Brandon K

Here ya go: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDUiyez_EAHb854yvNM_-Dg

Hey, Mark! I am. I just don't journal here anymore. I might start back, but I grew tired of posting bad trades. Been doing video journals on Youtube. Thanks for checking in!!!

I'm going through the same patterns/emotions too. Keep at it, Mark.

One and done. Nice, Mark!

Didn't trade well today and got beat up bad. A lot of my entries were late and ended up immediately stopping out shortly afterwards. I'm slipping back into old trading habits (waiting for the close) versus entering the moving averages when I see the opportunity. Felt like I was reacting to the market versus anticipating a particular direction. Reacting meaning I'm already late on the trade. I got lucky with $SQ today, but it shows that had I waited for the pullback where I normally would take my trades, I would have gotten a safer and better entry. $AIG, each of my trades were late. $HTZ/$MNK, I think both of those attempts were good for a long, but again my entries were late. I could have stopped out at break even if I took it a few minutes early then swapped over to a short after getting the close below VWAP and then waiting for pullbacks on the 1-minute at the moving averages. I will go back and practice these trades, but my losses today reflect my poor entries. A part of me also feels like I'm beginning to get more long biased on trades. Will check on that too. Watchlist: $SQ 5/7/2019 Went long after the first 5 looking for a push up to previous day close. My entry was utter trash. I didn't wait for a pullback or anything. I don't think it was FOMO, but I really wasn't thinking about waiting for pullbacks today. Had I waited, woudl have gotten not only a better entry, but more profit and a better risk to reward. Also, my stop loss would have been super close to VWAP which is how I like to take these trades. I got lucky and it worked out, but I held through a nasty pullback. $AIG 5/7/2019 Trash trades of the day go to these. Went long at open on a late entry looking for the squeeze up and got caught in a fade. Attempted again on another trash entry and got caught again. Then swapped over to short on a late entry and stopped out before the squeeze. After getting the close below the 9MA/VWAP 5-minute, went short again on another late entry and stopped out. The type of sizing I take I need to get in closer to the moving averages because the pullbacks are always brutal. The move of course happened after I covered. $MNK 5/7/2019 Was looking for a long off the ABCD pattern and the close above the 9MA/VWAP 5-minute. I think I was late here as well since I normally get in at the moving averages, go bigger on size with a tight stop loss below the 1-minute moving averages. 2 -minutes before my entry would have been the best entry because my stop loss would've been less than 10 cents. When the move didn't work out, I would have taken a partial where my entry is and then stopped out at break even (similar to my $SQ trade). That's how I should have traded it, but my entry was late. $HTZ 5/7/2019 Went long looking for the pop after getting a close above VWAP/9MA 5-minute and previous day close. Price action was above the 50MA 1-minute too. I caught the top of the price action and it faded. Sold everything for a loss. Should have taken this trade a few minutes earlier. Then swap over to a short after getting that close below VWAP/9MA 5-minute and 1-minute. $O 5/7/2019 I was skeptical of this one, but after getting the close below the 9MA 5-minute, was looking for low of day. I should have anticipated a squeeze to the 50MA on the 1-minute before this decided to move, but I do feel like I got a good entry. My share sizing was large on an already crappy day, but I stuck to my stop loss. It was hit and I got out. Result:

