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Sorry to disappoint, but I think that is beyond the scope of this journal. I don't want to sound arrogant, but I'm not sure that tape reading can be taught. It can be learned though.

I can't justify trading today (it's a combination of several factors). Anyway, for some reason I've been thinking about how much I've enjoyed trading using the tape as my only guide. Even though this week has been pretty rough (Tuesday and Wednesday were really the only days I did any...

I messed up today and was lucky to have made the $4 that I did. I started trading at 2:15 EST. First of all, I wasn't seeing any definitive direction in the tape, and all that I had to go on was market action. Instead of just taking the afternoon off, I slipped into some old bad habits...

I don't like how this statement came across. Basically what I meant is that trading based on default profit targets, stop losses, and risk/reward ratios is putting your own needs above the market's needs. I try to avoid that at all costs, and consequently I try to stay as flexible as possible...

Trade 2 was an abberration; I deserved a lot worse than I got. I wouldn't say that I read the tape "wrong". I believe that I never read the tape "wrong" (keyword believe; let's not start a debate about this). Anyway, all the mistakes are because of my trade execution ability and personal...

Funny. When I went to log-in today I was accidently typing the wrong password and for a brief moment I thought that I had been victimized. Funny, huh? Anyway, check out what an associate of mine made in his Doctoring 101 correspondence course.

I'm disappointed with myself today. I had zero confidence and it definitely showed. Anyway, I talked with some people at IB and the necessary measures have been taken to protect my account from fraud. I should have done this first thing this morning (I probably would have traded a lot...

I never really thought about that. I trust and respect other traders (for the most part anyway), but it never occurred to me that a non-trader would be reading my journal. That is a scary revelation. I just assumed that only index futures traders would even be interested in my journal in the...

I didn't start trading until 2:30 EST because I figured that the morning would be uneventful and I wanted to give the market at least 15 minutes after the FOMC meeting before initiating any trades. I noticed that the tape was very strong and was pointing upward. I considered going long at...

I had a series of dreams last night where I was trading. No matter what I did, buy or sell, the market always went against me. When I woke up this morning, I felt like I had forgotten how to trade. Needless to say, I wasn't feeling very confident today. I didn't even start trading until 3:00...

Very true. I sometimes refer to it as second guessing myself, but I prefer the way you have worded it. I definitely do make the majority of my mistakes because of fear that I will do something wrong. The ironic thing is that this fear causes me to do the very thing that I was trying to avoid...

This gave me a good chuckle. Thanks. As far as being too hard on myself is concerned, that may be true. I need to be hard on myself for maximum performance, but sometimes I can get to be too hard on myself. When I cross this fine line, then the result is counterproductive. I think I was...

I had a feeling that today would be a range day, so I took most of the day off (I needed the rest). I had a theory about this afternoon though, so I started trading at approximately 2:30 EST. My theory was that the market would try to sell off again this afternoon (like the previous 2 days) by...

I think the fact that I was receiving mixed signals prior to Trade 3 contributed to me being overly paranoid on Trade 3. Unlike yesterday, I did have a valid reason to exit this trade (my uneasiness), however my reason was derived from the wrong sources. Also, these moves have been occurring...

I didn't start trading until 1:30 EST today. I wanted to make sure that I had overcome step 2 before I did any trading because based on how I was feeling last night I was anticipating a huge down day. Needless to say, I was relieved to see that the market had stabilized. I was even more...

I think that there may be some truth to this. However, when I try trading any smaller than this, my performance goes out the window because I can't concentrate. I need to feel that there are consequences to my trading, otherwise I am totally ineffective. As far as my position sizing goes, I...

When I wrote this I hadn't looked at the market since I closed my position at 1232.5. I find it amazing that my subconscious was already anticipating something that hadn't happened yet. Looking back at this post, I can actually see my emotions changing in realtime. It's obvious even to the...

I'm feeling a lot better right now. One thing that I like to do after a particularly bad day is to drive through a really poor neighborhood. As bad as I feel or as bad as I think things are, I'm doing a lot better than I could be doing. However, the real reason that I do this is to remind...

Being right and not capitalizing on it is one of the most painful feelings that I have ever felt. I cannot believe how sharply my mood changed in a mere 30 minutes. When I exited my position, I was feeling pretty good about myself. At this moment I feel absolutely crushed. It's hard to...

It occurred to me this morning that I am making things a lot harder than they have to be. Anyway, after what had happened yesterday afternoon, I was starting to question my short bias. I was actually thinking of starting to look for a long trade. I was extremely frustrated that the market...