Mark D. Day Trading Journal - Live 2019

[Mark D. 435]

Wednesday May 1st, 2019

Sleep: 7 hours. Mood: good, ready to trade. 

didn't like anything for ORBS today. HRTZ looked promising ORBU but the spread was 10+ cents and i felt too nervous to mess with it. it turned out to be a good one. then it made another nice ABCD that i missed as well. oh well.

So i noticed AMD did a double bottom at around $28.30. Thought it would be good to try and take it to the long side. I liked my entry at the MAs but the whole trade on the 5min wasn't great. i got too caught up in the 1min chart and hoping for it to break to the upside. it did break to a new 5min high but then it came right back down a minute later. it hit my stop and i waited for the candle to close, it came back up to my entry but then right back down. I got out right on plan so that was good. hindsight play by play, i'm fine with the initial trade idea with the exception of my profit target should have been VWAP and that would have been a bad R/R. Should have got out with that 1min rejection on the break and probably gone short on the new 5min low but that's easier to say after the fact. i thought about getting in on the short side but it was more about revenge than the trade so i got up and got a cup of coffee instead. 

GOOD: good entry at the MAs. 

RFI: R/R actual to the VWAP was bad. should have been short focused below the VWAP. no setup, too far from the bottom for a double bottom. 

MOOD: good. not happy for the red day but it's not bad

RFI: should trade more off the 5min chart than the 1min. 

 

What i did good today: i was very picky about my trades. 

What i did bad today: too focused on the 1min, need to trade off the 5min. 

What can i do better tomorrow: take trades based on the 5min, entry on the 1min. 

Edited May 1, 2019 by Mark D.

[Mark D. 435]

Thursday May 2nd, 2019

Sleep: 7 hours. Mood: ready to trade. My low win rate this week is making me nervous. 

First trade of the day was a ORBD in TSLA. i wanted to get in at $244 taking 10 shares and risking $245. With the spread being as wide as it was, i only got filled 5 shares so i tried to add more at $244 and did a little better ending with an average of $243.21. I had to go to a meeting on short notice and i put in my $10 stop which was way too close for how the stock moves and i got stopped out. i would have got stopped out of my original order too. right after the stock moved right to my profit target as it does most days after i get stopped out. emotionally my head is just not in it. i saw the QCOM trade to the long that would have been great and the UAA trade to the short that would have been great but i'm just paralyzed by fear now and i'm not taking any entries. gave up for the day. 

GOOD: original plan would have worked had i got a better entry. 

RFI: stop loss too close, too early on the entry per usual. 

MOOD: so tired of losing money every day. I've graduated from losing money at $30 a day to $10 a day. just frustrated all around. 

CONSISTENT: got out at my stop. 

 

What i did good today: didn't take any trades after my first loss.

What i did bad today: trading when i know i'm going to be busy and not focused. 

What can i do better tomorrow: take good trades. work on your fear of losing money. 

 

[Rob C 824]

It takes an a lot of discipline to stop after one trade especially if it is loss. It took me almost 4 months of pain to teach myself how to do that. That was not an easy task you just accomplished.

Edited May 2, 2019 by Rob C

[Mark D. 435]

38 minutes ago, Rob C said:

It takes an a lot of discipline to stop after one trade especially if it is loss. It took me almost 4 months of pain to teach myself how to do that. That was not an easy task you just accomplished.

thanks Rob! i'm so frustrated with not getting a wining trade i forget part of  learning to trade is mastering self control. 

[Mark D. 435]

Friday May 3rd, 2019

Sleep: 7.5 hours. Mood: calm focused and ready to trade. 

I was feeling really good in the pre-market. i didn't have any worries about losing money and just wanted to focus on good trading. started off looking at X for an ORBU off the previous 2 day low. didn't take the trade on fear and missed a beautiful trade. This has been my go to lately, either i don't take the ORB that would have been great or I take it and it chops around. instead i took SQ on a VWAP breakout, i liked the 5min spinning top with the 200 MA support above it. It turned out to be a false breakout and i went short with 35 shares which was too heavy for my stop with a 1min close above the 200MA. got stopped out for a lose of about $18. 