Not bad of a day, but could've been better. Took two trades only as I wasn't fully in sync. Was second guessing myself on some trades and decided to sit out after being positive for the day. I will note that trading on $2.95 commissions gives me a bit more hope versus $4.95. Had I traded on SureTrader commissions versus CMEG today, I would be near break-even. Commissions were $23.60 versus a normal $39.60. That saved me a considerable amount for a small account. That $4 less per one trade in/out took some pressure away. Watchlist: $CGC 5/6/2019 Missed the ORBU from looking at the other stocks on my watchlist. Waited for a pullback and went long 300 after the price action closed above the 50MA 5-minute. After 2 minutes, took half. Price action neared the 9MA 1-minute and I covered everything near break-even. $CGC offered some more opportunities, but I watched the rest of the day. $AMD 5/6/2019 Second guessed myself on $AMD the second time. First move, I went long 300 after thinking the price action would bounce off the moving averages. the 1-minute looked good, but got caught in a trap. Sold at break of the 9MA 1-minute and VWAP 5-minute. Waited for another opportunity and got a good entry above the 9MA/VWAP 5-minute. Long 400 shares and took half off at the top of the 5-minute candle. Waited and the price action neared the 9MA 1-minute and sold all. Part of me thought it would turn back into a short or like $CGC, but I sold at "C" of an ABCD pattern. Good opportunity to add or go long from there. I'm satisfied with the trade. $OXY 5/6/2019 Didn't trade it, but was watching it before it exploded on the ABCD pattern at open. I didn't touch it because I felt like the price action was choppy. Result:

Changes made to sim account set up: Changed equity/buying power to 5500/33000 Changed commissions from 4.95 to 2.95 to reflect CMEG structure.

Yeah, I normally don't flip my positions, but I think both attempts were good ones.

Trading Challenge 5 - Negative Just wasn't my day. Felt like I was trading the wrong stuff and missed some moves. Misread one play today ($CTSH) although I'd probably take it again the same way. Managed risk well. Didn't go hulk but after my last trade I decided to just take the L for the day. Right at a 5% equity loss for the week. Considering how aggressive I traded today I'm okay with that. If I capitalized on my moves and stopped with the few blunders I had, might be a bit better. I'm happy that I traded well with 25K and didn't blow it up. My habits from trading a small account are benefiting. Now, I have to change my share sizing back and get my mind back to 5K-10K equity mode. Watchlist: $ATVI 5/3/2019 Went short after the first 5, looking for a wash. Didn't like my possible entry so I went 500 short under VWAP. I anticipated a squeeze above the 9MA 1-minute. Got a move down and took half off. Didn't hold and covered all at break-even. Came back with a long 750 shares to the upside. I realized that it was a bad entry and sold half after getting a pop. Sold all at break-even. Took another short and stopped out after it didn't hold. Came back long and stopped out before the move happened. Shorted again, but went 1000 shares heavy after getting a close below 9MA/VWAP 5-minute and the 9MA 1-minute. Price action didn't hold and sold for a small loss, lol. I traded $ATVI too much. Went long on it one more time and stopped out for a loss. Closed everything down after the last trade $ATVI. $CTSH 5/3/2019 This one was unfortunate. I felt like like was a long, but didn't hold. Instantly dropped on my entry and I sold it for a loss. Could've swapped over to a short with it being under the 9MA/VWAP 5-minute and 9MA 1-minute. Would've been a great short, but didn't take it. $SQ 5/3/2019 This one was disappointing as well. Went long 300 shares looking for the pop and stopped out shortly after my entry. Then swapped over to a short 500 shares after getting a move under the 9MA 1/5 minute and it didn't hold. Stopped out on both. Result:

