Matcha's Dow E-mini Journal

Discussion in 'Journals' started by Matcha, May 13, 2010.

  1. Matcha

    Matcha

    Thank you, Pookie! My goal is to achive 60% win rate, follow all my rules and to trade with no stress before go on live. Hopefully I can get there soon...
     
    #41     May 28, 2010
  2. Yes the formulas should be the same. But I think you have a typo in the last line.

    S2 = P - (R1 - S1)


    It might be the "floor trader pivot" indicator. There are several of them floating in the TradeStation's user forum. I wrote my own because mine calculates R3/S3/R4/S4. And for the heck of it I also take the mid points between all pivot levels.


    And yes I do use market profiles. I also use Renko charts, RangeBar charts. They don't call me crazy for no reason.


    P.S.: Good job for your week's trades. Keep it up and go live soon!
     
    #42     May 29, 2010
  3. Matcha

    Matcha

    Thank you for corrections. I am very interested in Market Profile and Range bars, but not now. Now I want to focus on this Bar by Bar thing, get comfortable with time frame, get more accurate on entry and exit, and practic , practice and practice more on my set ups. Trade untill I have no emotions, no anxiety. After all the above stages, here is my follow learning plan: Market profile, Range bars, point and figure, Tape reading(I think it's crucial, but I could be wrong). Then I will find out which one works even better on my trades.
    Then probably look into learning the Automated trades, learning the coding thing..
    Then look into option trading, I always have ambitious goals ,haha. I think it might take me lots of lots of years.

    Btw, isnt market profile works better than pivot point? but more sophisticated for sure?

    I will ask you all the technical questions. You seem like a tech genius!
     
    #43     May 29, 2010
  4. Range Bar, Renko and Point & Figure... they are very similar. They tell price movement without the element of passage of time. It's easier to spot support and resistance levels from them.

    Market profile lets you assess the power of that support/resistance level.

    Momentum indicators give you a leading indication when momentum slows down so you won't chase into a late run.

    Using them together you have an orchestra performance instead of a single instrument concert.


    Re: Automated trading

    Good luck. I am not good at it. I just stay discretionary.


    Re: Options

    Option trading adds complexity because of the strike price, volatility and expiration. You need to trade the underlying instrument well first.


    Re: Market profile versus pivot points

    Pivot points give you the rough reference points to assess the day's likely movement pattern. Market profile gives you the details where supports/resistances (potential reversal points) are likely to be.


    Re: Technical questions

    I worked as a computer programmer and tech support for over 20 years before I turned trading for a living.
     
    #44     May 29, 2010
  5. Matcha

    Matcha

    Those red long body candles happened yesterday has been on my head since last night. This morning I was listening to some webinars about order imbalance, rally based drop etc. Suddenly it inspired me. I took a look at yesterday’s reaction. Looks like this long red candle could be warned before it dropped. Or it could turn to be a great high probability trade on short side.

    See chart, the yellow box was composed of the quick drop. Supply exceeds demand. Then, on the grey box 10208 area, price made one attempt to go up then failed. The second attempt failed and dropped drastically around same area. So this could qualify the set up- short at the rally where the supply greatly exceeds the demand-Sam Seiden’s words.

    Red arrow could be my entry.

    The only thing I couldn’t figure out is the yellow box happened around 9:30ish. Traders are on lunch break. So how reliable the drop is if I were to "anticipate" the 12:40ish drop? Or it’s just a pure co-incidence.

    I will back to the history chart to look for same set up, maybe I can find my answer there? If anyone knows the answer, could you please tell me....

    [​IMG]
     
    #45     May 29, 2010
  6. Matcha

    Matcha

     
    #46     May 29, 2010
  7. I was caught by surprise by that move too. I was not trading and was away from my screens. A drop of that nature during what usually are doldrums hours... could be triggered by some news somewhere.

    Note the down run in 2 stages in both rectangular areas. Those are typical of classical chart pattern "bear flag". Those are good money makers if you get used to trading them. Tickets to print money.
     
    #47     May 29, 2010
  8. Matcha

    Matcha

    Whoever traded the opening or the closing today can make a great and efficient profit. Today is the day with Gap fill and late day reversal opportunity. I for one didn’t catch any of them.

