Matcha's Dow E-mini Journal

Quote from Went Fishing:

Matcha,

...You mentioned earlier that Boli's charts looked like "colorful fishnet stockings". Yours on the other hand remind me of a very skimpy string bikini :cool: . ...
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lol

For the past couple of days it appears you've been changing things up again. Maybe you're suffering from paralysis of over analysis, LOL.
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Sorry for the confusion. and thank you for pointing out my problem.
Yes, it might sound confusing. I have been reading a lot of Al brooks lately! A lot! And it might take a little while to really clearly understand and apply it. But for right now, PA will be the focus.

You now seem to desire to trade a longer time horizon, and allow trades to sit in the market longer. I believe you have a nice trend indicator with your two MAs and if you can learn to respect those levels as much as prices do I think you can achieve your goal.

We never know when prices will trend, or how the day will unfold, but you have "Nice Instincts" and when you settle down and find your fit your confidence will strengthen. :)
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I have always tried to ride the intra-day swing. But I have never done it successfully. Everyday after market when I note the best trades of the day. In highsight, it would be so nice and easy to just get in and not to be shaked out by some retrace. In and out so far has brought me nothing besides exhaustion. Although it depends on the days. some times the day is trending nice at the open. I could do that. some times. the days are trading in a range. I need to only scalp.... Most of the days, when the move of the day over at the opening, then I can't expect swing at all. Like today. So in a " easy to see" trending days, I am trying to learn to hold at least 2-3 swings...
 
Matcha

Coffee run.... sounds good. It's to bad your trade missed it's target by a few ticks :( I was wondering if your platform supports a trailing stop? If it does you may find it helpful for "coffee run" types of trades.
 
There's a lesson in the Coffee Trade, but that doesn't take away the frustration. This is water off a ducks back for you because I know you've got your emotions under control.

I chuckle thinking about old days flirting with "The Vacation Trade". I think every trader does a few of these. :) Boli is the only person I've heard of who is able to manage this.

It's good to get away from the screen if you are trading a time frame that makes sense for this. A mobile solution is worth having in place at some point.

The weeks stats look great. I can't help but be impressed with the consistency of your win-rate and your ability to manage frequency. These are great accomplishments. :)
 
Quote from Matcha:



.... I have been reading a lot of Al brooks lately! A lot! And it might take a little while to really clearly understand and apply it. But for right now, PA will be the focus.

..

I have always tried to ride the intra-day swing. But I have never done it successfully. Everyday after market when I note the best trades of the day. In highsight, it would be so nice and easy to just get in and not to be shaked out by some retrace. In and out so far has brought me nothing besides exhaustion......
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Hi Matcha,

Have you noticed that most of the BIG intra-day swing (movement) are within the first 90~120 minutes of the trading day. It has the greatest potential to maximize your holding time and your profit. Al Brooks said the same thing on pg 384 [Trading guideline #23] - "The easiest time to make money is in the first 90 minutes."

For now, I have pretty much divided the trading day into 3 sessions - The opening 2.25 hours, a potential lunch break for 2 hours and the closing 2.25 hours. Focusing only on the open and the close. Taking a break during the lunch hours helps to reduce the exhaustion factor.

Do you follow mostly 1 chart now as Al Brook has suggested? Do you look at multiple time frames on different charts?

I, too am trying to capture the bigger swings hopefully using the 5 minute chart for setups and the 15 & 30 minute charts to determine the "context" of the trend and trade accordingly.

Best trading for the coming week!

--po
 
Break even day.

7:40 took 2 long. First long didn’t have too much follow through. I exit quickly. Second long was a re-enter. Stopped out by a failed breakout.

8:06. Flipped to a short on a failed Breakout. 1) it was a 4th push up. 2) failed continue to go long, large reversal bar, 3) broke the trend line which formed since opening. I think my ambition is too aggressive for a counter-trend trade. This trade was a scalp rather than a reversal trade. The large candles after a Double Top formation failed to break major support always fooled me that the trend is going to reverse… Stopped out by a retrace after price one tick below 7:05 bar low-support level, 11037.

8:45 Then Price made another test to 11037, 3 tick failed to break this level. This could be a great place to go long if there was a wedge breakout or breakout pullback sets up. But I totally didn’t recognize the pattern. And I walked away from my desk.

12:01 long. Breakout. Trend resumption. This time I set my target once more too aggressive. I bet on that it will break the major resistance level-11103. And I failed to recognize that it’s the 4th push with the last push being climatic. But I was out when I see no follow through on the climatic momentum.

There are still some great opportunities in today’s market. Hopefully soon I can quickly recognize them before too late…

PnL: -$4.6 4 trades, 50% winrate
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Quote from Went Fishing:

Matcha

Coffee run.... sounds good. It's to bad your trade missed it's target by a few ticks :( I was wondering if your platform supports a trailing stop? If it does you may find it helpful for "coffee run" types of trades.
More...

will try a trailing stop next time definitely!
 
