Live Journal Exercise – Learning to Trade an Edge like a Casino

[Mike B 624]

September 12, 2019 - 1 Goal, 1 Stop

I took a 5 min Orb on $BHGE and got stopped out. It was a good setup with a good risk to reward. I exited before my planned stop loss but it was because it closed above VWAP and 5o SMA. I than transistioned to 15 min Orb and did not have any good indicators, but I did see the moving averages on the 1 minute on $BHGE about to cross, so I switched my platform and started looking for my MA-S setup. I got it and I did not chase the entry and waited for it pullback and break on a 5 minute setup.

Entry was excellent on this trade, but my trade management was lacking. Probably a little to do with the loss before this trade. I was a little late on my range order and limit order entries, so it caused me to miss my 1R out. I canceled the order and just took a partial near 1R. Then I repeated the entire process to include missing my 2R level and canceling the orders again and taking a second partial a little short of 2R. I than changed my profit target and ended up getting stopped out at my 1R level. I should have let it run as the stock never tested my entry and eventually ran to my profit target of 3.7R.

Oh well, still a green day. Better management tomorrow on Friday the 13^th.

Sample Set Results,

S 2 3 P 5 6 P G S E E S P P E S G S G 20

 

[Mike B 624]

September 16, 2019 - 1 Stop, 1 Stop due to market close

All I can say is that I am ready for this sample set to be done. Win percentage 41%. Worst yet. Oh well, still have to calculate the % on the equity account with ECN and commissions to see how it turned out, but I know for sure it is way better than I would have been trading the previous  way.

All day trading today was nice. I did not get anything at the open. I almost went long on $OXY, but it just was not within my setup. I had $OXY, $GM, and $AIMT on watch at the open. I almost went long on $GM on a moving average cross but I got interrupted right as I was planning the entry. I stayed on until around 8:00am and decided to go for a run and come back around 10:30am. By the time I came back, a few stocks $HAL, $WLL, and $SQ all made good moves off of a moving average cross. Let the FOMO begin.

I eventually found a good setup on $HAL and $WLL around the exact same time. I choose to go with $HAL and got stopped out because I placed my stop too close to the 50 SMA. A mistake by me, I should have had the stop a few cents higher. I got another entry opportunity shortly afterwards with a valid independent setup. It did a move but it just did not go for the second leg. I stuck it out through a strong pullback that never quite reached my stop, but eventually had to get out as the close was approaching. I end trading around 12:40 no matter what and the price action at that time was right around my entry.

Sample Set Results,

S 2 3 P 5 6 P G S E E S P P E S G S G S E

 

Edited September 18, 2019 by Mike B

[Mike B 624]

Tomorrow starts Sample Set 7. What has changed, nothing from Sample Set 6. I am going to repeat the process and see the results. I will than make changes from there. Although through Sample Set 6, I developed a playbook after William H's advice during his trade review session. I have added a link if you would like to view it. (Credit goes to Robert H as it is mostly from his template with a few additional tabs). I know a few other traders are working on a template for the community, so I will most likely adjust it after that, but I wanted to start with something.

Trading Rules, Psychology, and Mantras credit goes to the BBT team and the authors on the book list.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16FJqSOWuFjTo-bVfKpiNwL1VEbKgQhOa/view?usp=sharing

 

Edited October 15, 2019 by Mike B

[Mike B 624]

September 17, 2019 - 1 Partial, 2 Stops

I took three trades and had to do some real analysis on the final two as both I got chopped up real bad. The first one I think was because of the President speaking as the $SPY went crazy. The second I think was that instead of waiting for things to calm down after that I re-entered. Trade 2 image shows the choppiness of it. Trade 3 image shows that after the market picked a direction after the news, the strategy worked to the long side.

Right now, I think I am doing the exact same thing I was doing with the orb strategies when I went live with those. I am waiting for too much confirmation and was entering after the initial move happened. I still working adjusting it but the strategy works, I just need to work out the entry part. Again today worked 3 times on 3 different stocks including the one I got stopped out on twice. Just not entering at the appropriate place.

Sample Set Results,

P S S 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

[Mike B 624]

September 18, 2019 - 1 Early Stop

This week has just been awful. I have traded well, everything just seems to not work out for me. Then I look at another stock and bam same setup would have worked around the same time. Just like today. MSFT works AMD didn’t, same setup. 3 reds days and 3 losers in a row makes taking the 4 trade hard, so I take $MU for a long in Sim after working hotkeys and bam, it works. I really need to take a look at what went right on $MU and what went wrong on $AMD. I just don’t get it. Going to be a long train ride today.

