.51 daily level as my target and VWAP as my stop. I immediately set my 1.5R limit order and the price jumped up and touched it without filling it. Then reversed quickly. By a rule I need to stop out at B/E which I did and was quite proud of myself for doing it . Yes the price reversed a few cents after and reached my 1.5R target but I am still glad I followed my plan.
I had to take my eye off the BABA trade since I was going to stop out of AAPL and I thought the BABA trade was over. But since I had to move my attention quickly over I did not get a chance to cancel the BABA order. The price jumped and triggered the order, which is now a short. After my AAPL trade I noticed I still had an active BABA trade. I first thought I didn’t sell all the shares and hit the sell all button. But trade was still active. The same moment I hit sell all again I realized I am short and doubling my shares. I quickly covered. Now for the last 18 months (live and SIM) I have NEVER had a hot key mistake go in my favor. So it was a surprise I saw a +0.7R profit from the mistake.
Now this is significant. I spent my life a very unlucky person. I am also a very negative person. Until recently I didn’t know they were related. Recently, I have tried to be more positive and I have noticed that once in awhile now luck is on my side. Though very cool, it is very disorienting. So I assume this hotkey mistake in my favor is a continuation of this. Again. Very cool.
One note. PG&E are planning proactive power outages in my area to reduce chance of fire. I may not have power for 2 to 3 days. So if you don’t see any journal entry from me the rest of the week, you know what happen.
Score cards (live trades). Does not include hotkey mistake trade.
AAPL
BABA
92%
93%
What I did good today: The new partial profit plan is working out well
What I am grateful from today? Made profit on a hotkey mistake.
What do I need to improve on: Need to create a B/E stop hot key this week.
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Monday 10/07/2019
I had a well-being score of 6.5/10 this morning. Back to a 2 trade/day limit.
Took 2 live trades this morning was with AAPL and NVDA.
I really like the daily chart on AAPL. Looks like it may make a break higher. Also good PM. NVDA was also in play so they were my two focuses at the open. MU, ROKU, BABA and AVYA were placed it on a side charts.
AAPL immediately got volume, dropped and bounced off the daily level (226.08) and created a nice looking hammer. Volume was good and I liked the 200MA-1min ~1R away to help pull the price up. I went long with PDC as my target and a reasonable sized stop at the 226.08 daily level. R/R ~ 2.5R
What the chart looked like when I took the trade:
The price hovered around my entry for about 30 seconds then headed south with SPY. I tried to stop out at the daily level but got a huge slide making it a -1.5R loss. Then the price reversed an instant after my stop and headed back up. The price didn’t reach my target but did reach my 2R profit so it was a bit irritating. The chart below also shows my 2 SIM trades with AAPL afterwards, which I was stopped out on both.
The volume for NVDA arrived not to long after the open but the price did not move for awhile then jumped after about 40 seconds from the open. When the price broke the HOPM I went long with 187 as my target with a scary tight stop (HOPM).
I immediately hit my 1.5R limit order hotkey to try and help have patience. It was about a 30 second wait, then the price moved up and my 50% share order was filled. Then I took another partial (25%) at 2.5R with not the best fill. Then held the last 25%. I don’t have a stop at B/E hot key setup yet, but I will set that up tomorrow afternoon. If I waited to the exact B/E, the price would have reversed and made it to my target. But I am still happy with this trade. I tried a SIM trade afterwards and was S/O. I should have waited for a better entry.
Score cards (live trades).
AAPL
NVDA
90%
91%
What I did good today: Waited patiently for my 1.5R order to fill on NVDA.
What I am grateful from today? My NVDA trade was slightly larger than my AAPL loss with a big slide. Grateful to trade something new.
What do I need to improve on: Need to create a B/E stop hot key this week.
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Nice trade. Great way to end the week!
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Friday 10/04/2019
I had a well-being score of 6.5/10 this morning. I am limited to 1 live trade a day due to 3 big loss days in a row, broke a rule and a general lack of discipline.
My 1 live trade this morning was with MU.
AAPL was definitely in play. MU PM looked a little better than BABA so MU was my second focus. I also liked AVYA and placed it on a side chart.
Both AAPL and MU opened weak. According to back test data APPL does not trade well from a standard 1min ORB. You need a hammer (or reverse) or a pull back. AAPL did not give those signals so I didn’t trade it. Though today a standard 1min ORB would have done very well.
So I took a standard 1min ORBD with MU. Though my mouse curser was 2 screens away from the montage. So by the time I was able to click the short key I lost about 5 cents. But I saw this and took small share size to compensate. My target was the 43.36 daily level and VWAP as my stop. This was a green to red play, but PDC was coupled with the 200MA and a tech level. The price tried to break these levels twice and failed and I was stopped out for -0.7R.
I quickly switched to SIM and shorted MU when it made another go at PDC. It broke through this time and I set a limit order at the target of 43.36. My stop was really tight using the 43.54 daily level. Setting limit orders on my SIM trades this week has gone well and has helped my patience. My order was filled and I took another partial, then exited when it was threatening PDC again.
At the same time I took a SIM trade with BABA. It was essentially an early 5min ORB and I got a bad fill. But the trade went in my favor quickly and I sold half my shares to reduce the risk. Then quickly sold the rest when the price stalled. I went short again 30 seconds later with a better entry and again I set a limit order at my target and waited for it to be filled. Its funny how good BABA has traded the last two days, since it was the only two days in weeks I was not looking at it at the open.
Score card (live trades).
MU
87%
What I did good today: Traded something new. Kept to my 1 trade restriction.
What I am grateful from today? Did well on SIM trades again today (+3.7R)
What do I need to improve on: Will try limit orders next week on live trades.
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Van Tharp Institute Peak Performance Course for Traders
Vol 3: How to Control Losing Attitudes
Chapter 3
Finally finished this monster chapter. Huge exercises. The course said it will take up to several weeks to finish the chapter. It left me a little unsatisfied because the whole chapter is really taking tests and created huge lists, but the analysis will come later. So I am not sure why I did all this work yet.
The last part of this chapter that needed to be completed was to combine and prioritize the two previous value lists into a 200 long list. Then there were two tests, which will be evaluated later, so I won’t mention them yet. Finally another list of what trading means to you which will also be analyzed later.
So here is the combined value list. The essential to have and what you must avoid in one list. It is interesting the list gets very “block” like the bottom half. As a whole category of values will be less important than another.
Value
How do you know when you have…?
How do you know when you DON'T have…?
Love
Feel alive
Void
Spending only 15 days/year with my family
Little to no bond
My kids will spontaneously hold my hand
Every night I regret not spending more time with my kids that day
Go to sleep with regret
Fall asleep quickly
Spending time with my family
Feel the bond
You feel the bond with them slipping
Watch my kids grow
Catch the milestones
Miss the milestones
Happiness
Look forward to the day
Dread the day
Make your child laugh everyday
Best sound in the world
I can tell there was something missing that day
I will finally have time, when my children are too old to care
They prefer spending time with their friends
They go out of their way to spend time with you
Realize it is too late to build the bond you wanted with your children
You try to bond with them but there is no foundation
The bond builds
Having to say no when they ask for you to spend time with them
Feel the guilt
They still ask, knowing there is a possibility you will say yes
Trust
Run to me when they are upset
Avoid me
Vacations
Immediate increase in bond
Burn out
Missing milestones
You see the milestones only on video
You are the one recording it
They prefer playing video games than spending time with you
You only see your kids behind an I-Pad or computer screen
They stop playing computer games to say hello to you when you come home
You lose touch of what their favorite things are
They surprise you when you think you are buying something they like
You know what they would like
Reading to kids
They look forward to it
If you haven't read to them in awhile its awkward
Traveling
The kids talk about for months afterwards
They will ask for it everyday
Help kids with homework
They are less stressed about school work
They are stressed since they feel like they are on their own
They suddenly look taller
Self explanatory
You know what roller coasters they can ride on
They suddenly stop calling you daddy
You become dad
There is still a loving charm in their voice when they call you daddy
Safety for other drivers
Stay alert while driving
Risk of falling asleep while driving
Safety for my passengers
Stay alert while driving
Risk of falling asleep while driving
Unsafe to drive
Fall a sleep at the wheel at least once a week
Chance of falling a sleep while driving never an issue
No energy
Very difficult to complete any task
Even have strength to exercise
Safety for myself
Stay alert while driving
Risk of falling asleep while driving
No focus
Hours go by and you didn't accomplish anything
Feel like you accomplished a lot by the end of the day
Dizzy spells
Have to grab on to things especially after standing up
I can safely help tie my kids shoes
Catch colds easily
If anyone in my family has a cold I have it a couple of days later
I can safely take care of my sick family member without much concern
Procrastinate
Difficulty starting the task
Completing my to do list
Always irritable
Family keeps their distance
Able stay clear and calm
Way too much caffeine
4 double expressos, to keep going, is common
< 3 standard coffee/teas a day
Memory strength
Surprise people with my memory
Forgot why I walked into that room
Work effectively
Stay ahead of the game
Seems like there are not enough hours in the day
Keep up with the kids
They tire first
I tire first
Don't fall asleep while standing - I hate that
I don't dose off during the day
Fall asleep anywhere
Prevent dizzy spells
No dizzy spells
Almost faint during the day
Strength to exercise more
Exercise more than 3 times a week
Unable to exercise
It would be nice to yawn again. You body turns that off during long extreme periods of sleep deprivation. I haven't yawned in 10 years
Yawn like a regular person
Forgot what it was like to yawn
Acid reflux from too much coffee
Need tums or food to reduce reflux, though I am not hungry
Not a concern
Fall asleep while standing
You never know when or where you may dose off
Not worried about falling a sleep during a meeting
Dread each day
Don't want to get out of bed
Spring out of bed in the morning
Unable to focus
Only think about what worries you
You can focus on the task at hand
Keeps you up at night
Wide awake at 3am even though your exhausted
Fall asleep immediately
provide for family
They go without wanting
Cutting expenses
Sustenance
Pay the bills
Loss of basic necessities
Better secondary education for my kids
Kids happy with their school
Not happy, poor scores compared to national level
Simple issues now look big
Always worried about something
Take life as it comes
Want to ignore difficult tasks/issues
Everything seems insurmountable
Able to approach tasks
Inability to trade due to nerves
Take poor setups. Don't let winners run.
