Rob C

Monday 8/26/2019 I had a well-being score of 8/10 this morning. I knew I only had time for one trade this morning, since it was my daughters first day of school. I took 1 live trade with AAPL. So AAPL and TSLA were on my market open watchlist with MU, AMD, TGT and BMY on my 5min ORB watchlist. I was long biased on AAPL and liked that it gave back some of its gains just before the open. I had no bias on TSLA. I really liked that AAPL fell right at the open and was waiting for the hammer to form. The price bounced off of a 205.50 level that the PM was respecting. Then there were 5 tech levels (205.93 daily, VWAP, $206, 50MA-1min, and 200MA-1min) all within 20 cents of each other. I waited for the break of all of them (loved the volume) and went long. My order was not filled. The price moved so fast it went passed the market limit order. Only the second time this has happen since I went live. I didn’t get too nervous because AAPL usually does a pull back when it flies through a strong level. It will come back to test it. And the missed market order left a limit order in a perfect spot. So I waited and my order was filled a few seconds later. My target was the 206.80 PM level and my stop was the 205.93 daily level. The R/R~3 was nice but I was nervous the stop was too close for a trade taken 17 seconds after the open. But, the next stop level was the 205.50 which was too far. So I used the 205.93 as my stop and took half shares, since there will be a lot of slippage. The upward movement stalled for awhile so I took a small partial at +20c thinking the trade will reverse. Then the price dropped below my entry but there was such a strong level just below my entry I held on. It touched that level twice and found support. Then it headed higher. Then I took another small partial on my planned 1st target (a minor PM level). The price found resistance there and took some time to break through. After that my faith in the trade was reducing and I started taking partials a bit too fast though I took small ones. It did reach my target and I had 25% of my shares left which is good for me. I got another partial at 207 and held on to a few shares and exited when the price broke down through the 206.46 PM level again. Score Card (live trades) AAPL 92% What I did good today: I like my score card today. What I am grateful from today? It was nice having a winner when I knew I had time for only one trade today. It was nice to see my daughter happy at her first day of school, when most kids dread it. What do I need to improve on: I had fun with this trade, so I am going to leave this blank today.

Live trading summary for week ending 8/23/19. I improved my score card, this week, with an average of 87%. I took 8 live trades this week. Two trades were quite bad. Both trades I made the same mistake. I had a poor fill or entry and needed to get out of the trade immediately. I didn’t and would get stopped out for at least the full R. My win% was a good 63% but I was flat for the week again. Both of my sizeable winners were both at half share size so they couldn’t out weigh the losers. I took quite a few SIM trades (5/10/15min ORBs) though my win rate was OK I was at net loss for the SIM trades. I did take some non-AAPL trades (TSLA and FL) so that was a highlight. I tallied the last 6 months (26 weeks) of scores I have been giving myself on my level of nerves before the start of each trading day. I summed up the total for each week and plotted it. A negative comment would be assigned a -1, neutral comment a zero and a positive comment a +1. It looks like my nerves have been under control for the last few weeks. I will leave that comment out of my daily journal unless it is enough to affect my trading. Back test data shows AAPL still in play at the open, though acting more like a scalp with little chance to run. TSLA is still OK at the open. MU is back in play but mostly at the 2 or 3 min mark. Here is my plan for this week: Concentrate on the process and score card, not on W% and P/L AAPL is still in play at the open. Make it the primary focus. Take heavier partial profits, assume it’s a scalp at the open. AMD and FB are marginal. Do not trade at the open until better data. Keep $30 risk per trade. If you can find a stock on the gappers list that you like then make it your secondary focus. If not choose TSLA. Use small share size with TSLA until you better understand its personality Keep an eye on MU for 2/3min ORBs 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.

You had some really nice trades yesterday. I think the over trading is just a side reaction from your trading success. I am sure it will be temporary and you will find a way to cap it. I have one adequate setup. Successful traders tend to have about 3 good setups. I think you may have 6+. I see you trade ORBs, trends, reversals, wedges, 3 candles, etc.... and all of them successfully! That means you see setups everywhere, all day. Where most of us are lucky to find one. This is likely a new experience for you and you will adapt quickly. I heard Andrew in the chat just say he doesn't know why either, the longer you trade the greater chance of giving your money back to the market. Again this is temporary for you. I have no worries about you and would not be surprised at all that you asked to become a BBT moderator in 2020. Have a good weekend.

A solid week Mark! Especially, the discipline you showed to be selective with the number of trades you took.

Friday 8/23/2019 I had a well-being score of 7.5/10 this morning. My nerves were OK. Traded half share size today since it is Friday. I took 2 live trades with AAPL and FL and 4 SIM trades. So AAPL and TSLA were on my market open watchlist with MU, AMD, CRM and FL on my 5min ORB watchlist. Both AAPL and TSLA felt the tariff crunch and was trading with the market during PM. I had no bias for TSLA, but AAPL has been having these small pops at the open. It opened with the usual hammer with good volume and I went long when it was about to engulf the PM last candle. My target was the 210.83 daily level, which was $1.20 away, which is perfect. My stop was the 50MA-1min which there was PM respect. The price did pop, but only 60 cents. I got two partials than the price dropped and I exited at B/E with some slippage for a small win. Though I am not familiar with FL it was setting up for a 3min ORB like the ones MU use to have setups for. I went long on the break of the 3min candle and 200MA-1min. My target was the $38 and 200MA-1min my stop. I took a partial at the HOPM which was also the HOTD. Then a heavy partial when it moved 20 cents further. The stock did move 1% on the trade which is good. I then took 4 SIM trades. Two losers and two winners. All 4 were +/-1R gainer/losers, so I broke even. I didn’t let my winners run. Score Card (live trades) AAPL FL 92% 91% What I did good today: I like my score cards today. What I am grateful from today? Trading a new stock ticker. What do I need to improve on: Need to perform my periodic evaluation of my partialing. It’s been too long and there is way more scalping now.