Time to call it a day and reset for tomorrow. I may just trade Sim the rest of the week. I need to see I  feel after the train ride.

Just have an empty gut feeling today.

Sample Set Results,

P S S E  5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

[vic 11]

>  I just don’t get it. 

Very simple, it's FOMC week, all big traders waited for Powell this week. Tomorrow will be better, you will see. Keep this in mind for the next FOMC.

 

 

[Glenn Budde 356]

Jeez, yesterday 9-18-19, was so bad for me also..... 

We will return to green today.......

Good luck buddy.....

[Mike B 624]

September 19, 2019 - Nothing

I decided to trade live, but didn't find anything to trade.

Nothing really met my pre-market scanner criteria, especially when $AMD only had 70,000 shares in the premarket at 5:30. I ended up with $MU and $X. I really don’t like SSR stocks at the open. I almost got short $MU at the open but it didn’t come all the way back to VWAP and I wanted it to test the 20 EMA before attempting to short it as it was really near a breakout point at 51.40. Sat the rest of the morning looking for a trade until having to go to work. Didn’t find anything.

I didn’t think I would be able to trade the afternoon, as I had a meeting through lunch, but lucky for me it got canceled. Had some hotkey issues with trying to get into $SQ. I would have gotten a 1R out of and stopped out at B/E, but still would have been happy with the trade. 

 

Sample Set Results,

P S S E  5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

[Mike B 624]

September 23, 2019 - $MU

I had a good setup this morning for a 5 minute Orb, it just didn’t run after my entry. I exited solely because of something I saw in a recap video last week. The stock got to a point and although there were a lot of “ask” at a higher level, the T&S stalled out, so I decided to take a partial at that level. I was going to hold the rest to the profit target as I believe if it would have made a new high of the day than it would have continued up, but it could not break above the high of the day and eventually came back to my entry. Only bad thing about this trade was that the shares did not calculate correctly so I did not even have the correct number of shares on this trade.

In the afternoon, I got a full shot of FOMO after missing an entry on $NVDA short. I hesitated on this one because I am just not all that confident right now on my entry point. Reminds me of when I first started trading. I refined the entry point a little more today, so I think I am going to reset my sample set 7 and test this entry point. I am only four trades into, so not that big of a deal to reset.

Sample Set Results,

P S S E P 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

 

[Mike B 624]

September 24, 2019. Reset Sample Set - $AMD and $NVDA (1 stop, 1 Partial, 1 Goal)

Crazy day for me trading. Took $AMD short for a 5 minute ORBD on a good setup. It rejected 30.35 once and I figured it would test it at least one more time. I had made the decision that if it tested one more time and didn’t break that I would get out. Well it never tested and pulled back to my stop at 30.59, so I exited.

I started looking for some 15 minute ORBD but nothing was there, so I switched my display and started cycling through the stocks. I came upon $QCOM and just did not have enough time to get into the trade before it broke the 5 minute and 15 minute setup, which was my entry. I ended watching this stock just keep making new lows. I eventually was able to get another setup on $AMD and took an entry on it, but it ended up being in Sim. Figures.

I came back in the afternoon and took a long on $NVDA with a good setup and found a good entry point. I hit the hotkey and my fill was terrible. Almost .16 cents higher than I planned. I kept with my plan and at the 1R level I bought more shares instead of selling. I eventually got out of the trade when the $SPY made a new 5 minute low.

Then came the president’s tweet and the market went crazy. I am glad I was not in any trades at that time. I than began cycling through the stocks thinking I was not going to get a setup. I found one on $AMD and took it short. I got a 1R and 2R partial. I just couldn’t quite get it to the profit target as the market sold off into the close. If the $SPY had dumped I probably could of made it to 29.30.

If I didn’t have the hotkey error on $NVDA would have been up for the day instead basically breakeven. I would  have made my goal if the $AMD trade was live. I am not sure if this is over trading or not.

What a day.

Sample Set Results,

S P G 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

 

Edited November 12, 2019 by Mike B

[Glenn Budde 356]

I would not imagine that this would be over trading... but I guess that depends on the individual and where it take you mentally.....