Patiently wait for setups
Always feel on guard
Can not relax
Feel safe
Heart pounds
Heart pounds to a point you are scared of your health
Breathing exercises is enough to clam yourself down
Different stresses are cumulative
Things add up during the day until a limit is reach, where you just shut down
Able to keep the stresses separate and in check
Hear turns gray
Its amazing, during stressful times, how fast your hair turns gray
Gray with age
Intrigue
Enjoy learning about the financials
Not even knowing the Nasdaq current level
Need
Have the materials to function
Don't have the basics, effects work
Financial freedom
Able to pursue more interesting work
Work for a paycheck
self-worth
Feel good about yourself
Feel the stress of not providing as much as you should
College fund
Staying with the needed savings plan
Worried how we will pay for it. Limiting my kids choices
Success
Created more than enough income
Not even following the right path to succeed
Fascination with markets
Eager to trade in the morning
Dread trading
Nothing to wake up for
Not easy to get before dawn for work
Spring out of bed in the morning
Difficult to find a meaning in life
You look but you can't find one
You know your role in this life
Not a good role model for kids
Scares me they might stop dreaming of the future
They tell me often what they want to do with their lives
Difficult to plan the rest of your life
You don't see the light at the end of the tunnel
You know your plan
No motivation
All tasks become difficult
Able to get yourself going
No meaning
You question why you do anything
You know why you do everything
The days have no distinction
All days become a blur
Everyday has a distinct meaning and memory
Forget things easier
When things have little meaning they are forgotten faster
More meaning more remembrance
Difficult to be happy
happy moments are brought down, because you ask why for everything
You can live in the moment
No path, no direction, meander
Difficult to make decisions when you have no directions
Decisions become easier
Panic that you will never find another job, at least at that level
You feel you and your knowledge is too old
You get calls from head-hunters very few months
Feel worthless
All your other accomplishments no longer seem significant
You know and can list your accomplishments
You start thinking about just getting a paycheck instead of a career
You don't care about accomplishments anymore
You get your projects done
Feel regret that you did something wrong to get laid off, even though thousands did with you
Can actually list reasons why, even though they are likely not a factor
No regrets, you move on with the opportunities awaiting
Question you career path
Wonder why you spent all those years in grad school and this job
You know it is a temporary directional change
Question the worth of your education
You could have been in the same situation without working so hold in school
You never forget the positive changes education has done to you
Lack of respect
Feel like a loser
You always respect yourself
Avoid conversations with people you haven't seen of awhile
You plan your day around avoiding people
Actively approach people
Life goes on hold
Mental block to plan any future event
You don't defer your plans
Even when you have steady employment, once laid off you always think you can be again.
Never think you have job security
Create a plan B and always have it in your pocket
Always tired
By noon you are just planning when you can get to sleep
Never slow down during the day
No stress relief
Stress builds
Working out reduces stress efficiently
Poor focus
The day seems to pass by without getting much done
Getting stuff done
Can not keep up with my kids
You start to watch them and not participate
You run them into the ground!!
Chronic pains arise
Seems every day a new pain
A pain once in awhile but its easily walked off
Unable to day trade
You lack it all the focus, the stress, the discipline and the patience.
Boy does it help.
Feel old
I always feel 10 years older when I am not fit
I don't think about my age much
Get injured easier
I just walk down the stairs and by the last step something hurts
Go running, hiking, or lift and it is not a concern
Lack of a hobby
there is a void in your life without a hobby
It great that exercise can double as a hobby
Headaches
They always start about two weeks without a good workout
I can go years without a headache when I am fit
Livelihood
Job more than a paycheck
Just a paycheck
Life Goals
"Never work a day in your life"
Job inspires no goals
Challenging
Creates interest to learn and adapt
Robotic
Fulfilling
Job fills at least one goal
Job does not fulfill any goal
Responsibility
People trust that you will complete the task
Checks needed for you
Role model for my children
You inspire them to do something they love
A job is just money
Team player
No one has to fight for credit
Free for all
Make use of education
PhD = Doctor of Philosophy
PhD = Pizza Hut Delivery
Part of something big
More like a quest
Just see the day to day grind
Pride
Proud to say what you do
Refer to yourself generically as an "engineer"
Feeling needed
People depend on you every day
Your not missed
Trusted
Answers/tasks are accepted without question
Always questioning you
Valued
Fell irreplaceable
Easily replaced
Missed
They feel glad when you returned
They had not noticed you were gone for a few days
Respected
Your opinion matters
Your thoughts are not worth anything
Self Esteem
You simply feel good about yourself
You feel like a disappointment
Achievement
Something recent that you are proud of
If you have to go back far in time to your last achievement
Make a contribution
Feel that others benefit from your help
Doesn't matter if you were there or not
Knowledgeable
They seek out to answer questions
Your opinion does not matter
Helpful
They expect that you will offer help and are grateful
Feeling needed
People depend on you every day
Your not missed
Trusted
Answers/tasks are accepted without question
Always questioning you
Valued
Fell irreplaceable
Easily replaced
Missed
They feel glad when you returned
They had not noticed you were gone for a few days
Respected
Your opinion matters
Your thoughts are not worth anything
Self Esteem
You simply feel good about yourself
You feel like a disappointment
Achievement
Something recent that you are proud of
If you have to go back far in time to your last achievement
Make a contribution
Feel that others benefit from your help
Doesn't matter if you were there or not
Knowledgeable
They seek out to answer questions
Your opinion does not matter
Helpful
They expect that you will offer help and are grateful
Creative
Positive responses for your "new" ideas
Rehashing old ideas
Continually improve
The world opens to you
Same old, same old
Read
Every day (audio books)
<4 a week feels like I am no longer reading
Learn new
Learn something new everyday
Can't remember the last thing learned
review old
Almost always recall useful info
Always unable to find useful info not recently learned
Increase understanding
Instinctively always want to know the "why"
Learn enough to finish the project
New skills
If you are struggling, you are learning something new
Everything is too easy
Learn Day Trading
Improving each month
Stagnating
Stay with new tech
You find yourself teaching other on the new tech
You see others using new tech and you have no idea how to use it
Keep a good memory
Surprise people with my memory
Forgot why I walked into that room
De-stressor
Tolerance for stress is high
Easily set off
Hobby
Working out is fun
Hitting the gym is a chore
Keep fit
You can feel fit
You can feel out of shape
Improve sleep
Deep sleep more than half the night
Light sleeping only
Improve mood
High tolerance
Short fuse
The great Outdoors
The reason I moved to California
What a waste moving to California
Time to myself
Then like to spend the rest of the day with people
Feel claustrophobic
Push myself
Proud of the workout
Felt like I wimped out
Time in the sun
Good day sunshine
Vampire
I want to climb Mt. Whitney
Ready for Whitney in 2021
Will I ever be ready for Whitney
Calm
Zen
On the edge of a mood swing
Mediation
The skill is getting easier
Not seeing any progress
Contentment
Living a worthy life
Going to die with lots of regrets
Quiet
Hear the roosters and cows
Hear only shouts
Time for myself
Take the short way home
Take the long way home
Interim between stressful events
Back to norm before the next event
Fires keep building on each other
Music
Listening to my daughter play piano
The day just doesn't seem as harmonic
Walks
Listening to books or bonding with my son
The bond with my son seems to drift
Pets
Unconditional love
Like something is missing
Sleeping child
Nothing more peaceful
I miss not seeing them sleeping in the mornings
Work less efficient
Always need to look back on what you were doing
You have an outline in your head that you can easily follow
You can feel it is getting worse
Less work done each day
Can see improvement with normal daily activities
Forgetting memories of your children when they were young
See an old picture and can no longer remember the event
Don't need to see pictures since you can recall the event clearly
Thinking you peaked some time ago and now just falling
You haven't accomplished what you wanted in life and now it is too late
Your making progress and there is still time
You extrapolate the worsening of the memory loss and think you will be useless by 65
You can't imagine providing for your family in a few years
Will be working until at least 70. NP
Difficulties trying to prevent it
You try the gimmicks and nothing works
Just the usual healthy living and you see it improve
Need to look up things I use to recall
Seems like that's all I do all day is look things up
I can just recall them. Very efficient
Can't remember why I walked into a room
I hate that, it is a constant reminder that you are losing your memory
You definitely notice when you stop doing it
You work with people who had a much worse memory than yours and now theirs is better
Nothing hits you more when you see this
You are the one in the meeting tat has the info at your finger tips
Hopes of getting another degree fade
I love learning. It hits you hard when you think you are no longer able
Still plan to go back one day for more learning
Anger
You feel immature
Nothing brings out the immature child in you
You pause with adult like control
Regret any action under the influence of anger
Once I calm down I am so regretful of losing my temper
It helps control my anger knowing I will regret it
Don't act like yourself
Its amazing who you become when you are angry
Stay yourself
Lose control
You become unpredictable
You control and determine logically what the next step is
My children are learning to have a short fuse
It is awful to see them copy bad behaviors
I make an effort to show how to deal with emotionally stressful times
Get other's angry
It is contagious
I rather put out the fire than spread it
Makes the world look last inviting
You think anything will set you off
The rest of the world is unrelated to your issues
It gets worse if not managed
It builds until anything will set you off
It is managed, forgiven and you move on
You forget what even got you angry
The anger lasts longer than the issue it self
The anger dissipates quickly
Hold grudges for a long time
I can hold a grudge for the rest of my life
Forgive and move on
Financial Worries
Difficult to plan your family's future
You feel guilty planning anything
Always planning and setting goals
Huge stress factor
You find your heart pounding and stomach growling for no reason
You have other things to think about
When its bad it dominates all thoughts.
