Changed the sheet a little to account for how I've been using it. (1) I like having a plan. Of the three days i've done this so far, two of the days I saw trades according to plan, and one of the days I saw no trades... adapted (changed the plan)... then saw some good trades. (2) Gives me a concise summary of the day's events and what I was thinking. I staple this together with some charts and execution report, put it in my binder. (3) I don't need to pull up the longer term charts, because I have already noted the critical areas (4) In the trades section I write down the reason for entry, exit, moving the stop, etc. Several times I wrote down some stupid reason for doing something--- then a minute later corrected my mistake (moved the stop where it should be, got out of the trade, etc.)
Nope, not today... +2.5 on 5 trades... Trades (1)-(2): Move up to 80 was on decreasing vol, although it was not apparent at the time to me... first selloff was on good volume.. thus i'm trying to catch the top of a pullback here. These two didn't stick, but Trade (3): did. The 2 min had actually started to round a top, this one was a cinch. Closed it because the 10:00 bar was a lower low on lower volume, and the ticks formed a higher low. Turned out to be a good exit-- if I was willing to reenter later... (The trade not taken) Sitting there looking at the 11:00 bar, pullback was on almost non-existent volume... I did the right thing not taking this short, because I knew I couldn't be around to monitor it. But boy, does that suck. Trade (4): crack smokin? Trade (5): I was pissed off when I shorted here, got out ASAP. Usually, I would say wait for a decent pullback after such a huge volume spike at former resistance.
How come you're not posting charts? Commenting on your trades may require more work than most people are willing to put into it since they'll have to apply your entrances and exits to a chart, which may not be using the same time zone, etc.
Hmm.. guess I'll chart any trades of note vice the whole thing. So, awesome short setup this morning... price creeping up on decreasing volume, higher high on lower ticks and a/d... boom, up 7-8 points in the blink of an eye, then that big green bar. I noticed that there was more vol. in that big green bar than the previous big red one. So I did a good thing, a closed it up for a small gain. Then I did a bad thing, go long, which amounted to chasing, though I'm just realizing that now. Duh.. Chasing derives from the fear of missing out. Apparently i'm still not over that, thought I was. Also that big green bar totally rattled me. I know better than to make trades when I don't know what the heck is going on...
Same old story, -3.0 for the day, a couple of dubious trades and I pull myself onto the loss side. It's sort of like being a kid again, and getting in trouble. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT? DON'T YOU REALIZE HOW STUPID THAT WAS?" Says the adult. "I dunno," says the kid, "seemed like the right thing to do at the time." Anyway here's a long I missed from this morning, I was actually waiting to get this one, but it happened so fast I was left on the side of the road. Three tries to move lower each on lower volume, then the trendline break. I think trade like this, esp. in the morning, are best entered as stop orders, then just get out if it doesn't take off right away. Notice the same thing happened after lunch, but it was in a different context, we already had that miserable failure at R1. Even *I* wasn't interested in any longs after that!