NoDoji's Day Trading Log

Status
Not open for further replies.
Try to use use POP's rule #1 and #2, your position will be big only when you are ahead and that should help to control your emotions and scale out losers and keep the loss small.
 
NoDoji,

With all due respect Ma’am, and from a dumdass Redneck

You are a really good trader (I don’t use great because it has an egotism attached that I no longer harbor)


I think you are getting in your way Ma’am (aka what Austin posted)


IMHO

Take a couple/ three of sheets of paper and label them


The way I trade

What I believe

My internal conflicts



And list everything you can think of under each.. Then compare to see what is – in conflict with what – that’ll show you were the work lies

You’ll need to de-energize the stuff in the way and implant new beliefs that support where you want to be


I called them my gremlins


Hope you not think my too looney Ma'am

Redneck
 
Redneck, thank you! And I'm going to take your advice.

LoveTrading, I definitely feel more daring once I have a profit under my belt (for example today shorting HANS while it exhibited none of my short signals).

Quote from TheAngryHermit:

Do you think it's normal that I secretly want you to have a bad day? Or should I see a shrink? :D
More...

Hermit, I just read this while eating strawberries and laughed so hard I almost spewed them all over the screen.
 
Quote from NoDoji:

+ $532

Very relaxed trading today. I'm still studying GS like crazy, you wouldn't believe the paper money I made on it today :p

Short BKE @ 24.15 on open overbought, pullback from 24.20 high. Covered @ 23.51 on a pivot off 23.35 for a $318 gain. Never traded this one, so exited conservatively.

Short ORLY @ 32.31 approaching overbought. Offered 32.80 on a further run up, missed, lowered to .70 on next test, missed. Covered @ 32.10 bounce off oversold for a $108 gain.

ORLY stuck at that price for a while and I had an offer @ 32.30 hoping for a partial retracement, because I saw the overall trend as down. Never made it before dropping further.

Short HANS @ 36.08 overbought. Previous support target of 35.88 filled for a $100 gain.

Short HANS @ 35.82 against all my standard signals because it looked so weak and I expected a test of the day’s low. Covered @ 35.73 for a $42 gain when the L2 was printing a pattern that said big buyer on board. Perfect exit; thank you, Trader21, for your L2 coaching a while back!
More...

Donna:

How do you find your picks?

I miss so many good trades during the day, I was thinking of buying Radarscreener by Tradestation. You can search by indicators, it gives you a realtime alert, according to criteria entered. Stoch, MACD etc.

What do you use?

Thx

Paul
 
Quote from pstallone:

Donna:

How do you find your picks?

I miss so many good trades during the day, I was thinking of buying Radarscreener by Tradestation. You can search by indicators, it gives you a realtime alert, according to criteria entered. Stoch, MACD etc.

What do you use?

Thx

Paul
More...

Paul, I have TradeIdeas on my platform, but I never use it. I imagine I should, but what I do is I look for stocks trading near 52-week highs, or that are testing major resistance on a run up from news and I short them. So I get a lot of signals from the hi/lo ticker, and from some web sites with 52-week highs. I also have a watch list of momentum stocks that I know quite well and occasionally trade (such as AAPL, POT, DRYS). I realize that my signals work on any chart in any time frame, but I prefer certain setups because of their high probability. Stocks that hit highs and pull far from their periodic moving averages tend to pull back quickly. There are some great long opportunities, too, but it seems that the pullbacks happen more quickly and are therefore more gratifying to this ADD trader. :)
 
Quote from cashmoney69:

I guess you have scottrade ELITE? :D
More...

PowerEtradePro. They don't call it TradeIdeas, but it's TradeIdeas. I found using it to be too distracting. I prefer to just have a basket of stocks to watch and wait for the setups.
 
Quote from NoDoji:

What guides a trader to the next level? Someone once posted a sample of Szeven’s trades when he started out, (very small consistent profits), then jumped ahead a couple years to his post of attaining a major benchmark of $1 million on the year. The poster was pointing out that Szeven didn’t get from point A to B in a single step. Does the progress occur in small graduated steps? Or are there long periods of consolidation (steady consistency) followed by aha! moments that move one to the next level?

I invite highly successful traders to provide their input on this.