You can have this stress on the front of your mind all day
You don't think of it
Disappointment as the primary family provider
It doesn't get much worse than that
You feel that you are providing well for your family
Money is leaving your accounts faster than it arrives
You see it every month when you pay the bills
There is financial stability
All expenses are now under scrutiny
The littlest thing now has to be a decision if to spend or not
You don't sweat the little purchases
Savings for college fund and retirement stop
You start thinking pay check to pay check
You save and invest
Your children don't understand when their friends go on extravagant vacations and they don't
It hurts
They have enough vacations they are not bothered by them
People start to think you are driving that classic car to be cool. And not because you can't afford a new one
You don't correct them
You buy a new car
At its worse it seems like everyone you know is buying a new car or house.
You seem to notice those things now
It is not more common than usual
Messy Life
Unorganized
Don't even seem to have the materials to get organized
Folders, binders, calendars, cabinets, etc. are all available
Finishing things at the last minute
Its difficult to start when you know the first thing you need to do is find stuff
The things you need to start are handy
Messy house
Messy hours equals messy life
Clean house means clean life
Postponing tasks
Don't want to start working in this mess
Start tasks promptly. Have a daily task lists created
Not easy to find something
At least 20% of the task is looking
Not a factor in the task
Inaccurate personal calendar
Can no longer trust the calendar
Can't live without the calendar
Need to be reminded about appointments
No calendar, no schedule
I usually remind others
Delaying doctor's appointments
Just another thing to add to the list
They are important
Not Feng shui
Yikes! You can feel the energy sucked away from you trying to walk through the house
The house provides energy
Overdue library books
That goes without saying
Always check what is due
Then the course asked to make two lists. Firs list what trading means to you and the second list what others have told you about trading.
The Meaning of Trading
Hope to help my family's future
May give me more financial flexibility
Exciting
The effort improves my psychology
Learning the training skills keeps my mind sharp
Forces me to learn how to better handle stress
More in tune with world financial situation
Discovering my weaknesses
Fixing my weaknesses
Investing 15-20 hours a week of my time
Always wondering if I have what it takes to be profitable.
What others have told you about trading
It's hard
It's easy
Everyone has a stock they are recommending
Everyone wants to know what stocks you are investing in
Your going to lose all your money
Only the Wall Street professionals with the resources can be profitable
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Thursday 10/03/2019
I had a well-being score of 6/10 this morning. I am limited to 1 live trade a day due to 3 big loss days in a row, broke a rule and a general lack of discipline.
My 1 live trade this morning was with TSLA. Since I am restricted to one trade I was hoping to trade something different.
Though I was hoping to trade something new, AAPL still looked good in the PM so was one of my top 2 focuses. TSLA was definitely in play. I liked GPRO but Centerpoint did not have shares to short. BBBY looked good so I kept an eye on it on a side chart.
TSLA opened weak and I was watching for a pull back to VWAP. I missed it since I was looking at AAPL and BBBY at the same time since they looked about to setup as well. So I shorted TSLA on a standard 1min ORBD with the break of the candle body. My target was quite far away at the 227.89 level that is not even on the chart below. And my stop was VWAP. Not that pretty of a setup but a huge R/R so it was worth a try. I went half shares knowing TSLA can smash right through your stop and give you a -2R. Just as I entered the trade with TSLA both AAPL and BBBY both setup. But I have a one trade limit so I just had to watch them. The price quickly retraced and I was stopped out with a huge, but expected, slide. Since I went half shares I only lost -.8R. Though my target was far away, the price did drop and reach my target 20 minutes later, showing it was a good calculated risk.
I quickly switched to SIM since I wanted to catch TSLA if it setup again. But instead I saw a setup on BBBY.
BBBY open strong and created a mini ABCD inside the 5min candle. Essentially this was a 5min ORB that I took a little early because I thought it may pop if it goes red to green. My target was 10.24 level with 200MA-5min as my tight stop. I tried something new. I am really focusing on taking partial profits better. So I pressed a newly created button which sent a limit order at 2R to sell 50% of my shares. Since 2R is right at a level it was a really strong spot to aim for. Then I sat on my hands. I would have likely taken 4 partials on the way to my target, but with the order already in (and in SIM) I was able to wait and get my order filled. Shortly after I saw something scary in the T/S, though I do not have a recording of it so I can’t go back and check what it was. But it was enough I got all out.
The price dropped then the signal disappeared and I got back in at a lower price with a slightly higher target and PDC as my stop. I waited patiently and took two heavy partials then all out at B/E. Another button I set up to place a stop at B/E. I have been getting out to early. A nice +4R winner.
Besides traded something new, using some new hotkeys, I also decided yesterday to look at my P/L every day (after trading was finished). The month without it helped me get my mind a little more focused on the training not trading aspect. But, it is also counter productive. I still need to know my P/L to help evaluate my trades. And I was instinctively estimating my P/L anyway which takes longer and is a waste of time.
Score card (live trades). Using the new scoring:
Original
New
Setup
50%
25%
Entry
20%
15%
Partials/Exit
20%
50%
Share Size
10%
10%
Total
100%
100%
TSLA
89%
What I did good today: Traded something new. Kept to my 1 trade restriction.
What I am grateful from today? I really like the 2R limit order button.
What do I need to improve on: Keep trading different stocks in play. Maybe wait for the break of the wick on 1min ORBs if the end of the wick is close.
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2
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Welcome Mark, great trading for your first day. Actually I like your TVIX setup and entry, though that was a really tight stop you had. Since I would have treated it as a 10min ORB I would have probably used the 5min VWAP as my stop.
Your SFIX partial profit taking looks fine. Actually it's better than mine. You took your first partial at a tech level, and yeah it would have been good to take more profit at the 18.40 tech level, but maybe you were low on shares and wanted to hold for a longer run.
As for position sizing, most of us are big fans of shares calculated by risk R. We determine a fixed risk per trade that we are comfortable with. Mine is currently $30. Then you determine how much risk you have in that trade, say your entry is 10 cents away from VWAP. (your stop). Then to only risk $30 on the trade you would take 300 shares. So with 300 shares, and you sell at your stop, you would lose $30.
This fixed risk per trade is the 2% Andrew describes in his book. Not the entire cost of buying all the shares. So my example above with 2% of your account as your risk and your account is $5000 (account size not buying power). The fixed R you would use, $100 risk per trade. If you your risk on the trade (distance from your entry and stop) is 10 cents, you would purchase 1000 shares. That's too rich for me at the moment.
Andrew, more recently, has recommended 1% risk per trade now.
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Wednesday 10/02/2019
I had a well-being score of 5.5/10 this morning. I am limited to 1 live trade a day due to 3 big loss days in a row, broke a rule and a general lack of discipline.
My 1 live trade this morning was with AAPL. It left me a bit spinning. Starting to feel better now.
AAPL as my primary focus. BABA was also on my market open watchlist with MU and NFLX was on my 5min ORB watchlist. It was odd but I liked AAPL, MU, and BABA from the premarket and wasn’t sure which to focus on. At the last minute I chose AAPL and BABA really for no other reason then it is much easier to watch that combo than say AAPL and MU due to different prices and personalities.
AAPL open with good volume and bounced of the HOPM. I decided to go long if it broke that level. Since I was a bit short bias I knew this trade would probably be a fast scalp so I did jump the gun a bit and entered the trade before a clear break. My target was 224 and stop 223. But in less than a minute it made a clean break and I took one partial. The price quickly retraced and I got stopped out.
But this is where the emotional strain hit. Before I got stopped out I was thinking this looks like a really good short, so my instinct was to flip my position well before my stop. But I can’t because I am currently on a 1 trade/day restriction. So instead I held onto the position longer to a full –R. I tried to switch to SIM quickly and take it short, but it took to long and I felt like I was chasing it so I didn’t.
I was already feeling low after the AAPL trade, then worse after my SIM trades. I first took two SIM trades simultaneously. One I was stopped out by 2 cents than the stock went for its run without me. The other stock I did get two partials than I was stopped out by a penny and then it went for its run without me. Then I started to overtrade (on SIM) and took 4 poor trades and got S/O on each one. Which forms more bad habits.
That’s when I felt my lowest. But about an hour later is when I realized that the main reason I am forcing myself to one trade/day is punitive. If I go back to SIM, that is like a vacation to me. But I really need to feel the pain for breaking one of my rules on Monday. And today was a perfect way to solidify that. It hurt not being able to flip the position. And I will likely stay on the one trade restriction for the rest of the week.
I also decided to take advantage on the remaining two days this week. Since I am on a one trade/day restriction I can do less damage. So I should be experimenting with different stocks and setups. Data I took, a few months ago, is that my win% was much better on stocks that I know well. But that was a few months ago. I may be a better trader now. So I decided to trade stocks in play that I like for the next two days.