GOOD: fine trade idea. 

RFI: not a setup i trade and should have been prepared for a false breakout. 

MOOD: conscientiously ok but with pangs of anger.

CONSISTENT: yes got out at my plan. 

 

So then after missing a good ORB in X and getting stopped out in SQ. i tried to sell the pullback in CTSH. went in too early with too many shares and got auto stopped out for another $18. bad psychology on this trade. Tried to revenge trade and got burned. it did end up going lower as i thought, just without me in it. 

GOOD: DAS auto-stop out me over my max limit for the day so i can't do any more damage to my account. 

RFI: right idea on the trade just too early and not at a stop that was logical

MOOD: not good. 

CONSISTENT: no, bad trade all around. worst trade of the week. 

 

So that was all the money i was willing to risk on my live trading so it's back to SIM for two weeks, three at most. while i refund my account. i don't plan on staying too long in SIM because it's not my sim trading that's the problem, it's my fear of being wrong that causes me to overthink trades and not be market focused and end up taking bad trades. i would like to work on my entry timing and trading recognizable setups. 

What i did good today: stopped trading.

What i did bad today: missing good trades, revenge trading. 

What can i do better tomorrow: need to work on my trade setups and psychology. 

 

Edited May 4, 2019 by Mark D.

[Mark D. 435]

Week 18 Recap

Rough week of trading for me. Only one trade this week was a winner, win rate of 11%. That trade that was a winner was pretty good and I got out right at my planned profit target. I started missing entries this week on perceived fear of the price going against me causing me to miss good trades. I’m too focused on my P&L and worrying about losing money and not being market focused enough to get in to good setups. Back to SIM for a couple weeks to reset and get my mind focused back on price action.

·         Weekly stats

o    2.0 R/R (Goal: above 2.0) [Previous Week: 2.5]

o   12/36 33% (Goal: above 80%) [Previous Week: 54%]

o   -$97.43 (Goal: $250) [Previous Week: -$46.59]

o   4/9 44% trades with the trend (Goal: 100%) [Previous Week: 57%]

o   7/9 78% Non-optimal Entries (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 36%]

o   1/9 11% Letting Losers Run (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 0%]

o    5/9 56% No Setup (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 17%]

 

·         Highlights

o   Great trade in JD, good planned R/R and executed exactly as planned.

o   Only let one trade run past my stop.

 

·         Ongoing things to work on

o   Still way too early on almost all my entries.

o   Not trading my setups hurt my performance this week.

o   Starting to get fear entering good positions.

 

[Mark D. 435]

Monday May 6th, 2019

Sleep: 7 hours. Mood: fine, i have a headache. back to living that SIM life. 

First trade was an ORBU in MU. took it right at the PPDL line, didn't give it a wide enough stop and got auto-stopped out for a 1.8R loss. Got in to this trade too early, should have waited for it not to make a new 1min low. 

GOOD:got in at a support level.

RFI: too heavy of a share size for a proper stop loss. 

MOOD: fine. 

CONSISTENT: no, too stubborn on the sell. 

 

Next trade i tried another ORBU but this time in AMD. Chased it and got stopped out. I didn't think my initial order went through and i accidently took double the share size. kept the same stop level because it's SIM and didn't feel like messing with it so i got out at my intented stop, i just took more of a loss because of my share size. 

GOOD: got out at stop.

RFI: shouldn't have jumped in to another ORB after just getting stopped out. 

MOOD: fine.

CONSISTENT: yes, i respected my stop. No with the order error.

 

Next trade was a short in MU. no particular setup, it punched through the MAs and VWAP and closed below. went short when it looked like it was going to break lower. made another hotkey error by adding 20 shares when i was meaning to scale out. no idea why i scaled out so many times. besides the scaling and hotkey errors, i'm happy with this trade. 

GOOD: sold shares at 2R and better. 

RFI: should have got mostly out at 3R. too many partials. 

MOOD: fine

CONSISTENT: yes. 

 

MU rebounded and closed above WVAP. i got in long right above the 200 MA on the 1min chart. sold half at 2R, a quarter at 3R and the last quarter was intended for 4R but i got cold feet and got out early. all for profits above 2R. really happy with this trade. 

