NoDoji's Day Trading Log

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Quote from NoDoji:

Jim, thank you for the suggestion. I think that's a good idea, because the opening moves are the strongest and when I miss them, I jump on less-than-ideal signals trying to "get back" what I missed.
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You're welcome.

Just reading your journal as an unbiased observer I really think your focus is the key.

You have proven you have all the tools to trade. I just get the impression from reading your writing that you feel you may miss a trade on the equity side so you abandon ES and jump to equities. I may be wrong but that's the impression I get.

My suggestion would allow you complete focus on one or the other.

Happy trading.
 
Quote from NoDoji:



the problem is I pick and choose trades from many valid setups, instead of trading every setup.
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No, that's not your problem. Give it 1 or 2 years, you will perhaps know. After that, give it another 1 or 2 years to solve the problem.
 
Quote from BarbaraM:

This is absolutely the best trading log on this site. Thank you NoDoji for sharing your trading with us, lots to learn here.

B
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Thank you Barbara. I figure since I keep a trading journal anyway, and since I document a lot of my trades and price action analyses by documenting charts, I may as well post it all here to share with other noobs like me, plus I get the added bonus of a lot of good advice!
 
The value of this thread is in Nod being brave enough to tell her trials and tribulations on a website hoping to express herself as an outlet for relieving some of the frustrations all traders go through to get to the promised land. I for one will say her progress is quite good for such a short time. Sure some learn faster than others, i know that for a fact because i busted a remote off the wall once in frustration, watched a wife say she had to fly the coup in search of security, haha, spent a lot of money not by losing as much as learning how not to lose first. She has advanced faster than i did. :)

I still believe the CUBS will win another world series before we land on Venus. See i am not a quitter. ha

Nod, do not force the ES in this small range stuff. Todays range (pit session times, not including overnight globex which i do not trade) was like 12 1/2 handles only and most of the action was early. There were good signals, yes, but lets say we are spoiled after the action of last 2 years. Point being: narrow the signals down some and be more picky. Think about wanting a 5 handle win or trade and think less about smaller 2 handle wins. That should force you to take less signals for smaller wins.

I am a firm believer of being focused on the "RUNS" first for consistency. The more you are able to visualize the bigger Intraday rth 'runs' the more you will later be able to trade the smaller range, countertrend, retrace stuff. I am not saying just swing for home-runs, just saying to keep your eye on the bigger picture...FIRST. It is easy to miss the bigger trends if only focused on small stuff.

Someone suggested to trade ES in the mornings if you can not shake watching stocks as you watch ES. Give it a try, STEEL yourself on the ISSUE you are having trouble with. Yes, FOCUS is an issue. You are afraid you are missing something or else just fail to focus where it is required. HEY, trading can be boring, it takes discipline to find the nuggets you are wanting. When you get more experience you can watch a movie and glance over at ES and see if it is setting up for a move. Trading can be relaxing more than many can imagine. Like the fighter pilot said:.......'one minute you are flying along on the beautiful calm sky and almost be in heaven and in the next minute when jumped by a pack of Zeros.........all hell breaks loose and it is sheer terror to fight for your life and to down his plane". Thats trading also.

Take the volume indicator off, fudgedaboutit. I have noticed more than a couple times you let volume distract you from a trade. Price only makes or breaks the bottom line. Without volume and just watching price alone you can "ASSUME" with great reliability what volume is doing. Volume is a useless distraction. We all know if price is moving either up or down volume is "THERE" and to make it more interesting, we care less how much volume is moving price as long as price is moving.

Did i mention watching volume is a distraction? :D

Think about watching price and NOT being distracted by thinking you are missing something in stocks. Did you drop chat? That maybe is why you are watching stocks.

I for one have said many times, ES trades better before lunch because the institutions, big dogs are all on the prowl before lunch to make the days nut. LESS is MORE.

Try to make a couple changes as you yourself know you must do. :eek:
 
$105

Took the early train for a range scalp, shorting ES @ 995.25 (damn it, I hesitated @ 996.00), covering @ 994.25 for +$45.20. Since this was a scalp right off the open I really should’ve covered at the lower channel line for an extra point, then reversed.

