T/A Trading Journal

Discussion in 'Journals' started by Rashid_G., Jan 17, 2010.

  1. Not a good day... and quitting... This little exercise shows the difficulty in sticking to rules for me no doubt related to excessive emotional investment in perfection and results. Did not meditate this morning... hmmm...??

    The last trade underlines the reasons for Rule 2: A price level means squat until it STOPS price and it is not my place to predict if this will happen.. Time in trade is a paradox as there are sometimes technical developments (the break of the 74'ish peak - a system long/short exit) one can miss... Rule 1 being validated as most of the time a system trade works immediately.... A work in progress.

    Rules:

    1: 10.. Surprisingly a 10 here.. moved no stops.
    2: 0 ... 22 min trade... 1 min trade (stopped)... 14 min trade
    3: 10 ... 3 trades.

    + 14.25 pts.

    Quitting to regroup tomorrow. Need to seek less perfection.
     
    #11     Jan 21, 2010
  2. Morning Prep..

    NQ Daily looking like there should be limited downside so flat to up likely but no predicting.. Will take good setups but making sure I don't ignore any long setups in spite of yesterday. Chop possible as yesterday was quite big and today is Friday and no reports due. Will keep a small eye on GOOG. Also wonder if ES will re-kiss TL around 1125.

    Small change to execution.. Will use trail stop with B/E after 5 points profit. The seven pointer should have not resulted in a loss, however small.
     
    #12     Jan 22, 2010
  3. Turned out to be chop early and wasted trades in it. Broke rules again, most seriously moved AND canceled a stop and paid dearly for it. Took a 4th trade that worked out but still a broken rule.

    1: 0
    2: 10... Trades didn't last long in chop
    3: 0...... 4 trades

    -2.75 for the day.

    Refocus next week. General bottom building it looks like for markets, ES having reached 1100.
     
    #13     Jan 22, 2010
  4. Morning Prep.. 1777 area and 59 area possible supports.. 1812 and 25 area upper resistance..
     
    #14     Jan 25, 2010
  5. Scalpers Delight today.. Morning movement as nasty as I have ever seen.. Every TL and price level except 1802 was broken just enough for stop outs.. Too many trades to chart.. Should have, per rules, quit at 3 trades as clearly PA was messy but very hard to quit when behind..

    1: 0 After first 2 very fast stop outs canceled third and ended up covering close to morning support..
    2: 0 On chop days nearly trades don't live long.
    3: 0 10 trades!

    - 9.5 pts
     
    #15     Jan 25, 2010
  6. Morning Prep..

    After reviewing yesterday it is clear clear no set of rules will save you from bad executions.. There were no system trades early and those doomed the day. Emphasis must be on following system which then makes the rules I am trying to stick to here easier to follow. No Setup, No trade, especially first 15 minutes..

    Hourly on the verge of bad breakdown or move back to 1811..
     
    #16     Jan 26, 2010
  7. Lack of gain "feels" almost worse than loss. Not seeing the forest for the trees.. Too focused on every tick and missing the read of what is going on. Even with these issues sitting through the big move when it comes, always does, will still make for nice profits. A Short/Long filter will help stay out of this chop trading.. May be as simple as not trading the first 20 minutes at all.. Clearly the small stop works only in trend conditions... not newsworthy..

    -6.75
     
    #17     Jan 26, 2010
  8. 5 more trades ending -1 for day, short from 1813 (stop 1816) to 1807 the most notable. Watching the 3 lows on Dow, SP, NDX (1790 key) closely tomorrow..

    Need to find filter to reduce trades. Will sit on hands first 15 mins..
     
    #18     Jan 26, 2010
  9. Noting more chop in the mornings with cleaner movement later in the day, the opposite of what it usually is..
     
    #19     Jan 26, 2010
  10. ammo

    ammo

    Rashid, if your stops are based on your acct,then u are trading too large,2 pts sounds like a max loss, the market has no idea whats in your acct,and your acct has nothing to do with the mrkt. Until the two are dancing together ,you're gonna have sore feet, Loosen up, your analyzing every little tick, these guys are moving billions daily and they need some room to load or unload,sit back, watch ,enter a trade ,put the stop above or below a tl or pivot point, and let your trade work for you, watch the market internals and correlating markets and see if things are moving in your favor and when it gets to your other s/r area reduce and see if it will keep going or reverse, u could make 3 trades a week for 10 points each if u sit back and watch, dont force trades
     
    #20     Jan 26, 2010