Great trades today!! All the way to the end of the day.

Van Tharp Institute Peak Performance Course for Traders Vol 2: How to control stress Chapter 7 So another option, when you are sitting in a fire, is to wear asbestos. Thus, increase your stress protection. The SPI test taken earlier quantified the level of stress protection in each of the area. 1) Health and Nutrition 2) Exercise 3) Recreation 4) Mental Relaxation 5) Learning to perform under stress 21 things the course recommends you can do to move toward peak performance health. 1) Daily journal everything you consume. I did this two years ago with a fitness app. 2) Develop a plan to improve your diet. I also did this 2 years ago when I was tracking my food. 3) Begin each day with a breakfast of organic oatmeal. I have researched and experimented a lot on the best breakfast for me. Oatmeal was good but intermittent fasting was better. And even better was a late small breakfast of only bone broth. Since it contains no carbs it doesn’t interrupt the fast too much and still starts the day with a slow digesting food. Plus, it’s a good time to get your daily collagen. 4) Drink 64oz of water a day. I do. 5) Don’t drink anything when you eat your food. I didn’t know about this one, but it makes sense that you are diluting your stomach acid when you are trying to digest your food. So I just started this week of drinking 30min before the meal and 90min after. It has been tough so far but I will get use to it. 6) Give up all vegetable oils. I do use cold pressed avocado, olive and coconut oils. Mostly avocado. From what I have read this should be healthy. 7) Give up all wheat based products. I tried a gluten free diet a couple of years back for two weeks. I always thought this was a fad diet so I never tried it before. I didn’t notice any difference except the unexpected side effect of my acne disappeared. I tried it for another two weeks with the same results. So I have been gluten and acne free for 2 years. Avoid all dairy foods except Kefir and an occasional piece of cheese. Cheese is my favorite food. Though a couple years ago I switched to eating only raw, aged cheese from 100% grass fed cows. I just tried reducing my cheese consumption by 70% this week, it’s going OK. 9) Avoid excitotoxins and preservatives. I do eat some sugar substitutes once or twice a month when I bake. Though the ones I use I thought does not fall under as an excitotoxin. But I will double check. 10) Avoid all antibiotics if at all possible. Sadly my life has been filled with countless prescriptions of antibiotics. I trusted doctors a bit too much and never question a prescription. I even had one doctor prescribe a continuous dose of antibiotics for acne. Finally after a year, after I was growing moles due to sun sensitivity, I decided I preferred the acne. Doctors seem to be more cautious now and currently I try to ride out the sickness before heading to the med center. But, I have noticed I don’t get sick as often with my new diet so it’s not much of a concern. 11) Give up alcohol. No problem I don’t drink. 12) Give up all caffeine substances. I started reducing this last week. I am down to 2 coffees, one soda and one tea per day. Yes, that is after I cut down. I plan to be down to one coffee and one tea in 30 days, then I will go from there. 13) Give up all tobacco products. No problem, never did, never will. 14) Give up all recreational drug use. Again, never did, never will. 15) Give up sugar. I’m on a low carb diet, so I already gave up sugar some time ago. 16) Only grains you should consume are oats, millet, wild rice and quinoa. Actually, the only grain I eat is wild rice and not very often. 17) Eat organic. I do. 18) Take a high quality vitamin. Took some time to find a good one (stay away from Centrum). But I have and I take them regularly. 19) When you cook your food, avoid frying or baking in an oven or microwaving. Instead steam or pressure cook. They didn’t mention why. But I assume two fold. Breaking down of molecules, especially oils and creating carcinogens on meat. I do only cook using avocado oil which is stable to 500F. And I try to steam my veggies. I am also cautious not to over cook meat. I think this is enough. 20) Avoid combining food as much as possible. This is new to me. I need to research this. They recommend the book Fit for Life which explains this. The problem is I looked it up and there are many books with that title. 21) The less food you eat the better. Yes, the data for this has been validated for some time. I have always struggled with this. That is why the intermittent fasting has helped me. But I will focus on this more.

