I read your journal too, Allen... keep up the good work, I like the way you lay the details and commentary out in your journal...
Allen doesn't post on Thursday evening and consequently finds out that his journal is being read quite a bit
There are some days when you are right and make no money. Wednesday was one for me. Most often I find when I think the market will do one thing and it does another if I flip and go that way I get paid, I came into today looking to buy a breakdown of the 30 minute range. We got it and I went long only to get stopped out. Then I look for the next setup short that will allow me to play the inevitable downslide, I get short, and we reverse like a son of a gun off the second low. I did not like the resistance above the highs at that time and looked to get short when that broke, also failed, finally got long into the close and made a little back. Not a great day, but really should have been, find myself saying that a lot lately. Trades Trade 1 - Long 10:23 962 (955) Exit 958 (966) -4 / 27 minutes Trade 2 - Short 11:43 958 (965) Exit 961 (955) -3 / 50 minutes Trade 3 - Short 14:22 973 (979) Exit 979 (971) -6 / 6 minutes Trade 4 - Long 15:26 982 (976) Exit 988 (988) +6 / 20 minutes Day Net* -7 Week Net Flat Month Net +27 *without commission Trade 1 - Fade of the 30 minute breakdown Trade 2 - Break of consolidation, anticipation of breaking prior days low. Trade 3 - Fade of the 30 minute range breakout Trade 4 - Pullback to breakout area following strong move. Entry was above Tuesdays high, missed first break and took the retrace. I feel a little robbed because I dont think that first trade should have ever stopped out it usually wont if we are going to reverse like we did. Weakness in the ES added to my feeling that once that trade stopped the next move was down this market just amazingly resilient lately. AllenZ
Today was my kind of day except for the fact that contra rally after the initial breakdown was a bit stronger than I was looking for and took one of the bigger stops I have ever taken. So much for over confidence. I made it back and some on the re entry but in hindsight I obviously should not have taken this big of a stop regardless. The selling into the end of the day is something not seen during this rally as this is the first day since 10/08 that we closed under where we opened, looks good for shorting tomorrow. Trades Trade 1 - 10:15 Short 985 (998) Exit 998 (981) -13 / 75 minutes Trade 2 - 12:08 Short 994 (999) Exit 988 (987) +6 / 23 minutes Trade 3 - 12:54 Short 994 (999) Exit 979 (978) +15 / 74 minutes Trade 4 - 15:04 Long 977 (971) Exit 971 (978) -6 / 6 minutes Day Net +2 Week Net +2 Month Net +29 Trade 1 - Short of 30 minute break, also nice looking double top gave me a little too much confidence and took the full stop. Trade 2 - Fade of the 30 min high break, went short on 15 minute pivot down. Trade 3 - Re entry of prior short when it retraced back to entry, had intention of holding to new lows, and did. Trade 4 - Pivot off of support from various levels. did not materialize as selling into the close accelerated. Not a bad day considering my worst stop in a long long time, if ever. Just goes to show don't get down when things don't go your way just keep taking the right trades and things will work out. AllenZ
I look for IRB's on wider timeframes to confirm what I see on the smaller timeframe. for example if i see a double top on a 5 minute chart and an IRB on the 60 that confirms the levels of the double top then I have nice confluence of factors for taking a trade. Also, IRB's denote contraction or consolidation and while the breaking of one alone does not indicate direction, it does signal the end of the consolidation period and thus a trade generally materializes. Basically for me the breaking of an IRb on a wider timeframe triggers a move. By understanding what is going on in the overall picture a strong move generally follows the break either in the direction or as a reversal. AllenZ
This is the "elite" thread on this board. Keep up the good work buddy, and stay humble though. With good wishes in your quest for self knowledge. cpo
Elite? Surely you jest! At any rate at least our boy Allen will have no problems staying humble. Pretty hard to get an inflated sense of pride netting less than 1 pt. a day
Hi AllenZ keep the journal going! Would be intersting to know the - number of trades - total points won and total points lost in your daily journal thx
Most beginning es traders lose half their accounts in the first month. At least he's on the plus side and providing lucid commentary as well. What's your journal look like?