NoDoji's Day Trading Log

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I'm most of the way through Trading in the Zone right now and I agree with all of Lurefo's comments. I do think, though, that playing your last trade of the day conservatively is part of the process of building trust in oneself and I see it no differently than reducing your trade size after a bad run.

I think you need to get to a point where comments like "Now, I ask all the seasoned professionals here to tell me that they NEVER do anything like that. Please convince me that this kind of madness will truly end some day!" will seem silly to say. Sure, you want to eliminate mistakes likes those, but there's no need to bring any emotion to the table other than determination to take the actions needed to minimize those mistakes. And a big part of that calm determination comes from the knowledge that no one can be mistake free.

I have the benefit of having played poker for years so I've learned to become pretty detached and tilt-proof. Losing your cool or feeling frustration is just wasted energy that keeps you from focusing on the next opportunity. Be unhappy for a moment or two, breath it out and put it behind you. Next chart!
 
,,,,,,,,,,Quite recently, my growing frustration reached out and whacked me over the head. "You have an edge," it said, "And you have good risk management, yet you continue to repeat mistakes over and over and over, the worst mistake: cutting winners.",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

yes i noticed you have an edge since the days you have been shorting the lower high. and more than cutting winners your issue is not taking all the trades. just an observation. cutting winners you still make money but not taking the set up ......................... ....

i found this cd to be 1000 times more effective than all the visualizations i did. the problem with visualizations is they are at the conscious level; change has to occur at the subconscious level which this cd does for you. it may seem expensive but for its effect its not.
(not affiliated with the cd guy). good trading:)


http://www.fibonaccitrader.com/Orders/MentalHarmonics_order.htm
 
Tight trail STOPS is a flawed strat.

Visualize what you are doing..............When you see a setup forming you are at that time allowing price to move in your direction before it becomes a signal. Once it becomes a signal, you hit the mouse and enter on a mkt order or whatever..........JUST GET IN.

Now you are in, money is on the line, waiting for the setup costs nothing. Before you entered the trade you either used a mental stop or knew where you would place a hard one. Once filled and have a few ticks profit you are saying your minds wiring switches from protecting capital to protecting profits. That's where the flaw is. Before you got filled you were willing to allow so much risk to allow the trade to work...........thus you placed a stop loss at such and such away from the entry point.

Now ask yourself this question: When you move the stop to protect profits are you actually forgetting what you allowed as protecting the SETUP in the first place? Did you originally allow so many ticks for the trade to work and now cutting that amount in half WHEN THE TRADE IS ACTUALLY showing a profit?

Profits need more breathing room than do protecting the entry. Once a trade setup starts to show profits you must assume it has attracted the attention of others .........some will add-on, some will believe the move, some will not.............regardless, unless it is a fast pop like yesterday when news of Greece, Germany etc screws up any trade.........you must NOT play like Tonya Harding and chop the winner off at the kneecap.

Let the trade work relative to price action and if nervous with profits just realize either you ride them with what your original setup visualized or book them because it is a flawed strat to husband them so tightly.

(ok, back to less posts..........working with "swivel hips" on automating. I am impressed with just letting price hit a spot to enter or exit and letting the mkt do what it will do. I have set a minimum goal for this first one at 25 handles a week as profit, that is for low volatility conditions..............the good days will be pure gravy. Gonna like this stuff. )
:) :cool: :cool:
 
Quote from NoDoji:

I read the book last year, and thought it was very good, but I was still in the mode of experimenting with trading strategies, and also finding methods of risk management that I was comfortable with, and so I hadn't yet gotten to the core of what would hold me back in trading.

Quite recently, my growing frustration reached out and whacked me over the head. "You have an edge," it said, "And you have good risk management, yet you continue to repeat mistakes over and over and over, the worst mistake: cutting winners."

So a couple weeks ago, I dug out "The Zone" for the 2nd time and just finished it yesterday. It really impressed me the first time, but this time it was like reading a whole new book. I really got it this time. I realized that if I'm going to truly assume the trader's mentality, I have to talk to myself out loud every day. I have to visualize great trades from start to finish. I have a really good visual memory and I've been closing my eyes, seeing the charts in real time, watching the juicy setups, accepting the cost of admission to the trade, acting quickly to reduce the cost, and waiting patiently as price moves to a decent target. I do this a LOT now. I remembered when I was learning to play guitar, I'd visualize myself playing when I wasn't around a guitar, I'd practice on a desk or chair while I was in school. Same thing with trading now. Practicing in my head all the time. It's only been a few days, but I think it's starting to work.
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Same for me, I had to read the book more than once as the 1st time you read you think you understand it all and you're ready to be the trader you dream of but instead you are only aware of what you should do. Having the appropriate state of mind requires mental forces/believes that have to be set deep inside at the functional level.

I'm glad you're taking the appropriate actions to get rid of your destructive emotions. Most probably you will continue to make a few mistakes until you reach the desired state as it is likely you still have - at least- one old belief that is still in contradiction with who you want to become. Given the mistake you made yesterday I would say either you don't have built yet a strong, unshakeable trust in your strategy (you might think and know you do...) or you don't truly think in probabilities at a functional level (I raise my stop to b.e. as soon as I see green because it could be a loser and negatively affect my daily pnl).

