NoDoji's Day Trading Log

Thanks to this journal I'm reading the Brooks book also. At the moment I'm treating it as the Holy Grail. I suggest reading the glossary early on. He trades just price off 5 min. candles. Hmmm! Remind you of anyone?

He pulls the shades, turns off the TV, ignores the news and trades what's on his screen. (that's screen with no s at the end). Kinda reminds me of somebody around here. Seems that after 20 or more years of trading he's decided he'll just trade price.

My first Holy Grail was a book by Peter Lynch. The idea was you waited for your wife to come home from shopping. Check out what she bought and then buy the stock of the company who made the products. Or something like that. But those were simpler times.

Maybe tomorrow I'll turn off the tv, chat and twitty thingy, pack my lunch in a cooler and maybe trade just one stock. There are a lot of mean people out there trying to take my money. I should pay attention.

 

>>>>>>>Maybe tomorrow I'll turn off the tv, chat and twitty thingy, pack my lunch in a cooler and maybe trade just one stock. There are a lot of mean people out there trying to take my money. I should pay attention.<<<<<<<<<<<<<

stepping ahead of brooks i trade with my poker sunglasses and noise cancelling earplugs from a dark sound proof underground room (basement). some days when i come out of there i wonder who's that guy that trades in the basement. lol.

 

Dac, I've only started reading Brooks' book and it's fantastic. It's nice to know that the path I've followed leading to where I am right now without any paid programs, classes, or gurus, is much like Brooks' way of trading.

As for the Peter Lynch idea, you are right, it was effective in a simpler time. I remember back in the 90's my husband and I had a very small amount of cash in our IRA's and had never invested in the stock market. We had a free subscription to Mother Jones magazine and got an issue that headlined "Top 20 Companies to Work For" or something like that. The article detailed 20 companies that treated their employees and their customers REALLY well. I said, "Hey, let's buy stock in some of these companies! If they treat their employees and customers well, they will do really well!"

We bought 20 shares in 10 of the companies, and over the next 10 years our tiny accounts grew 4-fold.

It sure is different now.

 

Day $100
Week $166
Month: $1243
YTD $17913 (30%)

Not my worst month this year, but nothing to write home about either. It was a month of much study, paper trading, testing strategies, and fighting a lack of confidence. I am happy to end the month with a much better sense of trust in my trading as long as maintain the discipline to only take strong setups and avoid chasing. I still fail to take the majority of trades that set up for me, but I’m sure I can master that problem over time.

Opening range long signal ES @ 985.50, but I didn’t trade it because the action appeared weak. The market proved once again that I need to ignore the brain talking and let the market do the walking, as I gave up a 4 pt move by not trading the signal.

Had to take a break to attend to some tasks and missed a nice ES short opportunity. I could’ve got in little over halfway through the move, but didn’t want to short an established uptrend at an expected pivot point. Price found support just above the premarket support zone and climbed a slow wall of worry with shaky steps.

Again I had to attend to some tasks and missed a decent long signal @ 982.25 when a retest of support retraced 70% of the red bar and moved above the close of the previous bar.

Short ES @ 985.50, pullback from lower high. Price moved just below the 20 MA and I moved my stop to just above the 20 MA because I was simply testing a reversal signal in an uptrend established off the LOD and a trend line bounce would mean the uptrend was likely still intact. Stopped out for +$20.20. Wise decision as price quickly pushed to the upper channel line, then settled into a midday range, that narrowed gradually over time, forming a pennant.

At this point I emailed BigHog and asked him if, and how, to trade out of that pennant.

As much as I enjoy paper trading ES ranges for 1-2 pt scalps, I didn’t feel the risk worth the reward to do this live and waited patiently for a better setup on stronger volume. At some point in my trading career I may do this because I'm pretty good at picking exits and entries.

Short 100 APOL @ 69.55 pullback from consolidation at the trend line after a significantly lower high on the day. Stop hit for b/e when the breakdown turned out to be a false one.

Short 200 APOL @ 69.80 on the first lower high since the uptrend started, and also a break of the trend line. Covered @ 69.62 oversold pivot near previous support for +$32. This was actually a very strong confirmed setup and I should’ve shorted 500 shares, covered partial when I did and left the rest in place with a 55% retracement stop in place. This would've provided a much larger profit from both size and the eventual breakdown of the LOD. Alternatively, I could’ve placed a 55% retracement stop on my small position and benefited from the full move.

