+8 Couldn't help myself. Did a last quick scalp. Bought 100.40 15:40 Sold 100.45 15:40 The intent was to hold on a bit but the way it was moving like crazy downward made me be content with getting out. I was happy with the scalp. I missed out on a earlier one (15 min prior) that would've been great so this led me to get in for one last trade.
-220 Another rough day. The stock was just not trending at all. 3 bad trades sunk me again. Sold Short 102.47 11:23 Bought Cover 102.85 11:40 After all that winning yesterday. I just got sloppy with drawing the trend lines again. I got in at a point where it it did not allow me to exit quickly. I need to do a better job of drawing those lines. For a scalper, entry points are everything. Sold Short 101.66 13:15 Bought Cover 102.11 15:40 Same as above. I did a sloppy job of drawing the lines. I thought that this was going to be a bull flag day and it was. Unfortunately, I get faked out to exit. I wanted to hold on to see it go lower and it did except without me. I kept waiting forever and I hate that. Bought 102.07 15:45 Sold 101.82 15:46 Got faked out by as above. Thought it would try again to go higher but never did. In hindsight, yeah it was a barb wire scenario. Don't jump in on barb wires thinking that it's going to trend until at least two bars are above the EMA in a bull. I have seen this fake out scenario before yet it works so good to fake people out. It's got me alright. This happens when there is a low slope in either bull or bear moving upward or downward slightly but extremely slowly and barely but in a long small angle (perhaps 2-5 degrees). It then jumps up or down in one bar from that range suddenly but only to have that bar crash down the bar afterwards. The people that got faked out all had to cover or sell making the following one in the opposite direction more powerful as it moves in the direction opposite of the original low angle trend. I was waiting forever in my short position thinking this could happen. There was a series of earlier bars that sort of did this yet I waited through that one waiting for the bull flag and I thought that it was over. I still got faked out and because I looked at the weekly chart thinking that it could go up too. YIKES I waited forever today because it was a range bound non trending day and I did not do a job of writing trend lines. I've improved in some areas but not others. I need to be extremely conservative in the way I define my entry points. Patience and discipline. Two of these 3 bad trades all turned around in my favor later on but unfortunately I didn't have the patience. Two Misc Scalps Bought 102.28 11:10 Sold 102.31 11:21 Bought 101.30 15:59 Sold 101.35 15:59
+13 approx. probably less due to a few market orders. Today was a tough day. Definitely grinding it out on a choppy day. I had one bad trade and it hurt: Sold Short 97.96 13:28 Bought Cover 98.20 13:38 Again, I was itching and not drawing the most conservative trend line from which to pick an entry position. I need to really work on this. I was lucky in making it a positive day. I had a bunch of scalps that made up for the difference. Tough day. The stock was not trending at all. Really had to use the brain to get any gains here. The ability to make it a plus day on a choppy day really shocked me. Sold Short 98.44 12:42 Sold Short 98.06 12:56 Bought Cover 98.40 12:44 Bought Cover 98.03 12:56 Sold Short 98.08 14:34 Bought 97.75 15:30 Bought Cover 97.92 14.36 Sold 97.86 15:33 Bought 98.17 15:51 Sold 98.20 15:51 Yes, it is true what everyone says. I won't get anywhere doing these little scalps especially on decent set ups. Every scalp except for the last one where I exited early eventually would've been more profitable. Fear is my biggest enemy. I fear while putting in a stop that it will trigger and I would be out. I did use a stop on one of my trades. Good thing it didn't hit. What I need to do is to put in a stop when I am ahead by a few cents so that I can let it ride more. I seem to just want to exit as soon as I can because I cannot bare watching the movement especially when I'm in the red initially. Most of my entry points start off in the red which is tough to take so once it hits the green I am quick to take any profit. Just watching it become difficult and the amount of thinking and quick movement to put in a stop worries me too. I let a couple of them run more than usual since I was down early by that one bad trade. Tough day for sure. It was the hardest earned +13, I've had to date.
my dealy journal , LIVE trader 5years todays profit +350Eu http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3386345#post3386345
+18 Profit after Commissions/Fees (Lots of trades = Lots of Commissions but better than Scottrade) Missed the opening running off down on GS due to taking my mother in for surgery. I initially had a great trade to start off but also had two bad trades today but it only should've been one bad trade. Sold Short 94.20 15:20 Bought Cover 94.53 15:21 One was a pure gamble that I actually put a stop on and it stopped me out for -66 loss. It looked like it was going down but it reversed and of course went down later. This time I did a different strategy and put my entry at a point where I thought the buyers were going to exit and below the previous bar's low but that didn't work. That one bar was a complete reversal and took out my stop. I wonder what the proper spread should've been from below the previous bar's low in a bear? Any traders know? Sold Short 94.09 15:29 ** Bought Cover 94.15 15:30 **This should've been a plus trade yet I had the stop order button on versus the limit button for the price of 94.00. The price did reach 94.00 eventually but the stop order executed right away. This is the second time this has happened to me. Wrong buttons due to human error can be very costly. I need to get those stop button habits taken care of. YIKES. I use Lightspeed. Does anyone know how to do an entry order using a stop? Say for example, I want to buy only at a certain price above it's current value. The reason is because I only want to get in if the price movement confirms a bull signal by reaching that price. I would not want to buy at it's current price even if it's lower. Plus Trades. Lot of action today so I did not need to get out for +.03. Sold Short 95.06 14:29 Sold Short 94.45 14:35 *** Bought Cover 95.00 14:30 Bought Cover 94.14 14:36 Sold Short 93.65 15:34 Sold Short 93.96 15:37 Bought Cover 93.54 15:36 Bought Cover 93.91 15:39 Sold Short 64.65 15:48 Bought Cover 64.59 15:49 *** Best trade of the day to start off. I started it off well and probably should've quit but how am I going to improve if I didn't keep trading. I was up +69 initially. But as I continued and got a bad trade. I kept grinding it for a plus day. I could've squeezed it more in many of these trades. But I was simply happy to get out because I was down by one big negative trade. It really only should've been one bad trade. I could've let a few other ones run a little more for a few more cents. That is something I need to work on as well as not keeping the stop order on when I want a limit order. I would prefer to have a day where I don't have any losses so that the entries are not so long winded. LOL
Thanks for reading my journal. It says that your journal has been moved or deleted? I'm new to this game. 2 months experience. I'd know what my issues are and I'm trying to step out of my comfort zone to let myself become a profitable trader. I am glad that I have improved since the first two weeks I was clueless and very frustrated since I kept losing money left and right. I still got a long ways to go.
