LL's Daily Discipline Journal

Second-Half of Day 7 + day 8 results: +620
Actions: Have been doing a lot of frenetic trading over the last day and a half - I'm not going to go through all the nitty gritty details, but have had successful scalps in CNX and TREE today, closed Sprint yesterday at a small profit.....I made one decision that was stupid in retrospect that I would like to discuss due to how foolish it was - I bought NCQ yesterday after it popped 30% on the day. Fortunately for me, the market let me out at a very small loss, but it bothers me because this type of impulsive cowboyitis will kill me if I am not careful. On the plus side, my habit of "closing trades too soon" that was bothering me so much last week is actually helping me in this market that has suddenly seen some selling. I think a good rule of thumb going forward is that if I am long on a stock and it is trending nice, I should hold overnight if the S&P is above its 10 day SMA - if the S&P is below the 10D sma I should look to exit on market close or just scalp.
I hope someone reading my journal is benefitting from it as I certainly am - this is my first time ever keeping a journal and it is helping me really see some of my negative habits that repeat over and over again - like trying to fade moves in WTI for example. I've been trying become a successful daytrader for the last 8 years and have taken a number of bumps on the road. I'm hoping my recent success marks a turning point and that I am on my way to becoming a professional. Only time will tell.
Running P&L: +2620
 
Day 9 results: -60
Actions: insanity is often said to be doing something over and over again and expecting different results - why do I continue to trade crude/nat gas around inventory reports, knowing my history with never making a dime trying to day trade them? It really must be some kind of self-hatred. Results from Nat gas trading today -$246.

I had a nice setup this morning in AMRI - I closed within 15 minutes of getting long for a -$64 loss because I didn't like the way it "looked". If I just held the position until now I would have made +$150.

I had a nice setup in KHC - I closed within 2 hours of getting long for a -$115 loss because it looked to me like the chart was rolling over on me - if I just held until now the trade would have been slightly profitable.

I had a position that I held overnight in BABA that I bought because I thought they would beat on earnings - I exited with a $364 profit - which is great considering the mess I made of everything else. However, if I just held it until now I could have had even more profit.

Discipline Grade: F went back to the poison well again of trying to day trade commodities - stocks are the only thing I can trade with any type of success yet I keep going back for that pain. Why? Also, the quick loss taking today was clearly destructive as well. What could have been a very nice profitable day turned to crap due to my activities.

On a side note, I trade 2 accounts - one of them is mine and another is a family member's. I notice most of my losses occur in my own account while most of my wins occur in my family member's account. Why is that? Well, the family member is afraid of losing money and as a result I tend to trade with smaller position size and play not to lose rather than focusing on how much I can made. I think there are valuable lessons from this.

Running P&L: +2560
 
Day 10 actions: Bought 1000 ATW @ 9.06 after a strong earnings beat - hopefully it sets up to be a nice trend day - also took a position in BABA after the open as well - will update later

Edit - closed ATW for a $840 profit - likely will regret this as it is already running higher, but I just wanted to put some money in my account today and not get too greedy.
 
Today ended with me being up $415, despite being up $840 earlier today, not to mention I could have had $2500 if I just sat on my hands all day and stuck with my initial position. Why did my daily p&l drop from $840 to $415? Because I spent the rest of the day trying to scalp and took death by 1000 paper cuts. I walked away with a profit today, but I certainly didn't deserve it. Running P/L: @2975

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Rather that giving myself daily discipline grade, it looks like I am going to need to make some rules, and will grade myself on a simple yes and no as to whether or not I followed those rules:


1) Did I avoid trading commodity etfs today? Yes
2) Did I limit myself to 2 roundtrip trades today? No
3) Did I enter trades with predetermined stop loss and take profit criteria? No
4) Did I avoid taking a long position in a stock that was trading below its open or vice versa? No
5) Did I avoid exiting trades too early? (compared to p&l from exiting on next day's open) No

Discipline score: 1 out of 5

Please let me know if anyone reading this thinks there are rules that I should add that will help me. Thank you.
 
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Larry Livingston said:
Today ended with me being up $415, despite being up $840 earlier today, not to mention I could have had $2500 if I just sat on my hands all day and stuck with my initial position. Why did my daily p&l drop from $840 to $415? Because I spent the rest of the day trying to scalp and took death by 1000 paper cuts. I walked away with a profit today, but I certainly didn't deserve it. Running P/L: @2975

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Rather that giving myself daily discipline grade, it looks like I am going to need to make some rules, and will grade myself on a simple yes and no as to whether or not I followed those rules:


1) Did I avoid trading commodity etfs today? Yes
2) Did I limit myself to 2 roundtrip trades today? No
3) Did I enter trades with predetermined stop loss and take profit criteria? No
4) Did I avoid taking a long position in a stock that was trading below its open or vice versa? No
5) Did I avoid exiting trades too early? (compared to p&l from exiting on next day's open) No

Discipline score: 1 out of 5

Please let me know if anyone reading this thinks there are rules that I should add that will help me. Thank you.
More...

If you have to ask us, then you not done enough back testing to find out if rules are good, asking us is wrong approach. When I first started, trading stocks so much easier than commodities, took years to get consistent with commodities and now I don't even day trade stocks as I can't get enough volume and fees too much. Try to stick to same rules for a month before making changes.

Best thing to do when lost, imagine a friend asking you for help, what would you say to him? Often times we can tell a friend what to do in life and yet we have problems telling ourselves.

Stick to what you are good in.
 
Larry Livingston said:
ATW now up 30% on the day - incredible - I booked an $840 profit when I could have had $2000 if I just sat on my hands.
More...

Have you thought of a partial sell (you'll never sell the exact top, nor cover the exact bottom tick)? In this case, you could have sold 500 shares (for instance), then sold another 2-300 shares a bit higher, and let the rest of the shares ride while moving your stop up from support level to higher support level?

Good luck.
 
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