for trading definitely the 1 minute chart
Little Lex's YM Daytrading Journal
- Thread starter Little Lex
- Start date
I won't enter a trade if I don't see potential for at least 15 -20 points. I don't have a standard sized target but generally set my targets depending on the trade setup. As you can see from my relatively small winners I sometimes close the trade manually without the target being hit. I know this is not good because my decisions are influenced by emotions.
Again today I closed another trade way too early just because I wanted to âbag some winnersâ. I really have to get this under control and improve my trade management.
I took 5 trades today. I was very pleased with the first 2 but then somehow I lost my focus.
Trade 1: Long position during this morning's uptrend. Good entry but closed too quickly.
Trade 2: Long position during uptrend for second peak. This was actually a pretty decent trade.
Trades 3-5: All short trades which basically tells it all. I get really nervous being in a short position when the Dow is up 170 points or more. Why I did this 3 times in a row I don't know.
To save myself from my own stupidity I decided to finish earlier today.
Trade 1: +10
Trade 2: +13
Trade 3: +5
Trade 4: -7
Trade 5: -1
Day: +20
Week: +40
Month: -5
Trade 1: Long position during this morning's uptrend. Good entry but closed too quickly.
Trade 2: Long position during uptrend for second peak. This was actually a pretty decent trade.
Trades 3-5: All short trades which basically tells it all. I get really nervous being in a short position when the Dow is up 170 points or more. Why I did this 3 times in a row I don't know.
To save myself from my own stupidity I decided to finish earlier today.
Trade 1: +10
Trade 2: +13
Trade 3: +5
Trade 4: -7
Trade 5: -1
Day: +20
Week: +40
Month: -5
dubs07,
thanks for reviewing tuesday's trades. I know I should have been more careful with the first one because it was counter trend. I guess when you trade counter trend and previous resistance is not broken immediately then it is time to get out.
I think your strategy of moving the stop level slightly below the lows of a previous base is great and I will certainly use it.
Obviously it was wrong to get out of the second trade at that early stage. As you pointed out I was trying to "bag a winner" after the first trade reversed on me.
I set myself goals for every trading day and every trading week. I will have to put "trade management" and "emotion control" at the top of that list.
Good trading to everyone,
LL
thanks for reviewing tuesday's trades. I know I should have been more careful with the first one because it was counter trend. I guess when you trade counter trend and previous resistance is not broken immediately then it is time to get out.
I think your strategy of moving the stop level slightly below the lows of a previous base is great and I will certainly use it.
Obviously it was wrong to get out of the second trade at that early stage. As you pointed out I was trying to "bag a winner" after the first trade reversed on me.
I set myself goals for every trading day and every trading week. I will have to put "trade management" and "emotion control" at the top of that list.
Good trading to everyone,
LL
Lex its my pleasure, when you help others you're helpin yourself review what you've learned and instill it even more ya know. One of the first things I was taught was to make a useful and practical trading plan, and was taught it in great detail by some amazing traders, so if you would like I would be more than happy to go over yours/create one that fits your personality and style. I'm currently doing this with a couple people, and they've found it beneficial. So lemme know! 
and about the targets you're lookin for... remember you're trading off 1 minute time frames so don't be expecting large moves, unless your setup is based off the 5/2 minute chart and you're refinin your entry on the 1 min. I know you said 15 pts is your general target...but then you gotta ask yourself, why are you riskin 15 pts on every trade, just to try and get to 15 pts???...
I would either position size a little better / reevaluate your setup criteria to shorten your stops / or use the larger time-frames for setups and refine your entries on the smaller ones.
but again if any of what I'm sayin makes sense to you or sounds helpful lemme know and I'd be more than happy to go further into detail.
happy trading!
- dubs
and about the targets you're lookin for... remember you're trading off 1 minute time frames so don't be expecting large moves, unless your setup is based off the 5/2 minute chart and you're refinin your entry on the 1 min. I know you said 15 pts is your general target...but then you gotta ask yourself, why are you riskin 15 pts on every trade, just to try and get to 15 pts???...
