OK. There were quite a few trades today, for summer. Two 1m chart trades and 3 scalp trades. All were winners. I was only at my computer for one 1m chart trade. I am still moving and will miss many trades until early August. I am going to the middle of nowhere tomorrow to visit family and will have very limited access to my computer until July 10. I will continue to add notes to this journal though. The scalp trades have reduced their frequency since June but the 1m trades have actually gone up for June. I track all 1m trades whether I take them or not and month to date there have been 37 set ups, only 3 losers and a total of 263 points. I doubt this will last. Time will tell. If I were in front of my computer fulltime the results from 1m chart trades would be very close to these results. The 1m chart trades are quite obvious, you have time to plan the execution and execution is rarely missed. I enter on limit orders and that is what I mean by missed. The scalp trades are a whole other story. They are not as clear and it is easier to actually miss some of those. The trade today just felt easy. I am quick to recognize this "easy" feeling as an area for discipline to kick in. In the past, when things felt easy, I got overconfident and took some 'out of character trades'. I will not do this anymore. An analogy might be like moving your house. It is 98 degrees outside, there's so much frickin stuff to move, my back hurts, but when I think about the new house and the result of current actions, there is a motivation to do things the way that they just need to be done. The motivation for waiting until ONLY THE TRUE SIGNAL TRADES ARE THERE is consistent and better profits. No aggravation in looking back and saying, "I said I wouldn't do that anymore" "How stupid can one be, saying they won't do something and then turning right around and doing it"
Took a YM scalp at 10:18. Didn't work. Stalking a 1m chart set up right now. Followed plan perfectly with the scalp. Just didn't work out. It really pisses me off that when I can't trade all day, the trades that I do get are often the losing ones. The record over the last few days (and weeks) if I had taken all trades would be great. Maybe I shouldn't trade until I can sit in front of the computer and take all trades.
good idea man. are you trading for thrills to feel "badass" or for $? if for $ then you should not trade unless you're available for the full day to take all the trades and thus let your edge grind itself out.
Well, only had two scalp trades yesterday. One winner and one loser. Break even. Then traveled the rest of the day and couldn't trade. Only have dial up internet available where I am at for the next week. Will only trade from 1m charts. No scalps. It seems that the dial up is going to be ok for these 1m chart trades. I can't post scalp charts currently. On the first scalp, the plan was followed perfectly. The set up looked real good. It just didn't reach my target. It's funny cuz it doesn't matter how pretty the set up looks, some work and some don't. This is why all signals must be taken. It is over time that they produce profit. Even the not so pretty ones. I probably won't scalp trade until I can be in front of the computer all day.
OK. Right now there is a 1m set up. I can't get into TWS though. So this is a paper trade YM long from 10265 with target of 10285
and there we have it 10285 hit. I'll post a chart. Note on 2nd scalp trade yesterday. There was one element of the filters missing to create a true signal. I took the trade with a discretionary filter added to "make up for" the filter that was missing. I am deciding now that this is not part of the trading rules and therefore I did break the rules. If I want to add this discretionary aspect to the rules then it will need to be tested before I actually take them live. So, discipline still needs work.