    I traded from 11:00-12:40. Got killed by volatility at 11:00, Long switch to short , short switched to long after being stopped out, didn’t think it through and the stop were set either too narrow or too wide. The last trade was able to reverse all the loss to break even, Took a quick counter trend trade, brought the day to end in positive territory.

    I started to like this 5 min chart today. It can provide me the over all day trend VS Yesterday. It can fit the whole day on my screen. So I look at the global bigger picture. Unlike the tick chart I was trading before, I tend to lose focus on bigger picture, such as yesterday’s open close, how price reacted at the key levels. But I still use 2 min to trigger, although it often play with my anxiety a lot.

    The grey box marked was the 10205 level prices dropped drastically last Friday. This level was very significant to me (red nasty candles). The pattern repeated today again. I didn’t take the short trade due to lack of confidence and trader’s lunch break.

    TRADE A: Took a few losing trades before Trade A, didn’t think it through
    Long
    Entry: 10148
    Exit: 10171
    23pts

    Trade B: Took a few messy trades with large stops before Trade B.
    Short
    Entry: 10156
    Exit: 10110 yesterday’s low +measured move
    46pts

    Trade C: Long, a quick counter trend trade
    Entry: 10108
    Exit: 10125
    17pts

    Today +$78 44% win rate, 9 trades.
    [​IMG]
     
    #48     Jun 1, 2010
  9. Matcha

    Matcha

    chart with trades
    [​IMG]
     
    #49     Jun 1, 2010
  10. Matcha

    Matcha

    Today is the day I should have stayed with the major trend. But my impatience pulled me out.

    During lunch break, I was listening Larry Connor’s Audio about “high probability trading” on INO TV (signed up yesterday), he briefly mentioned money management is the hardest part in trading. He mentioned Michael Marcus once said he still couldn’t master money management. As everyone knows, Michael turned $30k to $80Mill. I felt the pain exactly these days. Its’ so painful to wait and then watch all the winners become losers, or large winners turned to scratched trades. I know that ideally the more I practice the better money management skill I could get (assume I fit into this career). Right now even trading in SIM, I am like having a hardcore cardio vascular excise everyday. Luckily I am still young and have a strong heart!

    The first 2 trades at around 7ish were stopped out with wide stops. Those were long positions. After 2 losers, on 3 min chart, I saw a double bottom pattern flirting around 33EMA(My favorite short pattern), I went ahead took a short at 7:50am. It worked at first, but price was in such a strong up trend, I was stopped out again from 25Pts profit to 12 points loss. I got discouraged for a moment then I thought I need to ride with the trend.

    TRADE A: Long. A classic set up, 1st Pull back with trend
    Entry: 10077
    Exit: 10106
    29Pts
    I didn’t have the guts stay in with trend. Plus the last experience of turning winners to losers was so painful, so I was out quickly

    TRADE B: Long. A failed double top reversal trend set up+ bull flag. Stopped once on short position, Then I went long right away and it worked.
    Entry: 10103
    Exit: 10129
    26 Pts

    TRADE C: Long, This could be the highlight of the day. After 11: 00, price made ABC complex retracement at previous S level, plus failed bull flag, this made point C a high probability entry for long. This trade was just going straight to the moon. I did measured move and looked at yesterday’s high, I “anticipated” that the price will test that level. I set up the sell stop at yesterday’s close. But in the middle of the move, I was so frustrated so I was out at the floor pivot resistance level. 10163 area.
    Entry: 10120
    Exit: 10156
    36 Pts
    PS: Although Point B could be a great short position for a counter trend trade, but it was around lunch break, So I prefer to let it pass by.

    After trade C, the trend is continuing strong, So I went back in and “chased” it, but I was stopped out twice, this time I set my stop tight, So the loss weren’t very big.

    TRADE D: Trend continues, Long
    Entry: 10178
    Exit:10204
    26 Pts
    Called it a day. Missed the last leg up, but I am OK.

    +$303, 45% win rate
    Need to work on stops, need to work on the money management. I only practice trading one contract, so there isn’t too much money to manage at this point. I hope it doesn’t take too long to get rid of the anxiety. I need to learn to tell myself, even winner turned to losers, so what, there will be a next trade, and next taxi is coming! Even I took profits too early, so what; there will always be a next trade, next limo! All I need to do is be prepared, be selective and raise my hands up!

    [​IMG]
     
    #50     Jun 2, 2010