January Trading Journals

<i>This is all due to lack of confidence. Instead I need to stop staring at 1 min charts and the tape and taking the bread and butter setups off the 5 min charts </i>

Go to some bigger timeframes, thats probably a lot of your problem. If you go to say a 120 minute chart and we are at the bottom of a range, look to the 1 or 2 minute chart for long reversal patterns. If you see a 30 minute bearflag to resistance then look for a setup on the 1 to 5's. Keep it simple, but look at the bigger timeframes..they are the most important.

Brandon
 
Actually going to bigger time frame right now is suicide. Longer time frame requires wider stops which is exactly what you don't want to do when you are in a losing streak. I am going to do my best to grind it out until I get some of my touch back.
 
You have to go to bigger time frames. Of course it may mean wider stops, but you won't have small consistent losses chewing you up with commissions piled on top. Expecting a stock to not tick against you (i.e.- immediately go in your favor & not look back) is just not reasonable. You will get shaken out every time.
 
I think its going to be harder and harder to make a buck. Nothing but pros and prowannabes churning each other. Everybody entering on the same setups then trying to get out first reducing the margins until they dissappear.
 
<i>Actually going to bigger time frame right now is suicide. Longer time frame requires wider stops which is exactly what you don't want to do when you are in a losing streak. I am going to do my best to grind it out until I get some of my touch back </i>

You should listen to yourself. What is suicide is to go on a five minute chart or off the tape and buy the top of a range because you have no idea that it is the top of the range. If you look at a 60 or a 120 or a 30 minute chart you would know its the top of the range. Its also suicide to short a 2 minute chart if the hourly chart, for example, has a bullflag to some support and whatnot. Whats NOT suicide, is to look at the 120 minute chart and see that you are at the top of the range. Then look at the 2 minute chart and see a small head and shoulders pattern. Then, go short with a stop above the 2 minute chart.

But, if you want to be like the guys who made $5 or $6 million in 1998/99/2000 and have blown out this year thinking that momentum trading is still in vogue..be my guest. Its no skin off my back.

Brandon
 
For someone who makes his bread and butter with quarters and half's to switch to point's is like swing traders going LTBH, you can't do it in a losing streak period.
 
Thanks Brandon, I looked up some 30 minutes chart today and used it to filter out a few trades that I would have took otherwise, it is pretty helpful and it doesn't really compromise my stops as I still use tape/5 minute based stops.

It is indeed a good confirmation tool. The range of each candle is good for my current strategy as a 60 or 120 minute candle is way too wide for me.
 
Jan 2 -403
Jan 3 +15
Jan 4 -1308
Jan 7 +345
Jan 8 -202
Jan 9 -36
Jan 10 +3
Jan 11 +613
Jan 14 +220
Jan 15 +462
Jan 16 -769
Jan 17 -383

Slump? Losing streak? Where???????

Hitman, from the above I see 6 winning days and 6 losing days, with a maximum of 2 consecutive losing days. I also see a trader who ended a successful 2001 on a 13 day winning streak, and who has had the psychological misfortune to be negative throughout all of 2002 (12 trading days). Had this chain of events occurred sometime last year when you were up $60,000, I doubt all this self-flagellation would be taking place. Constant review of your trading style is always recommended, but no need to start using terms like "losing streak syndrome" yet, IMHO.
 
What's alarming is the -15% in shooting percentage, the much bigger down day's than up day's.

It is critical to realize the degradation in performance early and reduce size/aggression etc before the actual losing streak hits. I am a day trader, not a swing trader, a negative month is a big deal to me.

If you have a virus, you treat it before it kills you.

If you are in a slump, you work on it before it turns into a serious losing streak.
 
<< If you are in a slump, you work on it before it turns into a serious losing streak. >>

I have no doubt that it feels like a slump, so you have every right to take all preventive measures that you deem fit. From a purely probabilistic viewpoint however, I stand by my previous comments. So if you do think something's broken, fix it slowly and selectively.
 
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