Quote from FreeMarketRider:

There's a lesson in the Coffee Trade, but that doesn't take away the frustration. This is water off a ducks back for you because I know you've got your emotions under control.
....
It's good to get away from the screen if you are trading a time frame that makes sense for this. A mobile solution is worth having in place at some point.

The weeks stats look great. I can't help but be impressed with the consistency of your win-rate and your ability to manage frequency. These are great accomplishments. :)
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Thank you!, Still a lot to study and work on. Definitely have gained more experience to look and analyze the market. But as far as trading CP, not there yet at all...
 
Quote from PatientOperator:
Have you noticed that most of the BIG intra-day swing (movement) are within the first 90~120 minutes of the trading day. It has the greatest potential to maximize your holding time and your profit. Al Brooks said the same thing on pg 384 [Trading guideline #23] - "The easiest time to make money is in the first 90 minutes."
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Hi, PO!
Yeh, the major move of the day often happened on the first hour...sometimes later days we get trend resumption or reversal but it's not that easy to catch them for beginners-at least for me, sometimes it's just happen so fast. If one day I can "magically" catch them successfully in my later " trading career". I am planning to only trade the first 60-80min then pursue something else I am interested in. :p Life would be so wonderful!


For now, I have pretty much divided the trading day into 3 sessions - The opening 2.25 hours, a potential lunch break for 2 hours and the closing 2.25 hours. Focusing only on the open and the close. Taking a break during the lunch hours helps to reduce the exhaustion factor.
More...

Great idea. For me, I sometimes go take nap during lunch or do some housework during lunch break. :p :p

But I found 20% of the time, there were some breakout or continuation of trend that happened during those low -volume time. Depends on the type of days...

Do you follow mostly 1 chart now as Al Brook has suggested? Do you look at multiple time frames on different charts? .
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I do look at multiple time frames. if you look at Al's trading video on youtube and free webinar on his site. He actually looksat .15min, 60 min, daily chart to do measured move and see where the trend is currently or where it might ends etc, just like everyone else. But he is not taking trading set up based on larger time frame. Sometimes he scalp from 1min, 2 min and 3 min if he fades the move on Tranding Range or taking some counter trend trading.

My experience with his method so far is I began to understand his book more. I think there are lots of great information. The charts he listed are wonderful examples. I stare at them while studying too. But, just like any best text books, great/perfect chart examples are there for people to learn. In real time trading world, those great charts are barely show up. So to apply his method successfuly require a lot, a lot , and a lot real time practice. I found his post market bar by bar analysis on his website is very sophisticated either for beginners. A lot information to learn more than the book talks about. They are only for people who are passionate and seriously want to master his method.

The other great achievement for me so far from his material is to be more aware on Trading Range.... Before reading his book I just jump in all the setup without recognizing what kind of tone the market is settling in. Trend? trading range?

But it doesn't mean I can trade now...sigh....

It's just a guess, since I just started to take advantage of his daily bar by bar analysis. I think he scalp more than swing in this market.
 
Quote from Matcha:

That 10,000 hours rule was from book "outlier". I now think I might need longer that...

Cocky, i am not. And I really don't want to blowup my account...

I am thinking of swing QQQQ or SPY, only becasue I could risk less to start. But then there is GAP...

I am trying to intra-day swing YM, but seems like really it depends on what type of the day...
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Try E-Micro. They are between QQQQ/SPY and ES/NQ in leverage.
m6e, m6a, m6b, m6c etc
 
Quote from Matcha:

Break even day.

7:40 took 2 long. First long didn’t have too much follow through. I exit quickly. Second long was a re-enter. Stopped out by a failed breakout.

8:06. Flipped to a short on a failed Breakout. 1) it was a 4th push up. 2) failed continue to go long, large reversal bar, 3) broke the trend line which formed since opening. I think my ambition is too aggressive for a counter-trend trade. This trade was a scalp rather than a reversal trade. The large candles after a Double Top formation failed to break major support always fooled me that the trend is going to reverse?Stopped out by a retrace after price one tick below 7:05 bar low-support level, 11037.

8:45 Then Price made another test to 11037, 3 tick failed to break this level. This could be a great place to go long if there was a wedge breakout or breakout pullback sets up. But I totally didn’t recognize the pattern. And I walked away from my desk.

12:01 long. Breakout. Trend resumption. This time I set my target once more too aggressive. I bet on that it will break the major resistance level-11103. And I failed to recognize that it’s the 4th push with the last push being climatic. But I was out when I see no follow through on the climatic momentum.

There are still some great opportunities in today’s market. Hopefully soon I can quickly recognize them before too late?

PnL: -$4.6 4 trades, 50% winrate
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This looks like a tough chart to me. Boli, NoDoji, and others - how would you have traded using this chart today? I see a few s/r spots to scalp some points, but otherwise to me it looks choppy.

Mostly speaking of the early part of the day. The afternoon uptrend looks ok.

Good job on not losing anything today Matcha!
 
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