Awash's Journal

Awash,

It looks to me like you really overtraded today, I haven't seen too many posts where you have done seven different trades.

As far as the longer time frame goes, i just recently switched from the 3 to the 5 minute chart and i have noticed that I am more patient because of this. I can't say this will be better for you, but it certainly seems to have helped me. This may help you also seek out larger profit targets.

Just curious, what do you have set up as your risk to reward and how often do you expect to win when you enter a trade ? I havent seen these things defined in your journal, and have always been curious. You seem to be the type of person who likes to win a lot, maybe this is why you sometimes exit your trades early ?

just some food for thought hope some of this helps.

 

Use 2 charts: 1 m and 10 m. You don't need 5 m. The 10 m chart shows you the trend, and the 1 m shows you the best entry point.

 

But what is the QUALITY of those signals when you are dealing with noise? Is it possible that a longer timeframe, while generating fewer signals, will provide overall greater profits?

IMHO, improvements in a traders attitude and psychology - which you seem to be focusing on quite often - aren't going to overcome the basic difficulties inherent in trading on the 1 minute level. You obviously have skills and intelligence, and I am just wondering if instead of digging the same hole over and over, you might be better moving elsewhere to strike your gold.

 

along the same lines as lindq, linda raschke says that there are only 2-3 quality legs to trade a day. now for scalpers, this is not the case, but by going with higher time frames, you may generate less buy/sell signals, but in effect you may be entering higher quality trades resulting in more consistency. you dont have to trade all day long to make your points. it is an interesting thought to ponder.

 

Totally agree about using the higher timeframe to get the big picture of where your trade can go AND

when to go into it.

The 1m chart is great for timing and/or entry.

For one example, instead of watching the 1m for signals, watch the 15m for a hammer/gravestone doji or or a nice flag.
The 1m will show a nice uptrend/downtrend in this 15m pattern that could form reversal/divergence to time/enter the 15m pattern.

So, 1m entry with 15m potential.

1m divergence reversals will show up all day long. But, looking for the ones that have the best potential to move, hence, higher time frame confirmation/confluence, really helped me with my trading.

http://www.ttrader.com/mycharts/display.php?p=16274&u=flashtrade&a=Daytrades&id=661

http://www.ttrader.com/mycharts/display.php?p=16055&u=flashtrade&a=Daytrades&id=661

 

thanks for the charts. with the trendlines drawn on your charts, are you pointing out the divergences between the macd and price? and if so, what are your thoughts on divergences? thanks

 

I'll private message you so that Awash's journal doesn't get too cluttered.

If Awash would like the explanation posted here he can P.M. me.

 

I should have taken the day off from trading. I started off slowly and missed a few signals and never could get anything going trading wise. Hopefully next week I’ll continue to place trades free of emotions. My overtraded yesterday caused me to be more conservative.

Trade#1 – [Short 1055.00 12:29 EST & Cover 1056.25 12:57 EST] [ P/L: - 1.25 ] Didn’t give this trade time to develop. It wiggled against me a bit and I covered it.

Trade#2 – [Short 1055.50 13:03 EST & Cover 1055.25 13:18 EST] [ P/L: + .25 ] Re-entered again off a good divergence signal off my 1 minute, 3 minute and 10 minute chart but I didn’t give it time to develop again. I didn’t deserve to make money on this trade because I covered early. Price pushed down and I could have easily made 1.5 points on this one.

My head wasn’t in the game today and I couldn’t place trades the way I usually do.

Thanks all for your constructive criticism but I will reply this weekend when I have more time

 

welp i was thinking all along that Awash is playing around in the noise doing +.25 here and -.25 there. but i didnt wanna say nothing cuz didnt wanna discourage plus i thought maybe thats what works for him *shrug*.

 

traderkay,

It's the transition phase that's making trading more challenging. Dealing with all the psychological barriers that impede your progress. I mentioned before it'll take 2-4 weeks of winning and losing for me to reach a descent comfort level. I'm eagerly anticipating that day but until then i'll preserve capital and continue to learn how to trade.

Good luck with your trading too!