Thunder dome

[MattfromNZ 55]

I first got stopped out. Fair enough, I guess I was hoping for another move like the first one. I then re-entered with a beautiful entry. I think I had an unrealized profit of 4R at the top of the 2nd candle. And then I fudged it all up with a hotkey mistake. I could have gotten out where I made my first partial and I would of gotten a nice 3+R's, and that is probably what I should have done given the forced change of plans. However I guess I got greedy and was hoping the price would continue to go higher so I could make bank. I held on longer than I probably should have. I came out of these two trades with -0.6R. LESSON (hopefully) LEARNED!

[Adam Lewis 64]

1 hour ago, MattfromNZ said:

LESSON (hopefully) LEARNED!

That's why we're here 🙂 On the bright side you entered in a great place and made a great trade. Your mistake wasn't down to anything other than bad luck. Ways to solve it... Can you move your hot buttons to a different part of the montage, and then practice getting the cursor in the right place as you get ready to partial? Maybe something like this would work.

Well done also avoiding chasing at 9.34am. This for me is such an important thing, being able to watch something go without you and not chase. Your RR would have been messed up going in there. Well done for having that discipline! 

First entry at 9.37am... Yeah I'm with you on this, I'm generally waiting for ABCDs to come back to the 9EMA before taking entries. It's a reliable indicator, gives you tight stop losses. 

[Adam Lewis 64]

My trades on TWTR. I consider this to have been my best trading session so far, not because of wins or losses but because I was disciplined and took clear strategic entries. I've never felt calmer when trading.

Entry 1: An attempt at a long squeeze. TWTR had gapped up strongly PM and continued to do so. Seeing the pullback I took a punt that longs would take profits and create selling pressure, and I entered short. This didn't happen, and after 15 seconds of the price hovering around my entry I decided to come off the position. As you can see this eventually would have been a profitable trade if I'd held on. However for scalping plays like this I'm really looking for immediate resolution. Every second in this position made it feel less likely I'd make profit and more like a coin flip, so I came off break even.

Entry 2: Very pleased with this trade. The price fell back, touched the 9EMA, held it, and began to move up. I took an entry with a stop below the 9EMA, and partialled out first at 2R, then 4R. The final partials were more a case of just banking profit on the way back down and freeing myself up to look for another trade.

Entry 3: This was either a head and shoulders / mountain pass, depending on which way you look at it. For the Mountain Pass - I know it wasn't a strict MP set up, as the consolidation between the two 'peaks' was only one bar. But I'm also coming to think that at the open everything is compressed. The second peak failed lower than the first. I think my entry was a little late, I wanted to wait for confirmation before entering given how strong the stock had been, I had to be sure I wasn't getting in the way of a pullback. I went short and then took four partials on the way down.

Partials: A quick note on these. I need to do partialing better. I am currently using a P/L based stop loss, so I'll set a stop at -$10 P/L, take a first 50% partial when the P/L hits $20, take a second 50% partial when it gets back to $20 again (so now I'll be $20 banked with 25% share still held), and the final partial I'll generally then come off after a few ticks further or if a reversal happens. This could be worked out better, and I also want to look into using fixed risk hot keys.

[Michael Sanchez 53]

Overall, this week was by far one of the worst. I was exhausted every day this week due to my work. I would often get home around 1030 pm, go to sleep around 1130pm, and wake up at 5 to trade.  I need to start incorporating naps into my schedule. 

[DanT 4]

I took that exact same Short on INO at 949am.  My recap said the same thing as you.  Just pure desperation and boredom.  You werent the only one today - but we have something to learn from!  Have a good weekend and thank you for sharing.