Trading Challenge 4 - Negative Ah, man... Got clobbered today. Started out fine with $ABIO then got squeezed by $SQ with 1000 shares. Also, broke a rule and traded first 5 minutes, but that was for a low float which worked out. Wasn't too upset about it, but did make some mistakes on my sizing. Just got cocky and went heavy on bad entries. There's still some banger trades in here, though. My trade log looks like I traded a lot and went hulk, but I really didn't. Most of that is scaling out, but I will say that each of my trades had a good thought behind them. Just misread a few. $ABIO 5/2/2019 Felt a squeeze coming at open. After getting a small move up, went long 500 shares on the first minute. Scaled out and got hit with a drop. Got back in thinking another move was gonna happen, stopped out for a small loss. Deleted it from my list afterwards to prevent attempting it again. $SQ 5/2/2019 I got bit hard... After the first 5, I foolishly went short 1000 after that 1-minute squeeze. Should've went a smaller size. After getting squeezed up, I covered for an almost $1000 loss. I wasn't shook or anything, but realized that the entry was trash. Waited for a better set up and got back in short 750 shares and scaled out on the way down. You can tell I was a bit unnerved on the price action on how close my cover points are. Took another short on $SQ looking for the fade down and took one partial. Price action didn't hold. Then, I took it to the long side but stopped out before the move happened. Didn't want to get caught in a wash. I'm okay with all of these trades, but my heavy sizing on that first trade didn't give me a good stop out point. If I took 1000 on the second trade, I had logical stop out points at the 9/20MA 1-minute. So, I'm not upset about any of it. $UAA 5/2/2019 After the first 5-minutes, price actoin closed above the 9. Looking back on this, I felt I made a good trade. Went long 1000 shares looking for HOD. Didn't get the move and stopped out before the drop happened. I'd take this trade the same. $W 5/2/2019 I am on the other hand upset about this trade. While the price action could have pushed up, I went too heavy on this with the gap between my entry and the moving averages. That said, I think I got a solid entry. I should have gotten out way before I did, though. I thought it would hold and pop up (which it did), but it didn't make the move I was looking for. Took a big loss on this. $TSLA 5/2/2019 This was my misread fail of the day. Went 200 on $TSLA for a fade back down and shorted during an uptrend. Looking back at my first entry, Could've waited for more confirmation. I went back and forth on whether to short or long this but I was looking for that move up. After getting the close below the 9/20MA 5-minute, I went short and then stopped out. Then, swapped over to long after getting a close between the 20 and 9/50 to stop out as it fell to a short. I think the second trade was fine, but the first was a blunder. $QCOM 5/2/2019 Banger for the day. Got the close above VWAP/9MA, hit it long 500 shares. Scaled out accordingly. Result:

Trading Challenge 3 - Positive This is gonna sound backwards to some, but even though I'm well off today, I'm disappointed in my performance. Misread two stocks ($CVS/$PCRX) and cut the best trade of the day off too soon ($RGEN). My technique went way out the door after making a great trade on $HRTX. I traded my P/L and said, "This is enough for me" on $RGEN versus scaling out and continuing to trade the chart. Since this is about the challenge, I missed out on a good chance of getting more points and profit. I feel good about the day, just not great. Hoping my performance gets points on the board today. $HRTX 5/1/2019 Went long 1000 shares after the first 5-minutes, but only got filled 200 shares. Price action POPPED! in seconds and I instantly sold everything because moves like that rarely last. I took profit just in case. Came back later with another long move looking for the 50MA 5-minute, but was too early and stopped out. My signal was the close above the 20MA 5-minute. Got back in after the price action closed above the 9/20MA 5-minute and went long 1000 shares. Sold everything at the top near the 50MA 5-minute. Scaling out was not on my mind at all today. $CVS 5/1/2019 After getting the close below VWAP and above the 50MA 5-minute, was looking for a squeezed to the upside. It came quickly and I sold everything at the 50MA 1-minute. Didn't trust it. Came back for a short 1000 shares looking for low of day. Figured it would wash out. After the price action closed above the 50MA 5-minute, I should have seen that as a sign to get out especially after the stall on the 1-minute. Stopped out for a loss. Was up a bit on that trade. $PCRX 5/1/2019 Was thinking a short on this trade after the price action failed to break VWAP and closed below the 9MA 5-minute. Also, was under the moving averages on the 1-minute. Shorted 100 shares during a pullback. Looking back on it, should have gone long with the price action holding the moving averages. Definitely a misread. $RGEN 5/1/2019 Blunder of the day. Watched this one at market open go up and down with small volume. I looked at some previous day charts and saw how it moves with low volume. I waited and almost jumped in short/long several times, but figured it wasn't time. Then after getting the close above the 9MA 5-minute, I went in 1000 shares thinking that if it's going to happen, this is the moment. I was also in $HRTX 1000 shares heavy too. Both popped up, but after getting out of $HRTX with a great exit, I looked at $RGEN thinking, this is enough. Also, I felt like the price action might drop. I should have scaled out or something. Disappointed myself on this one because the potential was huge. Result:

