New Trader Journal

[hailchaser2 185]

With a market halt possible at the open this AM, I decided to go back down to $10 risk instead of $20. Today was a bit of a grind compared to the past couple days. I was still able to get to +4.6R. So I am on a green streak of 4 days, and target of 3R for 3 days. Last night I also signed up for Chartlog trial, I was already using the free service. Once I put in strategies, and started labeling all of my past trades. It became very clear that "No Strategy" has been my biggest problem so far. I was constantly entering chop looking for breakdown/ups or reversals back up to vwap. I really think I'm going to buy the year service, it makes reviewing strategies so simple, it should be a great tool moving forward.

3 Stabs at AAPL today, 1MInOrb, then ABCD, then ABCD 5min. all three tries one partial and stopped out at BE. 

 

JD ran up and was extended from VWAP and MAs on 5 min. I started looking for a pullback. It formed a 1 min doji just above PMH and whole number. when it broke the doji bottom and whole number I shorted to ride the pullback. I thought about flipping position once it started making the ABCD at VWAP, but figured I would just stay in the trade and let the last little bit ride it out to BE. The ABCD did end up following through, but I'm ok missing out on it.

 

CCL, thought we were getting reverse back to VWAP. Second try I caught one partial

 

 

ROKU, I entered this move too soon, sometimes I am afraid I'm going to miss the move, this was one of those times that my FOMO was stronger than my patience. Fortunately, it never broke back above VWAP, I even added when it started moving up. This ended up being a classic Peter Lighning Bolt Down.

 

BA1 thought we were getting a VWAP bounce, went long when it cleared the MAs on one minute. It failed.

 

 

Later went back to BA, I watched it closely for a good time before entering. L2 convinced me this thing had a good chance to run down. Best R trade of the day for me.

 

 

It was nice to know I can have a BE open, then find profitable trades after to get to my goal. Before I would be hopping in and out of trades without analyzing them enough. I really owe Aiman. Norm, Peter, Mike B and Thor a big thanks for always being happy to answer questions when it's their mic time in chat. Their knowledge has really helped me get past my early struggles. I know the struggles aren't anywhere near over, but I feel like I'm headed in the right direction now.

Edited March 18, 2020 by hailchaser2

[hailchaser2 185]

Since we weren't close to circuit breaker this AM, put risk back up to $20. +3R only doing two trades. 5 days green in a row. Now I need to keep doing the same thing each day, and not get too overconfident After my recent success, I am feeling a bit relieved. when I was hitting max loss each day, and having a red streak of 11 days or so. It was stressful, disappointing, frustrating, depressing, and any other bad emotion you can think of. But, the only way to get through those tough times, is keep at it, grind away and make improvements, get serious about discipline.

Thanks for all the support BBT, couldn't be doing this without all of you.

 

UBER dipped below VWAP, then came back up and held, I entered long when the fifth candle broke the prior candle. Put my stop below prior candle low. Partialed at top of prior top "B". Very fun trade.

 

 

As my last single share was running in UBER, I started looking for one more opportunity. ROKU had tried a few times to sell off, buit kept closing on 5 min above VWAP. When it broke HOD, 1MIN OR, and 5 MIN OR I went long. Not only did all 3 of those strategies line up at the same price, but it was at a half dollar point, and the L2 looked good for a pop up. Another good trade and got me to my goal of 3R, shut it down for the day so I don't lose my gains, I made that mistake several times my first month live, DON'T LET GREED ERASE YOUR HARD WORK OF REACHING DAILY GOAL.

 

When my account balance gets back up to 3100, I'm going to switch to $30, when it gets to 4100, $40, etc.

Thanks Again Community

 

Edited March 19, 2020 by hailchaser2

[hailchaser2 185]

I was messing around in sim the last hour or so, I restarted my trading platform and forgot to switch back to sim again. Luckily the trade worked, I partialed fast because I didn't want to lose my 3R day. 

[hailchaser2 185]

So this morning I had some anxiety because all four days this week have been green, and most of them 3R, I was afraid I would have a red day today and mess up my green run. I posted my concerns in chatroom in off topic. Had people comment that if my trades this week were good just keep doing the same thing, and trust my process. That helped settle down my nerves. Ended up +2.4R for the day. My first trade was a loss, that used to put me in a mental state that caused me to make bad entries, revenge trade, etc. I didn't even need to calm myself, I took a good entry on a 5Min Engulfing pattern and it just failed. I didn't do anything wrong as far as I can tell. Thanks to Scooby Doo, Tradecraft Trader, pilotfish, kharp83 for chatting with me in the pre market about my anxiety. BBTFamily

 

Trade 1 Roku made an engulfing 5 Minute on the second candle, I entered and put my stop below VWAP, it failed. Trade 2 I continued watching the stock and found a BO down to short. Almost 3R trade.