Thursday 8/22/2019 I had a well-being score of 7/10 this morning. My nerves were good. I took 2 live trades with AAPL and TGT and 6 SIM trades. Feeling pretty bad about today’s session. But, as time passes I am thinking this may have been a really good learning session. So AAPL and TSLA were on my market open watchlist with MU, AMD and TGT on my 5min ORB watchlist. AAPL had an OK PM, TSLA had a lot of volume and gapped up but PM looked a little scary. AAPL setup nicely with a small hammer on lots of volume. I did have two major tech levels in front of it, so I waited for the price to breach one of them and went long. My target was the daily level at 214.14 and my stop was the LOTD. At least for AAPL, I like a major tech level in the way. It seems to pull the price to it. Yes it may find unsurmountable resistance at this level, but I am OK with taking a partial there and getting out at B/E. So I like that there is a tech level at 213.68. That level was suppose to be my 1st partial target, but since it took awhile for the price to start moving I was impatient and took the 1st partial early. Then my second partial was at the tech level. I took my third partial on a price spike. Then the momentum was lost and I exited near B/E. Too bad I took small partials. I was hoping it would run. Next trade was with TGT. I saw nice setup on my side chart. TGT was strong today but opened lower and then made a nice 2nd 1min candle hammer. I wanted to go long at 105 with the HOTD as my target and LOTD as my stop. R/R<2 but we have no substantial targets since price is at an all time high. I brought TGT to my main chart so I can take the trade. As I did it hit my entry point, but an instant before I took the trade I balked because the Y scale seemed a bit abnormal. So I stopped to recheck my stop and check if my share size was correct. My calculations were fine, but this took a couple of seconds. By that point my entrance was lost. But I don’t have a last instant check when I take a trade. If I see an entrance the share size calculation is almost instint (mostly due to my platform setup and not my mental capabilities) so there is no “are you sure” in my process flow. It was weird watching the price move but I couldn’t stop myself, the trade was already a GO. The moment I took the trade I knew it was a mistake, but it reversed instintly and price dropped so fast I was caught in the headlights. The stop was now twice as far, at least I moved the stop to VWAP so my loss was just over -1R on the trade. I then took 6 SIM trades. 5 losers and one small winner. That sure didn’t help my confidence. Though two of the losers, with a larger stop, would have been big winners Score Card (live trade) AAPL TGT 91% 75% What I did good today: Two things I learned today. After my AAPL trade my immediate instinct was that I was done for the day, switch to SIM. But, intellectually I was thinking that was a small win and I am allowed another trade. Plus, I am negative so far for the month which is highly unusual at this point in the month. For the last 9 months I am usually been positive at this point (to give it back the last week). So I really pushed myself to go against my instincts to take another trade. But, my intuition knew I was not going to trade well. And I didn’t. So it’s good that I am developing this inner voice and its getting louder. I just need to start listening to it. Second is I have an issue trading a second time on a stock I already made money. If I have a winning trade and then a losing trade on another stock it’s usually not too bad emotionally. But, if I give all my winnings back on the same stock it really hurts. Not sure why. But because of this I have really been missing out on some really good trades. Four times in 9 days AAPL set up REALLY well after my 1st trade was finished. I see it but I won’t trade it. All four times AAPL went for really good runs. If I caught just one of them I would be positive for the month. Vikram called me on this the other day and he is very much correct. What I am grateful from today? Actually happy with a -0.3R loss. It could have been worse after the TGT debacle. What do I need to improve on: Need to teach myself to take more than one trade on the same stock. Every trade should be its own emotional state, not based on a previous trade.

That's quite a delay Mike. Could you see the sluggishness on DAS which alerted you or do you methodically check your network on your checklist?

Wednesday 8/21/2019 I had a well-being score of 7/10 this morning. My nerves were OK. I took 2 live trades with TSLA and 4 SIM trades. So AAPL and TSLA were on my market open watchlist with NVDA, AMD, LOW and TGT on my 5min ORB watchlist. AAPL had an OK PM, TSLA showed little life in the PM but I like it was counter trending. The market open and AAPL was giving me no setup. TSLA had a solid dollar move and breached a PM level I had marked 223.10 which also coincides with the 200MA-1min. The price came down and tested it and found support, then again. On the third bounce I went long. My target was the 224.73 tech level and my stop was the 222.27 level. On the next test of support the price fell right through the two levels without any support and I was quickly stopped out. As the price was falling I noticed it was forming a very nice 2min shooting start. When the price broke the 222.27 level I flipped positions. My stop was the high of the day. But there no good levels below. There was a level at 221.70 but PM showed little support for it. The next level was $5 below. So I took my first partial at the 221.70 level then tried to take a second partial at the recent PM low and got a bad fill. I tried two more times and also got bad fills. In the heat of the trade I was forgetting to look at the spread which you need to for TSLA. Then with the little shares I had left I focused on the ask price and then took the remaining two partials correctly. But, due to the bad partials my win only equaled my loss and I was flat for the day. Both trades: I then took 4 SIM trades. All 4 I made one or two partials then I was S/O at B/E. I have noticed this seems to be the norm for my 5/10min ORBs. If it remains like this I may increase my 1st partial share size. It’s odd that the 5min ORBs are more of a scalp than my 1min ORBs Score Card (live trade) TSLA TSLA 88% 90% What I did good today: Good score cards today. What I am grateful from today? Flat for the day. I got to trade for free today. What do I need to improve on: Need to start back testing 5min ORBs as well. If I use the same stocks as my 1/2min watchlist they are mostly scalps at 5/10min.

Tuesday 8/20/2019 I had a well-being score of 6.5/10 this morning. My nerves were OK. I was unable to trade yesterday since I wanted to be at my son’s first day of school. I took 2 live trades with AAPL and TSLA and 4 SIM trades. I have not been happy with ROKU last week. So AAPL and TSLA were on my market open watchlist with MU, NVDA and HD on my 5min ORB watchlist. AAPL was holding the 200MA-1min (as support) during premarket which gave me a slight long bias. At the open the price tested the 200MA-1min found support again and made a small hammer. Then it broke the 210.83 daily level. Since the hammer was small for the open I waited an instant if it held above the level. It did and I went long with HOPM (211.66) as my target and the low of the day as my stop. My fill was absolutely terrible losing 35 cents and destroying my R/R. Thus I need to get out of the trade immediately. This is a discipline I have A LOT of trouble with. The price started going into my favor immediately so I should have sold all the shares at a small profit. But I didn’t and started trading as normal. I took two small partial and S/O at B/E The chart when I got filled. The entire trade: After the AAPL trade I saw TSLA had a 1min ORB setup. TSLA had a poor PM but that is usual for TSLA. The price opened and found support at the low of PM and formed a hammer. When it broke the 227.84 tech level I went long with a target of HOPM (229.80) and a stop the 200MA-1min. The price reached my first partial at the 50MA-1min but then quickly dropped and I S/O at B/E. There was some slippage so it was a slight loss and thus I am flat for the day. What the chart looked like when I took the trade: The entire trade: I then took 4 SIM trades. Three made it to the first partial then S/O at B/E and one SIM trade was a full -1R loss. Score Card (live trade) AAPL TSLA 80% 89% What I did good today: Traded TSLA live for the first time in months. TSLA scares me a bit. What I am grateful from today? Flat for the day. I got to trade for free today. What do I need to improve on: I am considering bringing back the 3 trade rule where I am allowed a third trade if I S/O early on another trade. Since I have a 2 trade max S/O’ing early is difficult for me. I removed this rule actually as a punishment a couple of months ago. For the most part I was using it OK.