Large losses have left demons behind that still haunt my confidence. I started day trading in July and I jumped into the game with pure confidence in my strategies (paper-traded them for a couple months). I didn’t hesitate to put on a trade when the signal was there. I had a great starting month (almost $18,000 in 3 weeks), only to wipe out almost all of it in a couple days. I traded more cautiously, rebuilt confidence, only to blow it again, and again. My confidence eventually eroded, but I had no idea what else I’d do for a living. I reached the point where there was no more money for tuition, so I had to fight the demons for some time and ease my way back into the game, far more cautiously.

I know intellectually that if I trade my signals and utilize strong risk management, I will not lose. 90% of my large losses were profitable at the start and I failed to lock in profits (or, at the very least, a break-even exit). I expected the price to behave in a certain way and refused to believe it would not at some point do so until finally a breaking point was reached, far beyond any expected profit.

This is critical: None of my trades were bad trades on the front end; however, many of them were managed badly.

It occurred to me this weekend (and this was an aha! moment) that it isn’t the trades you put on that can hurt you; it’s the trades you don’t take off quickly enough. I realized that I could trade every one of my signals with a stop based on violation of my expectation and my “edge” puts the odds very strongly in my favor. I can confidently put on ANY trade that sets up for me, just as I did when I started out, and strong risk management will protect my capital.

I know all this intellectually. But just as an athlete may perfect a move by practicing it again and again, until s/he implements the move again and again in the heat of competition, there is no real progress.

I just finished Mark Douglas’ “Trading in the Zone” last week. He uses the analogy of a small child who approaches an unfriendly dog and gets bit. The child now has a core belief that says “All dogs are dangerous.” Later, the child sees other children having a blast with a friendly dog. S/he has a desire to play, too, but the core belief still drives the fear. The child sees now that all dogs are not dangerous, yet a very long time may pass before the child gets the courage to approach the group and play. The desire to play must be strong enough to overcome the core belief that all dogs are dangerous.

Now, I stand at the edge of the field watching the fearless traders who post the big numbers, and I want to play, too. Can my desire to play at the next level overcome the old demons that haunt me with irrational thoughts that prevent me from confidently taking all my strong setups, or perhaps missing entries because a setup isn’t absolutely perfect and I place unrealistic limit orders?

“Trading is intrinsically simple. Not easy, mind you. But very simple.” – Oliver Velez
More...

I never knew you kept a journal here! Since lately I try to avoid ET as much as possible no surprise.. A brave thing I tell you... a public journal. One benefit I have gained from ET is knowing I am not alone in the emotional battles of trading.

Have you attempted the Douglas exercise of 20 trades in a row, taken no matter what?? I can't get to 5..! I think it has to be one of THE best exercises one can try as banishing you mental expectations and forecasts are key to emotional freedom, which is in turn the key to consistent profits. Not mentally accepting the cost to see if a trade will work is at the core of my trading troubles, next to impatience.

After your winning streaks the only reason I can imagine you lose is great setups simply don't occur that often and when you don't maximize the ones you get it becomes complicated to remount without falling. This happens to me so often I am close to simply accepting it as the way I am.. forever.. but then I would have given up..

This is THE only explanation. Consistently trading only great setups is bound to produce great result even with not so great trade management as such trades tend to work immediately. I once knew a guy that traded quite often without stops and was simply brilliant.. My trade management has not changed much in the past year yet my results suffered badly as I became very unselective (that a word?). It is simply amazing how good set-ups work.. No set-up no trade!

I'll be watching!
 
Quote from retire45:
Have you attempted the Douglas exercise of 20 trades in a row, taken no matter what?? I can't get to 5..! I think it has to be one of THE best exercises one can try as banishing you mental expectations and forecasts are key to emotional freedom, which is in turn the key to consistent profits.
More...

That is a worthy challenge that I've contemplated for the past 2 days since I finished the book. If I get to 6, promise to manage 10, which will compel me to go straight to 20.

Quote from retire45:

Not mentally accepting the cost to see if a trade will work is at the core of my trading troubles, next to impatience.
More...

You are my brother from another mother.

Quote from retire45:

666 low a neat just plain funny. Shorts may have to make a peace offering to pass.
More...

I am STILL laughing at this one, Rashid :p My offering is ready! (Or is it, "I'm offering already!")
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top