 Trade 3 CCL BO above VWAP.

 

MU trade 4 Tried another BO above MA VWAP, SPY looked like it was going to run up. 1Min also looked like it was curving up.

TSLA trade 4, I tried to enter once at VWAP, the order didn't go through because I entered a millisecond too late, the price shot up a dollar so my hotkey couldn't figure $10 because my position would have been less than 1 share. I then moved my stop up and got one share. Got scared during consolidation above VWAP, so I moved my stop up so I would only lose 2-3 bucks if it fell. If I would have kept my stop in place I would have been a part of the big run up 15 minutes later.

 

Final trade, ROKU a break above VWAP. On my last partial I moved my stop up like normal, it was a small position but if I would have kept BE stop in place I would have not been stopped and had another run up.

 

 

I hope this week was a breakthrough. My trading has improved greatly. My dumb mistakes are far and few between now, I don't let losing trades effect the rest of my day.

 

[hailchaser2 185]

After reviewing that MU trade some more, it looks like a reverse ABCD on the 5. The MAs on the five were all still in a downward trend also. I need to remember to give more weight to the longer time frame and not just how the 1 minute looks.

[hailchaser2 185]

Replies on Twitter educated me about tracking Sharpe, so I just finished making a new spreadsheet that calculates my Sharpe and R:R

So last weeks numbers are as followed

R:R=18.14

Accuracy=71%

Sharpe=2.17

 

Next week, stay humble and be disciplined.

[hailchaser2 185]

Today was very disappointing, I had a bad open, recovered and worked my back up to +2R for the day. Shut computer off, did some home schooling, made lunch. Was wondering if I should come trade live in the afternoon to try and get to 3R which is my usual goal. I decided to try one more trade to try and get to goal. I ended up spiraling out of control in the afternoon, my +2R turned into -2R, and commissions started piling up. I started trading with no thought or setups. I started using a different risk amount than what I started the day with (at least I used less risk instead of trying to double my morning risk, but I'm supposed to keep it the same for figuring R for the day). I somehow ended back up +1R, but once my commissions are calculated it will be -1.5R.  So this isn't the type of disastrous day that killed my account, and I will let this day be a reminder of what happens when I'm not disciplined. 98TICKETS!!!!!!!!!

Too many trades in the afternoon to screen cap all of them, There was not really anything to learn from them anyway, EXCEPT, DON'T TRADE WITHOUT REASON TO ENTER THE TRADE!

Here was my morning session and All of my executions.

 

Edited March 23, 2020 by hailchaser2

[hailchaser2 185]

On further review, I forgot to mention I had a terrible night of sleep. Woke up at 3 AM and tossed and turned for the next 3 hours. Finally fell asleep at 6 AM, My alarm went off 20 minutes later. I don't know if this had anything to do with my performance, but I will be sure to act more carefully next time I'm not well rested.

[hailchaser2 185]

Multiple rules broken today. My discipline was once again lacking. -2.8R. 

 

I convinced myself that BA needed to be traded pre-market, I thought, 4 shares could get me $80 today!!!!!! Well that was a terrible thought process and that is NOT PART OF MY EDGE. I held on to this long bias after the open as well, I tried 3 more longs when it went above VWAP. All 3 losers. If I would have left the first attempt above VWAP alone I would have gotten one partial and BE stop out. But after entering I got cold feet, Moved my stop closer to entry so I wouldn't lose as much money, my original stop loss would have held and my R:R would have been close for partial.

 

Good Trade Ideas on ROKU, bad entries

 

First thought was to play a BO UP at 12.5. When it lost pre market high 12.30, I changed my mind and tried short. Second short try, I thought we had a double top on the one. It failed and MAX LOSS for the day was triggered.

 

I'M SO GLAD I HAVE THE MECHANICAL DAILY LOSS IN PLACE, MY POOR PSYCHOLOGY AND DISCIPLINE THIS WEEK AND TODAY WOULD HAVE MADE ME CONTINUE TRADING, AND MORE THAN LIKELEY LOSING MORE MONEY ALL DAY.