Van Tharp Institute Peak Performance Course Vol 2: How to control stress Chapter 6 (part 2) The planning board for my goals took awhile, so I had to split the postings of this chapter into two parts.

Live trading summary for week ending 8/16/19. Much less drama this week. Improved my score card with an average of 86%. I took 7 live trades this week. One trade I was disappointed with. My win% was a good 57% but I was flat for the week. I took one big loss and no big winner. I took 18 SIM trades (5/10/15min ORBs) with a 60% win rate, which is really high for me. Since AAPL was the only stock that my weekend back test data said was in play and I had shorts, so it was most of my trades. ROKU backtest data said it was in play, but It was giving false long signals at the open and really good short signals but Centerpointe has no shorts (on the easy to short list). So I gave up on it and looked at NVDA on Friday instead. Back test data shows AAPL still in play at the open. Last week I had two possible stocks for my secondary focus, ROKU and TSLA. ROKU always had a better premarket, but the good moves were to the short side (at the open) where I don’t have shorts with Centerpointe. Looking at last week charts of TSLA it would have been the better one to follow, but it always had little volume in the premarket. But maybe it’s like FB where it doesn’t need PM volume. Here is my plan for this week: Concentrate on process and score card, not on W% and P/L AAPL is still in play at the open. Make it the primary focus. Both MU, AMD and FB are marginal. Do not trade at the open until better data. Keep $30 risk per trade. If you can find a stock on the gappers list that you like then make it your secondary focus. If not choose TSLA. Use small share size or even SIM when trading TSLA until you better understand its personality 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.

Van Tharp Institute Peak Performance Course Vol 2: How to control stress Chapter 6 (part 1) This is the longest chapter so far with numerous and time consuming exercises. So I have split this chapter into two, since it will take a few more days to finish it. When you have stress related losses, you have a number of choices open to you: 1) Ignore the problem. This is equivalent to sitting in a fire. 2) Minimize the effect that your current stress has on your trading performance. If you must stay in the fire, wear asbestos clothing. Increase your stress protection. 3) Change your beliefs and attitudes about the stressful event so that it no longer is a problem for you. Thus, put out the fire around you. Have the belief that it is OK to lose. This is the simplest and hardest to implement. 4) The most obvious choice is to avoid situations that tend to be stressful for you. Try to get out of the fire. Stop trading, go back to SIM. 5) Reduce your risk exposure. Reduce your fixed R. Reduce your leverage and account size. Reduce number of trades. Have a brokerage lock your account on max loss. To get out of the fire you must determine where is the fire. I sadly scored high on every category in my life stress inventory test. So I can’t say it’s my job or health that is causing the fire. I need to address all the categories. Though job-related and family-life stress are the least of them. This chapter has quite a few exercises. First. Write down my top 5 stressors based on the LSI test (most to least, based on the test). 1) Financial 2) Health 3) Personal 4) Job Stress 5) Family-Life Then it asks for three possible actions that will alleviate the top stress. For me that’s financial. For some reason, the last 20 years, I have always worked in an environment that continuously had a threat of layoffs. I did experience a whole division closure in the middle of those 20 years and immediately found a job with no interim. But this lack of security has always been a stressor. My three actions to try and alleviate the stress: 1) Learn to day trade 2) Online school to add to my skills 3) Find another job with more security I chose to learn how to day trade as my solution. Little did I know it would add (hopefully only temporarily) to my stress. So I had been working on this stressor for some time. My 2nd worse stressor is Health. My actions to relieve stress: 1) Must increase sleep. 5.5 hours a night for years doesn’t cut it. Will need to rearrange family schedule. 2) Increase exercise 3) Increase mediation – I just signed up for MindSpace app. My lack of sleep has been my number one stressor in my life for many years. Ever since my daughter was born with extreme sleep issues. The amount and quality of my sleep has improved over the years. But I still have about 1.5 hours deprivation every night. This causes chronic fatigue, drop in metal abilities and chronic dizzy spells. I try to squeeze sleep in without effecting my family. I see know it’s not a selfish thing to ask for and I will start to update my family daily schedule this week. My 3rd worse stressor is Personal. My actions to relieve stress: 1) Improve attitude. Why always negative? Why worry about everything? 2) Don’t always feel responsible for everything 3) Organize life. Don’t live from fire to fire. I already started on my negativity and its working out quite well. My 4th worse stressor is Job Stress. My actions to relieve stress: 1) Work schedule change to spend more time with my family 2) Complete headache project 3) Stick to 5 days a week My schedule is about to change for the better (discussed more below). The headache project I have been dealing with this paste year is finally making progress. Being onsite at work 7 days a week really takes its toll. Need to cut that down. My 5th worse stressor is Family-Life. My actions to relieve stress: 1) Work schedule change to spend more time with my family 2) Better time management at home 3) Help spouse improve her health My work schedule has been an ongoing stressor with my family and me for 5 years. I was fine working the weekend schedule as long as it was promised only for 5 years. That was 5 years ago. Actually my manager has really tried to get a schedule change for me during those years. The good news I will finally have a free Sunday with my family starting this autumn. So I hope that will reduce the stressor substantially. Getting to sleep on time has been a stressor for at least 10 years. My family has made some efforts improving it but it is still far from what I need. Looks like I will have to take it the rest of the way with time management. Definitely starting with earlier dinners. My family prefers very late ones. My wife’s health has deteriorated recently. Though I was helping whenever I can I have to step this up as well. Then the course asks to make resolutions of these changes. I have actually started a few of them before I started to take the course. The one I will start today is promising we will be eating as a family on time tonight. Even if I have to get take-out to do it. Winners are people with a clear purpose in life and a clear plan for getting there. The goals you set for yourself should be reachable, but lofty enough to seem worthy of attainment. The course now asks you to write down your goals. 5 year goals: 1) Have a bond with my children that will carry us through their teenage years 2) Make sure my children are enjoying their lives 3) Help in ensure my kids have at least one hobby and one sport they enjoy 4) Improve trading skills that it could replace my primary income in 5 years 5) Be in good health 1 year goal 1) Spend lots of time with kids. I am aiming for 50 days, devoted for them, in the next year. 2) I want to be consistently profitable as a trader by end of 2020. 3) I want to be in fit by next year VO2Max of 52 or higher 4) I want my sleep not to be an issue. Consistent 7 hours or more. 5) I want a dog 60 Day goals 1) Improve sleep >6 hours a night 2) Improve health VO2Max >48 3) I want to have a second successful setup in my playbook 4) I want to finish the Van Tharp course (~90 days) 5) Take another trip with my family Then the course ask you to write 5 goals if you knew you were going to die of natural causes in 1 year. 1) Get my life/property/finances in order so my family doesn’t have to deal with it later. 2) Write letters for my family to read when I am gone. 3) At least 4 big vacations with the family 4) Have some alone time with each family member at least once a day 5) Find peace Then the course ask to specify 5 “special” goals with an ECD. 1) By end of September get a consistent 6.5 hours a sleep a night (with a min of 3.5 hours of deep sleep). 2) By October 15 achieve a VO2 Max of 48 3) Improve trading score card monthly average, every month to the end 2019. 4) Spend 20 full days with family by EOY 5) Finish the Van Tharp Course by before Thanksgiving holidays.