Score card (live trades). Using the new scoring:
Original
New
Setup
50%
25%
Entry
20%
15%
Partials/Exit
20%
50%
Share Size
10%
10%
Total
100%
100%
AAPL
89%
What I did good today: Stayed on the 1 trade/day restriction, though FOMO was high.
What I am grateful from today? That I did recover from the FOMO. Though it took a couple of hours.
What do I need to improve on: Will take advantage of the trading restriction to trade stocks I usually don’t and try to learn from them.
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2
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Very impressive how you caught the whole move on AAPL. That's a lot of discipline to only take profit at tech levels.
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1
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Tuesday 10/01/2019
I had a well-being score of 6.5/10 this morning. I am limited to 1 live trade a day due to 3 big loss days in a row, broke a rule and a general lack of discipline
My 1 live trade this morning was with AAPL. I learned a lot today.
AAPL as my primary focus. BABA was also on my market open watchlist with MU and X was on my 5min ORB watchlist.
Based on back test data MU should be my primary focus, though it can be switched with AAPL depending on PM. I really liked the PM of AAPL today (gap up 0.5% and lots of vol) and its daily chart so it became my primary focus. BABA had a nice daily chart so I also prioritized it over MU.
I was long on AAPL so I was glad to see it drop at the open with lots of volume. So I waited for the reversal and hammer to be formed. Near the close of the first 1min candle a nice hammer was forming. I went long a little bit before the hammer was fully formed since it broke through the 200MA-1min. My target was the 226.08 daily level and my stop the 224.9 PM level. The R/R =4 which is too high for these 1min ORBs. But since I expected a slide on the entry and stop I used a larger 35 cent stop. This made the R/R~2.5 which I felt better about.
So today was interesting. Though my nerves have been much better the past 2 months, today I was especially calm before the open. So when I started to get stressed in the middle of the trade it was wasn’t as bad as usual and I actually remember taking each partial profit and what I was thinking. This is important to analyze how to improve my trade management.
AAPL had a 8R move, from my entry, in 20 minutes. From my entry to the last shares sold I caught a 3.3R move. But I had so few shares left I felt like not holding them by the end. And though I don’t look at my P/L anymore, I can estimate I, at most, made ~1.5R in the trade. So again I let the trade that could of made my month or at least my week, go with just an OK profit.
The first move up was reasonably quick and I took a tiny partial (1/8). Then over the next two minutes I had my finger on the sell all button as the price jerked up and down and tested the HOTD 5 times. On the 6th time I lost faith in the trade (even though the candle created another hammer and SPY was going up) and I took a ¼ shares profit. The price moved up 2 seconds after. Yes I didn’t know that, but I made so little taking ¼ shares at a 20 cent move. I should have saved them. If I did not take that partial and took all the other partials at the same spot, this would have been a 2.2R trade. A big difference.
The price then moved quickly and reached my first real partial profit target HOPM. Where I took a partial. Then the price tested that level 3 more times over the next 2.5 minutes. Now my finger has been on the sell all button for 5 minutes, ready to spring into action. So finally the price broke the HOPM. This is where you sit on your hands and watch the price move up. But after 5 minutes on edge, thinking I need to exit at any second, I took two reasonably sized partials for almost reason. The one thought I had at that moment is AAPL tends to give you about 60 cents on these 1min ORBs, so I had the feeling I should take a partial there. Taking two there was just due to nerves. The price finally reached my target, with little shares left and I partialed a little early. Then with very few shares left I sold the rest at the next daily level. Where I also sold a little early compared to that level. So 7 partials and 3 of them there was no need. But that 2nd partial was the most costly.
Score card (live trades). Using the new scoring:
Original
New
Setup
50%
25%
Entry
20%
15%
Partials/Exit
20%
50%
Share Size
10%
10%
Total
100%
100%
AAPL
91%
What saved my score today is at least I held on to those last few shares until the next tech level.
What I did good today: Great entry.
What I am grateful from today? Was especially calm before the open.
What do I need to improve on: Need to be stronger not taking partial profits in between the tech levels.
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Monday 9/30/2019
I had a well-being score of 6.5/10 this morning. Wow 3 really bad loss days in a row.
I took 3 live trades this morning with AAPL and BABA
AAPL as my primary focus. BABA was also on my market open watchlist with MU and JD was on my 5min ORB watchlist.
Based on back test data MU should be my primary focus, though it can be switched with AAPL depending on PM. I really liked the PM of AAPL today so it became my primary focus and I wasn’t too happy with the SSR on MU. BABA gapped up with vol so was also on my market open focus.
As BABA had no volume right away. So I was focusing on AAPL which gapped up 1% with vol in the PM and I was definitely long biased. There was a really strong level at 220.95 that was strong resistance in premarket. Once after the open this level also created resistance, so I was waiting for a break to go long. Since the previous test punched through and back by 10 cents I was waiting for a solid break before going long. It didn’t take long and I entered the trade. The fill was bad but that was predictable. My target was the 222 level and my stop was the bottom of the candle. I guessed there would be some slide and gave it a 35 cent stop which was perfect.
I took a tiny partial profit (1/8) due to nerves then took another at my first real level. At first I took a small share size profit. Then I remembered my new rules and took a second one so my partialing size was correct. Then the price spiked down. My new rule is to definitely stop at B/E. I thought it was going to fly right through it so I exited a little early expecting a large slide. The slide didn’t happen and I caught the low. This immediately threw me and I honestly lost my cool. After two bad loss days I really needed a solid win and I knew by being stopped out on the penny the price was going to reach my target. Actually, the price rebound so fast I had no time to reenter the trade. And yes the price did promptly moved higher to my target.
My trading headed downhill from there. It’s too bad, now that I look at it, the AAPL trade was a REALLY good trade. I nailed the setup, the share size (which was tricky) and much better than usual on the trade management. And why get upset about the exit? I am switching to an auto B/E stop out (I won’t be able to thoroughly test it until tomorrow) so this early exit will be fixed soon. So I really should have kept my cool. But I didn’t.
I was definitely on the revenge rampage and saw the volume had arrived for BABA and I wanted to trade again fast. And I almost immediately got into another trade. Now the one good thing is actually this was a solid setup. So it is good that even when I start to lose it I am still taking OK setups.
BABA had a powerful drop with high volume on the first candle. Then I waited for the bull back to short. I expected it to pull back to VWAP, but it found resistance at the PM level. I shorted at the bounce. Obviously I was not running on high quality focus at the time I took the share size without giving it the usual BABA slide. My target was the 168.02 level with VWAP as my stop. The price went against me immediately and I was stopped out.
Though I am allowed 3 trades/day now. I am not allowed to take a third trade after a full R loss let alone the last trade was a larger than -1R loss due to incorrect share size. But I am starting to lose it and I broke my rule and took a third trade again with BABA.
As I was about to get stopped out on my first BABA trade I noticed the really strong hammer being created on the 5min chart. I still have no real bias on BABA and the stock did gap up 2% in PM so long was possible. I tried to flip my position. My target was the HOTD with the PM level as my stop (yellow line on my chart below). Again I entered with the wrong share size (giving no thought to the usual BABA slide) and got a terrible fill. My is now R/R<1 and my risk is 2.5R. Thus I need to get out of the trade or at least cut my shares. This is something I have really been struggling with. I don’t seem to be able to do it. Especially on this trade which the price already started to go against me. So it looks like I was headed to a -3.5R loss for the day, which would be my first max loss day in 8 months (which I am really proud of). Which would be the end of a -7R three day losing streak as I head toward my 1 year trading live anniversary where I have to decide if I quit day trading. I was just about to really lose it when….
Then something surprising happen. I sold half my shares for a slight loss. Yes, fully exiting would be more correct, but this is a major breakthrough for me. I can’t remember when I at least partially exited out of a bad trade. I always just hold on until S/O. Which I did get stopped out shortly after.
About 4 minutes later BABA was getting squeezed into a pendant. I had no directional bias so I waited for the break. It broke lower so I shorted (in SIM). And I have no doubts that I could NOT have made this trade live. Even in SIM it is amazing I was so patient. I was just getting LL and LHs. So I kept waiting and took my first partial at 4R. Then exited the rest of my shares when it looked like it will reverse.
I labeled the trades 1,2,3 on the chart below since it is busier than my usual chart.
Score card (live trades).
AAPL
BABA
BABA
94%
88%
84%
What I did good today: My first trade was really good. I should have just chilled after the S/O.
What I am grateful from today? I was actually able to cut my shares in half after the bad fill on the third trade to reduce my risk to something acceptable. That’s a breakthrough for me. Right when I thought I may lose it. So I didn’t hit max loss. I live to trade another day.
What do I need to improve on: I broke the rules on taking a 3rd trade after a full -1R+ loss. So taking a third trade is off limits until further notice.
Since I had 3 bad trading loss days, I am restricting myself to one live trade a day until my discipline and emotional state gets better.
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Live trading summary for week ending 9/27/19.
I already discussed analysis in my monthly so I will only discuss game plan for next week.
Back test data shows BABA and MU are still in play at the open. AAPL has become marginal. If you must trade AAPL do not trade standard 1min ORBs they have stopped working on AAPL. Only trade pull backs or hammers. Here is my plan for this week:
P/L will be closed and not looked at until the end of the month to help focus on process and score card, not on W% and P/L
MU and BABA both look good at the open. Try to look at both at the open. Keep a close eye on the volume with BABA. Wait for the 100k to arrive before entering a trade. Careful MU and BABA have very different personalities and setups. You must have them separate in your mind if you are looking at both stocks at the open.