[hailchaser2 185]

Frustrated again with my performance. MAX LOSS 2 days in a row. I'm trying to force bigger profits, I know better than this. both days I was up 1.5Rish, contemplated stopping for the day, and decided to get back in. Which would be fine if I only entered great setups. But I don't. Then my +R disappears and I turn red for the day. Then I really start pushing for profits because I am angry at myself for losing my profits. I am going to consider stopping for the day anytime I finish a trade and I am up 1.5R for the day, at least until I get my confidence back, and get my discipline under control.

 

[hailchaser2 185]

Thursday, another max loss day. After review, I feel a little bit better about the day than I did yesterday. The biggest error I mad was revenge trading MU. 

 

 

 

Another thing I can work on is shown in this CAKE trade, I need to start looking left and check overall trend before entering. I almost never remember to do this at the open.

 

 

[hailchaser2 185]

Friday, Max loss day, 4 in a row. This has been a terrible week. Not just P&L, but my trading performance. I am disappointed but not discouraged. I know this is a long process, but man it sure is frustrating when I can't seem to keep it together. But I am dedicated to this journal and being honest about my weaknesses. 

CAKE, 1MinOrb Down, this stock was too far extended from VWAP, I should not have taken this trade.

 

1st short entry I probably entered too soon, I'm not really sure. I do like the second entry short, It tested a level just above VWAP both candles prior, it formed a doji right at VWAP. Then I screwed up trying to take a partial and shorted more instead of taking a partial. I'm not sure if that is why my BE stop was messed up or if the price actually shot up that fast. But instead of breaking even on the last partial, I lost .5R ($10)

 

5MinOrb Up. this trade was ok. Good partial at daily level.

 

JPM, trade one, I thought this was a good ABCD with "c" at VWAP. waited to enter long at the break of doji top wick. When it failed, I went short, This ended up being a good trade, but IDK if I analyzed anything prior, or if I just entered because I got stopped out on the LONG position. Two more times I shorted when it failed to break VWAP, I'm happy with both of those trades.

Looking back at the ABCD at the open, again, if I would have looked at the 5 minute chart before entering I would not have entered because the pullback was too fast. the chart shows a giant thick upon the candle right before I entered.

 

MU, I thought the VWAP was acting as resistance, I entered short when it lost prior candle, and MAs. trade failed. watch action for next few minutes and when it looked strong because of L2 and breaking MA I went long and took some good partials.

 

MU.2 Here is where the poor trading started, I went long thinking it was braking up out of the long consolidation period.I tried twice and got stopped out both times. I watched for a few minutes, when it broke through VWAP, I told myself, "wait for a retest of VWAP before entering short." Well the FOMO got me and aI entered before the retest. As you can see, it did re-test VWAP, which would have given me a much better entry Wirth a better stop, and a better R:R.

 

ZM, I chased this trade. I wasn't watching when the stock retested VWAP and started moving back up. That would have been the place to enter this trade. Where I entered the R:R wasn't good.

 

[hailchaser2 185]

Weekly Review: I traded very poor most of the week, and most of it was revenge trading. My discipline needs some major work. I also realized I need to do a better job of looking left and looking down at the 5 min chart instead of focusing so much on the one min chart.

I'm excited to have the chance to improve, I'm currently listening to One Good Trade, it is reminding me that this learning curve is steep, only the persistent will succeed. I have given myself plenty of learning opportunities this week with the numerous mistakes I made. That's why journaling is so important.

Sidenote, it did hail in STL area last night. There is a chance that I will be working now. If so, it is likely that I will not be able to trade until later in the year between storms, or when hail season ends late fall. If that is the case, I will have plenty of time to listen to more books, and watch more success webinars, and YouTube recaps. So members, start doing more recaps like Andrew requested.

I may also consider buying the replay feature if I do go back to work, so I can practice in the evenings. But I really rely on L2 in almost all of my trades, so it would be a big change not having that as an option.

[Rob C 826]

Oh, I didn't know Hailchaser was a profession, I thought it was just a cool name. 🙂

[Mark D. 435]

something to keep in mind about ABCDs is that they are trend continuations and your trades from Friday are all trading in ranges except for ZM that could have continued up but ended up not. i'm guilty of the same thing, I was red every day last week trying to take ABCDs on stocks that were stuck in a range.