Thanks. But I actually don't have the emotional reserves yet to take a second trade on a stock that I already made money from. Even if the second trade is a good one, if I get stopped out and return my profits it hits me harder than just being stopped out.

Friday 8/16/2019 I had a well-being score of 7/10 this morning. My nerves were OK. I took half share size today since it was Friday. I took 2 live trades with AAPL and NVDA and 3 SIM trades. I have not been happy with ROKU this week. Since I was half shares today I decided to have NVDA as my second focus with AAPL. AAPL had those same two levels looming above it at the open again (same as yesterday). AAPL opened and moved with no pattern for about 20 seconds than got a huge volume increase and broke through the two levels. I went long at the break. My target was the 205.11 level with the 204.33 as my stop. The price moved up, I took a partial, but than stalled and I took another quick partial. The price retraced quickly. I tried to exit at B/E, but the price slid right through and took all my profits away for a small loss. The chart when I took the trade. The entire trade: I then saw NVDA create a nice 2min hammer. I don’t know how NVDA behaves so unsure how to treat the daily level just above it. I watched the price move up and bounce hard from the daily level. My first instinct was to wait patienly to see if the price breaks that level and go long. But what I see with AAPL is these levels are a strong magnet for the price. Though it may not breeak the level it is low risk that the price will not reverse on you until it reaches it. So I could take a partial and get out at break even. Plus there wre no levels for $3 above this level, so if it broke through it may really run. So on a pull back I went long. I had a stop at 160 but no defined target. Price moved up to the daily level where I took a partial as planned. Price retraced then shot right through my B/E. So my exit was at my original stop at 160. I still think this was worth the gamble. I then took 3 SIM trades all small winners. Score Card (live trade) AAPL NVDA 88% 84% What I did good today: Took 3 winning trades I liked on SIM What I am grateful from today? Only a loss of -0.2R. That’s like a winning day for a Friday. What do I need to improve on: Same as yesterday. I need to revise and back test exit strategies.

Thursday 8/15/2019 I had a well-being score of 6.5/10 this morning. My nerves were OK. I took 1 live trade with AAPL and 4 SIM trades. AAPL and ROKU looked fine to have as my two main focuses againthis morning. I was long biased on AAPL only because it seems to move higher at the open recently. I did assume that I will have to take a trade in the first 30 seconds. It’s just the way AAPL is moving at the open. AAPL open lower and tested the 203 level and then made a nice hammer setting up for me to go long at 203.50. The issue, like yesterday, the volume was not strong and I have a strong daily level in my way at 203.73. So I waited for the price to break the level and I went long. My target was 204.50 with a stop at 203.50 like yesterday. I was able to get in 3 small partials before price retraced. Since these levels were the same as yesterday I should have taken a heavier 3rd partial knowing it may reverse at those levels. The price reversed and I exited at B/E. And just like yesterday if I held until the level just below B/E the price would have bounce $1.50. Again I am not ready to change my exiting rules yet. The chart when I took the trade. The entire trade: I then took 4 SIM trades. Three were just one partial than S/O at B/E and one was a full –R S/O. I got a little farther with short finder app with Centerpoint and now I see you can’t use it in SIM. I was hoping I would still have to pay for the location and reserving them, but not take the trade. But no dice. They have a 100 share min and I am not ready to take 100 shares on ROKU. So I didn’t use it today. Score Card (live trade) AAPL 86% What I did good today: Becoming less stressful to open trades under 1 min from the open. What I am grateful from today? My 5min ORBs (in SIM) are slowly getting better. What do I need to improve on: Need to revise and back test exit strategies.