I would either position size a little better / reevaluate your setup criteria to shorten your stops / or use the larger time-frames for setups and refine your entries on the smaller ones.
but again if any of what I'm sayin makes sense to you or sounds helpful lemme know and I'd be more than happy to go further into detail.
happy trading!
- dubs
Extremely disappointing day for me as I gave away 3 days of gains today.
One of my main trading rules is not to trade the news. Today I didn't pay attention and had an open position when the Philli Fed Index came out and lost 25 points on one trade.
I didn't manage to clear my head after that shock and took stupid trades resulting in another 16 points of losses. I had to stop early today since my maximum loss is 45 points on any given day.
For this week I wanted to focus on high probability setups and high potential trades. I managed to do that at the beginning of the week. It seems that I've lost my focus as the week progressed.
Day: -41
Week: -1
Month: -46
One of my main trading rules is not to trade the news. Today I didn't pay attention and had an open position when the Philli Fed Index came out and lost 25 points on one trade.
I didn't manage to clear my head after that shock and took stupid trades resulting in another 16 points of losses. I had to stop early today since my maximum loss is 45 points on any given day.
For this week I wanted to focus on high probability setups and high potential trades. I managed to do that at the beginning of the week. It seems that I've lost my focus as the week progressed.
Day: -41
Week: -1
Month: -46
Dubs,
I agree that it's difficult to become a profitable trader if you have a risk/reward ratio of 1:1. In that case you are putting yourself under pressure because you need a really good âbatting averageâ.
The maximum loss that I allow is 15 points. Therefore I wrote that âI won't enter a trade if I don't see potential for at least 15 -20 pointsâ. So my minimum target would be 15 points but generally my targets could be much larger.
Now if we move from my theoretical stops and targets to my actual trading results we see a completely different picture. Luckily my average loss is smaller than 15 points (b/c I trail the stop if the trade performs well or close the trade early if it does not move according to plan). Unfortunately on the other hand my winners are smaller than my targets as well. Here the reasons are the same as with the stops except that my impatience also plays a big role.
It is clear to me that I will have to make some adjustments to my trading plan. I think you are right that I should consider a longer time frame for my setups. I will think about this this week end and will share my thoughts and opinions with you.
LL
I agree that it's difficult to become a profitable trader if you have a risk/reward ratio of 1:1. In that case you are putting yourself under pressure because you need a really good âbatting averageâ.
The maximum loss that I allow is 15 points. Therefore I wrote that âI won't enter a trade if I don't see potential for at least 15 -20 pointsâ. So my minimum target would be 15 points but generally my targets could be much larger.
Now if we move from my theoretical stops and targets to my actual trading results we see a completely different picture. Luckily my average loss is smaller than 15 points (b/c I trail the stop if the trade performs well or close the trade early if it does not move according to plan). Unfortunately on the other hand my winners are smaller than my targets as well. Here the reasons are the same as with the stops except that my impatience also plays a big role.
It is clear to me that I will have to make some adjustments to my trading plan. I think you are right that I should consider a longer time frame for my setups. I will think about this this week end and will share my thoughts and opinions with you.
LL
I am happy to report my best daily result for the last 2 weeks. Today I managed to take out 34 points which also means that I'm profitable for the week.
Obviously I still have a long way to go but this result is a huge relief after yesterday's result.
Trade 1: +8
Trade 2: +8
Trade 3: +5
Trade 4: +5
Trade 5: +8
Day: +34
Week: +33
Month: -12
Have a nice week-end everybody,
Little Lex
Obviously I still have a long way to go but this result is a huge relief after yesterday's result.
Trade 1: +8
Trade 2: +8
Trade 3: +5
Trade 4: +5
Trade 5: +8
Day: +34
Week: +33
Month: -12
Have a nice week-end everybody,
Little Lex