Rob C

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

Tuesday 7/23/2019 I had a well-being score of 6/10 this morning. My nerves were not good. I am worried I am going to give my profits back for the month and have another flat month. I took two live trade with AAPL. Then two SIM trades: ROKU and MU. I was focusing on MU and AAPL at the open again. As usual I created my mental scenarios what I would do depending on possible setups. Neither stock I had any bias this morning so I had the usual 4 scenarios in my head. One scenario was AAPL to pop up, on high volume, and go long when it breaks the high of premarket. After the open the price did pop and had to make a couple attempts to break the premarket high (which I like, it shows it’s a real level). It did make a clean break, so I went long. My stop was the 208.43 daily level and my target was the 209.43 daily level. R/R~2. But the price reversed almost immediately and I was topped out. Now the trade looks like the short scenario I had. I have difficulty flipping positions, but since the setup looked just like the scenario in my head I didn’t find it too difficult and went short when it broke a premarket level 208.30. But I went small share size. Not sure why. I didn’t have time to think it out much so I gave it a large stop. My stop was supposedly the 50MA-1min, so in theory I was half share size. My target was the PDC. I got a little confused, not use to flipping positions, which was my last stop and my new entry, so I took my first partial well too early. My second partial was about where my first one should have been. The 1st 3 partials were small. I only got 50 cents out of AAPL on this trade which isn’t very good. When I was finished live trading I took a look at my P/L and was surprised it was negative. Then I remembered the winning trade was half share size. What the chart looked like when I took the trade: First trade Second trade The complete trade: Score card for my live trade. AAPL AAPL 86% 85% As for my SIM trades, they were both 10min ORBs. ROKU I was immediately stopped out and MU I had a nice winner. So I was green for my SIM trades today. What I did good today: Created viable scenarios to follow at the open. How did I challenge myself today? Flipped a position. What I did bad today: I am not happy about the small share size I took on the second trade. What can I do better: I need to start thinking about the possible flip trade before I exit the first trade.

Monday 7/22/2019 I had a well-being score of 7/10 this morning. My nerves were good. I took one live trade with AAPL. I was focusing on MU and AAPL. MU was in play this morning and back test data says AAPL is trading the well at the open. As usual I created my mental scenarios what I would do depending on possible setups. Then a few minutes before the open both stocks had some activity that threw out my scenarios. I quickly created new ones. One of the scenarios was if AAPL powered through all the levels (203.97 daily level, 200MA-5min, $204, and the 204.06 premarket level) quickly with high volume and showed respect to at least one of them I would go long. I also like there was a 60c gap in levels if it broke through the first obstacle. The price ran through the first 3 levels then bounced off the 204.06 premarket level and retraced. Then on the second try broke through and I went long. My target was the 204.93 premarket level. My stop out is usually VWAP, but I already planned to give this trade a larger stop since it will probably occur very near the open. So my stop out was the 50MA-1min, making the R/R ~2. I knew I had to take a partial at the 204.33 daily level. Then I partialled too many times as usual, but my first 3 partials were small share size since SPY was looking strong at that time. I exited where I did, mostly due to having very few shares left. A few seconds after I exited the price had a large pop. In hind-sight of course the large S/O was unnecessary, but I think I did the right thing. It is too bad it made a +2.1R trade into a +1.3R. What the chart looked like when I took the trade: The complete trade: Score card for my live trade. What I did good today: Changed my trading plan, due to change in market conditions, just a couple of minutes before the open. How did I challenge myself today? Used smaller partialling size. What I did bad today: Should have held on the last few shares longer. There was no signal to get out yet. What can I do better: Hold on to that last few shares for a sign to exit.

Live trading summary for week ending 7/19/19 and data set analysis. Traded full share size ($25 risk/trade) all week as I slowly get myself back up to speed after a painful 3 days of terrible trading at the end of June. So first week of July I traded SIM only, then last week at half shares. My score card for the week was a bit disappointing at 85% since I made 2 low score trades this week. I only had 6 live trades this week so that has a big impact. The weeks win% was also OK at 50%. I do like I was green for the week with 50% win-rate. It’s a nice confirmation my winners are bigger than my losers. I took a look at my 1min/2min ORB setup for the last four months using the Van Tharp method of system quality. The quality is determined by the mean of the data set (in R) divided by the standard deviation (also in R). Using this guideline my system has a disappointing “poor, but tradable” quality. Looking at the data set I noticed I have 5 really bad trades. I didn’t break the rules, but I tried new things that should be tried on SIM first. All the trades were -2R losers. Out of curiosity if they were normal stop outs at -1R, my system would have had “good” quality rating. Though I have made quite a few poor trades in the last 5 weeks of live trading, I do not have any of the really stupid trades discussed above. Just looking at the data set for the last 5 weeks the system has an “excellent” quality rating. This just shows that lots of -1R stop outs really have little effect on your profitability. They are normal. It’s the stupid -2R mistakes that destroy your profitability. I only take 1 or 2 trades a day. So a stupid trade, once every two weeks, really impacts my trading. From the 5 bad trades, 3 trades I was adding to a winning trade that reversed on me and I didn’t know where to stop out with the added risk. One trade was a double down which I did stop at my plan level. The 5th trade was the setup looked so perfect I doubled my shares to be stopped out quite quickly. Thus, I shouldn’t add to my trades and I need to stick to the planned risk/trade. I traded almost entirely MU and AAPL this week with one unsuccessful trade on FB. The trade with FB was just to make sure I don’t get addicted to trading AAPL again. I traded a few 5/10/15min ORBs on SIM with only one winner. I have lots of work to do on those. Back test data shows AAPL in play. Both MU and FB had marginal weeks and may no longer be in play at the open. TSLA is starting to become in play at the open, but I will need to trade that stock in SIM first, to get to understand its personality. 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. They should be secondary focuses. Choose order based on premarket and previous day action. Stay at $25 risk per trade. Don’t add to any trade, even winners.

