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Mark D.

Mark D. Day Trading Journal - Live 2019

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Wednesday March 27th, 2019

Sleep: 8 hours. Mood: good, ready to trade. 

Took an ORBD in CRON. it gave me no trouble at all. i meant to sell half at my profit target but i hit the wrong button and got all out. kicking myself for this mistake it fell all morning. 

GOOD: good setup, waited for an entry. 

RFI: sold all too early. 

MOOD: a tiny bit mad I left a lot of money on the table. 

CONSISTENT: no, hotkey error. 

1842207075_CRONORBDA.thumb.png.35dc2a6b968ac22db73b6d6703cf2aad.png

1632816726_CRONORBDC.thumb.png.90767112e48483f08b71e151849d0494.png

 

Next trade was a MA trend in AMD. i figured the stock was going to sell off once it got close to all those levels above VWAP but i didn't want to short until it broke. i waited for the 5min to close below VWAP and got in short. I knew the whole dollar at 25 was going to be a problem to get through so i took half off just in case. then i got out completely once it made a new 5min high. it turns out i should have just let it run because it never hit my stop. 

GOOD: waited for confirmation to short. 

RFI: didn't accept the full R loss and partialled out way too early. 

MOOD: ok

CONSISTENT: no. 

185724161_AMDMATRENDA.thumb.png.cd1783568d5dcbf90e35bdcea53c6f01.png

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What i did good today: Reading price action well and getting in to trades right on time. 

What i did bad today: Left too much money on the table. had i managed these two trades correctly, i could have easily got to my daily goal. 

What can i do better tomorrow: Go back to range orders to help with the nerves on selling. 

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Nice one, I too had a great day and looking back missed money, 

 

BUT

 

That's not how things work of course. 

 

You can't pick tops and bottoms. You are just going to have to accept that. Just like I did 😉 Good luck and thanks for the daily writeup, very nice!

 

Cheers

 

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1 hour ago, vic said:

Nice one, I too had a great day and looking back missed money, 

 

BUT

 

That's not how things work of course. 

 

You can't pick tops and bottoms. You are just going to have to accept that. Just like I did 😉 Good luck and thanks for the daily writeup, very nice!

 

Cheers

 

you're right! hindsight is always 20/20 

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Hi Mark!
I see that you're paying very little in fees. Which broker are you with, if you don't mind me asking?
Sorry, if you've mentioned this before!

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15 hours ago, Ali said:

Hi Mark!
I see that you're paying very little in fees. Which broker are you with, if you don't mind me asking?
Sorry, if you've mentioned this before!

Hi Ali, 

 

i use Interactive Brokers. those aren't the exact fees, but it's close. it's basically $1.01 for every time i hit my hotkey

Edited by Mark D.
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Thursday March 28th, 2019 

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

First trade of the day was an ORBU in AMD. i missed the ORBD but when i saw the big volume and the punch through VWAP and the MAs i thought it would make a good long trade. sold half at the HOTD and another half at the previous previous day low. got out the last piece after the engulfing candle at 10:10.

GOOD: waited for a good opportunity. got a decent entry. 

RFI: sold first half too early

MOOD: good. 

CONSISTENT: yes. 

344442690_AMDORBUA.thumb.png.9d7fcc50a3c4f15692539364a49dbd26.png

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I was waiting for a double top in AMD after i got out of my last trade. ended up getting back in on the short side once it made a new 5min low below the PPDC line. I chased the entry a little bit, i could have waited a minute of two and got a better entry. i risked the HOTD to the 200MA on the 5min chart that was also right around the even $25 level. sold half at VWAP too early but it didn't sell off like i expected it to and i was afraid of it bouncing off the VWAP. I shouldn't have been concerned because it ended up hitting my profit target and i got all out. 

GOOD: waited for confirmation it was a short. 

RFI: got in too early and out on my first half too soon. 

MOOD: good. 

CONSISTENT: not on the first half. 

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What i did good today: Only took trades i was confident in. 

What i did bad today: Nerves are still present on my selling. it's my first week back live trading so i'm not too hard on myself for this.

What can i do better tomorrow: Set range orders for slower moving stocks past 10:30 so i don't over analyze the price action. 