I took that trade too. Was a good set up. Just didn't work out. Great on you stopping out. I got out at the top of that candle. : (

Trading Challenge 2 - Negative Today.. No points, but didn't blow up again. Should've stopped while I was up $120 after commissions, but was trading for the challenge and knew that wasn't enough. Ended up losing it all and negative for the day. Ah, well. Had a few misreads, but overall traded well. My last few trades irked me a bit and I decided to quit for the day. $OXY 4/30/2019 $OXY was my banger for the day. Went 800 shares heavy for the ORBD. Got the move and took two partials. Wanted that 57.15 level but it stalled. Got back in for a long on it and got caught in a fake out. I think the trade was good, but didn't work out. Came back with a long that I thought would pop higher and stopped out near break even. Swapped to a short after getting a close below the 9MA 5-minute and stopped out. Really got frustrated on that last one. $NXPI 4/30/2019 $NXPI was trash. I went short at open after seeing the price action not holding its gain the first 5. Stopped out on a huge squeeze. Didn't have time to stop out effectively. Came back with a long the next minute on a heavy size looking for a pop and stopped out again. Wish I didn't trade $NXPI at all. $JD 4/30/2019 $JD was a jump the gun trade. Tried to catch it and stopped out for a loss. Thought we'd get a wash down to the 50MA after the first 5-minute close below the 9/20MA 5-minute. Could've waited for more confirmation. $WDC 4/30/2019 All smiles on $WDC. Took it long on a bounce off the 9MA 5-minute that didn't hold. Took some profit before it crashed then swapped over to a risky short and scaled out quickly on it. Came back with a reversal and was hoping for a squeeze. It was risky but the squeezed happened. Took everything off after it felt like the squeeze was ending. Result:

Trading Challenge 1 - Negative Started the trading challenge yesterday and didn't get around to posting my trades. This is a big step towards my consistency and live account. I'm used to trading with $5000 so my sizing is bigger. Will be showing my trades, p/l, etc. 4/29/2019 Yesterday was rocky. Made some good trades, ended up down 2% so around $550 after commissions. Worked my way back to -125 after commissions so less than 1%. I made good trades after I was down, but my market open trades weren't stellar. I blame my trades (some of them, lol) on an external distraction causing me to miss the few minutes after the first 5. Missed some killer moves that probably wouldn't have resulted in these trades even happening. Ah, well. $TGT goofed me around. First two trades were probably too early. 3rd trade I took I felt was a good entry and just didn't work out. Went hard on $MOMO and added to my position at break-even. Didn't get the move I was looking for and stopped out. Did unload half my position size to make a possible loss easier. Then, got back short again at the 9MA 5-minute and stopped out before it tried to take my soul. Whew, DODGE A BULLET!!! I misread $OXY. Went short and should've went long. Figured since it closed below the 50MA 5-minute, it was a short even though it closed above the 9/20/VWAP 5-minute. Foolish mistake. Went long after a close above the 50 and stopped out before it fell off a cliff. That one just didn't work out. $PROP was a potential banger. Went long above the 9MA 5-minute towards VWAP looking for a pop. Sold half at VWAP and the rest at break-even. Just didn't break out. My savior of the day was $SPOT. Went heavy on it and constantly told myself.. don't chicken out, don't chicken out. Held on and got that killer move. Wish I had caught it at open when it dropped 6 points after the first 5-minutes. This just shows that moves happen throughout the day. In total, -125 is nothing on a 25K account. Still got plenty of buying power to put some points on the challenge board. Didn't blow it up so I'm proud of that. $TGT 4/29/2019 $MOMO 4/29/2019 $OXY 4/29/2019 $PROP 4/29/2019 $SPOT 4/29/2019 Result:

Thanks, Mark! Proud of that one for sure! I followed through well on it.