Friday 7/19/2019 I had a well-being score of 6.5/10 this morning. My nerves were good. Trading half share size since it is Friday. I took two live trades and three SIM trades today. I was stopped out on all 5 trades. So I did take a hit to my confidence. I will only journal the live trades here. I was focusing on MU and FB. I chose FB mainly due to trading AAPL I find addictive. So when AAPL is no longer in play I have trouble NOT trading it. My first trade was with FB and wasn’t very good. FB created a nice hammer on strong volume. I went long when it broke the $202 and VWAP. The first level above my entry is a strong one at 202.48. If VWAP was my S/O then my R/R is acceptable. But that is too close of a S/O when I take a trade less than a minute from the open. So I chose the 201.60 level and took a small share size to keep the correct risk. But the R/R<1. I was little biased to take the trade because of the empty space of no levels above the 202.48. So it may run if it breaks it. Now thinking rationally I know that doesn’t work for FB. This is not MU and has a different personality. If the next level is too far away there is nothing to pull it there. So not the right idea. I was stopped out 2 minutes later. What the chart looked like when I took the trade: The complete trade: The next trade was with MU. I liked the bearishness of the 5min chart and I watched 3rd 1min candle engulf the previous (and large) candle in 9 seconds. I went short at the break of the 200MA-1min. Target was $45 and S/O was VWAP. The price actually reached my first partial target but was more of a spike and I was unable to take a partial. I was stopped out quickly afterwards. What the chart looked like when I took the trade: The complete trade: Score card for my live trades. What I did good today: I kept to my Friday rule of half share size so I kept damage to -1R today. How did I challenge myself today? Did not have AAPL as my main focus. What I did bad today: I forgot how FB trades. What can I do better: I need to review my notes on the stock if I haven’t traded it for over a week.

Hi Mark, Yea the self sabotage is a killer. I go through it every time I have a good week or month. Not only do I give all my profits back, my discipline habits regress and I have to build them back up. Then to regress again. I don't have any answers though I am started to search in a new direction and read Van K. Tharp's last book (which I got free on his website). I am now reading a second book of his and like his stuff. I ordered his course "Peak Performance 101". I am assuming it will probably take me a year to go through all the worksheets if I do it right. I was thinking about posting my completed worksheets on BBT to pressure me to do the course right. I do recommend you checking out his site, if you haven't already. https://www.vantharp.com/ As for the stops, when I had an auto stop I had trouble not using it. I am so glad I made the plunge and turned off that hot key. I keep to my stops better now (manually). I keep working the mental muscle. And yes it still takes effort for me to stop out every-time. Rob

Thursday 7/18/2019 I had a well-being score of 6.5/10 this morning. My nerves were actually OK. I wish I knew why some days my nerves are better than others so I could control them more. I took one live and one SIM trade today. Though I will only journal the live trade here. I was focusing on MU and AAPL again. I was hoping to trade FB at least once this week, but AAPL had OK premarket volume and some news. AAPL opened and the price dropped and bounced off the 200MA-1min and formed a hammer with really good volume. There was a triple level of a 203.97 daily, the $204 and the 50MA. When it broke these levels I went long. My target was 205 and stop out at the 200MA-1min. R/R~3 which is really high at the open. I took an early partial at the 200MA-5min since I was worried about a bounce. Then I got a really bad fill. My fills with Centerpoint have been getting worse and slow lately. So, I essentially took a partial at B/E. That messed up my emotions. So I did what I usually do when I am not controlling my emotions, I take a ton of partials. The only thing that saved me was I took small partials. So I did have 20% of my shares left when I hit my target. It doesn’t sound like much, but if I partialed with regular size I would have had 6% left. What AAPL looked like when I took the trade: The complete trade: I also took a SIM trade with MU. I actually had a winning 5min ORB. I can’t remember the last winning one. Score card for my live trade. AAPL 88% What I did good today: I was much more prepared today for the opening bell. How did I challenge myself today? Tried to trade on SIM as if it was real. What I did bad today: Let my emotions effect my trade management What can I do better tomorrow: I should have tried some calming exercises during the AAPL trade instead of just baring the emotional swings.