Van Tharp Institute Peak Performance Course Vol 2: How to control stress Chapter 4 People have a limited capacity for dealing with information that comes through the senses. The requirements of highly demanding tasks can exceed available capacity, so one can only concentrate on a small portion of the information. Understanding the limitations to processing information, therefore, is the key to understand how to be successful as a trader. The trading decisions (open/close a position) must be made by human beings with a limited capacity for handling information and expectations that limit information they do process. Three factors are essential to successful trading: 1) A healthy psychological profile 2) The ability to make accurate decisions from a large amount of information 3) Position sizing and discipline The successful trader might describe him/herself as follows (It’s amazing how much this describes Andrew – who is climbing the Matterhorn at the time of this writing): 1) I enjoy life to the fullest. I am constantly exploring new ideas, visiting new places, experiencing change and having fun. I try to get everything I can out of life and eagerly look forward to each day. 2) I am in the best of health because I eat proper foods, get plenty of exercise and sleep well. I am never overly stressed because I do not fell pressure – only challenge. 3) I have an open attitude. (This will help a trader in the market because it enhances information processing capacity). A losing trader might describe himself as: 1) I am really unlucky. Every time I try to trade, something goes wrong. I end up losing. Other people make it impossible for little guys like me to be a winner. Perhaps that is why I seem so depressed all the time. Money sure has been my downfall. 2) Trading is very stressful to me, perhaps because I worry about what will happen all the time. But I also worry about what will happen if I get out of the markets. I’ll probably never be able to get ahead in life. People have natural inclinations or biases in their decision making. These biases are called judgmental heuristics (shortcuts). Chapter 5 Stress tends to narrow the number of alternatives that one can consider, it impairs the selection decision. The information that must be processed to make a successful selection decision may already exceed one’s capacity unless one has developed as adequate model for handling the information. But reverting to primitive decision making models or well-practiced modes of behavior is also inadequate for investment decision making. Normally your brain gets about 50% of the blood flow from the heart. But under stress that goes down to 20%. Physical danger does not appear to reduce the processing capacity of worriers any more than people who seldom worry. But when a situation involves a threat to an individual’s self-esteem, worriers show a large capacity reduction. Thus, people who fear failure lower the odds of trading success dramatically. Incentives behavior have an effect on trading. Thus, the difference in trading performance between paper trading and live trading. Real money is an incentive. Incentives tend to impair performance in complex tasks, by focusing on the outcome and not the actual task. An experiment, with a group of students, showed that financial incentive actually caused the students to need double the time to create a solution to a problem than the group without an incentive. Thus, the trader is too preoccupied with the potential results of what he is doing, rather than the process of being a trader. They have become results-oriented. The course lists “Questions for Thought” and I have listed my responses: 1) How much of a factor do you think the fight/flight response is in your trading? My pounding heart, usually after I enter a trade, convinces me the fight/flight response is quite active in my trading. It’s the dominate factor when I trade. 2) List several ways worry might affect your ability to function as a trader. My decisions become rash and 1st order responses. I lose the ability to think on my feet and make the simplest decision. FOMO is high. Too impatient to wait for the setup. Take partials too quickly because I am worried about the winning trade becoming a loser. I take too small of a share size. 3) How do you think your interpretation of a loss will affect your ability to function as a trader? What interpretations will serve you best? I always consider a loss that it will be the first of a string of continuous losses that will lead me to determine I cannot become a trader and quit. Of course I should think of a loss as a successful trade. If I waited for the setup, got a good entry then determined it wasn’t going to work out this time and exit at the best time. That was a good trade. 4) What models do you select information for making the basic trading decision? What information do you ignore by using these models? Is that important to you? I am predominately a resistance/support trader. I look for a break of resistance or support and a tech level close enough to help pull the price to it. I do ignore weaker levels. Though I use price action, volume and L2, it is to a lesser degree and sometimes inadvertently ignored. 5) What models do you use to select information for making a decision to close an open position? What information do you ignore by using these models? Is that information important? I use price is hitting my original stop, hitting my B/E or crossing a new support/resistance level. Any level for partialing or just running out of shares. This method causes me to be price dependent and I ignore volume a lot when I am already in the trade. 6) What distraction conditions exist for you that might interfere with your ability to use these models. I over stress myself and it makes it too difficult to make decisions since mine are split second since I trade at the open. Keeping a negative attitude so I inadvertently sabotage myself. 7) Why is greed so deadly to a trader? How do incentives affect your performance as a trader? I have an issue always focusing on the end result. I just don’t want to be stopped out and thus disrupts the clear focus I need to make the quick decisions. 8] Why might all stress be psychological stress? How might this effect you as a trader? This reminds me of my trip to Hawaii. Wow, I was totally relaxed by the end of the trip, which is amazing for me. The day we were leaving we were running late, hit traffic, took extra time to return the car, the X-ray found something it didn’t like in out onboard luggage. Essentially, we were going to miss our flight. But, I was never the slightest bit stressed. I was just too relaxed. For some reason I was quite confident we would make to our flight somehow. And as they were closing the doors to our flight we just made it. It was my perception and beliefs that made it not stressful. Can you imagine trading like that? The most notable outcome of my stress is lack of patience. Both entering a trade early and taking partial profits too early. 9) How does your self-esteem affect your ability to perform as a trader? Low self-esteem will make the stop-outs tough and painful. It may be a very well planned and executed trade. But if it is a stop-out the low self-esteem may have me think of it as I was deficient in trading skills. 10) Tasks I need to resolve the issues raised. Reduce worry, decrease external stress and build resistance to the stress. Sleep, exercise and mediation. This past week I was successful increasing my exercise and mediation. I also started using the Headspace app. Started using my slackline a lot. Slacklining is really mindful and a great stress reducer. Still need to improve sleep, not successful yet. Also, need to concentrate on the trade score card. You can still have a great score though you stopped-out. Utilize law of attraction to a point it’s instinctive. As of now I need to make a conscious effort to use it. And give thanks (gratitude) for what went well that day.

