Awash's Journal

Hi Awash,

I have a lot of the same problems that you're describing in your thread, especially the one regarding missed opportunities. I have an uncanny ability to miss the trades that would have worked great, and take the ones that don't.

One suggestion I have is to paper-trade the method for a while (you can still post your results). I say this for a couple of reasons.

First, you have a limited amount of attention to spend on any given task. If you are actually placing the trades, not only do you have to worry about analyzing the information you're seeing on the screen and watching for setups, but you're also occupied with entering orders. Then, when you're in a trade it becomes difficult to focus on trading well because of concern over whether it will work out or not. Paper trading will allow you to focus exclusively on your setups so that they will become second nature to you - then you can add order entry to the equation. It's kind of like learning to drive a car with a stick-shift. At first, you have to really concentrate on shifting and using the clutch and working out the timing and co-ordination, but after a while, you don't even consciously think about it.

Secondly, I believe that the main cause of people's inablility to pull the trigger on trades is that the trader doesn't have confidence in their methodology. Paper trading in real time will help to prove or disprove the effectiveness of your method as well as letting you experience what it feels like to catch some of those great moves that you (like I) tend to miss so often. This will help to increase your confidence and also, I believe, help you to determine what changes you need to make to improve your odds of catching more of the winners.
 
Quote from VisionTrader:




I assume this is what you trade based on your comments. It's ssooo easy here at ET.

Start a journal. Document what you are doing. Exactly and in writing. Call your trades in real time and teach us. Clear as mud.
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I think thats a wonderful Idea. What should I call it?
When would you like me to start?
 
Quote from T-REX:



I think thats a wonderful Idea. What should I call it?
When would you like me to start?
More...

T REX Journal.

It can start on Tuesday.

Lookin' forward to it.
 
Quote from Awash:

I’ve never considered signals prior to major trading because I felt pre-market activity could skew indicators. Have any of you opened positions based on pre-market activity from indicators?
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I have found for my liking that the tick chart seems to work better than time charts in the slowness of pre and post market. If no price change for five minutes you will get a new bar anyway - and change the indicators, not necessarily indicitive of the true flow of the market.

Make 'em pretty, Chris
 
I returned too late to trade and I was exhausted from the holiday weekend. But I'm preparing to trade for tomorrow as we speak.

I read today was an explosive day, with the SP500 Index setting new highs. Great! I hopefully the primary trend will continue. Check my journal tomorrow. Happy trading for tomorrow!!!!
 
Up and down day but good enough to snatch a few points considering the trend. For some reason I wanted to press the short side and consequently got burned early on. I made a few mental mistakes but I was more cautious with my short positions after coming off of yesterday’s gains. I’m actually happy with today’s trading because I put on 5 round-trip trades, which was a result of me not being too fearful to enter the market (THANK GOD). At least that’s a plus for today.

Trade#1 – [Short 1022.50 9:35 EST & Stop 1024.50 9:43 EST] I started off wrong and placed this trade going with the trend and failed to cover it upon reversal signal. See 1 min chart.

Trade#2 – [Short 1026.75 10:51 EST & Cover 1026.50 11.13 EST] Jumped to early on this trade and price moved around a little more. Decided to hold it because my resistance level was at 1028.75 and I put my stop above it in case it broke.

Trade#3 – [Short 1028 11:06 EST & Cover 1026 11:43 EST] After my resistance level held strongly, I went short again. I prematurely covered this position but at the time I was thinking my 1025 (new support line) was going to hold, it didn’t. Patience was virtue on this trade!

Trade#4 – [Short 1025.75 14:40 EST & Cover 1025.75 14:45 EST] I was super late with this trade. I hated everything about this trade and missed a golden opportunity to be short at 1028.75 (a proven strong resistance level all day). I covered the trade after price divergence quickly came up (wasn’t going to repeat trade#1 error).

Trade#5 – [Long 1026 14:47 EST & Cover 1025 15:11 EST] After pressing the short side all day I decided to go long immediately off of trade#4 reversal signal and knowing support near. The trade was a descent trade but it didn’t follow through. I was in-the-money 1.50 points until price returned to the downside. Next time I’ll just take profit quicker.

Mistakes for today:
1) 9:40 EST Failure to exit position on reversal signal.
2) 14:27 EST Missed opportunity to be short off my strong resistance level 1028.75
3) 14:30 EST Super late entry on trade#4 (hesitated too long).

Stopped trading at 15:12 EST
 

Attachments

A lot of movement with price today which resulted in some good and bad trades, not to mention missed opportunities. I was predominantly long the market coming off of yesterday’s desire to be short. I realized at the last minute that today was a good day for taking quick profits. I’m always shooting for the homerun in one trade but instead I need to be a bit more conservative with my profit targets.

Trade#1 – [Long 1023 10:36 EST & Exit 1023.50 10:53 EST] I saw a long hammer develop off my support level, plus a divergence signal on my 1 minute chart. My entry was okay and I got filled at a good price. However price moved up and came back down. I decided to exit because I didn’t want a winner to turn into a loser. (happened to me on Wednesday with trade# 5). I need to get better at snatching the quick profits especially if price doesn’t follow thru to my target.

Trade#2 – [Long 1023 11:04 EST & Exit 1024.75 11:21 EST] Double bottom off my resistance level, I had to go long again but I was determined to get 2 points. I quickly exited the market when price reached my target, however I left profit on the table. This was such a stressful trade for me because I didn’t want to turn a winner into a loser.

Trade#3 – [Short 1027 15:24 EST & Cover 1026.75 15:30 EST] A super late entry but I decided to take this trade because I know the market always does something out of character at the end of the session. I was thinking the ES was going to sell off after not breaking my 1029.50 resistance. Nevertheless, this trade was even more stressful than #2 and I decided to cover my short with a few minutes.
 

Attachments

I missed the opportunity to go long after price broke out from its short range earlier in the session. I continued to press the short side throughout the day off of some strong resistance levels.

Trade#1 – [Short 1028.75 10:18 EST & Cover 1030.75 10:22 EST] I don’t know why I chose to go short so quickly. My 1 minute chart showed a possible double top forming but overall this was a bad trade because there was no confirmation. I covered the short with a quick loss. Hopefully this will be the last trade I jump on too quickly without considering other internals. I should have took this trade off the major up trend.

Trade#2 – [Short 1030.50 10:26 EST & Cover 1029.50 10:45 EST] My resistance level was definitely confirmed at 1032 plus my divergence signal formed at 10:23. I entered the market with good timing and covered this position after it lingered around my new support level of 1028.75. However, I should have trusted my %D more. I didn’t cover this trade on a reversal signal.

Trade#3 – [Short 1030.50 11:19 EST & Cover 1029.25 12:06 EST] This was trade#2 all over again but it took too long to develop some downside movement. I stayed in this trade for a while and decided to cover it because the lunch hour was approaching.

For tomorrow: I want to focus on trading more with the trend and not missing opportunities.
 

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