+54 Lucky day. Real choppy. I was extremely lucky in that I was using the stop button again and the mistake went in my direction for once. Fortunately it set off when I wanted to put in a limit order. GS: Sold Short 95.68 11:41 Bought Cover 95.87 11:45 Only Bad Trade. Pushed my luck. Thought it was going to start to trend and I thought I got in the right price. Only to realize that it's doing the same range bound trading. Of course being the range bound barb wire day that it was, it moved in my favor 10 min later. Had a stop at 95.83 and it executed 95.87. I was too overzealous as well in getting in since I believed that it was going to trend down again. So I just thought to get in instead of higher entry point. Which as been my down fall on most of my bad trades now and because wrong buttons pushed. SPY: Sold Short 122.15 10:50 Bought Cover 122.09 10:51 Put in a stop of 122.11 and it set it off to sell. I guess I should've let it run more before putting one in that close GS: Sold Short 95.47 10:50 Bought Cover 95.09 10:51 Complete accident how I got in. I still had the stop button on from my last order and it executed the entry when I was trying to put in a limit sell of 95.71. I was trying to get out then I realized that wow, it was moving in my favor. I let it go a little bit before getting out. First time a wrong button set benefited me. Two Misc Scalps of SPY Sold Short 121.94 12:10 Bought Cover 121.88 12:11 Sold Short 121.98 12:13 Bought Cover 121.94 12:22 Range bound days are tough on GS and I went to SPY. I consider myself extreme lucky to be ahead today. I'm not going to push my luck as I did after the first two trades. I'm done for the day as I have to pick up my mother from the hospital.
After Delays.. I came back and realized what I missed. Just did one last quick scalp. +5 (took liquidity on it to get out) Sold Short 93.30 14:59 Bought Cover 93.26 15:00 I wished I got in earlier on this. Oh well, I got out since I saw it was far down the slope already.
-670 I officially blew out my account. I got in a trade yesterday late on a short position at 92.81 and also at 93.23 in extended session. The extended session was a mistake where I meant to change the limit order to buy on the 92.81 short position but I pressed sell instead of buy so I doubled my position. Thought oh well, looking at the chart, I was thinking this stock is going lower. My analysis was correct yet I was so fearful about it. I told myself to never do this (ie hold over night). I meant to actually get out yesterday and pressed the exit button too late. The session was over. Unfortunately it opened up high in the 94's. WTF? Since when do they dictate the opening of stocks. Why don't they just let it start where it left off? What a joke. Letting very few traders dictate opening in extended sessions? It's basically rigged where if I was a hedge fund I can put in a few orders to buy and make the opening real high. Let in the suckers in the beginning and doubling the short positions on it with a high sell price. If that's not manipulation, I don't know what is. I was already down but thought it could still go back down. Unfortunately I had a stop of just over 94.90 and it triggered it on the first push. I never thought to get back in as a short after that since the day's charting isn't defined yet. I really got screwed. I never thought I would be in a hole like this again. Sold Short 92.81 & 93.23 Bought Cover 94.98 09:29 Time of 09:29? I thought the market started at 09:30? Is my Lightspeed trader clock off? This is exactly why I couldn't exit yesterday. I pressed the button to buy cover with what I thought 10 sec left and it was ended. I thought it ended at 16:00? Can't believe it. I became so timid with any trades today. I did a few misc scalps to get back very little. Bought 93.91 10:25 Bought 92.97 10:39 Sold 93.97 10:26 Sold 93.02 10:40 Sold Short 93.01 10:49 Sold Short 93.44 12:22 Bough Cover 92.98 10:50 Bought Cover 93.41 12:23 Sold Short 92.63 13:42 Bought Cover 92.60 13:46 I'm really at a loss now. I may do one last ACH on this venture. If I lose anymore, I'm quitting. I take one small step forward and 3-4 steps back. God, this is so frustrating. Stops kill me too when I don't use them and when I do use them. I don't know what else to say now. Didn't sleep much last night worrying about this and getting up early. I'm all messed up now.