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Friday March 29th, 2019

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

Only took one trade today. i was watching AZN at the open and i missed the nice ORBU in MU. didn't really see anything i liked until BB looked like it was going to break the LOTD. i wanted to get in at $9.98 but i missed the entry, i waited for a pullback and got in at $9.90  it triple bottomed and i should have bailed on that bullish candle at 10:25 but i've been bailing early on my trades all week so i held on to see what would happen and i got stopped out. it's a fine line between getting out on price action and getting out on fear. just need to work on it more. 

GOOD: stuck with the trade even though it was a loser

RFI: Chased the entry. 

MOOD: ok, only slightly mad i got stopped out but more than i should be. 

CONSISTENT: yes, stuck to my original plan. 

1772603411_BBMATRENDA.thumb.png.a6f6ff5383684f9b6fb7ea96f5d9e0c7.png

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What i did good today: Kept my emotions in check and didn't take a bunch of trades. 

What i did bad today: Trade management in my trade could have been better. 

What can i do better tomorrow: don't chase entries and get out if the trade doesn't look good. 

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Week 13 Recap

·         Weekly stats

o   2.2 R/R (Goal: above 2.0) [Previous Week: 2.0]

o   45/52 87% (Goal: above 80%) [Previous Week: 92%]

o   $42.36 (Goal: $250) [Previous Week: $32.16]

o   12/13 92% trades with the trend (Goal: 100%) [Previous Week: 92%]

o   2/13 15% Early Entries (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 8%]

o   0/13 0% Letting Losers Run (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 8%]

o   0/13 0% No Setup (Goal: 0%) [Previous Week: 0%]

·         Highlights

o   Happy to have a green week to start my live trading.

o   Win rate was crazy high, I’m really starting to nail my entries

o   Respected stop loss on all trades.  

·         Ongoing things to work on

o   Taking too small of a profit on my winners. Need to work on not scaling out until at least 2R.

o   Still making hot key errors.

Recap.png.86e83375c00f0c34d5c8ee6e9f886f31.pngEdgeWonk.png.43b02fabcb89770355d78c4a055cd414.png

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Wednesday April 3rd, 2019

Sleep: 7.5 hours. Mood: good, happy to be back at the trading desk!!

Not happy about missing the ORBs today. had someone come talk to me right at 9:33 so i had to look away for a couple minutes. First trade was a double top/ 5min engulfing in AMD. knew it was a risky trade but i got a good entry and i figured if it broke through 29 i could get out with only an $8 loss. actually popped quicker than i expected and got stopped out for $12. i'm happy with the trade, the only things i would change are a limit order at $29.01 and i should have waited for a red candle, i went short on some big volume towards the HOTD, which is a sign it was going to punch through. i saw it and chose to ignore it.  

GOOD: small risk, accepted the loss

RFI: i should not have ignored the volume cue on new 1min highs. I made the same mistake last week in NVDA of not putting in a limit order to get me out on a big pop through the HOTD. 

MOOD: fine, i knew it was a risky trade. 

CONSISTENT: yes, i got out a little past my 1R but just because it happened so fast. 

1670611487_AMDDOUBLETA.thumb.png.35b038843f98522d8612d1bc0a6b7f96.png

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Last trade of the day was in MU. it made a hammer below the WVAP then punched through on the next 5 minutes. i got in long right at the moving averages on the 5min chart. it was having trouble breaking through $44.50 but i held on to the trade, risking $44.21 to $44.73. i put in a range order because i had to walk away from my desk and when i got back and saw it was stuck at around $44.70 i just got all out at 1.9R. 

GOOD: got out at almost 2R, stuck with the trade. 

RFI: don't take V reversals.

MOOD: good, made a good profit on this trade even though it didn't end up hitting my profit target. 

CONSISTENT: yes. 

644502231_MUMATRENDA.thumb.png.26a2b8ad92deecd6ae573cde173996e5.png

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What i did good today: only took good trades. 

What i did bad today: probably should not have shorted AMD with it being so strong. 

What can i do better tomorrow: always pay attention to volume. 

Edited by Mark D.
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Great sticking to your stop loss on MU. I am sure my nerves would have taken control and I would have bailed around 10:30am.

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18 hours ago, Rob C said:

Great sticking to your stop loss on MU. I am sure my nerves would have taken control and I would have bailed around 10:30am.