[Adam Lewis 64]

As you guys know, I've started to use fixed risk hot keys. They've been fantastic so far, changing the whole thought process I put into a trade and making the whole process of managing risk much easier and more effective. However even here there is a skill to be learned! I took this position on Apple in today's session, aiming at an ABCD short. The trade failed and I lost 1R. However, the trade didn't 'fail'. After stopping me out AAPL continued to sell off, the ABCD worked, and I missed a move to the downside because I was already stopped out. The error was putting my stop too tight, too aggressively, trying to maximise the share size (and profit!). I should have had the stop above the 9EMA (the stock never broke the 9). A tight stop here turned a winning trade into a losing one. Instead of getting 2 or 3R, I was down 1R. Clearly there's also a skill and discipline needed in setting stops. I know every trader is profitable with hindsight! But this is clearly something I need to do a bit better. 

 

[MattfromNZ 55]

1 hour ago, Adam Lewis said:

As you guys know, I've started to use fixed risk hot keys. They've been fantastic so far, changing the whole thought process I put into a trade and making the whole process of managing risk much easier and more effective. However even here there is a skill to be learned! I took this position on Apple in today's session, aiming at an ABCD short. The trade failed and I lost 1R. However, the trade didn't 'fail'. After stopping me out AAPL continued to sell off, the ABCD worked, and I missed a move to the downside because I was already stopped out. The error was putting my stop too tight, too aggressively, trying to maximise the share size (and profit!). I should have had the stop above the 9EMA (the stock never broke the 9). A tight stop here turned a winning trade into a losing one. Instead of getting 2 or 3R, I was down 1R. Clearly there's also a skill and discipline needed in setting stops. I know every trader is profitable with hindsight! But this is clearly something I need to do a bit better.

Haha with fixed risk keys you are locked in! Yes it is good although frustrating at times. I feel like dialing in stopplosses for ABCDs will be a lifelong pursuit. Did you consider re-entering? My theory behind aggressive stoplosses is that you are more likely to get stopped out, but the extra Rs you get when they work will hopefully make up for this. E.g. Rs gained with conservative stoploss=2. Rs gained with aggressive stoploss = 4 (minus 1 R for stopping out on the first entry) = 3. Now its a judgment call every time, cause the trade can still fail and you can get stopped out more than once, and thats no fun.

[MattfromNZ 55]

[Adam Lewis 64]

Great work flipping your position on FCEL Matt! The late entry on the ABCD was fine, if that breaks LOD then it's got open space to drop into, and I find stocks plummet faster than they rise. 

For CAN - I love your entry, nice and deep in the range. What made you enter at that exact moment? 

[MattfromNZ 55]

3 hours ago, Adam Lewis said:

Great work flipping your position on FCEL Matt! The late entry on the ABCD was fine, if that breaks LOD then it's got open space to drop into, and I find stocks plummet faster than they rise. 

For CAN - I love your entry, nice and deep in the range. What made you enter at that exact moment? 

Thanks. Lately have been trying to identify and enter ABCD's early, in order to get a better R/R. I guess I saw the wicks of the previous 2 candles reject the same level.

[Michael Sanchez 53]

[MattfromNZ 55]

37 minutes ago, Michael Sanchez said:

 Your first trade I think is a fantastic entry, ABCD with a 5min ORB, thats one of my more reliable setups right there, its a shame it didn't work out. Your second trade wasnt too bad either. Could have entered earlier, but probably wouldnt have made a difference to the outcome in this case. You just were unlucky today bro.

[Michael Sanchez 53]

26 minutes ago, MattfromNZ said:

 Your first trade I think is a fantastic entry, ABCD with a 5min ORB, thats one of my more reliable setups right there, its a shame it didn't work out. Your second trade wasnt too bad either. Could have entered earlier, but probably wouldnt have made a difference to the outcome in this case. You just were unlucky today bro.

Thank you boss!! I appreciate the support. I could have definitely got in earlier on my 2nd trade but you did make a great point. It would not have made a difference.  

[Michael Sanchez 53]

[MattfromNZ 55]

12 hours ago, Michael Sanchez said:

The trade on NCLH was beautiful man. You said you got out too early, but IMO that pullback was quite a rough one to survive, especially without taking partials.

The second one, shit it's a 1min ORB, you get kudos for trying in my opinion. Looks like you had the right idea, just got to dial in the execution. Remember that 1min ORBs are the hardest strategy (that I know of) and take years to master. Perseverance is winning.