AAPL is now marginal. If you must trade AAPL do not trade standard 1min ORBs they have stopped working on AAPL
Keep $30 risk per trade. Even though my score card allows me to increase to $42. I need to keep my risk more constant until I fix my partialling issues.
Remember to take an aggressive partial profit if the price reaches the target.
Try to exit at B/E after a 1st partial. Don’t look for the rebound.
Keep trading 5/10/15 min on SIM
Don’t add to any trade, even winners.
Continue with the Van Tharp’s Peak Performance Course for Traders.
Remember you can take a third trade in a day.
Try and take partial profits on the way down as well if you lose faith in the trade. Instead all out at B/E or exit too early.
You may take a live trade on a 5/10/15min ORB if you see a good setup.
Test new auto stop at B/E and auto limit order at 1.5R in SIM. When you feel comfortable with it, try it live.
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Van Tharp Institute Peak Performance Course for Traders
Vol 3: How to Control Losing Attitudes
Chapter 3
A monster chapter. Huge exercises. I have been working on this chapter for almost a month and still not finished. I did just complete another exercise so I will post it now.
The idea of this you list 10 things that you try to avoid in your life. Then you order them in priority. Then for each item on your list you list 10 things explaining what you value about that essential need. So you end up with 100 words/phrases. Then you prioritize each under each category to have a prioritized list of a 100 values. Then for each of the 100 values you answer, “when do you know you have it and when do you know you don’t.” So you end up with 300 phrases. This took quite a bit of time.
Value to be avoided
How do you know when you have…?
How do you know when you DON'T have…?
Missing my kids grow up
Spending only 15 days/year with them
Little to no bond
My kids will spontaneously hold my hand
Every night I regret not spending more time with them that day
Go to sleep with regret
Fall asleep quickly
I will finally have time, when they are too old to care
They prefer spending time with their friends
They go out of their way to spend time with you
Realize it is too late to build the bond you wanted with your children
You try to bond with them but there is no foundation
The bond builds
Having to say no when they ask for you to spend time with them
Feel the guilt
They still ask, knowing there is a possibility you will say yes
Missing milestones
You see the milestones only on video
You are the one recording it
They prefer playing video games than spending time with you
You only see your kids behind an I-Pad or computer screen
They stop playing computer games to say hello to you when you come home
You lose touch of what their favorite things are
They surprise you when you think you are buying something they like
You know what they would like
They suddenly look taller
Self explanatory
You know what roller coasters they can ride on
They suddenly stop calling you daddy
You become dad
There is still a loving charm in their voice when they call you daddy
Sleep deprivation
Unsafe to drive
Fall a sleep at the wheel at least once a week
Chance of falling a sleep while driving never an issue
No energy
Very difficult to complete any task
Even have strength to exercise
No focus
Hours go by and you didn't accomplish anything
Feel like you accomplished a lot by the end of the day
Dizzy spells
Have to grab on to things especially after standing up
I can safely help tie my kids shoes
Catch colds easily
If anyone in my family has a cold I have it a couple of days later
I can safely take care of my sick family member without much concern
Procrastinate
Difficulty starting the task
Completing my to do list
Always irritable
Family keeps their distance
Able stay clear and calm
Way too much caffeine
4 double expressos, to keep going, is common
< 3 standard coffee/teas a day
Acid reflux from too much coffee
Need tums or food to reduce reflux, though I am not hungry
Not a concern
Fall asleep while standing
You never know when or where you may dose off
Not worried about falling a sleep during a meeting
Stress
Dread each day
Don't want to get out of bed
Spring out of bed in the morning
Unable to focus
Only think about what worries you
You can focus on the task at hand
Keeps you up at night
Wide awake at 3am even though your exhausted
Fall asleep immediately
Simple issues now look big
Always worried about something
Take life as it comes
Want to ignore difficult tasks/issues
Everything seems unsurmountable
Able to approach tasks
Inability to trade due to nerves
Take poor setups. Don't let winners run.
Patiently wait for setups
Always feel on guard
Can not relax
Feel safe
Heart pounds
Heart pounds to a point you are scared of your health
Breathing exercises is enough to clam yourself down
Different stresses are cumulative
Things add up during the day until a limit is reach, where you just shut down
Able to keep the stresses separate and in check
Hear turns gray
Its amazing, during stressful times, how fast your hair turns gray
Gray with age
Void of goals
Nothing to wake up for
Not easy to get before dawn for work
Spring out of bed in the morning
Difficult to find a meaning in life
You look but you can't find one
You know your role in this life
Not a good role model for kids
Scares me they might stop dreaming of the future
They tell me often what they want to do with their lives
Difficult to plan the rest of your life
You don't see the light at the end of the tunnel
You know your plan
No motivation
All tasks become difficult
Able to get yourself going
No meaning
You question why you do anything
You know why you do everything
The days have no distinction
All days become a blur
Everyday has a distinct meaning and memory
Forget things easier
When things have little meaning they are forgotten faster
More meaning more remembrance
Difficult to be happy
happy moments are brought down, because you ask why for everything
You can live in the moment
No path, no direction, meander
Difficult to make decisions when you have no directions
Decisions become easier
Unemployment
Panic that you will never find another job, at least at that level
You feel you and your knowledge is too old
You get calls from head-hunters very few months
Feel worthless
All your other accomplishments no longer seem significant
You know and can list your accomplishments
You start thinking about just getting a paycheck instead of a career
You don't care about accomplishments anymore
You get your projects done
Feel regret that you did something wrong to get laid off, even though thousands did with you
Can actually list reasons why, even though they are likely not a factor
No regrets, you move on with the opportunities awaiting
Question you career path
Wonder why you spent all those years in grad school and this job
You know it is a temporary directional change
Question the worth of your education
You could have been in the same situation without working so hold in school
You never forget the positive changes education has done to you
Lack of respect
Feel like a loser
You always respect yourself
Avoid conversations with people you haven't seen of awhile
You plan your day around avoiding people
Actively approach people
Life goes on hold
Mental block to plan any future event
You don't defer your plans
Even when you have steady employment, once laid off you always think you can be again.
Never think you have job security
Create a plan B and always have it in your pocket
Unfit
Always tired
By noon you are just planning when you can get to sleep
Never slow down during the day
No stress relief
Stress builds
Working out reduces stress efficiently
Poor focus
The day seems to pass by without getting much done
Getting stuff done
Can not keep up with my kids
You start to watch them and not participate
You run them into the ground!!
Chronic pains arise
Seems every day a new pain
A pain once in awhile but its easily walked off
Unable to day trade
You lack it all the focus, the stress, the discipline and the patience.
Boy does it help.
Feel old
I always feel 10 years older when I am not fit
I don't think about my age much
Get injured easier
I just walk down the stairs and by the last step something hurts
Go running, hiking, or lift and it is not a concern
Lack of a hobby
there is a void in your life without a hobby
It great that exercise can double as a hobby
Headaches
They always start about two weeks without a good workout
I can go years without a headache when I am fit
Loss of memory
Work less efficient
Always need to look back on what you were doing
You have an outline in your head that you can easily follow
You can feel it is getting worse
Less work done each day
Can see improvement with normal daily activities
Forgetting memories of your children when they were young
See an old picture and can no longer remember the event
Don't need to see pictures since you can recall the event clearly
Thinking you peaked some time ago and now just falling
You haven't accomplished what you wanted in life and now it is too late
Your making progress and there is still time
You extrapolate the worsening of the memory loss and think you will be useless by 65
You can't imagine providing for your family in a few years
Will be working until at least 70. NP
Difficulties trying to prevent it
You try the gimmicks and nothing works
Just the usual healthy living and you see it improve
Need to look up things I use to recall
Seems like that's all I do all day is look things up
I can just recall them. Very efficient
Can't remember why I walked into a room
I hate that, it is a constant reminder that you are losing your memory
You definitely notice when you stop doing it
You work with people who had a much worse memory than yours and now theirs is better
Nothing hits you more when you see this
You are the one in the meeting tat has the info at your finger tips
Hopes of getting another degree fade
I love learning. It hits you hard when you think you are no longer able
Still plan to go back one day for more learning
Anger
You feel immature
Nothing brings out the immature child in you
You pause with adult like control
Regret any action under the influence of anger
Once I calm down I am so regretful of losing my temper
It helps control my anger knowing I will regret it
Don't act like yourself
Its amazing who you become when you are angry
Stay yourself
Lose control
You become unpredictable
You control and determine logically what the next step is
My children are learning to have a short fuse
It is awful to see them copy bad behaviors
I make an effort to show how to deal with emotionally stressful times
Get other's angry
It is contagious
I rather put out the fire than spread it
Makes the world look last inviting
You think anything will set you off
The rest of the world is unrelated to your issues
It gets worse if not managed
It builds until anything will set you off
It is managed, forgiven and you move on
You forget what even got you angry
The anger lasts longer than the issue it self
The anger dissipates quickly
Hold grudges for a long time
I can hold a grudge for the rest of my life
Forgive and move on
Financial Worries
Difficult to plan your family's future
You feel guilty planning anything
Always planning and setting goals
Huge stress factor
You find your heart pounding and stomach growling for no reason
You have other things to think about
When its bad it dominates all thoughts.
