Ditto! Well.... except for all those trades! Today i rationalized my system, it is supposed to have drawdowns, today it had what it was supposed to do. I would like to minimize the consequences of my system one of these days, but the resistance levels all day today were shorted and that obviously was not going to be good. Actually i went long on one of them and was tortured.
The main mistake was giving in to overtrading in an attempt to make up for what I didn't get early on. I sort of went into trading frenzy mode, which has NEVER worked for me in the past. Basically, I strayed from my daily trading plan. I'd rather have a day with no trades, or wait for the triple-confirmed setup and have one nice trade, than a mess like yesterday where I gave IB $260 to lose $64.
What's your overall account balance? I just read a few posts in this thread and it seems like you are a pure technical analysis guy. Do you ever hold anything overnight?
+ $134 My main goal was to trade small, and trade smart, only taking MY best setups. I also set an alarm for 9:30 (my time) to alert me to take the dog to the park, because I NEVER gain anything worthwhile trading between 9:30 and 10:30. AAPL on watch with a long bias if price found support at a higher low than yesterdayâs low. Watched the 1-min chart and AAPL dipped off the open, while the market rose. Hmmm. A higher support level from yesterdayâs low was established, but the breakout thru the opening range high kept failing, leaving several dojis behind. My mistake was hesitating to put on the long position the moment buyers came in and pushed price thru the 20 EMA. I kept thinking how AAPL opened weak relative to the market and that tainted my view of pure price action. I chose not to chase an entry, which was unfortunate, but I only know that with my 20/20 hindsight. Despite the fact Iâm reading Trading in the Zone and fully UNDERSTAND the trader mentality, I still havenât integrated it into my core and am still thinking while trading instead of simply trusting my signals. At that point I chose not to trade until after the ISM news. After the news AAPL became rangebound and I learned yesterday that only IB profits when I trade range-bound chop. Instead I shorted AMZN @ 117.43 off a lower high, it moved $50 in my favor, I moved stop just below b/e, hit for +$10. I watched the bounce, it stalled, but the stochastic setup was not ripe, so decided to wait for that signal. I took a quick bathroom break and in that brief time I missed the failed rally, which provided nearly a full 1.00 move. The stochastics signaled perfect entry, by the way, proving to me once again the value of patience. Had I entered at the place where price stalled, looking as if another lower high would be left behind, I wouldâve been stopped out with serious slippage on the completion of the bounce to overbought. Short AAPL off a lower high, âBâ setup, stop to b/e, hit for +$2. Watched for breakout to a new high, no dice, range-bound again. Tried to pick a top when AAPL made new highs. I saw green buying volume, but thought every little pullback was the top. I wasted about $97 doing this, then I shorted @ 199.40 off the HOD when I saw red selling volume and guess what? Nice profitable move. Wait for the opposing side to step in before counter-trend trading! Of course I moved my stop in once price moved .55 cents in my favor. The reason why is because I wanted to erase some of the loss. My initial target zone on this trade was 198.85 and had I been patient and trusted the trade, I wouldâve attained that target and more. Instead I was stopped out @ 199.07 for + $64, leaving a minimum of $150 more behind had I waited for the move to complete its trajectory. MISTAKES: Didnât wait for the confirmed signal; allowed previous poor trades to affect my management of a confirmed trade. The psychology behind my impatience and attempt to pick a top (which in and of itself isnât a problem if you wait for counter-trend confirmation, i.e. sellers coming in) was fear of missing the move and not getting in at the best possible price. So both fear and greed resulted in abandonment of patience in waiting for confirmation, resulting in unnecessary losses, resulting in âtrade residueâ. Iâll bet the number one quality of top traders besides excellent risk management (thankfully I got that now), is a complete absence of trade residue. Mark Douglas reiterates that so many times in his Zone book: Anything can happen; every trade is completely independent of anything that went before. Went to the park, came back and watched AAPL for a breakout long. At 199.85, with 1-min support along the trend line at 199.72, I went to go long and it ran away from me. The breakout was weak, barely topping the HOD, so I didnât seem to miss much and it was still a stagnant time of day, so sat on my hands, now looking for a lower high to short. Then I hesitated to short and missed an .80 cent move from where I hesitated. I was careful not to allow this âmissed tradeâ to influence me and instead I shorted AMZN @ 119.27 pullback from double top, covered @ 118.48 pivot off oversold for +$156. AMZN was moving much more than AAPL at this point. After that I called it a day because I only churn when trading near the close.
My trading account is around $50K. If I was a pure t/a guy (gal, actually), I'd be rich. Unfortunately, I continue to think while trading instead of just trading every technical setup. Friends don't let friends think and trade
doji... no offense man but when you pay 270 in fees in a day that is nto trading that is scalping... and going back to sim... when you have losses and chop yourself in to fee heaven.. LMAO... back to sim.. yeah when a qb in a play off game screws up.. he walks off the field and goe sback to college ball to practice more... get real man.. get real... you are soo wanting to be a big trader and yet you are so scared so afraid.. you say you have 50K in your account.. really that's fine but then why are your day totals so measly? Seriously 200 bucks a day when you have 150K buying power... whoa nellie!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No offense man but if you want to make it in the big leagues and ever pull down thousands a day.. you had better change your attitude and build some confidence. Guess what.. any kid with a college degree makes 40 grand a year doing absolutely nothing but updating their facebook crap all day long.. I doubt at the end of the year you even make that. THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL... shit or get off the pot! sick of your pssst ant whining about your should awoulda coulda... just do it man and tak eyour lumps like a real trader .. like a man.. you ahve been a tiny trader for way tooo long!!!!! I think you have talent and i think you can make it with the big boys.. but you need to get bigger... seriously have you had a 1000 day ever? Why not ... u seem consistent.... now get bigger.. if you don't get bigger then you will always be no doough.. not no doji!!!!!!!! YOU CAN DO IT MAN!!!!!!! GO FOR IT.. stop being scared you know what you are doing.. now get out there tomorrow and do it!!!!