2 trades today. I really tried to stay in the flow of the market and not force anything. There were a lot of trades to take, but I tried to let the market tell me where price was going so I didn't see a lot of the trades at the time.
Trade A: Break of the opening bar. You'd have to hold on until it picked up some momentum. It went exactly to +20 to the tick and then had a bounce. We would have had our target in way in advance so maybe we would have gotten a fill.
Trade 1: Second entry long, higher low on the 1min. This was one where I let the market tell me where price was going. I didn't try to fight it. I just went with it and trusted it. It stuck around the +1 range for a little bit, briefly dipped into the red, but then went on to target. It was a good exit as it was right at the EMA. +20
Trade B: Bounce off the EMA, shooting star. I felt like there was a reversal coming and that the downside didn't have much room to move. With a strong move up to this bar, and the acceleration from the lows, I thought maybe there would be a 2nd leg pullback.
Trade C: I almost shorted this. It was a double bottom, second pullback, second entry, slight overshoot of the downtrend line, rejection of the EMA. Something didn't feel right about it so I stayed out. I think I also got up from my computer around this time to do something.
Trade D: The D bar one ticked down below the C bar so we're probably going up now. I didn't like this that much because it was sitting under the EMA.
Trade 2: I had to think about this one for a little bit, but eventually I ended up taking it. Double bottom at a new low of the day. It was very counter trend and I didn't feel good about it so I moved my stop quickly. My sim got me in at a different price than what I wanted and got me out at a better price so it gave me +3 on this one.
Trade E: Bull trap, one tick above the highs of the previous bar. I always miss these unless it's really obvious or unless I'm watching for it. It was a continuation with the trend. I think I was still trying to analyze my last trade and figure out whether it was a good trade or not.
Trade F: We have what looks to be a true reversal off the lows. It was the first time all day where it really looked like a reversal was coming. Now I'm looking long here. I was trying to let price tell me what it was going to do and this F bar was the first time I really had an idea. I didn't take it because I just wasn't sure with the EMA just above. I watched it and tried to play it in my mind. It definitely gave you enough time to decide what to do. I watched the 1min chart closely and there was a double bottom around the 81.13 area so I mentally moved my stop to 82.12 and it eventually came back and would have stopped me out at +4.
Trade G: This one isn't easy to see on the 5min. It was looking good on the 1 min chart along with a confirmation of the move off of the EMA. It just had a good feel to it. I didn't take this either because I hesitated. I had a chance to get in when it came back and tested the 1min 20 EMA, but I just watched it. I really liked this trade though. It felt good. I should have taken it. You would have eventually gotten twenty ticks out of this if you were willing to hold through the small pullback, which isn't shown on my chart above.
Sim: +22 (2 trades, 2W/0L)
Monthly Sim: +6.5 (23 trades, 16W/7L)
hTotal: +31 (6 trades, 4W/2L)
Monthly hTotal: +466.5 (73 trades, 54W/19L)
I am being conservative on that hTotal today. I could easily say what I would have done differently, but I try to make sure to add in the trades that I actually took and then work my way through the day as if I followed my strategy properly.
Trading felt good today. I felt in the zone. It's a good way to be, not feeling impatient, not feeling like you're missing out on something, not forcing trades, not trying to make something out of nothing. I think when I keep myself in that mindset that I start seeing the chart more clearly. I wasn't this way on Friday and that really hurt me. I was trying to force too many trades. Today I just tried to keep an open mind and let the market tell me what it wanted me to do. I still have to keep my ears open, listen, and take the trades.
Sometimes before I take a trade I'll talk myself through the trade like I do on here and it starts to make sense. That is why I took Trade 2. I just talked myself into the trade, but I wasn't completely sure that it was a good trade with that strong red bar straight down from its open.
Overall, even though I should have been taking more trades today, I'm happy that I got 23 ticks. Sitting through the weekend was tough after going through Friday where I just kept taking losses. I started to question what I was doing and if there was a better way to be trading. I'm not one to give up on the first sign of trouble. I can't expect to have a flawless day. I'm going to keep an eye on this strategy and work on it, but I think over time I'm going to end up developing this to fit how I like to trade. I know for one thing that it has been helping me to sit through trades and become more patient. I've had several times in the last 4 trading days, since starting this where I've seen the trades for what they are and not just jump out on the first tick against me. There have been trades where I stayed in because it still looked good in the direction of my trade. I like to think that I'm slowly starting to develop my experience for trading Crude Oil. I've been doing this for about 4 months now. I've taken some bruises in my live account, but I think if I wouldn't have tried trading live like I did, then I wouldn't really understand what I need to work on and realize that I need to take a step back. Just trading in sim from the beginning would always make me feel like I was missing out on something, that I would have no problem doing this live. I probably wouldn't take sim trading as serious as I do now. I definitely have a different outlook on trading seeing how difficult it can be.
I still look forward to really understanding trading and getting the hang of it. The journey is slow, but the path I'm taking is starting to straighten out.
Over the weekend I pulled a book off my shelf just to flip through it quickly and while skimming the first chapter there was something that caught my eye on the section of Self-Sabotage. I find myself getting distracted a lot so I started to read a little bit about this just to see if it fit my problem:
"After practicing psychiatry for many years, I became convinced that most failures in life are due to self-sabotage. We fail in our professional, personal, and business affairs not because of stupidity or incompetence, but to fulfill an unconscious wish to fail." - Dr. Alexander Elder - Trading For a Living
Trade A: Break of the opening bar. You'd have to hold on until it picked up some momentum. It went exactly to +20 to the tick and then had a bounce. We would have had our target in way in advance so maybe we would have gotten a fill.