 

[Mike B 624]

September 27, 2019 - Missed this journal when doing my weekly review and notice numbers were not adding up, so I inputted the correct sample set results

Sample Set Results,

S P G E E 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

September 30, 2019. - SIM Day

I got around 5 ½ hours of sleep. When I woke up I made the decision that if I could get through my notecards without getting confused or mixed up than I would consider trading live. Well that didn’t happen, so I decided to trade Sim. After the last couple of weeks I been struggling with the hesitation on my new strategy, so today I decided that if my setup was there and I could get an entry using a limit order at the break of the 5 minute that I would take them all. Additionally, I wanted to have some fun at the open so I decided to trade any setup I saw regardless if it was within my playbook. I wanted to have fun at the open today.

In all I took 5 trades, at one point I was in three different trades at once all with range and limit orders. My first trade was on $CCL and my last exit at the end of the day when I had to go to a meeting was $CCL. I held it from 9:40 to 3:03. It chopped all day in between my stop and 1R out. Yes I had a huge stop, way too big.

Overall, I had a fun day and I needed it and I got some valuable reps on entering limit orders for my new strategy.  Although I only got 2 entries, I think I put in at least 5 orders that just didn’t get filled because the stock didn’t break the entry point and instead made a new high/low causing me to cancel the order.

 

Edited October 13, 2019 by Mike B

[Mike B 624]

Oct 1, 2019. $FAST

Well today the plan was to take 5 min and 15 min Orbs and then transition to Sim to work on a new entry plan. Went well in the morning, except that I didn’t get any orbs to trade. Everything moved without pulling back to VWAP and I do not like trading SSR stocks, so that eliminated some of the good brokerage stocks. $SCHW was a good one and I almost took it before the 5 minute when it lost VWAP, but I was pretty amendment that I was only trading within my plan today as I have a rough couple of weeks.

In the afternoon, started off well taking a sim trade on $MU and then looking at the scanners for another stock to take a trade on. Found $FAST off the Reversal with volume scanner. I took an entry on it as it had a setup. I was a little late on it but decided to go with it anyways because I was trading sim,  oh but wait, nope that was a live entry I took. I thought about just getting out, but said to myself it met your trade requirements, just a little late on the entry. Might as well let it play out maybe it works maybe it doesn’t. I got a partial and then stopped out at B/E.

Overall a good productive day. I still need to work this entry a little bit. I think I have zerod in on a better entry spot that allows me to get a partial at a good level. Meaning that the partial occurs right were the stock will either continue to moving in my direction, or it goes back to my entry point.

Sample Set Results,

S P G E E P 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Edited October 13, 2019 by Mike B

[Mike B 624]

Oct 3, 2019. $CLF

I have had some trouble sleeping over the last few days. So I have chosen to really take it easy this week. I am hoping tonight I will be able to sleep through the night. The gappers this morning was rough for me as everything was high priced or low priced. Nothing really within my pre-market scan. I decided to go with $BBBY, $TSG, and $CLF. I ended up trading $CLF due to the economic news and the price action just did not seem like it could push higher. It was really no strategy at all just watching the price action. Overall it was a terrible trade that worked out for a small partial. Looking back it was like a combination of strategies (15 min Orb, and MA-X). Learning. If I don’t get at least 7 hours straight of sleep tonight, I will be in Sim tomorrow.

Sample Set Results,

S P G E E P P 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

 

Edited October 13, 2019 by Mike B

[Mike B 624]

Well now that I figured out to post again I post yesterday journal and today. I did not think I would encounter such a big problem after the upgrade. Completely self-incompetence about clearing a cache. Thanks to the BBT Support team for helping out yesterday.

October 9, 2019 $AMD

Not a bad day today after about a week of re-calibrating and get back into live trading. I was with you on the missed pullback on $AMD around the 5 minute mark. I kept watching $AMD and when it couldn’t push higher above VWAP, I decided to short it a little bit before the close of the 15 minute candle. I got in right as the big move happened, so I didn’t get right at the break of the candle instead a little bit lower. Still a good entry. I just did not get filled on the first leg down before a pullback, but on the second leg I got a partial at the low of the day. I eventually got before my breakeven point because the stock seemed to reverse and the volume started picking up. Eventually, I would have gotten stopped out at the break even point.

Sample Set Results,

S P G E E P P P 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Edited October 13, 2019 by Mike B