At some point today things consolidated for quite some time and I was leaning to the short side on a few setups. I went to fix lunch, came back and everything was falling without me, because that IS in fact one of the Trader 10 Commandments: Thou Shalt Not Take Breaks During Trading Hours

Here’s an example of needing to trust my signals: I got an ES long signal @ 986.25, but the volume was dismal and things looked weak to me. Sure enough price moved down and I figured I was the smart cookie for ignoring that signal. Price came within 1 tick of where I would’ve placed my stop, tried to bounce and fell back without piercing the 20 MA. Now I was REALLY the smart cookie for not taking that trade! Price retested the 984.50 price that served as support a couple bars previous, and tried to bounce again. It took a while, but the eventual move to the upside was to 990.50, making me feel like the cookie that fell out of the kid’s lunchbox and got eaten by the stray dog up the street.

That 990.50 served up an irresistible signal by immediately selling off, leaving a big fat F/U candle behind. So I join the lemming parade @ 988.50 and watch happily as price drops through the 20 MA. Then I make my fatal mistake (ok, not fatal, but I pounded my head against the desk enough that it was a near thing): I move my stop to just above the 20 MA figuring a rebound back up through it would mean the overall uptrend would be intact. So it takes me out for +$32.70, moves up another ½ pt and proceeds to fall 5 pts from my stop-out exit. It seemed like the prudent thing to do based on the action I observed all day, but when I saw all that money left on the table, I was pissed.

End of day I wanted to short TIF for a scalp off a lower high. Short @ 29.95, but only got a 200-share fill. Covered @ 29.86 for +$15.

Here’s to a fantastic August, everyone!

 

LOL, yes NoD it sure is

 

TD,

Let’s talk a bit


1.) NOD is ~18 months into her trading career – Was your mental make up so strong - at that stage – that you had no need for a little encouragement?

2.) NOD has posted her issues quite clearly in this journal

3.) NOD will change when she decides it's time to make that change, and as only she can make that change - as I’m sure we all know… All she has to do is make up her mind it’s time

4.) Me encouraging her – anyone on this forum for that matter – is not a hall pass from me – agreeing that one should do less than 100% of what’s required - 100% of the time - while trading

5.) Ya’ll have posted some really good suggestions, guidance, and advice

6.) My sole intent for posting was to give her encouragement, and also to say keep moving forward toward your goal


Being crystal clear (on all accounts) is a great skill used in trading

Now we both are

Regards

RN

 

Nod,

Sorry i missed your e-mail, i rarely check during mkt hours. Actually i still have not looked but let me give you my take on so called "patterns" for day trading. They are inconsequential to my daily mission of capturing a few ES handles.

I do not look for patterns such as triangles, wedges, broadening formations, head & shoulders , etc, etc. I will say they have more value for position traders with a longer time view.

I think you can see where i am going. I daytrade for price simply to go from level to level, up or down. From point "A" to point "B" or from "B" to "A". Horizontal view of the mkt. Surely you can visualize that considering i am a dyed in the wool BO trader.

Yes, i do watch channels but watch them as a slanted uptrend or a slanted downtrend. Yes, channels can be traded as ranges and also as BO trades when one side or other is taken out. I have indeed been trading more channels as ranges as the ES is in summer doldrums and the mkt as a whole is holding it's own but more nervous than a teen-ager in a cat house first time.

Today was a Friday, end of July, jobs report next week, you could just guess the bigs were wanting to cut out early to start the weekend. A couple decent 'runs' today but you could also feel a range day so we adjust the tactics to finish the mission.

Patterns require to many brain cells to connect, this line must be slanted, that line should be straight, volume should be going up at this point in the pattern and lower in that section, the apex this or that, all that stuff is useless for daytrading.

Back in the day when i learned to trade on the fly i was a trading animal. I had a quotrek and a phone trading maybe 20 different commodities........in and out like a yo-yo, hardly ever sitting down all day, on the phone placing orders and upset because no return call on some stupid limit order i put in and know price went through the order but no confirmation to get flat if i wanted to offset. Can you imagine why i learned how to trade price only and either up or down signals trading like that?

I had a HUGE advantage to trade like that before computers came out and vendors designed a zillion ways to make a buck...........FOR THEMSELVES. haha

Hope this helps some. KISS works.





PS: and the only charts i had were from a chart service that printed out at end of week so had to update the charts at the END of each day...........no charts like today. I had an apt and had shitloads of charts all tacked up on the walls and owner came over once and was upset, about his walls.

 

>>>> I was the smart cookie for ignoring that signal. Price came within 1 tick of where I would’ve placed my stop, tried to bounce and fell back without piercing the 20 MA. Now I was REALLY the smart cookie for not taking that trade! Price retested the 984.50 price that served as support a couple bars previous, and tried to bounce again. It took a while, but the eventual move to the upside was to 990.50, making me feel like the cookie that fell out of the kid’s lunchbox and got eaten by the stray dog up the street.<<<<<<

these cookie lines are so funny
lmao

 

Nodoji:

"""""""""because I'm pretty good at picking exits and entries."""""""""

:eek:

 

he picks his exit before his entry, thats awesome!!!