Wednesday 7/16/2019 I had a well-being score of 4/10 this morning so I only traded SIM. Today was one of those days showing why I don't like trading SIM. I took a trade on a bad setup and immediately got stopped out. Then I started taking lots of trades and breaking lots of rules. Yes its all on SIM, but these are bad practices that will weaken my resolve the next time I trade live (hopefully tomorrow). What makes things worse is my last trade was a big winner, thus helping to solidify the bad habits. I will not journal any of my trades here, though I will review all the video tonight to see if there was anything to be learned. I hope the rest of you had a better day.

Thanks. I surprisingly shrugged it it off easily. I am not trying to make money now. So since I thought it was real, I got in the same practice time. Of course I am saying this being flat for the day. If I was up 4R and realized I was in SIM......

Review and short summary of the Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal. I read this book from a recommendation from Tommy and would definitely recommend it. The book explains the current discoveries how/where in the brain willpower is created and how to improve it. I actually listened to the book so my quotes may not be exact. 1) Willpower is from the Prefrontal Cortex, the part of the brain that “helps you do the hard thing.” The Prefrontal Cortex has three parts and thus so does willpower. The three compartments of the Prefrontal Cortex can be split into what controls “The Will”, “The Want”, and “The Won’t”. 2) The Prefrontal Cortex can be strengthened and weakened. It’s a cliché but it is a mental muscle. It needs to be given a workout and tested every day. But not to extreme, or like a muscle it can be over worked. Since we have only one willpower reservoir to be used for all endeavors, the week you to try quit eating cheesecake, your willpower to stop overtrading will be reduced. Work the muscle, but do not overwork it. I like the example the book gave, ”don’t try and resist cheesecake forever, just try and resist it for 10 minutes.” 3) Diet, exercise and meditation can strengthen the Prefrontal Cortex (let’s call it the PC). This sounds obvious, but the book mentions a couple of interesting things. We all have felt our willpower drop when our blood sugar is low. But recent research has shown it is the decreasing of the blood sugar, not the low blood sugar that causes the PC to start shutting down. Once the brain detects that sugar levels are dropping it starts to shut down lower priority functions like the PC. Evolution probably found it useful to have your willpower drop when you are hungry, so you can take more risks to find food. 4) The books discussion on meditation was worth the read. Though I have read a few books on meditation (none very good) I have never come across the technique discussed in this book. That is to slow your breathing down to 4 to 6 breathes a minute. It will increase your heart variability and be a short term reduction of stress. It works. It’s a great technique in the middle of a trade. Just a personal note: I can recommend a book that motivates you to meditate. 10% Happier is a worth a read for entertainment value alone and got me motivated to start meditating. 5) The book also discusses we give ourselves licenses to be bad. Example: I went running in the morning so I am going to take the elevator for the rest of the day and splurge on dessert. Sorry, that was supposed to be a short summary. But I do recommend the book and found it applies to trading, especially overtrading…

Tuesday 7/16/2019 I had a well-being score of 6/10 this morning. My nerves were bad as soon as I woke up. I am not sure why. I took three SIM trades today. But I did not set up my platform correctly this morning and I was pulled away from my screen for the last 15 minutes of premarket. I made it back with 30 seconds until the open. I was frazzled and my nerves were bad even before I missed the last part of the premarket. I was not able to run through my checklist and I didn’t know I was in SIM until I finished trading and looked at my P/L. Since I really thought I was live and had all the stresses of live, I am adding the two trades to my data set and journaling them here. I did take a “real” SIM trade on a 15min ORB, which of course I was stopped out. I was focusing on MU and AAPL, but FB would have been fine as well. I had the scenario if AAPL was weak and broke down through the 200-5min I would go short. The problem was it did just that almost immediately after the open. Since I was still frazzled I was not quick on the draw and let it go. Sadly, it reached my target. The price bounced back and bounced off of VWAP giving me another chance. But I was caught in the headlights. It broke through the 200MA, and I didn’t take the trade. Then it passed the body of the first candle, and I didn’t take the trade. Finally I took the trade right at the level that was supposed to be my first partial target. Yikes! What a bad entry. My R/R was about equal to one. Thus, I was stopped out quickly. This is what the chart looked like when I entered the trade. After the AAPL trade I was just in time for a 2min ORB on MU. I entered at the break of the 2min candle body with a very tight stop at the 43.71 level. Maybe too tight, but I seem to get caught on these early reversals on MU. My target was the 43.34 level. The price went to the penny of my stop out but I held on. I did take 4 partials but I made an effort to take small bites. Actually, the next partial was going to be my first large partial. But it didn’t happen. I exited on weakness when it was close to my B/E. Due, to my small partialing I only made 1R on the trade. So I am flat for the day. The small partialling didn’t work out well for me today. But, I am still experimenting with the partialing. Score card for my trades that I thought were live. What I did good today: Took a classic 2 minute ORB. Nothing fancy. How did I challenge myself today? Kept cool after realizing I wasn’t trading live. What I did bad today: Missed my checklist and traded when frazzled (arriving at the platform 30sec before the open). What can I do better tomorrow: Don’t trade if not mentally ready. Take a minute to regroup. I should take a large partial when it reaches my target.

