Mark D. 435 Posted June 11, 2019 Tuesday June 11th, 2019 sleep: 7 hours. mood: good, ready to trade. I didn't see any ORBDs i liked and i thought the price action was pretty choppy this morning but that may just be due to me not trading for a couple days. I wanted to go long on AMD when i saw it was respecting the 200MA on the 15min chart but i stopped myself because that's not one of my setups and i waited for a double bottom. i got in right at the PPDH and at the time of entry i wasn't happy with my position size because i wanted my stop loss to be the LOTD but the trade did not give me any trouble. i put in my range order for a stop below the PPDH and 3R and got filled at my profit target. happy with this trade. GOOD: waited for my setup. good entry. RFI: position size too big. could have got 4R on the trade. MOOD: good. CONSISTENT: yes. i didn't see any other trades i liked so I called it quits. i want to take another trade to make my daily goal but i don't want to take a trade just to hit a number and it not be a good setup. What i did good today: took only good setups. What i did bad today: stopped trading on fear of losing profits from my first trade. What can i do better tomorrow: keep trading if there are good setups. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark D. 435 Posted June 12, 2019 Wednesday June 12th, 2019 Sleep: 7 hours. Mood: good, ready to trade. i missed the ORBs because there were a lot of people around the office this morning. i really liked MU as a 2MIN ORB getting in on the pullback so i was watching it move up to VWAP to get in on the short side. once it couldn't make a new 5min high with the 2min indecision doji, i got in short at the break of the 2min low. i should have waited for the pullback for a proper double top but i set my stop loss high enough that i didn't get booted from the trade on the pullback. i had to leave my computer so i put in my range order for 3R and when i got back i was happy to find i got filled. GOOD: R/R and position size. RFI: could have waited for the proper double top to get in MOOD: happy, surprised it hit my target. I was convinced it was too far away. CONSISTENT: yep, followed my plan. What i did good today: set my profit target and didn't over manage my trade What i did bad today: didn't wait for a better opportunity to get in to the trade. could have got more out of the trade. What can i do better tomorrow: try to take two good trades in a day. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark D. 435 Posted June 13, 2019 Thursday June 13th, 2019 Sleep: 7 hours. mood: good, ready to trade. first trade of the day was an ORBD in AMD. waited for a new 2min low before hoping in. risked a little too much and that caused my profit target to be below the previous day low and the previous, previous day low which i wasn't too concerned with but then the stock didn't make a new 5min low three times in a row but did make a new 5min high so i bailed at breakeven. i wasn't confident it was going to reverse completely but i thought it could hit my stop loss so i got out of the trade. it ended up not going higher an hitting my profit target without me. GOOD: waited for a new low to get in. got out on price action RFI: could have got a little bit better entry would have made this trade much more feasible. shouldn't have bailed. MOOD: good CONSISTENT: i changed my plan because i felt that the stock was reversing so i'm not sure how to classify this. last trade of the day was a double bottom in AMD. it couldn't break the LOTD and then made a new 5min high on volume so i put in a limit order right at the PDC and got filled so i'm really happy i didn't chase the entry. but right after that it couldn't break the MA on the 5min chart or make a new 5min high and i got stopped out when it moved lower. it ended up going to my original trade profit target. textbook example of why i use range orders and don't overthink my trades. GOOD: great entry and i thought the setup was good at the time RFI: i could have got out of this trade sooner. i know I just said i overthink my trades but this did 3 five minute lows in a row against me. i could have saved a couple bucks had i bailed. MOOD: fine, CONSISTENT: yep, followed my plan. What i did good today: only took good trades, respected my stops What i did bad today: talked myself out of a good trade. What can i do better tomorrow: don't get out of good trades solely because it made a new 5min high against. wait for confirmation like a break of key supports. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark D. 435 Posted June 14, 2019 Friday June 14th, 2019 Sleep: 7 hours. Mood: good, ready to trade. As soon as the market opened, i got really fearful for some reason. the first trade i took was an ORBU in AMD. i did not like this trade at all. i did the exact opposite of yesterday where i waited for a new 2min in my favor before jumping in. not at all happy about my entry. it went against me immediately and i got stopped out in 2 minutes. bad trade. tried to flip my position but i wanted too high a price that the market wasn't giving so i missed the move down and i was too worried about the price action to get in on the short side when it came back to the 200 MA twice. i'm feeling off today. GOOD: position size and got out RFI: have to wait for a break or sign of clear resistance before getting in. MOOD: disappointed and fearful. CONSISTENT: yes. Last trade of the day was BYND. i got in on a weird ABCD where the A and C were the same spot. i took way too big of a stop and only got two shares so the stock had to move to $164 for me to get 2:1 R/R. which i was not happy about. it moved in my favor a good way and then starting trending down on the 5min. i got back in another 8 shares on a new 5min high for a much better R/R on the reward side but way too close to my entry on the stop loss side. It worked for a second and i'm happy with my entry but it did a 2min engulfing and then dumped a little past my range stop so i lost a little more than i wanted but i respected my stop. the first trade wouldn't have worked either so it would have been a 1R loss regardless. GOOD: traded setup, added to my position on another setup RFI: added too much so it didn't have enough room to let the trade work MOOD: fine. CONSISTENT: yes. All in all, not a bad day. AMD wasn't great but i'm fine with my loss in BYND. What i did good today: took setups, didn't get emotional over the losses What i did bad today: traded even though i was feeling a lot of fear What can i do better tomorrow: don't trade if you're feeling strong emotions that would negatively effect your trading. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rob C 826 Posted June 14, 2019 Yep, I took the same AMD trade. I think one or two of the moderators did as well (with the same result). I guess the AMD siren call was too strong for everyone today. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark D. 435 Posted June 15, 2019 (edited) Week 24 Recap Very pleased with my trading this week. I made a couple mistakes late in the week that hurt my P&L but with a win percentage at my yearly average and still having a green week is very encouraging. I’ve decided to go back live and try and work on 3R trades which should be good enough to slowly grow my account. · Weekly stats o 2.9 planned R/R (Goal: above 3.0) [Previous Week: 2.3] o 24/24 100% (Goal: above 80%) [Previous Week: 67%] o $15.23 (Goal: $250) [Previous Week: $12.10] o 3/3 50% trades with the trend (Goal: 100%) [Previous Week: 67%] o 2/6 33% Non-optimal Entries (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 17%] o 0/6 0% Letting Losers Run (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 25%] o 0/6 0% No Setup (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 25%] o 33% true win percentage (Goal 45%) [Previous Week: 40%] · Highlights o Two green days in a row. o Single winners were the biggest in sim YTD. o No losers past my stop loss o All trades were my setups. · Ongoing things to work on o Still working on bringing my win percentage up to 45% o I need to do a better job of logging my emotional state before the market opens. o Need to work on getting two 3R winners in a day. Edited June 15, 2019 by Mark D. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark D. 435 Posted June 17, 2019 Monday June 17th, 2019 Sleep: 7.5 hours. Mood: a little nervous with the thought of live trading again but also excited about it. First trade of the day was a 10 min ORBU In $BYND. i liked that it held the VWAP and then made a hammer and then a new 5min high. got in right at the break then it broke the HOTD with volume and i thought it was going to hit my profit target but then it sold off significantly and instead of getting out on the shooting star 5min candle, i held for a full R loss. GOOD: liked the setup and the follow through on the HOTD. RFI: should have bailed way earlier instead of hoping for a turn around. MOOD: disappointed. also a little mad at myself for taking this same trade i took Friday that did pretty much the same thing. CONSISTENT: yes stuck to my original plan. The next trade was an ABCD in $AMD. got in on the 5min break and then it couldn't break the HOTD and immediately reversed on me for a stop out. GOOD: setup, R/R, entry was good. RFI: i guess i could have waited to see if it was going to break the HOTD first before jumping in. also, i'm noticed less volume on the new 2min high that i didn't see when i got in. MOOD: disappointed CONSISTENT: yes, got out at stop. Last trade of the day was no setup on $AMD. got in on a pullback to the low of premarket after breaking the VWAP. it did go lower but not close to the LOTD and then it double bottomed and came through almost all the MAs. i decided to bail a little early and got out right at the high. it then reversed exactly at my exit and hit my price target, unbelievable. Did the wrong thing three trades in a row. GOOD: waited for a pullback for a good entry. RFI: not a setup that i trade. got out at the worst possible price. MOOD: embarrassed and angry at myself. CONSISTENT: no. That was not exactly how i wanted to start my live trading, to say the least. Held two losers to my stops when i could have got out for better prices and then i let go of a 3R winning trade at the worst possible price. i want to say that i couldn't do any worse but that's not true, i could have stubbornly held my losers past my stops and lost more money so in that regard i did good. I let my fear of losing real money take over my trading and i got exactly what i feared i would get. What i did good today: got out at my stops. What i did bad today: let my fear of losing money rule all decision making. What can i do better tomorrow: trade entries today were good, and i was right at my average of 33% correct. Had i stuck to my last trade and not got shook out, i would have had a green day. I can't let my fear of losing money rule my trading or i'll never be profitable. i'm chalking today's loss up to nerves of live trading and i'll try and work on them the rest of the week. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark D. 435 Posted June 18, 2019 Tuesday June 18th, 2019 Sleep: 7 hours. Mood: feeling a little fear from yesterday's max loss but i'm focusing on each trade as independent of the next one. i feel pretty good. Almost took the engulfing crack in AMD but i was waiting for a pullback which i never got. watched it climb over a dollar from where i wanted to get in to the trade. pretty much just building FOMO until i finally tried a double top that didn't work at all. GOOD: got out at stop RFI: bad trade. went short right in to a MA MOOD: disappointed CONSISTENT: not a great setup but i stuck to my plan last trade of the day was a double bottom in BYND. i liked how it was holding the 200 MA on the 5min chart and the volume of the new 5min high at 10:20. got in long on a new 2min high after waiting for a pullback. got stopped out about 10 minutes later. the trade may end up working out after i got stopped out. went over my stop by about 60 cents. before reversing in my direction. GOOD: setup made sense, waited for an entry RFI: could have waited for an MA cross on the 2min before jumping in MOOD: feel pretty numb about it which i think is good. i'm not angry about getting stopped out. CONSISTENT: yes, followed my plan What i did good today: took only setups and didn't chase AMD. What i did bad today: setups weren't that great. missed a really good setup in AMD. What can i do better tomorrow: Take better setups. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark D. 435 Posted June 19, 2019 Wednesday June 19th, 2019 Sleep: 7.5 hours. Mood: good, ready to trade. practicing emotional acceptance of real loss. first trade of the day was an ORBU in $X. I'm finding that i'm frozen by fear when i'm seeing good positions to get in to. i wanted to take X long right at the start of the second 5min candle but i froze and couldn't pull the trigger. then i wanted to get in on a pullback but i couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger on a full size so i did half size. then added the other half at the break of HOTD. This moved my entry to 15.38 and I needed to get to 15.68 for 3R. it came two cents from my target the first time and i held all for an hour until it hit my PT that was also the high of the day but i didn't get filled. then it made a shooting star on the 5min and i got out at 2.2R the candle after. i'm all for staying in my trades until my profit but i did not like at all how it broke the HOTD then ended lower. happy with my decision to get out. GOOD: took a winning trade! RFI: had i took my full position at the first two times i wanted to enter i would have had 3R without any trouble. MOOD: good. CONSISTENT: yes. though i should have got out right at $15.67 or $15.65 when i was i didn't get filled. no point in penny pinching. What i did good today: took a good setup and actually took the trade even though i needed to scale in. What i did bad today: fear on my entries. What can i do better tomorrow: take the dang trade. work on fear of entering trades. i'm not going to reduce share size yet but i might if it helps me get over my fear. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark D. 435 Posted June 20, 2019 Thursday June 20th, 2019 Sleep: 7 hours. Mood: good, ready to trade. First trade of the day was a 15min ORBU/ 2min wedge on ORCL. i made a hotkey error and got in for 100 shares when i meant to put my stop at a new 5min low and get about 33 shares. I didn't immediately panic so that's good but i ended up selling half at 1R and another 25 at 2R. While i was in the trade, i felt really good about it but i was all screwed up on my profit target that i decided to bail on a 5min engulfing when it came back to my entry. that turned out to not be the right thing to do. looking back on the trade now, there was nothing on the charts that said bail on the trade and i could have just held all the shares and sold for a 30 cent profit on the whole deal and had a good day but instead i just butchered it to a 1R win with 4dollars in commissions. GOOD: good setup and entry RFI: positions size caused me to panic and butcher a good trade MOOD: upset with my trade management CONSISTENT: not at all. Last trade of the day was an ABCD in AMD. i was long biased AMD and i was hoping it would really run if it could break through the PPDH. i got in on a pullback to the MA on the 5min chart after a bull flag. i was hoping for an ABCD with an entry on a new 2min high. It did end up making a new 2min high but then immediately engulfed the next 2mins instead of making a new 5min high and i figured i would get stopped out but i stuck to my plan and got stopped out. GOOD: waited for a pullback for an entry RFI: got in anticipating the move and not waiting for confirmation. MOOD: ok it is what it is. i knew it was a risk to preempt the trade so i'm accepting of this loss. CONSISTENT: yes, stuck to plan What i did good today: great setup and entry in ORCL. What i did bad today: butchered my exit on ORCL and preempted a move in AMD that did not work out. What can i do better tomorrow: watch the hotkey errors and only take ABCD setups you see on the 5min chart on a new 5min break. don't try to get in early. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark D. 435 Posted June 21, 2019 Friday JUne 21st, 2019 Sleep: 7.5 hours. Mood: rushed to start trading this morning. didn't even get to do my daily levels before the market open. Trading from home so i can fully concentrate. First trade was an ORBD in CRON. almost took it a minute earlier but i decided to wait for the first 5minutes. my stop loss was $15.90 at the body of the 5min candle and i wanted a pullback to $15.80 for my full position but ended up getting a bad fill at $15.76. it touched my stop and i'm glad my nerves were good this morning because instead of being trigger happy and bailing, i gave it to the break of a new 2min high after my entry and luckily it sold off after. i had all the MAs and VWAP above me on every chart but the daily and the 200 MA on the 15min so i was pretty confident in my trade. Once it broke the LOTD, i set my range order for $15.90 to $15.34 and sat on my hands. happy that my order got filled. GOOD: good setup, good R/R RFI: could have waited for a new 2min low before hopping in. MOOD: happy for a green friday CONSISTENT: yes. What i did good today: took only setups and had share size that matched my stop loss What i did bad today: Entry was too early. should have waited until for a new 2min low What can i do better tomorrow: wait for better entries. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark D. 435 Posted June 22, 2019 Week 25 Recap First week back live trading. I’ve really noticed the benefit of keeping a detailed journal this week and last. I used to feel when I was getting stopped out multiple times in a row that I would just keep losing until I was out of money. Now I know that if Ii'm on a losing streak, that the odds are i'll have a couple winning trades soon and if i stick to my plan, even with my low win % I can still be green on the week which has been a huge boost to my confidence. · Weekly stats o 2.7 planned R/R (Goal: above 3.0) [Previous Week: 2.9] o 35/36 97% (Goal: above 80%) [Previous Week: 100%] o -$17.08 (Goal: $250) [Previous Week: $15.23] o 5/9 56% trades with the trend (Goal: 100%) [Previous Week: 50%] o 2/9 22% Non-optimal Entries (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 33%] o 0/9 0% Letting Losers Run (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 0%] o 1/9 11% No Setup (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 0%] o 33% true win percentage (Goal 45%) [Previous Week: 33%] · Highlights o Started the week a nervous wreck trading live, ended it with my emotions well in control. o Ended the week with my best trade. o Respected my stops. o Best live trading P&L since week 13. · Ongoing things to work on o Win percentage needs to increase. o Have to get 3R out of my winners to be green on the week. o See how my commissions change with the tiered plan. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rob C 826 Posted June 22, 2019 Wow, Wednesday and Friday were your best days!!! That's a great sign that things are heading in the right direction. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark D. 435 Posted June 24, 2019 On 6/22/2019 at 11:41 AM, Rob C said: Wow, Wednesday and Friday were your best days!!! That's a great sign that things are heading in the right direction. Slowly getting over my superstitions about Wednesdays. Thank you! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
IamKarthi 342 Posted June 24, 2019 On 6/21/2019 at 4:27 PM, Mark D. said: Friday JUne 21st, 2019 Sleep: 7.5 hours. Mood: rushed to start trading this morning. didn't even get to do my daily levels before the market open. Trading from home so i can fully concentrate. First trade was an ORBD in CRON. almost took it a minute earlier but i decided to wait for the first 5minutes. my stop loss was $15.90 at the body of the 5min candle and i wanted a pullback to $15.80 for my full position but ended up getting a bad fill at $15.76. it touched my stop and i'm glad my nerves were good this morning because instead of being trigger happy and bailing, i gave it to the break of a new 2min high after my entry and luckily it sold off after. i had all the MAs and VWAP above me on every chart but the daily and the 200 MA on the 15min so i was pretty confident in my trade. Once it broke the LOTD, i set my range order for $15.90 to $15.34 and sat on my hands. happy that my order got filled. GOOD: good setup, good R/R RFI: could have waited for a new 2min low before hopping in. MOOD: happy for a green friday CONSISTENT: yes. What i did good today: took only setups and had share size that matched my stop loss What i did bad today: Entry was too early. should have waited until for a new 2min low What can i do better tomorrow: wait for better entries. Very nice trade management and Exit at LOTD. That's why I like Range orders instead of sitting nervously and watching. 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