Price surged briefly on existing home sales, but I didn’t take the 998.00 long entry because I wanted to make sure it wasn’t just a “news spike”. Weakness prevailed and priced gradually dropped. It tested 998.00 again and pulled back, but the third test was the start of a solid uptrend. (I saw that later, not at the time.) Looking back, I saw that once it had formed a series of higher lows leading into the third run at 998.00, that was a very solid long signal. But I missed it in real time!

I just watched the gradual trend up and never joined it. Then later in the day a lower high and I didn’t play that either because I traded X. Either trade would’ve worked, I just needed to play both!

This is pretty funny: I’d left GGC on my watch list from last Thursday when someone in chat called it as it ran up hard from lows around 7.30 on some kind of news. Today I looked at my watch list and saw +$18.66 in the $ Chg column for a stock. It was GGC, now trading in the $40’s. Then as if that wasn’t enough, it gained another $3 in a few minutes. Makes me wish I’d just bought 1000 shares on the breakout last week; I’d be taking a vacation on that gain  Oddly enough GGC did not hit my high ticker until it hit $46, not sure why, so it wasn’t on my breakout radar at all. Finally, it double topped around 47.00 and I excitedly went to short a very small position, only to find (surprise) no shares available. I watched the action for a while as it retraced most of the day’s gains, and sometimes the spread was as much as .80 cents. What an insane stock.

Short X @ 43.42 when it failed to make a new high and pulled back below the 10-period MA. Covered @ 43.29 when it pivoted from just under the 20 MA for +$59. Waited a bit too long to get the best entry here, but wanted more confirmation to avoid getting trapped in a reversal to test the HOD. No more “early short, trapped trader” for me!
 

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Good call on the 998.even. The mkt offered up that tick as the high for the 1040 est bar, then the next bar closed a tick higher than that 1040 bar close of 997.50

Couple other clues: there was resist at 999.00 a few bars earlier and price dropped to 994.50 and both closed up towards there middle. The bar at that low that closed in the middle at 995.75 was what you candycane traders call a doji. The next bar also was another one, the next bar at 1040 was the bar that got everyones attention. (remember, we do not need volume to look at because volume is AFTER the players are first 'anticipating" something as a call to action) Always try to comprehend what the big dogs are looking at to make their next move. OK, that 1040 bar took out the high of the 3 previous bars 2 of which were doji bars which in your lingo says the players were all standing there and waiting for someone to get off the dime before thay would follow. A game of chicken... :eek:

That 1040 bar was what also GOT YOUR ATTENTION... :) as it closed at the 998.00 you mentioned. Yes, you are doing a fine job of calling spots. Keep it up.

Ok, here is a filter you could have used if you missed the 998.00 start of a decent move considering the smallish range crap we have had lately. 11 3/4 handles range today, rather punk to say the least. Anyway, the filter you could include in your tool-shed is a BO of the first hours range. That works especially well on days where the first hours range was smallish whipsaw nonsense. Today 999.50 would have been a 1st HR BO trade and as you can see it was close to where the players all did make a decent run up to 1004.00

On dog days of summer unexciting trading when you get a day like today and you see a high at 1004.00 as we did and it drops a couple handles and does nothing but a tap dance for a sideways off the high for a few bars,.............. LOOK for a breakdown below the small range off the high.

A decent trade at that time could have been a short at 1002.00 or 1001.00 with a STOP LOSS a tick below the previous high at 1003.75. It would have worked today.............i fully admit i was looking at it but did not take it. Notice where it stopped going down...........it stopped at 997.00 on a key reversal bar. In other words the players reversed the BO we all were looking at back at the 1040 bar area. The more screen time you put in, the more you will be in the big dogs shoes and thinking just like they do.
 
nodoji, my suggestion (not that you asked for one :p) is you should forget about the ES and just stick to stocks.

I'm telling you its BARELY tradeable.

Why waste your time and effort when stock trading is 10X easier.

There are no ES traders on the p/l thread. No consistent poster anyway.
 
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