Monday 7/15/2019 I had a well-being score of 6/10 this morning (had a headache). My nerves were a little negative. Probably due to trading full shares today (first time in two weeks). I took one live trade today with MU. I also took two SIM trades, a 5min ORB and a 15min ORB. Both SIM trades were stopped out. I am only journaling the live trade. According to back test data I was expecting MU, FB and AAPL to be in play. FB looked better in the premarket so I made MU and FB my two focuses at the open. I was short bias on FB but had no bias on MU. As usual I was creating my mental opening scenarios. But I was uncomfortable trading FB to the upside at the open. MU dropped and bounced off the 44.63 daily level and I went long a little before the break of the 44.79 level. I didn’t wait for the break since I saw a big ask. . I didn’t have a set R/R because I had no levels after the 44.88 daily level and MU doesn’t usually respect dollar levels much anymore. My S/O was the 200MA-1min. I took my first partial at the 44.88 daily level, then I had no more levels so I partialled with the only aim that my 4th partial would be at 2R. Which it was. I finally exited when the price dropped below VWAP. I also saw the largest ask I can remember during this trade. Score card for my live trade. MU 92% What I did good today: Took a good setup, even though it was very close to the open. How did I challenge myself today? Swapped out AAPL for FB to focus on at the open. That took some resolve. What I did bad today: I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t stopped out on any trade besides the 1min/2min ORB. SIM or Live. I definitely have only one play in my playbook. What can I do better tomorrow: Keep working on the other setups.

Live trading summary for week ending 7/12/19. Traded half share size all week as I slowly get myself back up to speed after a painful 3 days of terrible trading at the end of June. So first week of July I traded SIM only, then this week at half shares. Next week I will trade at $25 risk per trade. My score card for the week was OK at 86% and win% was also OK at 56%. I was green for the week, which always helps my mood going into the weekend. I analyzed my last 50 live trades to determine a new method of taking partial profits. I was surprised by the data. I was assuming the data would show that I should use range limit orders or I should decrease the size of my first partial. But, it actually said the opposite. I only have a 22% success rate of reaching my target. It seems that my targets look reachable, so it is probably my setups/time frame I trade in. But, this means taking partial profit is vital. 29% of all my 1min/2min ORBs reach my first partial price and retrace to get stopped out. Thus, the first partial profit is vital and I should not change it. But, there always seems to be at least one (if not two) extra partials on the way to the target. Those are the ones I need to work on. I will start to make an effort to reach my target with in 4 partials (it usually takes 5). I may try and use a limit order on the 4th partial. I traded almost entirely MU and AAPL this week. There was only one other stock (BABA) where I unsuccessfully tried a 10min ORB. There were a couple of SIM trades trying other time frame ORBs. All were unsuccessful. Back test data shows nothing looks very in play at the open for next week. Though MU, AAPL still look OK. JD was not in play last week so it’s removed from the watch list. FB was definitely in play last week, though the previous two weeks it was not. So I will plan the two primary focuses each day based on premarket data. Here is my plan for this week: Concentrate on process and score card, not on W% and P/L AAPL is in play at the open again. So is FB. Decide by premarket which should be higher focused. JD had a poor week. Assume it is no longer in play at the open. AMD is no longer in play for the 2min ORB. Do not focus on it at the open. MU is in play at the open, make it your primary focus for the week. Go back to full share size next week, $25 risk per trade.

Friday 7/12/2019 I had a well-being score of 6.5/10 this morning. My nerves were fine. Trading live but with half shares. I took two live trades today with MU and AAPL. MU and AAPL were my primary focuses at the open all week. Both stocks had an adequate premarket. As usual I was creating my mental opening scenarios. But I was long biased on both stocks, maybe too biased. So I only created long scenarios for the open. For my scenario for MU I was hoping price would drop and bounce off the 200MA-5min and then I would go long when it broke the 50MA-1min and VWAP, which is what I did. My target was the level 44 with my stop at 43.70. What MU looked like when I entered the trade. The price was bouncing around a bit. I did take a quick partial more for risk reduction than profit taking. I really didn’t like MU created two reverse hammers on the 1min chart so I stopped out a few cents early. I was focused on MU so I was surprised, when the trade finished, that AAPL had a really good setup. But since it was a surprise it took me one or two seconds to setup up the R/R, target, stop, etc. So I did chase it a little. But, it still had a R/R>2 at my entry. I really liked the hammer on the 2nd 1min candle and I like that both candles were struggling to cleanly break the 202.87 daily and the 203 level. Then went long on a clean break. The volume concerned me a little. Usually the min volume I like to see on AAPL to be in play is 400k in the first minute. My target was the 203.75 level and my stop was the 202.87 level. Then the waiting game started. The price just missed my stop out by a penny 4 minutes later. Finally 12 minutes after my entry the price broke out. I took lots of partials, as usual, with my final exit at 204. Score card for my live trade. What I did good today: Got out of a losing trade early. How did I challenge myself today? Patiently waited 12 minutes for the break to occur. What I did bad today: The usual: way too many partials. What can I do better tomorrow: Working on new partialing criteria will implement on Monday.

Great setup. I didn't even notice the wedge until you drew it. And really good restraint not to revenge trade. I probably would have lost it.