Trade 1: Second entry long, higher low on the 1min. This was one where I let the market tell me where price was going. I didn't try to fight it. I just went with it and trusted it. It stuck around the +1 range for a little bit, briefly dipped into the red, but then went on to target. It was a good exit as it was right at the EMA. +20
Trade B: Bounce off the EMA, shooting star. I felt like there was a reversal coming and that the downside didn't have much room to move. With a strong move up to this bar, and the acceleration from the lows, I thought maybe there would be a 2nd leg pullback.
Trade C: I almost shorted this. It was a double bottom, second pullback, second entry, slight overshoot of the downtrend line, rejection of the EMA. Something didn't feel right about it so I stayed out. I think I also got up from my computer around this time to do something.
Trade D: The D bar one ticked down below the C bar so we're probably going up now. I didn't like this that much because it was sitting under the EMA.
Trade 2: I had to think about this one for a little bit, but eventually I ended up taking it. Double bottom at a new low of the day. It was very counter trend and I didn't feel good about it so I moved my stop quickly. My sim got me in at a different price than what I wanted and got me out at a better price so it gave me +3 on this one.
Trade E: Bull trap, one tick above the highs of the previous bar. I always miss these unless it's really obvious or unless I'm watching for it. It was a continuation with the trend. I think I was still trying to analyze my last trade and figure out whether it was a good trade or not.
Trade F: We have what looks to be a true reversal off the lows. It was the first time all day where it really looked like a reversal was coming. Now I'm looking long here. I was trying to let price tell me what it was going to do and this F bar was the first time I really had an idea. I didn't take it because I just wasn't sure with the EMA just above. I watched it and tried to play it in my mind. It definitely gave you enough time to decide what to do. I watched the 1min chart closely and there was a double bottom around the 81.13 area so I mentally moved my stop to 82.12 and it eventually came back and would have stopped me out at +4.
Trade G: This one isn't easy to see on the 5min. It was looking good on the 1 min chart along with a confirmation of the move off of the EMA. It just had a good feel to it. I didn't take this either because I hesitated. I had a chance to get in when it came back and tested the 1min 20 EMA, but I just watched it. I really liked this trade though. It felt good. I should have taken it. You would have eventually gotten twenty ticks out of this if you were willing to hold through the small pullback, which isn't shown on my chart above.
Sim: +22 (2 trades, 2W/0L)
Monthly Sim: +6.5 (23 trades, 16W/7L)
hTotal: +31 (6 trades, 4W/2L)
Monthly hTotal: +466.5 (73 trades, 54W/19L)
I am being conservative on that hTotal today. I could easily say what I would have done differently, but I try to make sure to add in the trades that I actually took and then work my way through the day as if I followed my strategy properly.
Trading felt good today. I felt in the zone. It's a good way to be, not feeling impatient, not feeling like you're missing out on something, not forcing trades, not trying to make something out of nothing. I think when I keep myself in that mindset that I start seeing the chart more clearly. I wasn't this way on Friday and that really hurt me. I was trying to force too many trades. Today I just tried to keep an open mind and let the market tell me what it wanted me to do. I still have to keep my ears open, listen, and take the trades.
Sometimes before I take a trade I'll talk myself through the trade like I do on here and it starts to make sense. That is why I took Trade 2. I just talked myself into the trade, but I wasn't completely sure that it was a good trade with that strong red bar straight down from its open.
Overall, even though I should have been taking more trades today, I'm happy that I got 23 ticks. Sitting through the weekend was tough after going through Friday where I just kept taking losses. I started to question what I was doing and if there was a better way to be trading. I'm not one to give up on the first sign of trouble. I can't expect to have a flawless day. I'm going to keep an eye on this strategy and work on it, but I think over time I'm going to end up developing this to fit how I like to trade. I know for one thing that it has been helping me to sit through trades and become more patient. I've had several times in the last 4 trading days, since starting this where I've seen the trades for what they are and not just jump out on the first tick against me. There have been trades where I stayed in because it still looked good in the direction of my trade. I like to think that I'm slowly starting to develop my experience for trading Crude Oil. I've been doing this for about 4 months now. I've taken some bruises in my live account, but I think if I wouldn't have tried trading live like I did, then I wouldn't really understand what I need to work on and realize that I need to take a step back. Just trading in sim from the beginning would always make me feel like I was missing out on something, that I would have no problem doing this live. I probably wouldn't take sim trading as serious as I do now. I definitely have a different outlook on trading seeing how difficult it can be.
I still look forward to really understanding trading and getting the hang of it. The journey is slow, but the path I'm taking is starting to straighten out.
Over the weekend I pulled a book off my shelf just to flip through it quickly and while skimming the first chapter there was something that caught my eye on the section of Self-Sabotage. I find myself getting distracted a lot so I started to read a little bit about this just to see if it fit my problem:
"After practicing psychiatry for many years, I became convinced that most failures in life are due to self-sabotage. We fail in our professional, personal, and business affairs not because of stupidity or incompetence, but to fulfill an unconscious wish to fail." - Dr. Alexander Elder - Trading For a Living
