IamKarthi

16-Apr-19 Another day, another $AMD trade. I am comfortable trading $AMD because it is traded in huge volume everyday, not very volatile, good spread and most of the days trades well. I have lost my notes for this day. Apparently I was short $AMD below strong Resistence levels (VWAP, 50, 200 MAs). Partial was at 200MA on 5 min and also the LOD. Final partial close to 9MA. $AMD was bullish and didn't touch $27.5 again that day. I also traded $Roku, but got stopped out because the price didn't go my way.

09-Apr-19 2 Trades today. Another AMD trade at the Open. Took short below VWAP, Got stopped out. After the entry, I just watch the Level 2 and have my mouse over the Montage. If L2 hits my Stoploss, I get out immediately. I don't watch the price action at the Open, it can be deceiving making me believe that it is still going my way, when it is not. Re-entered the trade again, when AMD offered a pullback to VWAP. This time it worked out fine. Couple of early partials, as it is already extended. Held the remaining position thru another pullback to VWAP (missed my Stoploss by 2 cents). Remainining position partialled out. Both trades only 100 shares. P.S: I used 'Moving stoploss' - ie) my stoploss is 2 cents above current VWAP and not a fixed price. This gives me flexibilty. My partials are mostly at 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, and sometimes at the technical levels. No constant plans.

April Summary: I have completed my first month Live trading. Total 6 trading days. 5 Green days and 1 red day. This month I will be posting a consolidated summary. Starting May I will try to post it daily. 08-Apr My first day. But I decided I will not trade today, if the setup doesn't come to me. Recollected my hotkeys for Panic situation. Backup access thru mobile. Easier said than done. A very nervous day. I was negative on the first day(-10$). But happy with my trade management. Was very patient till 9th min and entered short below VWAP. Stoploss above VWAP. less than 10C risk. The price action didn't go my way, I was stopped out. Happy that I respected my stoploss, even happier that I didn't partial out or revenge trade. Overall very good First Day. Improvement: Consider entry at 200MA (as it is very clear on hindsight) as price struggled to push thru for 4 mins. Also get out of the trade quickly next time if it doesn't go my way (Guerilla trading).

Hi Patrick, I myself went live only this month. You have captured wonderfully the emotions and the technicalities of your trade. I am trying to learn these aspects myself. If I may, I would suggest to bring these trades to the Trade review with William session (Tuesdays'and Thursdays 3 PM EST) that is a wonderful session where everyone shares their trades (good and bad) and learn from it. Also, I think your first trade (M* - I don't think it is MU) is good, there is always room for improvement in any Trade, but you shouldn't beat yourself up. This is how I would handle the following issues, again this is my personal view. Respect Stoploss - This is difficult, especially at the Open. I define my stoploss, and I look at the level 2 with the mouse over montage. If my stoploss gets hit, then I exit immediately not looking at the charts. Sometimes looking at the charts gives you false hope. First 5 min trading: If you want to avoid this, just lock your DAS montage for the first 5 mins. Unlock it only after 5 mins, please write me if you don't know how to do it. An extra step, may make you to pause a bit and think. Hulk Trading: If you keep overtrading and can't control you may think about this option. This is probably an extreme step, but I think will help you. If you keep overtrading and can't stop it, try to bring down your broker amount within PDT rule. Then you are allowed only 3 trades per week. And when you have limited options, you try not to jump in on all the trades, but only where you see the setups. The easier option is just go back to SIM. Tradinginthezone: If you haven't read it, please listen to this audio book. I think he addreses lot of your emotional status. .

Hi All I am an Indian living in Germany for over 5 years now. I go by the name Vikramaditya in this community. I am an IT Engineer and for 15 years I worked with different IT service companies holding different management roles. I had developed some interest in the market and fundamental news of the companies during my job. I decided to become a fulltime Daytrader last year so I can achieve Financial independence, Get out of Rat race, spend time in doing things I like, spend more time with family AND I was fed up putting my hard yards for someone else to make money. One of my friends from German language class recommended Andrew’s book on ‘How to Day Trade for a Living’. Immediately after reading the book, I joined the BBT community in Sep’2018 and found it to be a wonderful community, where everyone learns from each other and helps each other. And so, I was on SIM for 3 months, completed the first BBT challenge. And finally I went live on 8thApr’19. I have just started posting my journal here.