Thanks Rob, i've bailed on so many trades before my stop only to see them hit my profit target that i know there's a good chance i'll regret it later if i bail so i just hang on. if my nerves get too bad i'll put in a range order and look away from DAS for a little while. 

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April 4th, 2019

Sleep: 6.5 hours. Mood: tired. 

I was not really feeling it this morning, i didn't get enough sleep and I didn't see any trades i loved. i liked a short in SQ when it got close to the VWAP but i talked myself out of it. it would have been a good trade. Instead i took two long positions in MU, i don't know why i did that. on the first one it was trending down on the 5min so no idea why i decided to go long. the second one did make a new 5min high but that was it, the second one was a little bit better but i should have known it was probably going to go up a little bit before going lower. the whole chart was rolling over and it really didn't any strength so I have no idea why i thought this was a long, twice. not happy with my trading today, need to get more sleep and come back tomorrow refreshed. 

GOOD: got out at my stops. Quit before hitting max loss. 

RFI: no setups, bad entries. bad trading today. embarrassing trading this morning. 

MOOD: tired and pissed

CONSISTENT: yes, respected my stops. 

433346535_MUNOSETUPA.thumb.png.1d4149934b4bc6e7a1295bda83a4e7a4.png

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What i did good today: Got out at my planned stops and quit after two losses

What i did bad today: taking trades without setups, against the trend. revenge trading, not waiting for a good entry with good R/R. 

What can i do better tomorrow: sleep more, don't trade if you don't feel like it. take trades that make sense to your R/R with the trend. 

 

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Friday April 5th, 2019

Sleep: 7.5 hours, Mood: good, much better than yesterday, ready to trade. 

First trade of the day was an ORBD in SNAP. i thought it would break down to the PDC with the levels and MAs above, that was wrong. i should have got out earlier than i did but i held on for a full R loss. 

GOOD: not a bad setup. 

RFI: should have bailed earlier

MOOD: not happy about it. 

CONSISTENT: yes, got out at planned loss. 

517973497_SNAPORBDA.thumb.png.7ea776b5bab6bf13ac63c0aa85e4534c.png

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Next, i tried to take a double bottom in AMD twice, chased my entry on the first one and got out for a 0.5R loss when I realized i got in too early. tried the trade again with a little better price but i should have bailed on a new 5min low, instead i held for a full R loss. 

GOOD: some what of a setup, it did work the second time, it just didn't follow through. 

RFI: too early, FOMO chasing entries. 

MOOD: frustrated with my trading. 

CONSISTENT: yes, got out at planned stop. 

1120464375_AMDDOUBLEB12A.thumb.png.15291b336eb59df126fdcb28b59d1be1.png

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Finally saw it was a short and i got in on a pullback after a big selloff. i put my stop loss way too far and only got 50 shares so i got out when it wasn't going any lower. 

GOOD: realized i was wrong to try and force a long and saw a good short

RFI: stop was way too far so i had to get all the way to the PDL for this to be a good trade which is too far 

MOOD: ok

CONSISTENT: yes, i got out when it wasn't going lower. 

1160016347_AMDMATRENDA.thumb.png.de07119f3abc4342a4c517bb20fc540a.png

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Last trade of the day was the worse one. i decided AMD was a long now but i only had a couple minutes before a meeting so i chased an entry and had to put my range way too far. i was right, but again, too far on my risk/reward for the trade to make sense for it's range and by the time i got back to my computer, it had already broke VWAP and came back down. should have got out at b/e but i held it for a little over a 05.R loss. 

GOOD: got out of the trade. 

RFI: don't take trades with 1 minute of thought and not be able to watch the price action. 

MOOD: frustrated. 

CONSISTENT: yes i got out on the price action. 

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What i did good today: not much. didn't totally blow up today. 

What i did bad today: FOMO trades, chasing entries, stubborn losses. amateur trading yesterday and today. 

What can i do better tomorrow: I'm counting this as a max loss day even though it's under the dollar amount. so only two losses on Monday before stopping. i'm considering instituting a rule where if my first trade is a loser then just quit for the day. i' haven't looked at the data but i'm willing to bet if my first trade is a full R loss, the rest of day only gets worse. need to do more research on this first. 

Other comments for tomorrow: I lose two days of trading traveling and i'm back to making the same beginner mistakes i was making in January. 

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