Awash's Journal

I have to agree with Nihaba and others that made similar points. You are becoming more and more of a nuisance here. One good thing about you, however, is that your posts expose the total failure of the 'moderating' system on this board. Most of your posts are disruptive to the threads you participate in and pretty much pointeless, yet they persist.

Well, so what else is new?
 
Have you read Mark Douglas' "Trading in the Zone"? You appear to be well versed on TA and your system reflects considerable knowledge and research. In other you're commited and you've done your homework. But I think your issues are psychological (as is the case with most of us).

I've read at least 15 books on TA and trading techniques in general. But Douglas' book which deals entirely with the psychological element of trading is the most important and useful book I've read.

The first time I read it I figured it wouldn't add up to much. But with experience I've discoverd that the author knows excatly what he is talking about and if you can assimiltate and comprehend his key concepts you'll quickly become a much more profitable trader. Now I reference the book nearly every day.

The essence of the book is that consistently profitable traders carry a different mental state than the rest of us. And this mental state can be achived if you are pointed in the right direction. Douglas points us in the right direction and has made it abundantly clear to me that he has found the coveted key to success in trading.

Check it out...take your time with it...I think it will help you if your open to what he is saying.
 
This weekend I had the opportunity to spend three hours studying. Usually when I study I review my most recent trades; looking for what went right and wrong.

After studying I realized I made additional errors. I misread my stochastic (%D) several times this week which unfortunately resulted in losses. Consequently, I extensively reviewed the signals for %D & MACD and went through the process of divergence on a lot past charts.

Also, I worked on ways to reduce missed opportunities (entries) by role playing a few scenarios and I consulted a close friend from the strategy lab.

For those of you that take the time to reply to my journal, focus more of your attention on what I studied this weekend and how I implemented it into my trading for this week. Thanks in advance, and remember all comments are welcomed!

PS, Stockfrosty, I reserved the book TRADING IN THE ZONE from my local library, thanks for the recommendation.
 
Quote from electron:

... Most of your posts are disruptive to the threads you participate in and pretty much pointeless, yet they persist.

Well, so what else is new?
More...

may be he is not only member but also ...a moderator (in disguise)
 
Super tight trading range early on in the session and the market lacked any form of trends. I decided to place trades based upon price action with a lot of caution. I focused heavily on reducing my most frequent errors but market activity was dull and not conducive for a trend trader.

Trade#1 – [Long 989.25 11:09 EST & Stopped 987.25 11:10 EST] I was patient since 9:30 watching price and indicators but the range was just too tight. I decided to go long off support 989 because several times early on price moved off of it (a signal was forming between %D and MACD on 1-minute chart). As soon as I placed the trade price moved up but instantly reversed off an avalanche of sell orders pushing price down to 987 within one minute and my 2 point stop was hit. But 15 minutes late price returned to my initial purchase price and then some (+2). In hindsight, I probably should’ve been more flexible with my stop but trades like this do occur; subsequently, support 989 held through the lunch hour.

Stopped trading at 15:45 EST

The market lacked the robust conditions I needed to continue trading. There were a few opportunities to go short around my 992 new resistance level but not much price retracement off of it. It just wasn’t worth the risk placing another trade and my patience went without merit today. However, tomorrow I’m hoping the economic data will be a catalyst for the market to move in a considerable direction. Otherwise I can’t handle another uneventful day.
 

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Not sure if you're familiar with the spring and upthrust patterns that form after a flase breakdown/breakout occur. But I'm finding them to be high probability trades. Today's action (Monday Aug 25th) provided a prime example of a spring pattern.

A spring pattern forms when the market breaks under a horizontal support area and then rallies back to that previously broken support. In other words the low could not hold. If the price gets back into the previously established range instead of bouncing up to what was support and selling off again then it is a great indication to go long with your target being the top of the range. Just be carefull not to jump the gun and go long until prices move back in to the range because as you know what was support can often become resistance and you want to see the price move through that level as it bounces before you go long.

The inverse works well with false breakouts. These days the market is head faking allot so it is good to keep an eye out for these two setups.

Cheers.
 
Today was a perfect day for trend trading except during the long consolidation period. I’m embarrassed to say I’ve made the same mistakes from last week and each week before. I don’t know what it’s going to take for me to just enter the market in a timely manner. And this afternoon was a classic example of me convincing myself I should just wait. I kept telling myself the market wasn’t going to rebound after being down so low; “there’s no way.” Instead of me going with the trend I just trick myself out of making a trade.

Trade#1 – [Short 986 10:16 EST & Cover 984 10:22 EST] I finally entered the market after watching price drift down off my 989.50 support line. I deserve a grade of “F” for this trade because my entry was incredibly late. This trade could have been worst because after I entered, %D showed price being oversold, thank god price went down more.

Mistakes for today:
1) 10:03 EST Missed opportunity to go short after price broke my 989.50 support
2) 14:06 EST Missed opportunity to go long after price broke its intraday consolidation
3) 14:59 EST Missed opportunity to go long after price showed a lot of upward momentum

Everything I worked on this weekend didn’t help today. I didn’t place entry stops strategically to get pulled into the market nor did I prepare for signals before they appeared. A good day turned out to be a frustrating day for me.
 

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You say you convince yourself of this and that.....I do the same thing sometimes. IT IS A TRAP. A mental trap. The only thing you should convince yourself of is that anything can happen. ANYTHING! Today was a good example…everything was pointing down and then the short squeeze kicked in and we had a serious rally. Prices are never too high or too low. They are never trading too fast or too slow and direction and change in a flash. The only certainty is uncertainty. That is the nature of this business. When you place a trade...your attitude should not be "my indicators say the market is going up so I'm going long because the market will go up". What you should be thinking is "I'm going long because my indicators tell me that there is a greater probability to it going up".

The key is not to convince yourself of anything. Stay open minded. TA and analysis is good but it can be detrimental in that traders often use it to convince themselves that something will happen. When we do this the mind fixates on what one thinks SHOULD happen when you need to be focused on what IS happening.

Next time you freeze up instead of taking your signals remind yourself that the key to trading is to accept the uncertainty of every trade. There is no such thing as a sure trade. WE ONLY HAVE TWO KINDS OF TRADES. Bad trades and good trades.

A good trade is one where you follow your previously established rules like a robot. Because you believe that these rules place the odds of any give trade in your favor. A bad trade is one where you shoot from the hip and have no rules in place. A trade that loses you money can still be a GOOD TRADE because you entered when your signals told you to and you cut out when you said you would. Conversely, a trade that makes you money can be a BAD TRADE if you got in and ignored your stops and then ended up making money because the market was to be kind this time around.

So when you sit down tomorrow...forget about winning...forget about losing…forget about making money......just sit down with a single objective....MAKING GOOD TRADES all day long. Which means following your system like a machine. If you lose money over the long term doing this then you’ve gained some valuable knowledge…your system isn’t working and it needs some editing. But if you don’t follow you system like a machine then you’ll just never know…

If you are avoiding trades because you are second guessing and rationalizing then it is likely because you’ve got expectations about what the market is or is not going to do. Which as I say you shouldn’t have. Just accept that in reality you don’t know what is going to happen next, no one does, even the guys making loads of cash. If you accept the uncertainty then you are accepting reality, you are accepting truth, and trust me, when you admit that you don’t know…that no one knows….it takes the pressure off and allows you to execute your system with fewer mistakes. The guys making cash just MAKE GOOD TRADES and over the long haul cash out.

Rigid rules and flexible expectations. Problem with most of us is that we have flexible rules and rigid expectations.
 
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