Prop Trader Journal

Here is one of my personal favorites. There is a triangle with a breakout to the upside. The breakout fails and continues the down trend. I am a big fan of trading failures of any commonly used entry method. Patterns like this one and candlesticks, (IE a bullish engulfing bar in a downtrend that subsequently fails) are my favorites.

The second one is a plain old triangle. I think you could trade nothing but triangle patterns and do really well.



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My personal preference is to join in after a breakout. I know there is less profit but for me it is much easier because we know exactly what we are looking for. Some of the trades you have posted just look like to me like the stocks are in a range with no sign of life.

But that is just my personal preference. If you are good at anticipating breakouts that is great and I am sure you will do really well. I look foward to seeing more of your charts.
 
One question, do you trade based solely on setups?

I have not met one trader at my firm that doesn't use a healthy amount of discretion on their trades. They may enter based on technicals, but its always for some other reason and alot of times feel based. "The feel" is something that I hear alot. One of the head traders in my firm always says stuff like "This chart looks weak" or im going long because of a, b, c, d. It always involves their experience and patterns they've noticed over time, but it is never that simple! To them it is simple...but that is because they have developed the skill set lol.

My goal is to approach trading in the same way...knowing that is never simple, but relying upon a focused approach. Much like in basketball you have a point guard, forward etc. everyone uses a different skill set to ultimately win! Like Mav said after finding a way to narrow your execution, make sure that you are the best and fastest!

Maybe Maverick could chime in here, I had a convo with him and another esteemed trader(on these forums) and they confirmed at least a part of what im saying.
 
Quote from Shanb:

6/23/11

Net P&L= -24
Shares Traded= 1000
Trades Taken=5

Today I will post up three of my trades, the last one was a scratch and I entered it mistakenly because of a simple mistake.

LEN:

-$8.00

Traded LEN on the open. Didn't go too well. Took two trades and ended up having two $8.00 losers. Still

Citi:

Scratch

S&P was coming off of highs from the gap down on high volume. Looked at relative under performers and chose Citigroup. I've noticed when I enter on these plays there tends to be a pullback eventually that allows a better price! I waited and got my good entry with a good stop. Target near the lows of day. SPY started to come off as did SPY. Had alerts set in and watched other charts. I was about 15 cents in the money when my alert came off and i exited my position at a scratch. Greek austerity package news! Oh well...what can you do!
More...

Regarding the C trade, I can see your reasoning for an entry. Good job taking a scratch. I just wanted to point out that you might have considered a long when you get that big breakout bar. Potential entries on the 1 minute. From left to right:

1. A double top lower close short signal (james16 style) that fails in a few bars. You could go long above the high.

2. A Joe Ross style entry above the high of the bar with the lowest high.

3. Same thing.

4. MA pullback entry.

5. Another short signal failure trade.

I know it got late in the day for the last few, just wanted to show how plentiful these entries can be.

That means that you can afford to be really picky. By that I mean find the RIMM type stocks and maybe stay out of these stocks that aren't really showing much life. Find a stock with heavy action on news or whatever, and the entries will be there.



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Quote from Shanb:

One question, do you trade based solely on setups?

I have not met one trader at my firm that doesn't use a healthy amount of discretion on their trades. They may enter based on technicals, but its always for some other reason and alot of times feel based. "The feel" is something that I hear alot. One of the head traders in my firm always says stuff like "This chart looks weak" or im going long because of a, b, c, d. It always involves their experience and patterns they've noticed over time, but it is never that simple! To them it is simple...but that is because they have developed the skill set lol.

My goal is to approach trading in the same way...knowing that is never simple, but relying upon a focused approach. Much like in basketball you have a point guard, forward etc. everyone uses a different skill set to ultimately win! Like Mav said after finding a way to narrow your execution, make sure that you are the best and fastest!

Maybe Maverick could chime in here, I had a convo with him and another esteemed trader(on these forums) and they confirmed at least a part of what im saying.
More...

My take on that is what I mentioned in my previous post, find the stock that is really doing something, and then apply your method to it. So there are 2 steps here and they are EQUALLY important:

1. Find a stock you really want to trade.
2. Apply your edge.

And to answer your question more directly, I don't trade right now lol. I am pursuing a career that is absolutely incompatible with trading. But I love charts and trading and am always studying charts when I have downtime in anticipation of the day that the time is right for me to really get back into trading.

I did have some success trading this way before I made my career change. I am certainly no Maverick though. Just throwing a few ideas your way that have worked for me.
 
It is interesting to hear about what guys in your office are doing. I was I had traded in an office when I was really into it. If you get the chance, maybe you could post a trade one of those guys made. I would be interested to see what they are doing.
 
6/27/11

Net P&l= +37
Shares Traded= 800

Took 4 trades with one scratch, two losers, and one winner. Tried somethings off of the open and close with order flow. Used an analysis oriented with the level 1. Going to signup with TradingRaw by today so should have better content to deal with tomorrow!

SGEN

-$7.00

Played SGEN off of the open as we had some news on it receiving $5 million dollar milestone payment because of one its drugs going through the pipeline. Traded with a small loss...chart is attached. Still getting a feel for these trades based off of order flow.

OXY:

-$6.00
Sold=98.79, BOT 86.86

Looked at the SPY and looked as though we may get a pullback mid-day. Play OXY short as it was an under performer. Exited with a small loss.

SPY:

+54.50

SPY's were in an uptrend all day and pulled back mid-day. Volume was coming back into the market and some bullish PA. Went long with a target near the 128.20 level and it was hit.
 
Yeah Shan, we're getting somewhere!

Good work with the SPY trade today!

Question for you? The entry dots on your SGEN and SPY charts are making me curious. Did you enter at the exact spot where the dots are on the chart or did you enter above the previous bar that set the low?
 
Quote from Chris_Anonymous:

Yeah Shan, we're getting somewhere!

Good work with the SPY trade today!

Question for you? The entry dots on your SGEN and SPY charts are making me curious. Did you enter at the exact spot where the dots are on the chart or did you enter above the previous bar that set the low?
More...

Those dots are executions, so they are at the exact area where my trades were executed.
 
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