GOOD: sold all shares at profit target or better.

RFI: could have hit my final PT if i would have held

MOOD: good.

CONSISTENT: yes. 

 

Last trade of the day was in OXY. it made an ABCD that i missed and then made a smaller one. i got in on the new 5min high risking the low of the previous 5mins. it couldn't get through the whole dollar and i bailed at breakeven. glad i did i would have been stopped out. 

GOOD: good setup and R/R

RFI: ?

MOOD: good

CONSISTENT: yes. 

 

the first two trades of the day were rough. i'm not mad about taking the MU trade but i should have respected my stop. on the AMD trade i should have treated it  like a real trade and got out half when as soon as i noticed my mistake. that's one of the drawbacks of SIM. it's fine for practicing strategies but it's not a fair substitute for real trading because the emotions of losing money aren't present. i'm happy with my last three trades. i noticed over the weekend i've been way too focused on the 1min chart for the last week or two that was causing me to get chopped up in noise. i practiced trading off the 5min chart this weekend and it shows with my trades off the VWAP in MY and the OXY ABCD. i'm negative on the day but at least i was at my normal win rate for once. 

What i did good today: Took some good trades after the opening ranges. 

What i did bad today: Didn't take SIM seriously enough and ended up taking much bigger losses in my ORBs than i would have trading live. 

What can i do better tomorrow: maybe half share size on ORBS? or maybe just give them a wider range, i don't know. 

 

[Mark D. 435]

Tuesday June 7th, 2019

Sleep: 7.5 hours. Mood: good, ready to trade. 

Only took one trade today, an engulfing crack in SQ. I was watching this for an ABCD on the 1min at the PDC but the selling pressure couldn't push the stock higher so i waited for the 5min candle to close. when the stock made an engulfing crack, i got in on a pullback to the 50MA on the one minute chart. Entry was right on time, i just put my stop loss too far and only got 30 shares. sold 75% at 2R and the rest a little above the previous, previous day high. all in all, good trade. 

GOOD: setup, entry, R/R

RFI: stop loss too far from entry. it should have been right over the 200 MA on the 1min chart.

MOOD: good. 

CONSISTENT: yes, trade went exactly to plan. 

 

What i did good today: only took one trade i was confident in. 

What i did bad today: put my stop loss too far from my entry. 

What can i do better tomorrow: put your stop loss at a logical level but not so far from your entry that it messes with your share size. 

[Brandon K 64]

One and done. Nice, Mark!

[Rob C 824]

2 hours ago, Mark D. said:

Tuesday June 7th, 2019

Sleep: 7.5 hours. Mood: good, ready to trade. 

Only took one trade today, an engulfing crack in SQ. I was watching this for an ABCD on the 1min at the PDC but the selling pressure couldn't push the stock higher so i waited for the 5min candle to close. when the stock made an engulfing crack, i got in on a pullback to the 50MA on the one minute chart. Entry was right on time, i just put my stop loss too far and only got 30 shares. sold 75% at 2R and the rest a little above the previous, previous day high. all in all, good trade. 

GOOD: setup, entry, R/R

RFI: stop loss too far from entry. it should have been right over the 200 MA on the 1min chart.

MOOD: good. 

CONSISTENT: yes, trade went exactly to plan. 

 

What i did good today: only took one trade i was confident in. 

What i did bad today: put my stop loss too far from my entry. 

What can i do better tomorrow: put your stop loss at a logical level but not so far from your entry that it messes with your share size. 

Great trade Mark, you really let that run.

[Mark D. 435]

1 hour ago, Rob C said:

Great trade Mark, you really let that run.

thank you sir! 

[Mark D. 435]

Wednesday June 8th, 2019

Sleep: 7.5 hours. Mood: good, ready to trade. 

First trade of the day was an ORBD in X. it worked for a little bit but then squeezed up to my stop. i held on to see if it was going to stay up there but it came back down to my entry almost immediately so i held. I think this was a good decision. it looked good to break the LOTD but then it just sqeezed right back up past my stop and i took a much larger loss than anticipated. my own dumb fault for being stubborn. 