UGH... That is all I can say. This week has been nothing but positive realized and a negative p/l. Today, I could lucky and ended about +100 after commissions. I could have had the WEEK of my trading career and missed out once again. This is another day of frustrations with myself. $GRUB.. seriously thought it was gonna reverse on me and squeeze using the moving averages as support. I took it heavy 400 shares and took profits to get something out of it just in case. Then, it dropped 4 points. I was sick to my stomach, lol. The big share size was a factor, but I was confident in my entry. Got back in there for two more shorts. Didn't trust the first one, but hit it again for a decent run. $AAL squeezed me good. Went short 300 shares and stopped out for a loss. Thought that close under VWAP/9MA 5-minute and the 9MA 1-minute was enough for a wash. Could've waited a few more seconds and recognized the squeeze forming. $INTC was a banger. Perfect entry with good scale out points. $XOM played ball for a bit then decided to take the ball and run. $MU was very disappointing. Went heavy on that thinking the push would hit quicker, but it didn't. Stopped out before the move happened. I think I'm in a good place for the trading challenge next week. $GRUB 4/26/2019 $AAL 4/26/2019 $INTC 4/26/2019 $XOM 4/26/2019 $MU 4/26/2019

Heck yeah! Glad to hear from you and see that you didn't give up! It seems that you figured out some of yourself in the process. I too had to take some of the pressure away and that helped me figure out some of myself. Keep at it and looking forward to your updates whenever they come through. Also, didn't know I could do that with DAS. Will consider that if I have break the rule again. So far so good haha.

Damn, Damn DAMN!!!! I traded well on my entries but didn't follow through on my exits. Some of my trades just didn't work out and that's hella disappointing. Been practicing all week for the 25K trading challenge. I've been positive realized 4 days in a row, but I can't capitalize on my opportunities. So, I'm negative on my P/L. It's minuscule with a 25K account, but today I was just super bothered. It didn't cause me to overtrade or go Hulk, but more so.. dang, I messed up and missed this trade twice. Could've taken profits better on $MO. Messed up $MSFT big time twice. Took a decent loss on $XLNX and hit it again for a more favorable entry. Added more after profit taking on a pullback, got out at break even afterwards. Super disappointed on my $MSFT trades. That was the money maker trade. Had two opportunities on it. Just felt like it was gonna go against me. The last trade on $MSFT didn't work out. Had a great entry for the pop above VWAP. Just stopped out before the move happened. $MO 4/25/2019 $XLNX 4/25/2019 $MSFT 4/25/2019

Hey, Greg: Read your journal from the beginning till now. I hope you are still trading and just decided to take a break from the journal. You and I seem to have similar issues on our trading entries and mentality. I do have a few words of advice that are helping me get over the issues we share. I initially struggled A LOT with trading in the first 5 minutes. Sometimes I would win, sometimes I would lose. But over time I realized that this was contributing to the get fast money FOMO mentality. I liked the idea of trading only 2-5 minutes and being one and done. I had to go through a detox phase to ween myself off that habit and mentality. To help, I would force myself to sit and watch the market move and go without me. It was painful.. and I relapsed once a few weeks ago for the first time in several months. Haven't done so again because that day I lost. (Luckily, not bad because I realized what I did). My point here is, you have to take similar steps in your own way to stop that habit. You gotta recognize that urge that you have and be okay with it being there, but not acting on it. It's gonna be hard, but when you recognize "the trigger" activating, you will catch yourself. Acknowledging your triggers and letting the pain burn as you watch the market move without you will help. I don't have the urge to trade the first 5 as often as I used to. 930 is 935 to me now. But that's just one part of it. What also helped me is attempting to battle FOMO in my daily life. You gotta practice the same things while you're not trading. <-- That is critical. For me, I let things happen as they do. It settles my mind and I move at my own speed. I don't rush, I don't fuss and I try not to dwell on downfalls in life. It's not a life coaching per say, lol but there are more things that hit our psychology and minds in a day than just trading. So, we definitely should pay more attention to external noise that alters our mental. Whenever you are trading and you feel that urge to double down on a trade, acknowledge THAT FEELING and let it simmer. Don't suppress the pain and push it away by doubling down because the trade isn't working. You gotta catch yourself when these triggers are activated. And this is not to say I am perfect because I am not. However, my trigger(s) are far less volatile and I think that is enough to say that it's a damn good push towards becoming a better trader. I'm not at the point of not trading anything in a day, but the trades I do take I have a reason on why I took them. In most cases, anyway, lol. As for some of your trades (in my non live/professional opinion), your bias shows towards the short side. Which is fine and you know that you are. It got more neutral as I went through your journal. Something I would recommend doing is studying the moving averages more and how they form in different situations. I found myself going short on up trends trying to catch the top of a reversal to a moving average and getting squeezed within a few moments later. I realized I wasn't aware enough of what the moving averages looked like when forming a reversal/long trade etc. So, when I went short, I wasn't seeing the more probable long trend continuing or forming. When I see a possible short trade forming now, I think about how this trade would look if it were a long or if it will pullback towards the next average. That helps me see the moving averages in a different perspective. I also think about what is more probable to happen. If I short here, based on the moving averages and the price action, is it more likely to go up or more likely to go down. It has helped me see long trades a lot more and know when to get out on either side. You can check out my trades to get an idea on how I trade. I had a big blow up and went back into the cave for awhile too.