You can have this stress on the front of your mind all day
You don't think of it
Disappointment as the primary family provider
It doesn't get much worse than that
You feel that you are providing well for your family
Money is leaving your accounts faster than it arrives
You see it every month when you pay the bills
There is financial stability
All expenses are now under scrutiny
The littlest thing now has to be a decision if to spend or not
You don't sweat the little purchases
Savings for college fund and retirement stop
You start thinking pay check to pay check
You save and invest
Your children don't understand when their friends go on extravagate vacations and they don't
It hurts
They have enough vacations they are not bothered by them
People start to think you are driving that classic car to be cool. And not because you can't afford a new one
You don't correct them
You buy a new car
At its worse it seems like everyone you know is buying a new car or house.
You seem to notice those things now
It is not more common than usual
Messy Life
Unorganized
Don't even seem to have the materials to get organized
Folders, binders, calendars, cabinets, etc. are all available
Finishing things at the last minute
Its difficult to start when you know the first thing you need to do is find stuff
The things you need to start are handy
Messy house
Messy hours equals messy life
Clean house means clean life
Postponing tasks
Don't want to start working in this mess
Start tasks promptly. Have a daily task lists created
Not easy to find something
At least 20% of the task is looking
Not a factor in the task
Inaccurate personal calendar
Can no longer trust the calendar
Can't live without the calendar
Need to be reminded about appointments
No calendar, no schedule
I usually remind others
Delaying doctor's appointments
Just another thing to add to the list
They are important
Not Feng shui
Yikes! You can feel the energy sucked away from you trying to walk through the house
The house provides energy
Overdue library books
That goes without saying
Always check what is due
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1 minute ago, IamKarthi said:I have read most of your journal. And one thing I find is that when you hit your BE after taking profit, you have lot of shares left. So your 2R profit may turn into effectively ~1R (i know you are also addressing taking early partial just like me). And with your 1R loss on losing trades and with 50% winrate you are probably coming out as Flat. I am just sharing something that is on top of my mind. I know you do extensive analysis on your trades and I may be TOTALLY wrong. but thought will share it for what it's worth.
Yes, I have tried to fix this issue mentally with better habits, but it hasn't worked. Either I run out of shares on the big run by partialling to early, or not taking one big partial near 2R to lock in real profits. Next month I am implementing an automatic limit order to try and squeeze more profit out of each trade. With the hallow triangle just staring at me I am hoping I will be a more patient to wait for it to fill. It will also force me to take a large partial profit instead of these tiny ones and have shares left over.
And in case I haven't said it before, I do appreciate you reading the journal. Thanks again.
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39 minutes ago, IamKarthi said:Rob , I am not there yet. But i think after one year being flat is impressive. Lot of people blow up their accounts. You have been very disciplined on your trading and you will turn positive soon, I am confident about it.
Thanks Vikram
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Live trading summary of the month of September.
Actually a disappointing month. I am almost at my 1 year anniversary going live. On that anniversary day (in 3 weeks) I will be deciding to continue on with this endeavor or stopping. Now when I decided last year to make the big decision on the anniversary, I thought the decision would be obvious. Either I would be profitable, or not profitable but making good progress or really struggling and getting more red each month. But that hasn’t happen. My average profit (per month) for the last 8 months is +0.1R. I have had 6 months of being flat (between +/-3R at the end of the month). Then one month of ~+5R and one month ~-5R. Leaving me flat, difficult to determine if I am making progress and now I am indecisive.
I really tried to focus on the score card this month. I closed my P/L window all month, only to look at it today. This did really help me to help focus on the score card. My score card was a big step up from last month at 89.3%. Last month was 85.9%. But my P/L for the month (which I found out today) was -1R. Thus another flat month.
It was an unusual month that I had no sizeable winner (>1.5R). Usually I have a good winner once a week. But none this month. Though I entered into trades that had a really good run, I was either stopped out before the run or partialed out too quickly missing the run. My win% was a little low at 44%, but I still should be making a profit.
I was under the wrong impression for the past 17 months. I thought you take good setups, get a good entry and you will be profitable. I thought trade management was icing on the cake. It is where you take a small/moderate profit and make it into a larger one. As long as you don’t highly mismanage (like going through your stops – which I don’t) you still should make some profit. But I was wrong. I really nailed the setups this month. And most of my entries were right on. But, still no profit. This was due to poor trade management. Setups, entries and trade management are links in a chain. You break one of them and you still don’t make any profit. I have to admit even though my setups were rock solid this month. My trade management was worse than usual. See the data below.
This is the summary of my score card for the month of September. Three very good scores and one poor. I took 31 trades this month and the table lists how many trades I ranked A,B,C,…. For each scoring category.
Total
A
B
C
D
F
Grade
Setup
31
28
2
1
A
Entry
31
24
6
1
A-
Partials/Exit
31
8
12
6
2
2
C+
Share Size
31
27
1
4
1
A-
Total
B+
I took 31 trades this month. 28 “A” setups, only two “B” setups and one “C” setup. My entries were reasonably solid, but all the money was eaten by the poor management.
Poor management issues:
1) I need to bail out of a trade when the fill is really bad. I never did this successfully, even once, all month. I even had chances to exit with a profit. Instead I hold on to my original S/O, which is now farther than -1R.
2) Took partial profits too often and too quickly. This has always been an issue of mine. Not new this month, just more painful.
3) I only take partial profits when the trade is going my way. Also, just important is to take a profit when the trade starts to go against and you lose faith in it.
4) What to do after I take one partial profit and the trade goes against you? It’s not easy for me to stop at B/E after only one partial. And of course I see it so often the trade goes big in my favor right after I stop out.
5) I forget I can now take 3 trades. This would make stopping out earlier easier. Because I can always get back into the trade. I also took a few amazing SIM trades (my 3rd trade of the day), because I thought I was already at my trade limit for the day. I remember two +3R trades this month that I took in SIM, thinking too bad I am at my 2 trade limit so I will take in SIM…..
The Van K Tharp institute mentions a study that was done where only random entries would be made on stocks but expert traders, with perfect trade management would trade them. And guess what? They were profitable. Not as profitable of course on a good setup and good entry. But it really says something about the ultra high importance of the trade management.
I am still taking the course (home study version): Van Tharp Institute Peak Performance Course for Traders last month. To place some accountability on myself to finish the course I have been posting my reading notes and assignments online. I was moving through the course reasonably fast until I hit Vol 3 , Chapter 3 which has monster size exercises to finish. I essentially spent the whole month on this one chapter.
Stats for February/March/April/May/June/July/August/September:
February
March
April
May
June
July
Aug
Sept
Total # of live trades
21
34
36
36
38
19
25
31
Hulk Days
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Max Loss Days
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Broke max trade rule
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
Hoy Key Mistakes
1
1
0
0
1
2
3
1
Score card
81%
81%
84.5%
85.8%
85.9%
89.3%
I need to update my score card methodology. This is the current weight of each category:
Original
New
Setup
50%
25%
Entry
20%
15%
Partials/Exit
20%
50%
Share Size
10%
10%
Total
100%
100%
SIM trades have gone well this month. I definitely see an improvement. Aiming to go live with some 5/10/15 min ORBs in October.
I need to improve on my exiting strategy after I take a first partial profit. Sometimes I stop at B/E, sometimes I stop at the original stop and sometimes I stop at a new stop in between B/E and my original S/O. Wow, this has been working out terribly. Apparently, I am horrible at deciding if to stay in the trade or not. EVERY trade I let go by B/E has never bounced back for me. And yes a lot of trades have bounced back after I S/O at B/E. So with no skills to determine this on the fly, I am going to lock in B/E with my hot keys. I do really want to manually stop, to keep building the mental muscle, but it is not working. Hopefully I will still have the strength to manually stop at my stop level when the trade goes against me without a partial profit taken. I want to leave that manual.
Goals for October:
1) Don’t go hulk.
2) Learn to control your emotions after a loss.
3) The trade score card average for the month should exceed the previous month.
4) Keep risk per trade $30.
5) Keep improving health.
6) Keep making SIM trades on 5/10/15 min ORBs
7) Start taking small live 5/10/15 min ORBs when stats say I am ready.
8] Continue with the Van Tharp course for traders.
9) Work on being able to manage a trade with a bad entry. Either exit or take shares off the trade to renormalize the risk.
10) Allow a third trade if a previous trade was exited well early for a tactical trade management purpose.
11) Adjust score card to weight trade management heavier.
12) Keep P/L window closed for the whole month of October. Only after the last trading session, on the last day of the month I can look at it. I need to focus on score card only.
13) Rewrite hotkeys to set stop at B/E after I take a partial profit.
14) The goal is to make money. Stop caring if you are right or wrong about a trade. If it was a good setup and well managed, you will always be right.
15) Experiment with a hot key (in SIM) to sell/cover 50% of shares when 1.5R is reached. Decide by end of month if you want to use it live.
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Friday 9/27/2019
I had a well-being score of 5/10 this morning. I hate having my second worse day of the month on the last day of the month.
I took 3 live trades this morning with MU and BABA
Since MU was very in play I decided to swap it with AAPL as my primary focus. BABA was also on my market open watchlist with ROKU and WFC was on my 5min ORB watchlist.
The daily chart on BABA was forming a pendant. MU had a big gap down. I was watching both to see which would set up. As usual there was a little delay with the volume on BABA but the volume did arrive near the open. So my focus was split. MU open with a nice drop and I was looking for the pull back. My focus was too split and I missed the pull back on MU so I waited for the break of the 45.42 daily level and went short with a the 45.02 level as my target. My stop was tight using the 45.42 level that it just broke. The price dropped and I took a small partial (1/8). Quickly realized I should take a larger partial, which I did (1/4). But reviewing the trade, I was already beyond 2R an should have taken a much larger partial. Unsure why I missed it. Maybe because I am not use to trading stocks this price or my eyes were too focused on BABA which was setting up and I took a second trade. Either way I missed it and the price retraced. But dropped back down where I could have taken another partial, but didn’t and I S/O at B/E for only a small profit, when it could have been a one and done, if I took a larger partial.
