You have a good journal, it was a good idea. You will learn most when confronted with alternate thinking which is the outcome you were hoping for. If you were to imagine 3 bars and these bars represent price and time over a longish period and the length of each bar represents the swing, tops to bottoms. Eg, think of each bar as 6 monthly (total of 18 months) and the swing top to bottom as 100% moves. The 3 bars are equal height, sideways pattern. If you buy the tops only, in 18 months you would be on breakeven. If you buy the bottoms, sell tops, you have 2 chances at 100% each swing which is 200%. This is theory only, but the gyst is, buying tops you cannot profit more than the trend line. If you buy bottoms, sell tops, you make money on the trend plus the swing.
No time wasted reading your journal. I enjoy talking to people and see the interactions. ET is a unique place since it is sometimes fun when I read interactions between people. Really though I am here because I really do enjoy trading. As many readers may notice I have a lot of confidence in my life so it seeps into the way I talk.
I see. I appreciate once again you typing to me. I understand your hypothetical but my eyes are always drawn towards the tops. I think, I will try my hands in this approach while also trying my hand in your approach. I guess I will do 50/50 of each type of trade. Obviously I am less experienced in buying low though .
Alright, I guess that is enough discussion . It is time to risk some money. I'll be trading small size until I gain confidence. As Marcus Aurelius said "... man is like a dog tied to a moving wagon. If the dog refuses to run with the wagon he will be dragged by it, yet the choice remains his: to run or be dragged."
I'll keep talking for the meantime, even though I suspect you are getting overwhelmed with ideas. When you mention you have it partially correct. A stock which rises from a big dip has many obstacles, those obstacles are technical resistance levels from prior action. The bigger the dip/pullback, the more resistance lines. A stock near ATHs do not have these resistance levels. A while back I mentioned try and filter as much as you can on why NOT to take the trade. When there are pullbacks don't hasten to enter. I have a favorite saying, "be fast to exit, be slow to enter". There are certain resistance levels after a pullback where it is/is not safe to re-enter. $64,000 question for you to discover what they are. It is not easy knowing the answer. Hint: most traders are a bit clueless on S/R, they think it's lines drawn along tops and bottoms.
The above post doesn't tell you much, but the point I was intending to make, on pullbacks, dummy rallies are frequent because of the obstacles, the earlier the recovery off the bottom, the greater the danger of being wrong, and there's a technical reason for that. So some traders use moving averages to filter out trades and smooth. Imo, they are wrong, but never mind. There is a bit if merit in MA's from the point of view so many retail traders believe in them. One can hammer in a nail using a screwdriver.
You are correct. I am overwhelmed. I think it has to do with time. I don't have enough to do everything I need to do. It is a slow grind when you don't have a lot of time. I used to just stay up all night but now I got work, life, gym, studying, and trading. Adding more to the plate doesn't help, but I am still happy. I am slowly testing things and the more I test the less I feel like trading lol. It is mostly due to not knowing what I am doing. The environment is different and I don't have enough time to do analysis for swings. I think the best thing is to learn how to filter better. I already have some ideas to reduce the 350 stocks to something smaller.
Great to see you documenting your trades in detail. Swing trading with personal funds can definitely feel different from prop firm constraints, so it’s smart that you’re adapting your strategy to fit your schedule and risk tolerance. Looking forward to following your journey and seeing how you handle the ups and downs journals can be such a powerful tool for learning. Wishing you the best of luck and can’t wait for more updates on your progress!