I strongly suggest that you commit to doing the practical exercice at the end of the book (maybe you are doing it?). During this, you might still make mistakes like you did yesterday and that's fine, just keep monitoring yourself during the trading day and adjust. Doing visulaisations, talking out loud positive believes is also helpful. Someone else posted a cd to listen to, try it out this might work for you too. At some point I had a routine of reciting the 7 seven believes I am a consistent winner because: 1. I objectively identify my edges 2. I predefine the risk of every trade 3. etc... along with mental visualizations of what these believes meant to me and how they related to the projected ideal mental frame. I was doing that exercice right before the open and during the trading day everytime I felt I wasn't totaly in control of my emotions. I still do that but in a less formal manner now. These techniques have proven to be succesful in other fields where feelings/emotion control is a critical issue for success, like great athletes or in the military field.

If you stay disciplined, you should acquire the desired state of mind before you know it. Good trading.
 
+ $805

My trading life is starting to reflect the saying "An AAPL a day keeps the doctor away."

AAPL on watch to the short side because the pre-market ES action still had "short any rally" written all over it.

Short AAPL @ 196.46 pullback from overbought on the 1-min, stop above HOD hit for -$43.

The breakout through the HOD by a couple ticks failed immediately and I jumped back in @ 196.34, covering @ 195.41 on the pivot off the LOD (which was also fully oversold) for +$368.

Short AAPL @ 195.70 pullback from lower high, stop above the high of the entry bar. Price kept finding very near support at a higher low and I exited the trade @ 195.59 because I no longer found it to be a strong setup based on the price action: +$40

Short AAPL @ 195.79, failure to break through previous resistance, pullback from overbought on the 1-min. I decided enough time had transpired to now move to the 3-min chart for target guidance. Price should move down until the full stochs reached oversold and I sat on my hands through some back and forth and finally covered @ 194.68 when the fast stoch on the 3-min pivoted up through the slow at oversold for +$440.

Have things to do, so calling it a day.
 

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Nodoji,

Congrats on great trades lately! Your hardwork and intense learning seem to be paying off nicely!

Your entry point of every trade is very impressive as you seem to be able to place it very close to the stop. For example, today your first trade had only 10 cents or so for stop (you lost $43) for a volatile stock like AAPL. I wonder how you exactly place your order once you decide the setup is there -- do you put in a limit order for price that is an acceptable distance from the reference point (eg, HOD, H of entry bar etc for shorts)? Do you enter the stop order at the same time (using OSO) or enter right after your limit order is filled?

Thanks! Great journal by the way.

OC
 
Quote from OptionsCharm:

Nodoji,

Congrats on great trades lately! Your hardwork and intense learning seem to be paying off nicely!

Your entry point of every trade is very impressive as you seem to be able to place it very close to the stop. For example, today your first trade had only 10 cents or so for stop (you lost $43) for a volatile stock like AAPL. I wonder how you exactly place your order once you decide the setup is there -- do you put in a limit order for price that is an acceptable distance from the reference point (eg, HOD, H of entry bar etc for shorts)? Do you enter the stop order at the same time (using OSO) or enter right after your limit order is filled?

Thanks! Great journal by the way.

OC
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Thanks, OC!

Between reading about using a shorter time frame for entry criteria as well as entering strong trends (Al Brooks' book), and having a nice convo with a seasoned trader here on ET, I discovered not too long ago the value (for me) of using a 1-min chart to get a micro-picture of the macro setup. This has helped me get into trades quickly. I still have trades where I hesitate and chase a bit, but if the setup's solid, I've learned it's OK to have a wider stop, because most of the time the trade works out as indicated by the technicals. All this, plus reading The Zone again, is really building my confidence.

My goal as a day trader is to capture pieces of short term moves, so I look for the entry to either a strong momentum move-in-progress and/or the reversal off a strong opening move (usually good if a previous day's S/R fails).

When I use the 1-min chart, I'm able to get in pretty early, and as a result I place my stop just outside the entry bar or the previous bar (if I'm late). AAPL, AMZN and POT are momentum stocks and the momentum should carry the move. If it reverses on you, it's often a violent reversal and the slippage alone can add .10 or .20 cents to the stop price. Near the open I show no mercy with my stops because I either got real move or I don't and I'd rather stop out quickly with a small loss than use my max loss per trade and start the day with a real hole to dig out of!
 
There is a good recent thread that opened on ET: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=190279&perpage=6&pagenumber=1

Having had serious drawdowns (and serious losses), I gave some serious thought to how this happens (certainly how it happened to me both live and in my sim account while testing strategies last summer), and I posted on this thread. My closing comment was inspired by my recent re-reading of Trading in the Zone: “You NEVER know what will happen next. Ever.”

RCG Trader posted a succinct but excellent set of instructions on this thread:

1. Pick your trades carefully.
2. Make certain that you have a CONFIRMED technical trend.
3. Be patient.
4. Do not skip trades.
5. Risk no more than 1-2% per trade per day.

It’s pretty hard to fail if you follow these rules, but it can be a long haul getting to the point that you can follow them.
 
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