Wednesday 8/14/2019 I had a well-being score of 6.5/10 this morning. My nerves were OK. I took 1 live trade with AAPL and 5 SIM trades. AAPL and ROKU looked fine to have as my two main focuses this morning. I was long biased on AAPL. At the open the price dropped and tested the 202.87 level and bounced. Then created a nice hammer at the 203.50 level. Broke it and retraced testing the 203.50 level again on holding. So now is the perfect time to go long. But there is an issue. The volume was not there and I have combo 50MA-1min and 203.73 level in my way. The price only gave me 1 second at 203.50 and I decided not to enter. Then the price popped and broke the two levels I was worried about. Did I check if it was holding that level? Did I wait for it pop up higher and retest the level so I know it’s strong? No I was too itching to take the trade at that point. Volume was still not quite there but at least there are no levels above it for 60 cents. So I entered at 203.74 with a target of 204.50 and a stop of 203.50. that stop was too tight, though that level had proven itself already, so I took half shares. The target looked strong having two daily levels. I partialed at 204 and at the 204.33 daily level. Looks like the 204.33 was too strong and price retraced and I exited at B/E. Too bad if I took the trade at 203.50 I would have survived the pull back and caught the run with AAPL. But without the volume I don’t think that entry had low enough risk. The chart when I took the trade. The entire trade: I then took 5 SIM trades. Two were winners and three I was stopped out (all with ROKU) . I still have a lot to learn on ROKU. I tried using the short finder app with Centerpointe and was unsuccessful. Maybe because I tried to use it on SIM. I knew I would still have to pay for the location and reserving them, but they have a 100 share min and I am not ready to take 100 shares on ROKU. Score Card (live trade) AAPL 88% What I did good today: I like that I considered volume in the AAPL trade. What I am grateful from today? That I am still just taking paper trades on ROKU. I almost took one live today. I know better now. What do I need to improve on: I need to learn how to use the short finder on Centerpoint. I will call them today to determine what I did wrong.

Tuesday 8/13/2019 I had a well-being score of 6.5/10 this morning. My nerves were OK. I took 1 live trade with AAPL and one SIM trade with ROKU. AAPL and ROKU looked fine to have as my two main focuses this morning. I liked the 201.30 to 201.40 levels, on AAPL with high of premarket and daily level. I was planning to go long if it broke those levels with volume. Though the R/R in theory is about 2 I knew that I wouldn’t get a perfect fill and my R/R would be less. Anyway it broke the level with good volume and I went long. My target was 202 with my stop at 201. It started to move higher quickly. Though I really wasn’t happy taking a trade 15 seconds after the open. I have been doing that too much lately. I did get 3 small partials before it retraced and I exited at B/E. Previously, I allowed some slack when exiting on AAPL if there was a strong level just below. But, I have been burned recently so I have stopped. Yes if I held to the high of premarket I probably would have got a $6 run. But I am not ready in my trading to do that yet. The chart when I took the trade. The entire trade: I then took a SIM trade with ROKU and did well, but honestly if you took anything to the long side this morning you would have done well. It seems you have to always keep an eye on the bid-ask spread on ROKU anytime you are about to take a partial. Score Card (live trade) AAPL 87% What I did good today: I like my ROKU entry What I am grateful from today? Controlled my FOMO when I missed the rest of the AAPL run. What do I need to improve on: I need to learn how to use the short finder on Centerpoint quickly if ROKU stays on my top focuses. It takes too long to use at the open, but maybe when things slow down about 10-15min after the open it will be useable. It will cost an extra $0.006/share to find short shares for ROKU.