My Plan to Trading Success: Background: One of my friends from German language class recommended Andrew’s book on ‘How to Day Trade for a Living’. After reading the book, I joined the BBT community in Oct’2018. I was on SIM for 3 months, completed the first BBT challenge. And finally I went live on 8thApr’19. I am new to Trading and hoping my journaling and feedback from fellow members will help me improve. My preparation before going Live: These are the books I read before going Live, apart from the BBT classes. It was very important for me to learn as much before going Live. Also, I read these books in the order mentioned below. I also listened to the Youtube audio version of Trading in the zone, the week before going Live and I must say that it helped calm my nerves a bit during the Live week. -How to Day Trade for a Living by Andrew Aziz - A Complete Guide to Volume Price Analysis by Anna Coulling - Advanced Techniques in Day Trading by Andrew Aziz -Trading in the zone by Mark Douglas -The 1 Hour Trade by Brian Anderson Strategy & Goal: During the first year(or 9 months) in 2019, I don’t have any target to make. My primary goal is to gain experience Live trading, to be emotionally stable when things don’t go my way and manage positions to my plan. And achieve all this limiting my loss. Good thing, I have control over how much I can lose, so I have decided to keep 100$ per week that I can lose (ie. 4000$ till end of the year). This is the max amount I will lose to the market, nothing more. This is not ‘Scarred Money’. It is something that I am paying for my experience. If I make any money along the way, then it’s good. It doesn't mean I dont want to make money, it just means, I am not in a hurry to make money. But I do plan to make a lot of money from trading may be a million $ some day. I also have the following measures to limit myself at the beginning of my Trading. Funding Account: I am not funding my IB account fully. I am doing it in 5 small transfers (roughly one each month). This limits my buying power during the initial months. Even if I make a DAS mistake I can’t buy more shares. As I improve my trading I start funding more. Under PDT rule: This also means, I am under PDT rule, and can make only 3 trades/5 days. This prevents me from overtrading. I am also extremely picky as my trades are limited. I think being picky is a very good habit in Trading. Stocks to trade: I don’t trade $TSLA, $NFLX which are very volatile. I trade $AMD, $MU and other Stocks in Play on a particular day within my price range ($15-$30) and not very volatile. I trade high priced, volatile stocks in DAS simulator or TradingSIM to feed my FOMO. Share size: I trade 50-100 shares per trade, depending on the Stoploss and volatility of the stock. I am not using my Margin from IB, but only Cash that I have funded. As I improve my trading skills, I will slowly increase the share size. Risk Control: Within my 3 Trades a week, first one I give it $50 Loss, 2nd and 3rd one $25 each. But because of my small share size and stoploss, I am well within my allowable losses during initial months. This is second level risk control. Rules: Only one trade at a time. This was my main issue in SIM. I get into multiple trades in SIM and end up in huge losses. Even if the action goes my way, I am unable to exploit it to my advantage as I am unable to follow my profit plan. Stick to my StopLoss: Many days in SIM, I had ignored my Stoploss and ended up in huge losses. Then I make some good trades and reduce my losses. End of the day, It gives me a feeling ‘If only I had respected my StopLoss I would have been green’ Don’t trade within 3 mins: My rule is not to trade within first 3 mins. But if the setup doesn’t exist, then I must wait till 5, 10 or even 15 mins from the open. Trading Style: I prefer VWAP trading (VWAP pullback during ORB, Reversal & False breakout after 10AM). I also like to trade 50/200 MA bounces especially on higher timeframes. I am not good at MA cross reversals. Quote I need to remember while Trading: "You will regret more about the STOP you didn't take than the one you took early"

Thanks Robert for the information. Very helpful. My 2 cents, For step 3, if you are using the Web platform for IB, then you can do the following. 1. Go to Orders & Trades 2. Enter a Symbol - Enter the Currency which you need to convert (in my case EUR -> USD, so I had to enter EUR.USD). 3. Click Sell order 4. Quantity - how much money you want to convert (for e.g 1000 EUR) 5. Order type -> Limit, Time-in-Force -> DAY 6. Submit Sell order. You get filled, when the price hits. You can go to Portfolio to check for confirmation.

Hello I was trying to close my position from my mobile (Android) yesterday, but the Challenge Training Login didn't work. Uninstalled and Reinstalled the DAS Pro again, still didn't work. Is it restricted? Regards

Have you tried Degiro. Appararently they offer one of the chepest fee structure. Eur 0.5 + $0.004. I sent them an email and yet to hear back. I am also in touch with IB UK for opening the account. Do we have any special discount or Offer with IB? BTW, they confirmed, 1) they only accept wires from bank accounts with identical account titles as the IB account, (No transferwise). 2)Between IB UK and IB USA - the features, the fee structure and everything else is identical. I won't have access to US mutual funds or certain non PRIIPs compliant ETFs. (I don't think this is an issue) 3) they couldn't confirm if DAS will work with IB, but since it works for most of our traders, I assume it shouldn't be a problem. 4) minimum activity fee is USD 10, which is then offset by the commissions generated.

Did you try Degiro. Apparently they offer one of the cheapest fee structure in EU, as discussed in forums. Also has good ratings in EU. In their website the fee is mentioned as Eur 0.50 + $ .004 from their website, not sure how this applies. I have sent them an email. Also are you signing up with Interactive Brokers UK or USA. They seem to be different affliations (IB UK vs IB LLC), not sure if it makes any difference ( in terms of currency management, Routing etc.,)