Just curious, Does anyone else here use screen capturing software to save the charts they look at, and go over them after the day or week is done? In essence, does anyone build a "library" of charts to reference at a later date?
Part of daily trade review, though I confess that I'll sometimes let a day or two go by before getting caught up completely on all charts. Putting the "library" together has helped in a number of ways, not least in the development of new, complementary set-ups based upon what had been some consistently losing habits. One of my favorite exercises is paging through the assembled trades to reinforce certain lessons and improve visualization. I use ScreenPrint for the gifs, and use global variables for organizing them.
Old term - not sure if it's still "current," or even, come to think of it, if it's correct! I just remembered that it can mean something different for certain kinds of programming. In this case, all it means is that, while I organize the gifs in separate directories initially by month, I name each trade in a way that makes searching for specific types easier. The kinds of trades I do fall into a handful of main types: The first two letters of the file name describe which type. Next comes whether the trade was short or long, then whether it was a win, a loss, or a scratch, then the date by mmddyy format, then the particular tradable and then an optional character for additional trades of the same type on the same tradable on the same day: bo_l=083002ZRAN would be a breakout trade (bo) from the long side (l) resulting in a scratch (=) today (08-30-02) in ZRAN. The idea, if you're not familiar with the technique, is so that if, say, I wanted to look at all losing long breakout trades from August I could search for "bo_l-08" or whatever The trade review files will typically look something like what I've included below, and may sometimes include commentary or other details. The color-coded "paintbars" on the NDX chart relate to a TRIN-like indicator that I use. Most of the other indications have to do with critical levels like high of day, previous day's high, etc. I try at a minimum to include everything that was decisive, along with time frame and key entries/exits. Sometimes I'll work in tick charts or dailies or 30-min charts. I only occasionaly try to save "real-time" screen views, but it might make sense to do some more of that (including l2 and T&S).
When I used to swingtrade, once a week I would do a screen capture of the charts after the trades were closed and put annotations as to the set up and reasons for exit. I saved them all in one folder and had a column in my spreadsheet where I would put a hyperlink to the chart for that symbol, so I could go to it in one click just like a web page. It was a quick and easy way to review things.
Thought it over - came to me - I meant "global filenaming conventions." "Global Variables" is a programming term of art, though the filenaming conventions do rely on "variables," broadly (not to mention variably) defined. Don't know what came over me. End of a long week?
I print my trade blotter and the charts from several time frames for the day. With q charts I can just print the chart without screen capure software. Then I draw the entry/exit points with a connecting line for each trade ( almost never do more than10)on all the time frames. Looking at this reality slowed me waaaay down ,taking me out of the hypertrading lane. If I don't do it every day old habits, trying to outsmart the market, start to creep back in.
I think of it as watching the game films of the last game I played. It is a biz after all and correcting what isn't right is as important as creating what is right.
I have done this on all of my trades since 1997, and I was never successful until I started doing it. I use a regular notebook (mead) and draw a picture of the chart and make notes about the trade. I have boxes full of notebooks in my office closet. Brandon