Mark D. Day Trading Journal - Live 2019

[Mark D. 435]

13 hours ago, IamKarthi said:

he spinning top (or an inverted hammer, but it doesn't matter) is actually a sign for reversal, so other traders might have traded it for long with the stop at LOTD.

thanks Vikram! that's interesting, i was reading those as confirmation it was going to break lower. that would be an awesome place to get in long if it ends up trending higher like yesterday.

[Mark D. 435]

Thursday August 29th, 2019

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

planning on staying away from the first 15 mins this morning. also, i've implemented a new point system for grading trades that will help with keeping me trading setups and is more relevant than my old system:

·         Is this a setup I trade? Yes +1, No automatic 0 for the trade

·         Is my stop loss a level of resistance? Yes +1, No +0

·         Is my first reward level greater than 2:1? Yes +1, No +0

·         Trade management judgement call BUT not respecting stop is auto 0 on the trade.

First trade of the day was 5min ABCD in $BURL (3/4). as soon as i got in the trade i saw my stop was way too big because i only got 3 shares so a 3R move would have to be $10 so i said that's unreasonable but 2R is possible so that's what i decided to shoot for. it broke HOTD for a second and made a shooting star on the 5min. got out on the next 5min lower at breakeven minus a little for slippage. 

GOOD: traded setup, good trade management

RFI: stop way too wide, should be 2R to HOTD

MOOD: good, glad i got out, it would have wicked me out at a full R loss and went back higher

CONSISTENT: yes.

 

Next trade was a MA trend trade on $BOX (3/4). once i saw it was trending up nicely, i waited for a pullback and when it made the doji on the 2min and held the 9MA i got in long. again my stop was too far but better than BURL. partialled 75% at ~2:1 and the last piece once i missed that last attempt to run higher. happy with this trade

GOOD: traded setup, got in at resistance, partialled out when it stalled

RFI: still too far on the stop. 

MOOD: good, wish it would have went higher but it was already extended

CONSISTENT: yes, managed the trade well. 

 

 

last trade was a 5min bull flag in $BBY (2/4). Saw the 2min engulfing holding the MAs plus it looked like it was going to make a new 5min and 15min high so i got in. it's a weird time for me to trade but i was feeling like trading more and I wasn't particularly busy with anything else. as soon as i got in the volume died and it made a 2min shooting star. moved my stop up to break of the 2min chart 20 MA and new 5min low and got out as planned with new stop. glad i got out early but i was hoping we'd get some volume to the upside and it just died probably because it's lunch time. 

GOOD: changed plan and got out of the trade early

RFI: probably should have just skipped this trade or i could have at least got a better entry

MOOD: fine

CONSISTENT: yes. 

 

 

What i did good today: trade management 

What i did bad today: stops too far, probably should have not taken the BBY trade

What can i do better tomorrow: gotta work on tighter stops. 

 

Edited August 29, 2019 by Mark D.

[Glenn Budde 356]

I took a very similar BOX trade.... worked out nicely..... 

I like your stops, maybe adjust share size a little smaller when the stop is further away...... I have worked on this the last two weeks and are getting close to just knowing right away how much to take...

Have a great night and have a fun green day tomorrow...

[Mark D. 435]

10 minutes ago, Glenn Budde said:

I took a very similar BOX trade.... worked out nicely..... 

I like your stops, maybe adjust share size a little smaller when the stop is further away...... I have worked on this the last two weeks and are getting close to just knowing right away how much to take...

Have a great night and have a fun green day tomorrow...

thanks Glenn you too! BOX was great this morning. i used to try and keep my stops to 10 cents on $50 and lower i'm going to work on doing that more next week. 