Thursday 7/11/2019 I had a well-being score of 7/10 this morning. My nerves were fine. Trading live but with half shares. I took one live trade today with AAPL. MU and AAPL were my primary focuses at the open again. Both stocks had an adequate premarket. As usual I was creating my mental opening scenarios. I had no bias this morning and thus had both long and short scenerios created for both stocks. AAPL was showing strength and I was waiting for the break of the 50MA-1min to go long. It tested that level a few times before finally breaking through and thus entered long. The target was the 204.33 daily level and my stop out was tight at the 203.6 (VWAP, 200MA and bottom of the candle). I tried taking my first partial at the 204 level and got a bad fill. From then on my partialing was as usual too abundant. The price struggled to break the 204.33 daily level for a couple of minutes than started to drop. I moved my stop to the 204 level and exited when it was breached. AAPL didn’t make too much of a move today. I also took one SIM trade on a 15min ORB and was quickly stopped out as usual. Score card for my live trade. What I did good today: Created a working entry scenario. How did I challenge myself today? Focused on one trade. I would glance at the others (and SPY) only to give insight to my current trade. What I did bad today: The usual: way too many partials. What can I do better tomorrow: Working on new partialing criteria will implement on Monday.

Wednesday 7/10/2019 I had a well-being score of 6.5/10 this morning. My nerves were not good, though I don’t know why. Meditated longer than usual to calm the nerves, which worked. But, it was temporary, my heart was pounding at the open. Trading live but with half shares. I took 2 live trades today with MU and AAPL. MU and AAPL were my primary focuses at the open again. Both stocks had a really strong premarket. When I was creating my mental opening scenarios, I planned NOT to take either short at the open and only long if the first minute candle was a hammer. It ended up both stocks created an 1min hammer. I took MU as my first trade because it setup first. It bounced off a strong support at $42, made a nice hammer and already a volume of 1M shares in the first 30 seconds. I went long with the 42.61 daily level as my target and VWAP as my S/O. It touched my stop out level 3 times so my nerves were getting bad. I am not sure if I was being careless or not focusing enough (I couldn’t keep my eyes off AAPL which had a really nice setup too) but I made the mistake of not noticing the Y-axis scale. When the price reached my first partial ( a notable premarket level) I didn’t notice I was already 20 cents in the green. That should have been a large partial. Instead all I thought was that I partial too much and make it small. The price then quickly retraced and I was stopped out. Since VWAP was so close to my B/E I let it go past my B/E a few cents. I did give my profits all back though. Too bad I made that Y-scale mistake again. This could have been a solid winner instead of a small loser. AAPL setup had come and gone. Both the 1min ORB and even the 2min ORB the entrance had past. But I guess the FOMO was to strong and I entered the trade immediately after I exited MU. The R/R was about one now. My S/O was the 202.31 premarket level. My target realistically was the 202.87 level. But, what caused the rational to take the trade is there is no level for about $1.50 above that level. So if it breaks it could run. But, this was a mistake and I shouldn’t have taken the trade. There were many other stocks setting up. I just had FOMO from watching it during the whole MU trade and was dying to enter. The price did reach my target, but not much profit can be made by that. It did form an ABCD so I was hoping it would pop higher. It popped a little but not much. Plus, it hurt watching MU really run while I was in the stagnate AAPL trade. If I caught AAPL at one of its actual entry points it would have been a nice trade, but I was chasing. Yes I made a profit from it but this was a mistake. Score card What I did good today: Created a correct entry scenario for both stocks. How did I challenge myself today? Fought through my nerves. What I did bad today: Couldn’t keep my eye on my trade. I kept looking at other charts. I chased AAPL. What can I do better tomorrow: Focus on one trade at a time.

It was good to see you back in the chatroom this morning Mike (nice trade BTW - I saw the screen cap).

Tuesday 7/09/2019 I had a well-being score of 7/10 this morning. My nerves were OK. Trading live but with half shares. I took 1 live trade today with MU. I did take 2 SIM trades after MU to practice 5min/10min ORBs but was stopped out on both. I will only journal the live trade here. MU and AAPL were my primary focuses at the open again. Both had lots of levels above the open price and mostly clear space below. I watched both intensely and already had a trade scenario for long/short for both stocks in my head. For MU long, I would enter (long) the trade if it broke the triple level of VWAP, the daily level of 40.28 and the engulfing of the last 5min candle in premarket. The price broke that level 23 seconds after the opening. My target was the 40.61 level with my S/O at below the 50MA-5min (40.20) which was respected in premarket. This is what it looked like when I entered the trade: There was slippage on the fill, but that is common so close to the open. Though my partialing was poor as usual, it was better than yesterday. My first two partials were actually as planned. I took 25% at PDC and high of premarket. My third partial was supposedly going to be at 40.61 but nerves caused me to partial at HOTD. Then a correct partial at the 40.61 level and again a bad partial soon after and missed the rest of the run. Score card What I did good today: Followed my entry plan. How did I challenge myself today? Took only SIM trades when trading out of my element. What I did bad today: The usual, I was hitting the sell button like it was the shooting button on a video game. What can I do better tomorrow: Will run the numbers this week. If I see the data in front of me how bad my partialing is I may be more patient about it.

