Just got back from the dentist, no cavities! I was watching AMZN again on the 5 and 15 minute charts. I noticed on the 15 minute chart, every hour around the :30 mark (10:30,11:30,12:30,etc.) a significant drop occurred. Still watching my 5-minute chart, I saw what I think was a swing high forming during the 2:20pm candle. (I'm in Philly, so everything is eastern standard time). Another setup? I made sure I wasn't trading based on an urge or compulsion. <b>(45.00)</b> The 2:25 candle failed to make a new high, so I shorted 300 shares at 186.17 as it made a new low. It stalled around 186.00 and I got nervous and covered 2/3 of the order to keep some profit. The last 100 shares I covered at 186.04 or something for a bit more profit. What does all this mean to me? I think on the bright side, this is the first time I've been profitable without the arrogance or confidence. Everything is starting to become more mechanical. I'm trusting myself more. On the downside, I still am completely f*cking terrible at letting my profits run! Let's hope that gets better with time! ; ) Below should be the link to my updated P&L for the day. I'll make another post with a chart attached, detailing the actual trade.
First of all, I'm a newer trader, and I think most experienced traders can recognize this as soon as they see my posts on this thread. I guess I'm writing these posts and posting these pictures not only for myself, but also for the other guys out there that are lurking on these boards and need a little bit of inspiration. I realize that the images I upload and all of these posts may seem stupid, especially to someone who already knows <i>wayyyy</i> more than I do, but I'm learning as I go, and this is the best way I know how to give back. I see these journals that have people documenting their successes and it's beautifully inspirational, but it is just as incredible, if not a bit more realistic, when I see someone literally learning through their mistakes and growing up as a trader. Hopefully someone will see my journal and come back to trade another day. Corny mushy bullsh*t aside, the attached chart is the 15-minute chart I mentioned above that has the significant drops every hour. My next post will be of the 5-minute chart on which I took the trade. If anyone knows how to upload more than 1 chart per post, feel free to hand some knowledge my way.
Attached is the 5-minute chart. I'm off to study more charts! P.S. As I look at the chart while uploading it, I realize I need to examine this type of trade on a bunch of different days using the AMZN 5-min chart, and see what a decent profit target is so that I do not get scared out and leave a bunch of profit on the table.
Okay, brand new day. Just made my first trade on AMZN. Feeling pretty good, and because at this point profitable both yesterday and today, I'm really trying to watch out for over-trading and too much confidence. <b>(150.00)</b> On the 5-minute chart, I saw that AMZN was hitting resistance at 187.97. Both the 9:55 and 10:00 candles could not break that high. So, wary of even numbers because I've heard they can be S/R points as well, I bought 300 shares as soon as it rose above 188.00. I was filled at 188.06. It broke out, and sold 200 shares at a 50 cent profit target, and let the other 100 ride while moving my stop up. <b>(-46.00)</b> This was a dumb mistake. I tried to set a limit order to short below the low of a candle, and I was filled on the market price, so I had to cover for a quick loss as it was not at all what I was trying to accomplish! Attached is the chart I made the trade off of.
<b>(-69.00)</b> I bought 300 shares at 190.17, during what I thought was a pullback. It was near the low of the 11:00am candle. Price went in my favor up to around 190.54, and then retraced at which point, after moving my stop up, I was stopped out at 189.95. As I look back on the trade, I'm seeing that the real pullback is happening now around 11:15am. I'm also thinking that I was just interested in making money, and that I never thought about being wrong or what else could happen. From now on, I'm setting a new rule for myself: Only trade trends after a pullback. Otherwise I end up picking new highs right before the pullbacks! If there's any wise old traders who are trading AMZN today, any advice would be appreciated on how you traded this trend? Where'd you buy in? Haha, how far off the mark am I? I was up 150.00 but now I'm only up 50, which means I lost $100 during the course of my trading. That's my max daily loss, so I'm done for the day. Also, I did the math wrong. The other losing trade I had was -31 dollars. That and -69 equals -100.
what was your target ? Looks to me you bought an extended move that was near 190.50 resistance edit: just to be clear the res is not shown on your chart . i'm referring to fridays res level
Jas_in_hbca, I hadn't specified any target before the trade because I wasn't sure how much to aim for. I guess that was my first mistake. Once I put the trade on I was aiming for 50 cents or so only because I figured that was a decent target considering AMZN's daily range. It made it up to the resistance where you mentioned but nothing more. Do you have any suggestions for ways to go about setting a target before putting on a trade?
Ohhh. I knew nothing of Friday's resistance. How could you tell it was a resistance area? If you look at AMZN from Friday, are you referring to the areas around 10:00am and 2:00-2:30pm EST?
yes those are the times i see areas of consolidation. more res at 190.85. i'm no expert so take it FWIW. But always good to know if your buying into resistance/ selling at support. How you define S/R is somewhat subjective and depends on timeframe.