[Mark D. 435]

Friday August 30th, 2019

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

first trade was a HOTD wedge in $TSLA. got in risking a new 2min low for $1. hoping to break the premarket high and give a nice run. it did that dang 2min engulfing pincer that Robert H. was talking about in one of his latest videos so i new i was getting out of the trade. i wanted to get a more favorable exit but the small pop on the next candle was too quick to react so i got out at a -0.9R. grading this trade 3/4. setup was good, stop loss made sense and trade managed well, losing 1 point because the high of PM was not 2R from my entry

GOOD: most of the trade

RFI: i need to take these on new 2min highs, much better entry and R/R.

MOOD: fine, i'm really used to getting in on a HOTD 2min candle only for the very next one to engulf lower. i see it pretty much everyday. i need a new strategy for these long trades 5-15 mins. in to the day

CONSISTENT: yep, knew exactly what to do. 

 

Next trade was a 5min engulfing crack in $TSLA. dang it if this wasn't a really good idea just executed poorly. i knew i needed to wait for a pullback but I FOMO'd the entry and ended up too extended and it made a new 5min high and i bailed. i would have got stopped out anyway so i'm glad i got out. giving myself a 2/4 on this trade, i liked the setup, the stop was on a resistance level but the entry was awful and the LOTD was only 1R from my entry.

I took two more trades in TSLA, both in SIM. the first trade long was revenge garbage, glad it was SIM and the last short worked out great also in sim. 

GOOD: setup was good

RFI: FOMO'd the entry and i knew it and did it anyway which is the worst kind of entry

MOOD: disappointed because i was confident in the trade i knew i got in too early. 

CONSISTENT: yes, saw the new 5min high and VWAP and knew to get out

 

last trade of the day was 5min ABCD in $DELL. i usually stop with two losses but i did a good job limiting the losers i had room for one more. i was waiting for DELL to have a pullback to do a 5min ABCD. got in right at the break and this thing just crashed. got out a -1R thankfully. holy crap that was rough. that cemented the end of my live trading for the day. grading myself a 3/4, good setup, stop was at a level, managed the dump really well. -1 point because high of the day was not 2R from my risk.  Ended up getting a really nice SIM short in this one too.

 

 

ended up green on the day counting my sim trades but just got tore up live trading. it's been a challenging, choppy week in the markets. hopefully next week is better. i've been really happy with my trade management this week but i was either wrong on the trade direction or taking too wide of stops to get the moves i needed so I got killed on win percentage. thinking about doing what Rob C. does and only taking one trade a day and if it's a loser, practice in sim but if it's a winner then keep trading. i'm down almost 5R for the week which is a bad week for me money wise but i feel really good about my trading, i'm holding to my stops with less emotions and i'm managing the trades i'm in much better than i have in the past. 

What i did good today: trade management was excellent, traded all setups. 

What i did bad today: FOMO'd the entry on a really nice TSLA short

What can i do better tomorrow: really need to take advantage of good setups, with better entries and stops that make sense but aren't too big. this will be my focus next month. 

 

[Rob C 824]

Same thing with me Mark. It's the worse week for me (live trading profit) in 7 months, but it was my best week for my score card (the rating that I give to each trade) since I have been scoring my trades. Can you imagine how bad it would have been if we traded poorly this week in these market conditions?

[Mark D. 435]

2 hours ago, Rob C said:

Same thing with me Mark. It's the worse week for me (live trading profit) in 7 months, but it was my best week for my score card (the rating that I give to each trade) since I have been scoring my trades. Can you imagine how bad it would have been if we traded poorly this week in these market conditions?

don't want to think about it. could have been much worse!!

[Mark D. 435]

Week 35 Recap

Went in to the week barely in the red thinking this month could be the first month I’m green in live trading. Got too focused on P&L trying to make the month green and ended up hitting max loss 3 out of 5 days. 

