Thanks for the great ideas and comments guys.
I was stopped out at +6.50pts, which for me voids that plan. Part of the plan was that when we reach the 1358-1360 area, we should stay above 1350-1351 in order to reach 1377-1380 area without further consolidation. This time the plan was not to liquidate at that area, though my instincts turned out to be right this time. The plan as it was turned out to be wrong. But it's an unavoidable relation: the further the targets are, the more often you have to satisfy to partial profits. The correct target would have been 1357 or 1358, but then my analysis should have been based on different priorities, which still seem inferior to those that I was using. But in the end there's no shoulda-woulda-coulda in the markets - just profits and losses.
My analysis didn't consider 1358-1360 an important level over the multi-day timeframe, I was expecting just temporary resistance there. The third failure near the EOD and the move back below 1350 level voided the plan and longs seem on thinner ground now because of two reasons confirmed yesterday:
- triple failure at 1358-1360 level with a probable 3-wave upwards correction completed now.
- despite the volatile consolidation over the past weeks, we're still in a longer term downtrend, which adds to the general bias and conforms with the 1358-1360 becoming stronger resistance yesterday.
1340 area is still the important key level for me (note the monday's 60min breakout bar at 9:30 from 1335.50 to 1354.50) and as long as we're trading above it, 1377-1380 area is still a probable target in my view. But I need to see a valid structure for re-entry. I don't see it yet.
My stop-out happened past 10pm here and I had already hit the sack. ES did return to 1343 level, but I wasn't behind the screens (still asleep) and I wouldn't probably have taken it even if I were.
In my trading I've learned that it helps a lot for my style to enforce more patience in waiting for decent entry setups as they were planned as well as letting a trade play out, instead of re-analyzing every measurement and ending up micro-managing my trades.
I'm seeing a lot of potential in the thought of scaling in/out of trades if done correctly and systematically, but I've yet to find a suitable method for myself to do that with satisfactory results. In other words, I'm not so good at that yet, although I'd like to be someday. So yes, scaling out is definitely one more useful trading aspect that I'll study and incorporate into my trading plan in the future.