Today was one of those days, lol. I didn't go Hulk, but I took some meaningful trades. Felt like I misread a trade once. Most of my trades didn't break out like I thought they would and stopped out for break even several times. Also, got impatient and cut a trade off before it broke out. Would've brought me back near break-even P/L. Positive realized, though. $BSX 4/24/2019 Felt like I may have misread $BSX the second time I went short. I thought the fade was coming since it closed under VWAP again while under the 9MA 5-minute and 9MA 1-minute. Looking back now, didn't make a new low, made a new high and it closed above the 20MA 5-minute as it did the previous 5-minute candle. Was more probable for a long. $T 4/24/2019 $OXY 4/24/2019 $EBAY 4/24/2019

4/23/2019 A bit frustrated because I gave all of my gains back for the day. Misread $CGC and paid dearly for it. I shouldn't have shorted there with it not really claiming the 9MA (purple line) 5-minute and with VWAP as support. Other trades I've taken there long for a bounce off the 1-minute moving averages. Even with my short strategy off the moving averages, that entry was super late. Other trades were great although $HAS chopped around. Should've stopped after making the two trades on $WHR/$KSS. Was well up for the day. Still a positive day, though. $KSS 4/23/2019 $WHR 4/23/2019 $HAS 4/23/2019 $CGC 4/23/2019 EDIT: Yeah, $HAS was trash. Made the move a few minutes later.

4/22/2019 Preparing for the trading challenge. Think I'm in a good place mentality for it. Got chopped up by $MSCO and lost my gains. Almost got caught in a nasty wash down as well but stopped out before that happened. Kept trying to catch the move down and after two attempts I left it alone. Still working on my sizing, but definitely on the super upside today. Made some great trades, but also cut some off too early. $SQ 4/22/2019 $HAL 4/22/2019 $MDSO 4/22/2019

Sigh.. more mistakes, lol. Should've been a great positive day, but fell short. Chickened out twice on $CGC and the last time I didn't take profits at the break of the 50MA and suffered smaller profits. $STNE.. sigh.. Chickened out and missed a huge drop. $ROKU traded perfectly. $WTR.. sigh again... Cut it off before it made a great move. Gotta do better. I cut many trades off at the 9/20MA 1-minute right before moves happen. Just didn't exit as good as my entries today. $CGC 4/18/2019 $STNE 4/18/2019 $WTR 4/18/2019 $ROKU 4/18/2019

Thanks, Mark! The challenging part about those two shorts was getting rid of the long bias I had on $QCOM and flipping to the short side.

Also, that spike on QCOM had me thinking it was gonna go up, lol. Fake out for sure.