Monday 7/08/2019 I had a well-being score of 6/10 this morning. My nerves were good. Trading live but on half shares. I took 3 live trades today. One with MU, then BABA and one with MU again that was supposed to be on SIM but was accidentally live. MU and AAPL were my primary focuses at the open. Both gapped down and had heavy levels above their current price, so I really did not want to trade either long. MU set up as a 2min ORB as it created a hammer and broke the 39.07 daily level, the HOTD and the high of premarket all around the same time. I would normally enter the trade there but there were so many strong levels above it I waited. It finally broke the 200MA-1min and 200MA-5min and I went long. Looking back it was probably extended. I should have taken the trade earlier or waited for it to break the 39.34 daily level, but I was too long biased at the time. Also R/R was only 1.5 but with a chance to go red to green I entered the trade with PDC as my target and the 39.17 level as my stop out. MU struggled to break the 39.34 level and 200MA for 4 minutes. But AMD was reversing and was moving higher so I was hoping MU would follow. But, then the price started to retrace I was stopped out at my planned level. I was looking for a 10 min ORB setup and found BABA. At first it didn’t look good since it was near a daily level at 168.91. But, I had a minute to investigate before the 10 min candle finished. I couldn’t find where the 168.91 level was from but the daily level at 168 was created recently and was strong. So I shorted with the 168 level as my target and the 169.76 level as my S/O. The price did drop to the 168.91 level where I took a first partial, but apparently that level was strong and it bounced. I exited the trade slightly beyond my B/E when it was clearly reversing. MU reversed and was setting up the same as my first trade. I was going to wait for the price to break the 200MA again so I had time to switch to SIM. After switching the order entry template I forgot to click my watch list to activate the change. So when I went long at the break of the 200MA I was still in live mode. I noticed this right away but the trade was moving in my favor. Since I should not be taking this trade live I partialed heavier. Instead of ¼, ¼, ¼, etc, I partial ¼, 1/3, ½ and thus ran out of shares fast and missed most of the move. This bothered me and even though I partialed heavy on purpose due to the hot key mistake. I really don’t like my MU winner was a tiny bit smaller than my MU loser. Score card: What I did good today: Nerves were fine even though it’s the first live trading in 9 days. How did I challenge myself today? I took a 10 minute ORB. What I did bad today: Should have followed my instincts with the first MU trade and entered early. Hot key mistake. What can I do better tomorrow: I shouldn’t be so biased where to enter a trade. Things continuously change and so should the trade setup.

Live trading summary for week ending 7/05/19. Traded SIM all week due to three days in a row of all losses. The trading improved as the week went on. I was sloppy all week, but that is common for me on SIM. I don’t want to make sloppiness a habit so I am switching back to live on Monday but will trade half shares. I traded NFLX mostly this week since back test data showed it became in play at the open. But as luck had it, it was not in play this week. But I learned a lot trading something that the spread would vary continuously. I was always nervous about trading BABA and TSLA due to their unpredictable spread, but I think I am OK now. BABA and TSLA spreads are not as bad as NFLX. Back test data shows nothing looks very in play at the open for next week. Though MU, AAPL and JD look OK. I am comfortable with MU. I had to make quite an effort to stop trading AAPL when it was no longer in play, so I will have conflicting emotions I will need to deal with. And I have very little experience trading JD. Here is my plan for this week: Concentrate on process and score card, not on W% and P/L AAPL is in play at the open again. JD is now in play. Decide by premarket which should be higher focused. FB had a marginal week again. Assume it is no longer in play at the open. AMD was no longer in play for the 2min ORB. Do not focus on it at the open. MU is in play at the open, make it your primary focus for the week. Trade half share size until trading improves.

