Matcha's Dow E-mini Journal

Quote from PatientOperator:

I took a Long trade at exactly the same spot as your #2 and got stopped out for -1.5pts. I thought the market was making a reversal at that point. In retrospect, it didn't look like there was any big momentum going for it like the very sharp reversal at 11:20 pst.

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For the rest of the day, I found it hard to put in a trade with my default stop of 1.75 points. The setups/entries were mostly > 2.00pts from the previous swing hi/lo. I also dialed down to the 1 min chart to find my setup. And I know it's a more risky thing to do.

I noticed you had a 2 pts stop for your 2nd trade. How did you determine the 2 pts? Did you set it according to a swing lo on a smaller time frame?

Thanks.

--po
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I had the same mind set when I took #2.

For the trade #2. after the entry bar is closed, I moved my stop 2 tick below the EB. For this type of breakout if no immediately decent size breakout bar from the triangle, the BO usually turned to fBO. then you could fade it. But I was too slow to reverse and the next overlapping bear signal bar PA got me a little hesitate to reverse and go short below it since I will be forced to short in the middle of the trading range...

These days, there is barely no risk is under 2 pts if you using stop market order to trade on 5 min chart... Got to have a large risk and large profit target type of mindset. Thats why I think SPY could be a little better to trade these days for beginners, then you just reduce the shares or scale out....
 
Quote from Matcha:

I had the same mind set when I took #2.

For the trade #2. after the entry bar is closed, I moved my stop 2 tick below the EB. For this type of breakout if no immediately decent size breakout bar from the triangle, the BO usually turned to fBO. then you could fade it. But I was too slow to reverse and the next overlapping bear signal bar PA got me a little hesitate to reverse and go short below it since I will be forced to short in the middle of the trading range...

These days, there is barely no risk is under 2 pts if you using stop market order to trade on 5 min chart... Got to have a large risk and large profit target type of mindset. Thats why I think SPY could be a little better to trade these days for beginners, then you just reduce the shares or scale out....
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Thanks Matcha. I agree with you on the risk and profit mindset. Got to reassess my initial default stop. And think about tightening the stop 2 ticks below the EB after the bar is closed. But I never seemed to get the handle on this.

--po
 
Only took 2 small trades today. Most of time just learned to read PA.

Trade 1: Long on BO/PB. Got out at BE

Trade 2: Long 2 leg pullback in Triangle pattern. +1.25pt


@9:05 Bull Doji signal bar is a 2nd entry 2 leg pb long. I let it pass by since it’s an inside doji bar. I will consider take it next time. The Doji close 2 tick bull body and also it is a 1 tick failure bear trap.


@11:50 failed 2nd attempt L2 short signal, failed D/T in a strong bull move, bear trap. 11:50 bear doji signal bar for short is very bad. I could also consider take this next time and “expect” a bull breakout FT. Usually this setup triggers a pretty emotional breakout move. Great for 1.5-2pt at least.

PnL: +1.25Pt 2 trades
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Quote from MPK:

Matcha

All I would like to say about trading ES is that it's notorious for pullbacks but they are clean and crisp. Here are some 5min chart examples.
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Thanks MPK for the nice bar charts! I like the different face expressions go with them too!:) :D :p
 
Quote from Matcha:

Only took 2 small trades today. Most of time just learned to read PA.

Trade 1: Long on BO/PB. Got out at BE

Trade 2: Long 2 leg pullback in Triangle pattern. +1.25pt


@9:05 Bull Doji signal bar is a 2nd entry 2 leg pb long. I let it pass by since it’s an inside doji bar. I will consider take it next time. The Doji close 2 tick bull body and also it is a 1 tick failure bear trap.


@11:50 failed 2nd attempt L2 short signal, failed D/T in a strong bull move, bear trap. 11:50 bear doji signal bar for short is very bad. I could also consider take this next time and “expect” a bull breakout FT. Usually this setup triggers a pretty emotional breakout move. Great for 1.5-2pt at least.

PnL: +1.25Pt 2 trades
More...

Hi Matcha,

Very nice Long trade! And nice recap on the 2 potential setups. It will benefit you in the long run.

I made only 1 Long trade today at around 8am pst. +1 pt. in LIVE trading.

For the rest of the day, I did the same thing as you did, learning the PA by observing the patterns visually and marked down all the potential setups on the chart without pulling the triggers. I have been dong this on and off for the last few weeks. This type of exercise actually helps me to learn how to spot the setups, allowing me more screen time without the distraction of worrying about exiting a trade. For the next little while, I will divide my daily SIM/LIVE time into trading practice and the mental exercise on spotting setups. I think both are important to me at this point.

--po
 
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