In terms of points made, today was my best day ever. + 15.50 NQ points. 2 trades +17.75 , -2.25 A couple things worth noting. In my private journal i wrote the other day : Strive for perfection but realize it's unattainable. and: It's possible to be very profitable without being perfect. I wasn't entirely pleased with my entry and started thinking i should have entered earlier. Then i realized my entry was valid where it was and IT WASN'T PERFECT BUT THAT'S OK. I did not place any resting exit orders at targets but instead watched those area of prior support. Fortunately today was a no brainer once in the trade as the market did a good job of falling pretty quick. The exit was after a bounce off support and a TL break. 2nd trade not a great read and i realized the entry i used was not applied in the proper context, ie market still in a bit of chop. Call it a tuition trade. Not sure if i can post 2 charts in in one post but trying. Both are of the first winning trade. Basically selling the B/O of the triangle
Looks like you can't post 2 charts. Here's the big picture chart. I may have to frame this one and put it on the wall. Very pretty !
2 trades +7.75 ( short + 3.50, long +4.25) Missed 1 long trade after exiting the first trade. The little DB after my exit. I was taking a break to avoid forcing/overtrading. Would have been a good one but more concerned with building my confidence and patience. In time i'll catch those as well. After the second trade i was pretty much done. I'm not trying to catch every swing. Just want to get to the point where i can get 4 - 10 points/ day consistently. I know, aren't we all. Still was watching but nothing looked solid. The second trade missed my target resting order by 1 tick , stalled then fell. Decided to close at that point despite some small support. Good or bad i justed wanted to book the win. Entry was a nice triangle B/O . It felt a little slow at first but the volume was confirming and the ES and DJIA were leading the way. Trading very calmly lately which i think maybe just comes with experience. After blowing so many trades and missing trades you get to the point where "it is what it is, i'll either catch them or i won't". Geez, 2 days of profits and i'm a goddmamn philosopher of trading. i better stop here.
Good Job Jas, Keep a objective mind and just focus on the price action. Thats the ultimate key. There is no loss in missing a trade. U did well.. Try to do market orders when you feel you are ready. As taking a position is as important as identifing the trend. Also, After the day is over, Look at the Over al price action in different markets on a longer time frame - 15 min or 30 min, not on Daily. Try to see if the following - Does the over all trend (bull in current scenario) affect the profitability of LONGS tover shorts. i.e. IF you would have taken longs at the positive price action even though market seemed to be crashing in the short term - would that have been an edge ? - Look at the mid day action in the time frame as noted in the above bullet. Do you see stronger buying action during mid day on DOWN days in a Bull Market. - Look at the opening and closing actions - the first hr and last hr. see if there is a long bias in the last hr of the day even on DOWN days in BULL market. Hope this helps.. GL>
Thanks JP for the suggestions. They are always welcomed. I had the steel cable MA in mind yesterday which helped keep me in the trade through the minor pullbacks. Good trading to you !
I am glad it helped you. Just wanted to point out. That the quoted line might subconsciously sabotage your game...... When you are below that target you will feel you did not do good, above it you might get careless....and around the target you might leave some on the table that might dramatically skew your return, you never know when that 6 sigma event will hit. I say this coz I know you posted upon the book - power of now. Its of great feeling when you believe that trading is merely an event/ or a task that you do or participate, just like driving to the grocery store. its not the Means to make money or achieve a goal (certain PnL). Its not easy to get this, but once you can achieve this state of mind, trading becomes very Boring. I mean fun but less emotional.
Had a hard time focusing and getting a good read on the PA today. Maybe because it's first week back trading and still adjusting to getting up earlier. Took 3 trades for + .75 My best move of the day was getting in long after my first short was stopped out. I'm happy i was able to get back in quickly with a good read of PA. Did move my trailing stop up a little tight though. No complaints w/ trades i took but would have liked to have caught some of the big down move. I'll review that later. Afternoon was chop for the way i trade and i did a good job of staying out. Ended the week with 8 trades +23 pts. + 4.50 pts in sim monday. That's my best week ever. Hopefully it's the beginning of a trend.
Yes, i get what your're saying. I'm actually past the internal debate stage regarding should i have daily/weekly profit goals. (i shouldn't) I'm probably thinking the benchmark for my success is when i can average consistent profits. And on occasion its affecting my decision that day to continue trading or not. I think right right now it comes down to booking profits to build my 'psychological capital" ie confidence. My daily goals are now 'process' goals; patience , focus, take good set ups, study price action. isn't that an interesting time when trading begins to become boring ? I'm begining to feel it. It's good. Less impulsiveness and bad trades, more focus and sure, the occasional exclamation to the screen " Jesus Christ are you people ever going to start buying here !" I can see why traders go to chat rooms. Thanks for getting me to think this through and talk it out a bit.
Ur welcome Jas, About profitable days, they are usually trend filled days with little or no reaction. Once you learn to SEE them, you will know that the only way to take advantage of Trading is to trade multiples of contract on these moves. This is the Only Edge in trading that pays. "Happiness is not found at the end of the road it is all the way along it..!!" Carry On buddy,.
Missed a good short entry so rather than chase it I'll distract myself here. Shown on chart is a trade i didn't feel comfortable taking today but because of the 1-2-3 low pattern i forced myself to take it. Quickly stopped out. I wonder if there any other clues than the 1 noted on the chart that i should have avoided this trade.