NQ Paper Trade Journal

2016-09-29 Summary

Daily P&L: +5.25 (1 trade, 1 winner)

Trade Summary
Trade 1: A lot of strength to the sell side today, so waited for the pullback to enter. Not happy with my execution for this trade as I originally had a sell order for 4835, and ended up chasing when I missed my initial entry! I got lucky as the market missed my initial stop-loss of 4840.50 (even though some orders got executed at this price).

Didn't quite follow my 4th area of improvement, where it is "okay to miss entry and not make a single trade for the day". Got caught up in the price action and came close to losing on the trade.

Things to (continue to) focus on:
-More patience on the trade set up (wait longer until I take the 1st trade, for the range and chart patterns to develop)
-Need to mentally visualize potential chart formations both to the upside and downside (anything can happen), and strategize my game plan
-Protect profits (do not hesitate to exit and take profits at current levels when market is exhibiting signs of slowing down / utilize time stop)
-Okay to miss entry and not make a single trade for the day

 

2016-09-30 Summary

No trades. When the market failed to break below the support line of 4869 on the pull back, it was a good sign for the market to rally into the afternoon. However, I missed my entry price during the turn and did not chase.

Weekly P&L:-12.25

 

Trade 1: Short 4846.50, Stop 4854.50, Profit-Take 4836.25 [11:50AM]

 

Too early once again.. good short level here

 

Exit 4846.00 [1:19PM]

P&L:+0.5

 

2016-10-03 Summary

Daily P&L: +0.50 (1 trade, 1 break-even)

Trade Summary
Trade 1: Too early on the short.. chased entry as the market looked like it was about to break out to the down side. A lot of support and higher lows indicated an uptrend which made me exit the trade at break-even instead of getting stopped out.

Things to (continue to) focus on:
-More patience on the trade set up (wait longer until I take the 1st trade, for the range and chart patterns to develop)
-Need to mentally visualize potential chart formations both to the upside and downside (anything can happen), and strategize my game plan
-Protect profits (do not hesitate to exit and take profits at current levels when market is exhibiting signs of slowing down / utilize time stop)
-Okay to miss entry and not make a single trade for the day

 

Trade 1: Long 4861.50, Stop 4853.50, Profit-Take 4869.75 [12:52PM]

 

Have you tried watching how the market reacts to news / events? I trade Nasdaq too and I like keeping an eye on news.

 

Exit 4853.50 [1:09PM]

P&L:-8.0

 

Trade 2: Long 4850.00, Stop 4842.00, Profit-Take 4860.25 [1:50PM]