Friday 7/05/2019 I had a well-being score of 6/10 this morning. My nerves were not good. Still on SIM only. About 5 minutes before the open my daughter seemed to be yelling in distress. It sounded serious enough that I left my platform to have a look. Yep it was bug. She has quite a strong phobia about them. I told her my hopes of having an insect biologist in the family is fading fast, which she responded by jumping into my arms in fear. It was interesting that I did pause before killing the bug. I am finding it harder and harder to kill insects since I have been reading more books on Buddhism. Then my daughter asked to be put down. So I said to her, ”OK, you are short and poor.” She definitely did not find it as funny as me and yelled, “no, I mean on the ground!” As usual time flies fast when spending time with her, so when I headed back to my platform the market already open. I panicked to see NFLX setup just as I expected and was moving by my planned entry point. So I immediately took the trade. I shouldn’t have. I was not mentally ready, I didn’t even have a chance to turn on my screen recorder yet. So I managed the trade poorly. I should have just taken a breather and let the trade go by. I took 3 SIM trades today. One with NFLX, one with MU, and one with FB. NFLX had a really strong premarket low level that it tested over and over for 45 minutes. So my scenario was, if NFLX dropped at the open and bounced off the 377.82 daily level I would go long when it broke the 378.25 strong premarket level. Though there are some levels above it, if it broke the 379.50 level it may run since the levels above it are sparse. As I discussed above I was late to my platform and took the trade a little late and was not mentally prepared. I did take two partials at the two levels (daily level and 200MA), though both were close to my entry. Then the lack of mental preparedness kicked in and decided to add to my position when it retraced to VWAP. But, I didn’t check the ask so I added based on price. There was no retrace it was just a fluctuation inside the spread. So I added at the same price as my partial. NFLX never broke the 200MA and retraced. When the BID touched my B/E I exited. Too bad about trying to add. I made a small winner into a loser. I saw MU setting up really well, but at the time I wanted to enter I was still in my NFLX trade. I have an one trade at a time rule and also a rule of not closing a trade to start another one. So I missed the entrance when MU was forming a bullish 2min hammer and crossed VWAP, the 50MA and a daily level all at approximately the same time. After I was out of NFLX I did see MU pull back to the 31.18 level and I went long. My target was the high of premarket but honestly my S/O was ill-defined. But I was planning on stopping out a few cents below the bottom of the wick of the current candle. Though my partials were at levels (HOTD and high of premarket), they were still taken more from nerves. Then I stopped out just before I hit B/E. If I waited for B/E I would have reached my target. Nerves and sloppiness. My last trade of the day was with FB. Honestly, I wanted to stop after my second trade. I was positive for the day and still had not recovered from being late to the open. But, the setup on FB looked too good to ignore. My win% on 5min ORBs have been bad. The main reason is I take the trade when one of the time frames look good and the other one adequate. But, I don’t wait for a trade that both 1min and 5min time frames look good. But that is what I had on FB this morning. If I look at either time frame it looks like a good trade. The 1min showed weakness, then a pull back, then indecision and the downward movement again. The 5min chart has shown weakness for the last hour and the 5min candle was bearish and not extended. So I shorted on the break of the 5min candle body. My target was the 195 level with stop out at the high of the previous candle. My nerves really showed by taking a ton of partials. I exited when it looked like it may reverse. What I did good today: Best trading day in the last 7. Also, an extremely good day for a Friday. How did I challenge myself today? Was late to the open, which caused a lot of nervousness, but still traded adequately enough to be green. What I did bad today: Traded sloppy. What can I do better tomorrow: Unsure yet if I will be on SIM on Monday. I traded sloppy this week, but that was the original reason why I went live several months ago. I always traded sloppy on SIM. So do I stay on SIM until the sloppiness goes away or go back to live before the sloppy bad habits are formed. I will have to review my trades and decide this weekend.

Wednesday 7/03/2019 I had a well-being score of 5.5/10 this morning. My nerves were good. Still on SIM only. I took 3 SIM trades today. One with AMD and two with NFLX. Still a bit sloppy and FOMO issues even on SIM. NFLX gave no signs in the premarket what it would do. Plenty of volume in the first 20 seconds after open then was dry. NFLX gave a very bullish 2 minute candle but I didn’t feel comfortable taking the trade then. The price went up almost a dollar without any green showing up in the price and sales. I am so not use to that. The price retraced back to VWAP then moved back up and finally green hit the tape. I went long on the break of the 377.04 daily level. My target was 379.25 with VWAP as my stop. After trading NFLX for a few days that may be unreasonable and shouldn’t expect to go past my first partial target of 377.87. Still need to learn. Price made it to my first partial near the 377.87 but I forgot that I have to sell at the bid not the price. I forgot and sold a partial when the price reached my 1st target. The bid was far below it and I essentially sold my shares at B/E. I waited until the bid hit my target and I partialed. Then when I took a second partial I forgot that NFLX should be more of a scalp and I partialed light. The price reversed and I got out at B/E. So with the two trade management mistakes it was only a small win. What it looked like when I took the trade: The total trade: The next trade was with AMD. AMD was an unusual setup that I have never taken before. It was essentially a V-reversal 5min after the open. But I do see AMD bounce back to VWAP often when it’s extended. AMD fell 35 cents in 3 minutes then paused. What caught my attention was a 72k bid on L2 3 cents below the price. It quickly disappeared and in return several asks totaling around 30k about 5 cents above the price. I had also noticed that SPY was climbing. I went long on the 1min high with the PDC as my target and the LOTD as my stop out. I took my first partial at the 9MA and my second at VWAP. I lost faith in the trade about 2 minutes later and exited. The charts when I entered the trade: The total trade: My last trade was with NFLX again and sadly was a FOMO trade. The really nice setup occurred on NFLX while I was trading AMD and thus missed it. It bounced off of the VWAP 3 times. I usually take the third bounce to enter the trade. Instead I took the trade at the break of the 377.87 daily level. The true R/R is only 1.3, but I chose an incorrect S/O of the bottom of the candle so I could have an R/R~2. But that was not the correct stop. If I used VWAP as the S/O I would have had a winner. The trade entrance should have been 3 minutes earlier or should not have entered. Though I did get a small partial, the trade was a loser as my S/O was too tight. What it looked like when I entered the trade: What I did good today: Finally green. First time in a week. How did I challenge myself today? Watched time/sales more. Something I wanted to practice while in SIM. What I did bad today: Traded sloppy. What can I do better tomorrow: Need to keep discipline on the SIM. If I keep trading like this I will be on SIM all next week as well.