·         Weekly stats

o   2.53 ave planned R/R (Goal: above 3.0) [Previous Week: 2.9]

o   -5.02 sum actual R/R (Goal: above 15.0) [Previous Week: N/A]

o   -0.422 ave actual R/R (Goal: above 1.0) [Previous Week: N/A]

o   40/48 83% (Goal: above 80%) [Previous Week: 95%]

o   4/12 33% trades with the trend (Goal: 100%) [Previous Week: 60%]

o   6/12 50% Non-optimal Entries (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 40%]

o   0/12 0% Letting Losers Run (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 0%]

o   2/12 16.67% No Setup (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 0%]

o   2/12 16.67% true win percentage (Goal 45%) [Previous Week: 60%]

 

·         Highlights

o   Trade management this week was maybe the best it’s ever been.

o   Besides my ROKU trades on Tuesday and BBY on Thursday, I took good setups that made sense.

 

·         Ongoing things to work on

o   Stop loss was way too far. Going to work next week on getting good entries that are also reasonable reward levels that are closer.

o   Revamped my spreadsheets no longer tally P&L and I deleted all charts showing P&L. focusing on setups and R values next month

o   Waiting for new 2min in my direction before getting in to a trade.

o   Too much FOMO chasing this week and two trades no setups killed my win percentage

 

[Mark D. 435]

August Recap

Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend. i've used this long weekend to do some extended research on my trades for the month and see where i can improve. I started a new spreadsheet that shows trade outcomes in my own words to try and better grasp areas where i can improve my trading. this is still a work in progress but here's how it looks for August:

 

As i've been discussing this week, i'm picking stops that are too far to make my profit targets. So one of my major focuses for next month is to take smaller risk but still have the risk level be a resistance point. My "original target hit before stop" needs to be double what it was in August in order to be profitable. i'm comfortable with my low win rate to get 3R winners but i'm not comfortable with having unrealistic profit targets. 

Another issue i've noticed is my lower than average win rate between 9:30 and 9:45. the average up-draw is only 1% which means these trades are never going in my favor. i would be better to do the exact opposite of what i'm currently doing during that time frame. i'm a little torn on what to do about this because i know that's a crucial time for big moves but it's obvious i'm not good at trading this fast market action. My options are to not trade then at all or trade sim during that time. i think i'm going to avoid trading then next month all together because i don't know how to quickly switch my hot keys between sim and real and i don't want to accidentally get in to a sim trade when i want to be in a real one later in the day. i will also look in to seeing how to quickly switch hotkeys from sim to real so i can sim trade 9:30-9:45 then real trade 9:45+

 

There's another area i can improve that i have been doing better at and that's trade management. it's tough to know when to get out of a trade and when to stick with it so i'm using two objective markers to get out of my trades. the first is a 5min shooting star/hammer after a new high or low of the day and the 2min engulfing after breaking the high or low of the day  which usually results in a 5min shooting star. if i'm in a trade and i see either of those two, my plan is to get out at the best price but before my stop. otherwise i hold the trade. 

psychologically, i'm feeling the best i've ever felt about my trading. i've graduated from bleeding money to pretty much break even. i used to have days or weeks with just fear that i was going to lose all my money and now i don't feel that way at all. i'm gaining confidence in my setups and more importantly, my trade management. i can see signals once i'm in the trade that tell me it's not working so i can limit my losses instead of seeing them and just ignoring them and hoping i don't  get stopped out. Acting on these signals to exit a trade makes me feel in control and less stressed because i have a plan and i know what to do. so if i'm confident in my setups and i'm confident in myself to exit the trade on specific signals, there's nothing to fear while trading.

[Glenn Budde 356]

Glad to here that things are starting to turn around for you.

Self reflection is worth a ton. I summarize more here on the forum but my written notes I am much harder on myself with colorful metaphors and such.....

Have a great weekend....

[Mark D. 435]

21 hours ago, Glenn Budde said:

Glad to here that things are starting to turn around for you.

Self reflection is worth a ton. I summarize more here on the forum but my written notes I am much harder on myself with colorful metaphors and such.....

Have a great weekend....

thanks Glenn, you too. i used to be harder on myself too but i learned from the daily trading coach that it's more detrimental to your performance to be negative in your writings. I try to keep my journal tones the same as i would giving advice to a friend, though easier said than done.