BABA had volume earlier than usual. The 50MA-1min was acting as a strong resistance level both in PM and after the open. With a bullish candle it broke through the 50MA and I went long. But I thought my order was not filled. I didn’t see the green triangle and there was nothing in my order or position window. So I clicked buy again and I instantly saw two green triangles. So I thought the price moved so fast my order was split into two when filled. This does happen on BABA. After watching the replay what actually happened is the first order went through. The order was super fast on the order window so it was missed it and the green triangle was displayed only on the 5min chart but not the 1min chart. There was also a second delay showing up in the position window. I was only looking at the 1 min chart and order/position window so I thought the order didn’t go through so I bought again. Then as coincidence would have it the 1min chart showed both orders simultaneous so I thought it was one order.
So I was long with 176.50 as my target and 176 as my stop.
The price retraced and the same thing happen as yesterday. The price was right on stop level at the end of the candle but was 1R lower at the start at the next candle. Ouch again. I quickly exited the trade thinking it was OK since I did set my shares size a bit small to prepare for bad fills on BABA. Not realizing I had double the shares and took a big hit.
BABA dropped bounced and climbed through all the MAs again and I went long with essentially the same setup. This time I was losing a bit of control and went full shares, not giving BABA and slide in price. I did get a good fill with same target but now VWAP as my stop. The price moved up 0.5R where I tried to take a partial and got a bad fill at B/E. The price retraced and I was S/O. Of course the priced popped back right after I S/O.
I was feeling almost to the point I was about to go tilt/Hulk and was about to close the platform down and walk away. But to my surprise I recovered quickly and stopped myself from trading more. Since it was the end of the month and I am allowed to look at my P/L. I saw I was down -2R today. Likely my second worse day of the month. Not a good way to end the month. I was surprised at first. Then I looked at the trading log and saw I double bought on the first BABA trade. Which explains the -2R.
Score card (live trades).
MU
BABA
BABA
89%
87%
90%
What I did good today: My setups were fine.
What I am grateful from today? Was able to stop myself, with not much effort, from losing control.
What do I need to improve on: I need a big review of data and determine what to do next month.
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Thursday 9/26/2019
I had a well-being score of 5.5/10 this morning.
I took 3 live trades this morning with AAPL and BABA
So AAPL and BABA were on my market open watchlist with MU, ROKU and SQ on my 5min ORB watchlist.
I had a long bias on BABA. But I didn’t know what to make of AAPL. BABA had volume immediately after the open and I went long 10 seconds after the open just on momentum. Though the price sat for a few seconds before I clicked my order there was a 0.7R slide move up in price between the order and the fill. Not surprising for BABA but it took away my one and done. So I was long with the 178.70 daily level as my target and there was no really good stop so I used VWAP and went a little light on the shares. I took two very small partials and was waiting for the price to reach 2R. But 15cents shy of 2R the price retraced and I stopped right at B/E. Which isn’t easy to do on BABA. Though my plan is to take small partials until I reach 2R, this close to the open, and without a candle signal, I should have been in scalping mode and my partials should have been at least 1/3 and ½ shares (or even all out at 1.5R) not 1/8 and 1/8. I left a bit of money on the table here.
I then took a trade with AAPL, but to make things easier to journal I will first document my next BABA trade.
I was allowed to take 3 trades after my two small wins today. Though I wish I stopped at two trades. BABA’s price dropped and I took a long when it bounced off of VWAP. Not sure why but I did not give BABA the usual share size slack due to poor fills as usual. So as usual I got a bad fill and thus I had too many shares. Actually, I had the most shares ever with BABA. So I was long with the HOTD was my target and VWAP as my stop. Even with the bad fill (which is just a normal fill with BABA) I still had R/R~2. But my risk was now 1.5R. I did take a partial, but again it was only 1/8 shares so my risk was still high. The price retraced and tested my stop twice. Then the 2nd 1min candle finished just above my stop, but the 3rd 1min candle opened a whole R lower!! I instantly exited, but took about a -2.2R loss. Ouch. I so seldomly take a third trade so it hurts that I took such a big loss. Made a green day very red.
Between the two BABA trades I took one AAPL trade. The first 1min candle was a bit indecisive. The 2nd candle was a nice reverse hammer so I went long when the 3rd candle went red. My target was 218.50 with VWAP as my stop. Same thing happen as my BABA trade. I took two small partials and waited for the third partial which would be at 2R. Then I would sell a large share size. The price didn’t make it and I exited right at B/E. If I let it go another penny it would have made it to my 2R. But, I thought, this was a well executed trade.
Score card (live trades).
BABA
AAPL
BABA
90%
95%
83%
What I did good today: Took 3 good setups.
What I am grateful from today? -1.5R isn’t too bad for the day after having that disaster trade.
What do I need to improve on: I knew I had a bad fill and the wrong share size. There was no big internal conflict to exit the trade or reduce my share size. I just didn’t think of it. There is NO instinct at all to do the right thing in a losing or incorrect trade. I have notes on my computer and I read my trading plan (which this is clearly stated) and I still just don’t think of it. I really need to change this. There is only one way and that’s a ton of visualization. Mentally place yourself in a trade that has gone wrong and manage it correctly. Then a different trade, etc…. I need to do this over and over until the instinct is formed.
I read the results of a recent Van K. Tharp Super Trader graduation class. Their average winner was 1.2R. But their average loser was 0.6R. So they still have their winners twice the size of their losers. So they are actually making their money keeping the losers small, not trying to get the big winner. Their win% was just under 50%. That’s really the trick. Keep the losers small. The winners don’t need to be that spectacular. All I visualize when I think of trading is that big win of the week. But what I really need to think of is that well managed small loser of the day!
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To start with I really like your first two setups. I like PM, but your stop was a bit wide for me, I would have used the 76.79 level as my stop. Then the price would have reached 2R before retracing and made it a good trade.
Great setup and entry on NKE. Good choice of stop as well. NKE was flying above and below the VWAP so it was good that you gave it a wide stop. You just happened to get stopped out by a penny. One more penny and you could have held to the 91.15 level. NKE was strong today so I usually wouldn't look for more than 1R in a short.
As for MDCO, I don't do well with wedges as determining direction, so I treat everything as pendants where I wait for the break of the pendant in either direction. If I like that direction I trade with it. I just watched Thor/Aiman's talk on triangles and they explain well why wedges only work if they have perfectly flat edges. Thor only goes with triangles that have edge flatness to the penny. As there is some MM always buying/selling at that price and he waits until the MM stops or is overwhelmed.
So it was a good day. Some good setups. Great entries and you held to your stops.
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Wednesday 9/25/2019
I had a well-being score of 6/10 this morning.
I took 1 live trade this morning with AAPL and 2 SIM trades with NKE and BABA
So AAPL and BABA were on my market open watchlist with MU, ROKU and NKE on my 5min ORB watchlist. First time since I went live I did not give AMD a chart.
I had a long bias on both AAPL and BABA. AAPL already made a nice hammer in the PM (on the daily chart) and BABA was bouncing from the big drops recently. As usual the volume arrives on BABA on the 2nd minute, so my attention at the open was on AAPL. Volume arrived quickly and AAPL made a nice hammer and I went long when it broke the HOPM. My target was the 219.82 and my stop at 218.50 which is also the bottom of the candle. It popped so fast that my first partial profit was correct at the 219.30 daily level. I took another at 219.50 and then I noticed I am at 2R so I took another partial. But I am supposed to take a large partial at 2R and instead I took a small partial because I really thought it was goung to reach my target. The price dropped quickly and I S/O near B/E. Too bad I took only small partials. I assume I only made about +1R.
I really didn’t want to risk another flat day so I switched to SIM and took 2 winning SIM trades. Especially a big winner on BABA. I added the charts below.
A 1min ORBU on NKE
A 2min ORBU on BABA
Score card (live trades).
AAPL
93%
What I did good today: Took good setups and got good entries.
What I am grateful from today? It’s good to play it safe and walk away green.
What do I need to improve on: To take a big partial profit at 2R. Especially for the scalp-like trades.
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Tuesday 9/23/2019
I had a well-being score of 6/10 this morning.
I took 2 live trades this morning, both with AAPL.
So AAPL and BABA were on my market open watchlist with MU, AMD,and ROKU on my 5min ORB watchlist.
I liked the daily chart on BABA. Not sure which way it was going to move, but thought it would move. And I liked the PM chart on AAPL and was long bias. BABA again did not get volume at the open. AAPL got volume but gave a red first 1min candle. Even though I saw SPY dropping I was too long bias to take the trade. Then the 2nd 1min candle engulfed the first in seconds, then pulled back and I went long with a good fill. My target was the 221.51 daily level and my stop was the bottom of the previous candle. The price quickly popped and I got a first partial with small shares. Then price quickly retraced. Since I took a partial I moved my stop up to VWAP and a PM level. I was stopped out by a penny or two for >-0.5R loss, so it does not give me the right to take 3 trades today (one of my rules so I don’t take the 3rd trade as a revenge trade).