Tuesday 7/02/2019 I had a well-being score of 5.5/10 this morning. My nerves were good. Still on SIM only. I took 3 SIM trades today. One with MU, one with AMD and one with NFLX. Still trading a bit sloppy. MU looked weak, but I needed a really good entry. I got a pull back but was concerned it was such a big pull back it was more like a reversal. Price did bounce and headed lower a few pennies. I went short when the price was between the VWAP-1min and VWAP-5min. I love taking trades in between the two VWAPs. I just don't see reversals occur between the two VWAP time frames. Whatever direction it is going in it continues until it reached the other VWAP. Target was the 39.4 level with a tight stop at the 39.75 level. R/R~3. I tried to take a partial at the LOTD but made a hot key mistake and added a little. I always make a lot more hotkey mistakes in SIM. I then made a real cover, but didn’t notice the price was already was 20 cents into profit and thus at 2R. So I should have made a larger partial or completely exited. Instead I took a normal first partial. Then price reversed and I was stopped out near break even for a small win. Sloppy. I let a 2R get away from me because I didn’t stay in touch of the total price move. This is what MU looked like when I took the trade. My next trade was with AMD. This trade didn’t work out, but I really like the setup, though waiting for the 5min candle confirmation would have been smarter. AMD also looked weak this morning and had a really nice pullback and bounced strongly off of VWAP. I shorted once I saw the 4th 1min candle was going to be red. Target was the 3.70 level and VWAP as my S/O. I did make it to my first partial (the low of premarket) but it reversed and I was stopped out at B/E. There was a bit of a slide on the exit so I was flat for this trade. This is what AMD looked like when I took the trade. My last trade was with NFLX. I was waiting to see if the price would break this really strong support level at 373.25. It didn’t and started heading up. There were way too many levels above it to try to go long. Instead I took a small risk that this was a pull back since it did bounce from the 20-50MA 4 times. On the fourth bounce I shorted. The spread was tight at that moment so I kept the S/O tight at the 50MA with the target of the 200MA-5min. R/R~3. After 10 seconds price reversed and headed back up and I was S/O. NFLX started its run down about two minutes later but I was at my trade maximum already. The loss was small so I am flat for the day. What I did good today: Waited for pullbacks. How did I challenge myself today? Exited at B/E. What I did bad today: Traded sloppy. What can I do better tomorrow: Need to keep discipline on the SIM. Hopefully successful by the end of the week.

Monday 7/01/2019 I had a well-being score of 5.5/10 this morning. My nerves were not good even though I knew I am trading on SIM today. Actually, I will probably be on SIM for the rest of the week after three days in a row (last week) with only losers. I took 3 SIM trades today. All losers. Two with Netflix and one with MU. Wow, I trade sloppy when I am on the SIM. I guess I will know when my discipline is back when I can be disciplined on the SIM. Since I was on SIM I wanted to use the time to try something new. Netflix has been in play at the open, but it trades very different from other stocks I have traded. So it was good to try it on SIM at first. It was an eye opener. It gapped up like everything else and had good volume the first minute. Then created a nice hammer in the first minute. Both in premarket and after the open there was a strong resistance at the 373.62 daily level. When it broke that level I went long. There was a very strong daily level just below 380 that was my target. I say strong because the daily chart shows it as resistance many times. With my S/O all the way down to the 200MA-5min. The R/R~3 was good, but there was another daily and the high of premarket at resistant levels to be hit before it would reach my target. So even though I was on SIM I still went a little light on the shares. The price reversed and hit my S/O. Or did it? I wrote in my plan for the week to make sure I give NFLX 30-50 cents on all levels. I even reread that plan as part of my preflight checklist. And then what did I do when it dropped a few pennies below my S/O level? I stopped out. It immediately reversed and went back to my entry point. If I gave it 30 cents room I would have not stopped out. NFLX price broke the 373.62 level again and I went long with same target and S/O. It reached my first partial but I got a bad fill. Though I am glancing at the spread often, I am not staring at it. The spread was fine each time I looked, but it wasn’t when I sold a partial and got a bad fill. Soon I was looking at the L1 bid more than anything else. Most of the price movement was these bounces from bid to ask and not giving me much info. But the bid movement gave me some info. When the bid reached my planned first partial I sold some more and got the expected price. Then the price reversed and I went through a battle of the minds, reptilian versus primate. Sadly the reptilians one this round. I knew intellectually to watch the bid. When the bid (not the price) reaches the B/E I knew to exit. But I couldn’t help myself and I waited until the price reached it and exited and thus got a bad fill and it made this trade a loss as well. What it looked like when I took the first trade: I planned to take up to 3 trades today on SIM. My last trade was with MU. MU broke through VWAP and leveled off and made a nice hammer. There was a resistance level at 41.40, which I planned to go long if it broke it. But instead I made two mistakes. First I didn’t check SPY before I went long in case it was dropping fast and it was at the time. Secondly, I went long off of the bounce from 41.25 instead. Sometimes it’s OK to do that but not for this setup. So I entered the trade in the middle of two levels and was stopped out quickly below the 50MA. What I did good today: Actually it was fun trading something very different like NFLX. How did I challenge myself today? Traded only SIM, that’s not easy for me. What I did bad today: Traded sloppy. What can I do better tomorrow: Need to keep discipline on the SIM.