GOOD: entry was good, 

RFI: you have to get out at your stops. 

MOOD: mad that i let myself take that much of a loss.

CONSISTENT: no. 

 

So then it did a double bottom and squeezed up. i jumped the gun and got in too early and got stopped out, a little below my intended stop. 

GOOD: exit wasn't too terrible.

RFI: don't chase entries.

MOOD: disappointed. 

CONSISTENT: yes. 

 

I saw that it was likely still going higher so i got back in on the long side this time with a much better entry. it was so close to my 2R profit target but then it just sold off for 15 minutes straight. never hit my planned stop though i talked myself out of the trade and reversed my position and got stopped out on the other side!! The price action on this stock is garbage and i just keep trying to make money on it and it just beat me up all morning. it ended up hitting my initial target on the long side from the previous trade. i mismanaged a winner in to two losses. This is the exact reason i put range orders in and don't mess with them, i overthink the trade. 

GOOD: perfect entry, good R/R

RFI: talked myself out of a good trade. 

MOOD: mad

CONSISTENT: no did not trade my plan. 

 

here's the switch to short. 

 

Took some other trades in X just messing around. i don't count them to my daily because i don't have a max daily loss on my SIM so i can practice all day but i do call it quits for my journal when i hit max loss, regardless of the trades i take after. What a poor day of trading for me. that seems to be how it goes, i'll do ok one day then good the following but that is almost always followed up by a big losing day. this would have been a fine day if i would have just gotten out of my ORBD at my intended stop and then not chase the trade to the long side and respected my plan it would have been a green day. instead i let my emotions get the better of me and took a max loss day. pretty disappointing.

What i did good today: trade one and three were good entries. 

What i did bad today: didn't respect stop loss. 

What can i do better tomorrow: always get out at your intended stop.

 

 

 

[Brandon K 64]

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

[Mark D. 435]

7 hours ago, Brandon K said:

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

Thank you. You too!! 

[Mark D. 435]

Thursday May 9th, 2019

Sleep: 7.5 hours. Mood: good, ready to trade. 

missed the ORBU in ROKU and the ORBD in CRON. was afraid to take CRON to short side because i was afraid of it bouncing off the PDL level so i started watching ROKU. i was waiting for a pullback and when it starting make new highs i thought i missed it and I switched back to CRON it was already too far gone. then i switched back to ROKU and saw i missed an entry! lol oh well. I ended up trying to take a double bottom twice in CRON. the first time i knew i was chasing it, i wanted to get in at around $14.06 daily level but i was getting the FOMO and I just kept thinking if i don't get in i'm gonna miss the push higher. it did what i thought it was going to do and came right down to my initial entry, stopping me out on the way. I know the first step in stopping problem patterns is recognizing them in the moment and i've got much better at that. now i just need to progress that in to stopping me from taking the trades too early. 

GOOD: got out at stop

RFI: FOMO chasing

MOOD: fine, logically i knew that was going to happen.

CONSISTENT: yes, got out at planned stop. 

 

Tried the trade again at $14.10 but got stopped out again. i risked the LOTD and that caused my 2R to be VWAP which it wasn't strong enough to hit and it just stopped me out below the LOTD before moving higher. hindsight being 20/20 i could have got in at $14, risked the LOTD to $14.25 and had one good trade for the day. 

GOOD: got out at stop

RFI: R/R too wide. 

MOOD: dissapointed but ok

CONSISTENT: yes, got out as planned. 

 

per my rules that is it for the day. only allowed one trade tomorrow unless it is a winner. Fairly bad day of trading for me but my emotions are much better than yesterday. I chase my entries then get stopped out then journal about not chasing entries and then chase entries and get stopped out! LOL i feel like i'm going crazy sometimes. I'm just going to be patient and keep trying my best every day and slowly i'll get it. 

What i did good today: stuck to my stops and my rules

What i did bad today: Let fear rule my decision making, stopping me from trying ORBs and chasing entries. 

What can i do better tomorrow: don't FOMO entries you know are going to end up getting stopped out.