When I was stopped out the volume for BABA arrived and I was waiting for a setup (pull back). While I was waiting AAPL setup again and I went long. Five seconds later BABA setup perfectly. But I have a two trade limit, so I watched BABA drop like a rock and never look back. Would have been a huge stress-less trade. Instead I entered a very stressful trade. The 221.51 target was now too close for AAPL, so I chose the very strong 22.39 level. My stop was LOTD. Which gave an R/R>4. The price retraced and touched my stop twice while I was watching BABA really move without me. Also SPY was dropping and I was really losing faith in the trade. So when the price reached back up to my entry I took a few shares off. Then it popped a few cents and I sold more. Essentially I sold half my shares at B/E to reduce my risk. Then the price moved up to the 221.51 level where I took two partials. Then retraced to stop me out by a couple of cents again. Then it went higher and actually reached my target. That’s OK I didn’t have too many shares left. What hurt is the first S/O and selling half my shares at B/E.
I don’t look at my P/L until the EOM but I instinctively look at each trade and estimate the P/L. Today looks like I am flat. Just like my trading for the last 8 months.
No mood for any SIM trades. I was nervous I was going to FOMO trade and I had to turn off my platform early.
Yep another day that represents the month I have been having. Where I saw the two stocks I am focusing on, both fly big today and I wasn’t on board.
Score card (live trades).
AAPL
AAPL
88%
87%
What I did good today: Well again I recognized and took good setups.
What I am grateful from today? Walked away before I FOMO traded.
What do I need to improve on: At the end of the month I will evaluate my S/O strategy after taking one partial profit. Last month I really didn’t have enough data to determine a strategy. Hopefully at the end of this month I will. What I am doing now is not working.
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Rob C's Trading Journal - starting Feb 1 2019
in Day Trading Journals
Posted · Edited by Rob C
I am almost at my 1 year trading live anniversary. Time to evaluate if it is worth continuing this journey. I was in SIM for 6 months, so I have been trying to learn day trading for 18 months. I always planned to access my progress and evaluate if I should continue at my 1 year live anniversary. It has been quite costly in time, so it is a serious consideration. Though I feel like progress has been made in my trading I don’t see any change in profitability, so it is not an easy decision. But with some reflection, this week, I realized it is better to look at this more holistically.
The change in my personality (for the better) has been dramatic. I would even say transforming. Especially, the last few months. I see improvements constantly and I would not want that to stop. Waking up at 5am and forcing yourself to face your fears, endure stress and muster the strength to make changes in yourself to improve creates dramatic results.
Let us say I went a different path and started working on starting a business. I would have worked on prototypes, a business model/plan, and presentations for funding. For the most part not stressful and no internal improvements would have been made. If I feel off that day, the worse thing is I program the 3D printer wrong and the part is thrown in the trash. If I feel off while trading I could go tilt and lose a large part of my family savings, permanently altering our lives. A much greater incentive for personal growth in the latter.
I like this growth in myself and I don’t want to stop. That alone it is worth continuing. Now if someone walked up to me and asked if they were training correctly, and they showed me my training plan for the last 18 months, I would say no. So way am I training this way? If you get a couch potato and you want to start training him for some track/field event, would you spend 10 minutes a day practicing in each decathlon event? No. But that is what I did. I set up my platform, and started trading different setups every day. Hoping I would get good at one of them. I would have recommended to the couch potato to first put the mileage in running. Then hit the weights. Improve your flexibility and get on a sensible diet while reading up on the events. So why didn’t I do that? And worse why am I not doing that now? Yes, I am trying to improve on some of that, but looking objectively I am still training wrong.
So first I listed what I should have done the past 18 months, find the deficiencies and then I will create an appropriate training plan. So here is my should have done list:
1
Education
Read enough to know you have a serious interest. Read enough to learn what next to read. Read enough to know what platform broker/SIM to use.
2
Get fit
Physically (exercise and diet)
3
Get Fit
Mentally (Decrease the incoming stress, able to handle stress and methods/activities to alleviate the stress).
4
Business plan
Do you have at least two years to learn? How many hours/week can you devote? How much disposable cash reserves do you have to cover expenses and losses?
5
Set up
Trading equipment. You can be frugal, but don't be cheap.
6
Training Plan
6 months SIM. Training during market hours and training after market hours. Mental and physical fitness should be part of the training plan. Also reading, webinars, etc.
7
Trading Plan
What time of day do you want to trade SIM, for how long? Chat on/off? Risk? Max loss? Max trades? These should all be decided in SIM
8
Learn the platform in SIM
Make a trade, partial and stop. Don't leave this phase until hotkey mistakes are <10% of the trades
9
Exploration phase
You need 3 trades in your playbook, though only one needs to be solidly profitable.
10
Dip your toes into live trading
Once hotkey mistakes are reduced and you have at least on setup in you playbook, you should go live at least once a week with very small share size
11
Discover trades that fit your personality
Nothing works? Or some setups do work but you are completely stressed when you take them?
12
Reread trading books, especially psychology
The books will mean more after being in SIM awhile
13
Revised trading plan
At least the last month of your trading plan should mimic your live trading plan
14
Choose 3 setups
Not just the one's that have worked the best, but the one's you feel the most comfortable taking.
15
Refine trades
You should be now taking trades like they are live. Once you do this you will see adjustments are needed.
16
Revised trading plan
This is the live trading plan, risk, max loss and max trades need to be written in stone
17
Revise Business plan
If not yet, trade losses need to be in your business plan
18
Go live 50%
I assume, in the beginning, you will hit max trades quickly then switch to SIM. Also make sure you take some SIM trades on setups you are still working on.
19
Work on nerves
Reread psychology books, they will make the most sense once you are live.
20
Test risk management
Even if you lose every trade, your losses should be manageable. If not work on risk management. Do not go past this step until complete.
21
Go 100% live
Once risk management is solid, go fully live.
22
Increase fixed R
Find the risk you are comfortable and slowly increase. Stay within comfort zone.
With that in view I didn’t even get through step 3. In the Van K Tharp course I am taking, they give you a test to check if you are ready to handle trading. There are essentially 3 parts. How much stress is in your life now (can you handle any more like day trading)? How well do you handle stress? Do you have methods to efficiently alleviate the stress? I failed this so badly I was below the bottom of the scale. So I should have known and fixed this 18 months ago. Now I have made progress and I do noticed my nerves are better when I trade. I have set goals to improve it and I have listed those in another part of the forum where I journal the Van K Tharp course I am taking. But this must be my top priority.
I am so glad I created a business plan or I would have quit when I started losing lots of money when I went live. Because I assumed I would have losses and had it in my business plan. Though I spent 6 months in SIM, I never really made it through step 8 (know the platform) or step 9 (exploration phase). I use to make 2 or 3 hot key mistakes a day. It completely disrupted my trading and was a big impact in learning how to trade. I should have spent all my time fixing the issue before moving on. This issue is fixed now and my hotkey mistakes are low, but that was a waste and caused undue stress. As for step 9, I left demo without any working setups. I tried and nothing worked. Then I chose the 5min ORB and heavily practiced it on DAS SIM and tradingsim.com with little improvement. I finally left demo just to try another platform to see if it would help my hotkey mistakes. It did.
I wish I did step 10. I do recommend it for new traders.
Step 19 took a while to fix (nerves). Rereading Trading in the Zone and Daily Trading Coach after you go live has much more of an impact. I tried reading lots of other books to help, I found most not useful. I did finally find a couple that helped. Essentially, I was raised that being negative was good. We would be punished as children for acting to positive, like we are jinxing the future. If we enter a task to positive and we fail my parents would love to tell us we ruined are chances because of the positive thinking. “Laugh before breakfast, cry before dinner,” was my parent’s favorite phrase. So this was a lot of programing to change. But, I have known lucky people. They enter the situation positively and assume things will go their way even though the odds are against them. And I watch how things go their way. So this mind set can really help in trading. You don’t second guess yourself and the ability to find setups is improved. There was actually an experiment that showed this.
To keep an open mind to different possibilities. If you think that something positive may happen, when an opportunity, though it may be outside the box, crosses your path, you would see it and act. I would be close minded and not see it. There is actually some data for this. I once read about an experiment where volunteers were gathered. One set of people considered themselves usually the lucky type and the second group considered themselves unlucky. Everyone was given a newspaper and asked to count the number of pictures in the newspaper. The unlucky group usually took 2 or 3 minutes to count all the pictures. The lucky group usually took around 10 seconds. Because the lucky group all noticed a big sign on page two stating, “there are 46 pictures in the newspaper.” The unlucky group were focused on just looking for pictures and never noticed the sign. You can imagine how that applies to day trading. So you need to make yourself luckier by using the power of attraction.
Step 20 (Risk Management). Ok, I think I got this one. I have not lost any money in the last 8 months trading live. My trading is not very good so it must be risk management keeping me afloat.
Step 21 (increase your fixed R). Definitely doing this one wrong. Essentially, I increase my fixed risk/trade, during profitable time, to the maximum I can handle without it affecting my trading. That’s not really the correct way to improve one’s trading. My fixed R is currently $30. If I go any higher the impact of a full stop out is too much to handle. Thus, I am at my maximum I can emotionally stand. But, it is still too high and affecting my trading causing bad habits. You shouldn’t choose the most you can handle you need to find a sweet spot in the training phase. If too little it feels like you are in SIM and you will trade too reckless. If too high you will trade to careful. So I need to lower my R. It will take a few tries to find the sweet spot.
So I am trying to determine my new trading plan. I will need at least a week to plan and experiment. I will have it fully implemented by my 1 year live anniversary. I have decided to give it one more year. If I still haven’t seen steady progress I am pretty confident I never will and should move on. The one thing that is certain, as in all changes for the better, things will get worse before they get better. Once I step outside my comfort zone and change things up, I will take losses again. I need to prepare myself for it. I have gotten quite use to not losing money.
Sorry this post was a bit long winded. Thanks for reading. Have a good weekend.