[Carlos M. 230]

56 minutes ago, Mark D. said:

thanks Glenn, you too. i used to be harder on myself too but i learned from the daily trading coach that it's more detrimental to your performance to be negative in your writings. I try to keep my journal tones the same as i would giving advice to a friend, though easier said than done.

This is so true Mark, instead of beating ourselves up we need to look at it as opportunities to improve and learn from them. Daily Trading Coach is an amazing book must read for anyone that has not yet. 

[Rob C 824]

Mark I read and analyze you journal every day. It was quite easy to see you trading has improved greatly this month. It was like you added more dials to turn to your systems. The red P/L is just the time it takes to learn which knob to turn and how far.

[Mark D. 435]

Tuesday September 3rd, 2019

Sleep: 7.5 hours. Mood: good, ready to trade after the long weekend.

First trade of the month was $SNAP long ABCD (2/4) risked a new 2min low to a HOTD breakout. hit the high of the day and bounced right off, made a 5min shooting star and i wanted to give it more time but really i was just hoping it would try the high of the day again and i got stopped out for a full R. +1 point for the setup, +1 point for the stop level, +0 because HOTD was not 2R from my stop and +0 for trade management because i could have got out of the trade earlier than a full stop

GOOD: setup was good, risk level much better than last week. 

RFI: i'm thinking these ABCDs at 9:45 are not worth the risk. all they do is turn around at 10:00 - 10:05. i should only be getting in if it's 2R to the high of the day so i can at least get some profit. 

MOOD: disappointed but i liked the setup and risk level.

CONSISTENT: yes followed my original plan even though i could have got out earlier. 

 

Tried to take a long in $ROKU that wasn't a setup (0/4). The idea was that since it engulfed and then engulfed long again it was probably going higher and there was the PDC high as support so i took this trade. it made a shooting star and i got out on a 5min low. happy with the trade management but still get an automatic 0 for the trade because it's not a setup. 

GOOD: got put before my stop. 

RFI: don't take trades that aren't setups. 

MOOD: disappointed in myself for taking this trade

CONSISTENT: yes

 

Last trade of the day was an accident in $ROKU (0/4). as soon as i stopped out of the last trade i got up to use the bathroom. i realized after that i forgot to cancel my range order from my stop on the last trade. came back to a short position that i didn't want in $ROKU. i thought about just getting out with a small loss which was the right answer but then i thought i would give it to my entry because that's 1R even though it wasn't a level. $ROKU then moved right to my stop and i got out. first time i've ever had that happen, i'm embarrassed to journal this but it's important to remember to get out of the range orders. grading myself an automatic 0 because not a setup and complete accident

GOOD: limited loss to 1R

RFI: cancel range orders once you're out of the trade

MOOD: feeling really crappy

CONSISTENT: eh, limited my loss but should have just got out all together

 

well not the way i wanted to start the month. three losses in a row, 2 of which I had no business being in the trades. my thinking last week was that i'm not hitting profit targets because my risk was too big. now i think my ABCD 2min setup is garbage and i shouldn't trade it. not sure what to do. maybe i should go back to sim and try to find new setups that actually hit my profit targets 35% of the time. on top of that just unhappy with my self control today, i should not have taken that trade in ROKU. i take so many dumb trades in ROKU becuase it's always hitting new all time highs and i keep seeing $ signs and taking awful trades in it. 

What i did good today: stopped out of all my trades with -1R or less

What i did bad today: not taking setups, hotkey mistakes

What can i do better tomorrow: find out what are my reliable setups. better yet, what is my ONE reliable setup that i can practice trading consistently and be profitable. i'm probably not going to go back to sim but i do need to spend some time reviewing my last two or 3 months of winning trades and try to find some reliable pattern i can use to trade effectively. 

[Rob C 824]

I really like you SNAP trade and your entrance right on the new 1min high after creating a line of support. What was your level for your final target? I can't make it out on chart. Was it the $16.50 level?