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

Van Tharp Institute Peak Performance Course for Traders First an update on previous assignments. I finished listening to the audio book The Secret and I am trying to apply the methods. It teaches you how to use the “Law of Attraction”. Thus, attract the things you want. Essentially, it is about positive thinking. The book wants you to assume the best thing will happen. Ask for what you want, then assume you already received it then give thanks (be grateful) for receiving it. They do explain the process in a new age spiritual context, but it’s OK if you don’t believe in that. This method seems to be working already and I think about it scientifically. Yes it has been great getting the best parking spot, when I go home each night, 3 nights in a row now by just assuming I will get the spot (and being thankful for it). But this method is much more than that. I usually face a problem by thinking of worse case scenarios and determine ways how to prevent them. But for the last few days instead I have tried to think how grateful I am that this problem is going to be solved with little effort and stress. I woke up this morning feeling very positive about the day. This is highly unusual since I usually wake up dead tired and dreading the day. I was even searching why I feel so positive, until I realized because I have been thinking positively. Later in the day I then realized I haven’t taken a No Doz pill in 3 days. I pop these things every day. Why is that? I am still getting the terrible 5.5 hours of sleep a night, why do I have all this energy. Apparently, negative thinking is draining on the body. So I do recommend the book The Secret and be prepared for the new age spiritual thinking. It’s OK either way you take it. As for my great parking spots was it the universe feeling my positive vibs? Or just that I never get those spots so I haven’t looked in a year. The person who always takes them might have moved away months ago and I never would have known unless I tried to look. By thinking positively it opened up the possibility. Can you imagine how well that would work when looking over charts in trading? You see what you want to see. As for my complete failure in the stress test, I am hoping the course work and the books will help with my worrying, but I can help with the stress protection right away. I have already stepped up my exercise and I have tried to increase my nonexistent recreational life. I stopped listening to books on trading and psychology and will alternate with a fun book to read. I have installed an 8 foot slackline in my home office, which I think is essential to all home offices J I was feeling guilty about it at first, but it seems my daughter likes using it too so I feel better about it. And I will start watching movies that I want to watch. I always just watch what my kids or wife is watching. Though I will probably only have about 20 minutes a day to watch (while I am eating lunch) I am going to start. Avengers 2 is first on the menu. My wife had no interest in watching it so I never did. Vol 2: How to control stress Chapter 3 There are two divisions to the autonomic nervous system which is the part of the brain responsible for the fight-flight reaction. The sympathetic nervous system which is responsible increasing your energy (like heart beating faster). And the parasympathetic nervous system which is the calming part (lowers blood pressure). There are several theories about the relationship of stress and the autonomic nervous system 1) Arousal Theory which assumes that anger, fear and pain were associated with the response of the sympathetic nervous system which produce stress. If no activity occurs to use up this energy created for fight/flight response, the result can be destructive to the body. This is what happens during trading and a stream of market losses can leave you “stewing in your own juices.” If you stew too long enough, the result will be destruction to the body or physical illness. 2) The General Adaptation Syndrome where it is theorized that every demand on the body produces two kinds of bodily responses, those specific to the demand and those that are general. When distress exists in sufficient quantity, it produces the alarm state, which is similar to the fight/flight response. If this reaction persists long enough the body adapts to it. So the body can appear “normal” even though it’s combatting stress. Both models assume: We all experience stress, since any demand on the body creates a stress. Stress effects on the body are cumulative. Each person has a breaking point, beyond which powerful reactions occur in the body. Stress is harmful to the body if it occurs in high quantity or lasts long enough. Other theories which suggest the mind plays a major role in stress production: 1) Jacobson’s Muscle Tension Model. Dr. Edmund Jacobson noticed that muscle tension always seemed to accompany anxiety or stress. He concluded that mental images of uncertainty caused muscle tension. He also believed that the problem was not some stressor in the environment, but one’s thoughts about the stressor. If this theory is correct, then stress comes from our interpretation of an event rather than from the event itself. 2) Ideo-Motor Theory is that people’s emotional reactions are a result of the way they interpret reality. A trader than would become anxious over a loss only because he thinks the loss makes him a victim or in some way lowers his status as a human being. The interpretation of the event, rather than the event itself, produces the stressful experience. Many a trader fear a loss long before it occurs. The trader who decides that he lost because he was “defective” or a “victim” of circumstances will get an entirely different perspective than the trader who decides he lost because he needed to learn something. 3) Two-Component Theory is the concept that the stress one experiences actually consists of two components (emotion and worry). Emotionality is like the fight/flight response. Worry involves a conscious concern for one’s performance and its consequences. Research has shown that worry has a greater impact on human performance than emotionality. A study shows that people who worry about their performances on an important examination spend at least 25% of their conscious thought worrying about the outcome of the exam, rather than devoting effort to taking it.

Hi Rishi, thanks for the post. The Van Tharp Institute has their newest book Trading Beyond the Matrix free from their website. The book comes with a 20% discount code for their Peak Performance for Traders course. https://www.vantharp.com/ I sure know how you feel. I started on SIM May 2018 and went live Nov 2018 and have been barely staying a float. At first it stressed me how much I still need to learn even after all this time. On the other hand I am enjoying the learning process. Rob

Live trading summary for week ending 8/09/19. Another unusual week. Not the best trading with a score card of 83%. I took 9 live trades this week. I took two trades that I am really not happy with. I had a win% of 22% so the -3R for the week actually doesn’t look so bad. Monday started the week oddly, where I was splitting my focus on both AAPL and AMD at the same time. Either would had been a good trade, but since I tried focusing on both I ruined both trades. I got out of AMD early because I saw a great setup on AAPL. But if I waited 1 more sec (or one more penny) AMD would have been a great trade. But I got out early to jump to AAPL but I was late and chased it and missed a 50 cent move. Thus I got stopped out on both. So after Monday I was trying to focus on only one stock at the open (AAPL). Only when I saw no setup forming I looked at AMD. That worked out OK. Then Wednesday I tried changing my partial profit taking and really hold to at least 1R for the first partial. Well this caused two stop outs. The first trade hit the first tech level, though under 1R and I didn’t take my usual partial and got stopped out. The second trade I held to my 1R and DAS froze when I tried to take a partial. When I got control back the price already reversed and I was stopped out. So I won’t try changing my 1st partial anytime soon again. Back test data shows AAPL still in play at the open. Though AMD made it to my top two watchlist last week, it actually ended up not in play at the open last week. MU and FB are still marginal at the open. TSLA is iffy but a possibility and I don’t have shares to short for ROKU. I looked at several other stocks and I don’t have anything set as my secondary focus at the open. Here is my plan for this week: Concentrate on process and score card, not on W% and P/L AAPL is still in play at the open. Make it the primary focus. Both MU and FB are marginal. AMD was not in play last week. Do not trade at the open until better data. Keep $30 risk per trade. If you can find a stock on the gappers list that you like then make it your secondary focus. If not choose TSLA or ROKU. Use small share size or even SIM when trading them until you better understand the personalities. 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.

Thanks for reading.