Prop Trader Journal

7/11/11

P&L= +55

Shares Traded= 2,400

Today I traded the most shares that I have traded so far since being at my firm. Day went Ok, and caught some moves in some stocks, also missed some moves in the SPY's as I was watching VRX and SWC.

SWC:

+44.00

Traded this stock throughout the day...did relatively well with it, but I did overtrade to a certain extent. some small losers and scratches...I suspect that I will be able to filter things better as I trade these types of plays more often. Wasn't the hardest thing to trade either, just very volatile, especially towards the end of the day. Have to give a shout out to Bano at Tradingraw...his service has really helped me improve my tape reading skills and I will continue using it.

VRX:

+20.00

Took a trade here as I expected it to adjust +/- the open...it broke its consolidation and adjusted nicely. I exited at a level that I saw was significant. In hindsight, I should've trailed out my stop and it would have been a great trade. Will keep this mind , as I have seen these types of moves in these circumstances quite often.

SPY:

+2.00

Took one scratch trade in the SPY's, but I did try to enter mulitple times throughtout the day in some trades. Getting a better feel for PA and Volume.
 

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I have a question on SWC. How do you go about screening for stocks like that? Earnings news, or just a high low ticker? I still am having a hard time finding the best way to screen for that.

As far as how you traded it, were you planning to just scalp it? I'm assuming you are trading 100 shares and to only pick up $44 on that down move means you were really jumpy to get out.

If you got short on the first 1 min pullback from the breakout of the opening range under the red reversal bar I circled, you could have trailed at least a portion of your position all the way down for a $1.40 profit before a 1 minute bar had its high taken out.

It also looks like you tried to pick some bottoms a few times, and the stock hadn't even put in a green bar yet. If you are going to play a reversal on a huge down move like that you need some show of strength first IMO.



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Quote from baggerlord:

I have a question on SWC. How do you go about screening for stocks like that? Earnings news, or just a high low ticker? I still am having a hard time finding the best way to screen for that.

As far as how you traded it, were you planning to just scalp it? I'm assuming you are trading 100 shares and to only pick up $44 on that down move means you were really jumpy to get out.

If you got short on the first 1 min pullback from the breakout of the opening range under the red reversal bar I circled, you could have trailed at least a portion of your position all the way down for a $1.40 profit before a 1 minute bar had its high taken out.

It also looks like you tried to pick some bottoms a few times, and the stock hadn't even put in a green bar yet. If you are going to play a reversal on a huge down move like that you need some show of strength first IMO.



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SWC was in play as it guided higher on some revenue and production numbers. You can find this on briefing or another news service like that.

I was scalping it...but based on the order flow not bar patterns or anything of that nature. With a stock like this there is no way of knowing when it will reverse and rip higher. It was down close to 20% on the day and i had no way of knowing this was possible as I was trading it! Perhaps when my tape reading skills get better I will be able to denote things like this, but not now lol. I didn't get long the stock at any point...some of my executions overlap as the range of the day was so wide, I got shaken out a few times. The range of the day was 5 dollars and in between that there were some violent shakeouts...just hard to see on a 1 min.

I didn't actually trade any of the move down from 20.50-18.50ish as I was watching other things and kept my eye off of it after it consolidated before that.
 
Quote from baggerlord:

I have a question on SWC. How do you go about screening for stocks like that? Earnings news, or just a high low ticker? I still am having a hard time finding the best way to screen for that.

As far as how you traded it, were you planning to just scalp it? I'm assuming you are trading 100 shares and to only pick up $44 on that down move means you were really jumpy to get out.

If you got short on the first 1 min pullback from the breakout of the opening range under the red reversal bar I circled, you could have trailed at least a portion of your position all the way down for a $1.40 profit before a 1 minute bar had its high taken out.

It also looks like you tried to pick some bottoms a few times, and the stock hadn't even put in a green bar yet. If you are going to play a reversal on a huge down move like that you need some show of strength first IMO.



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BTW how is trading going?
 
Quote from Shanb:

BTW how is trading going?
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I've already explained my job prohibits me from trading right now. If you don't want my comments you can just say so, and I will leave your journal.
 
Quote from baggerlord:

I've already explained my job prohibits me from trading right now. If you don't want my comments you can just say so, and I will leave your journal.
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Oh i thought you traded part-time along with your job. I appreciate your comments :) , don't think I said anything to imply otherwise
 
Quote from Shanb:

Oh i thought you traded part-time along with your job. I appreciate your comments :) , don't think I said anything to imply otherwise
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Oh my bad. I thought you were getting sick of my non trading monday morning quarterbacking.

TLDR warning:

I was trading forex for a bit last year part time and was doing OK, but found myself waking up at midnight to trade the London open a little too often lol. Decided I had better just quit until I could do it right and focus on it. Before I started my current job I was trading prop remote and making very low 3 figures a day on average after about 6 months. Realized if I got any older I wouldn't be able to pursue my other life career goal.

Anyways, right now I am pursuing said other life career goal. I'm honestly probably on the 10 year plan as far as trading goes right now. I don't intend to trade again until I have 50k capital and a job that allows me to trade a couple days a week with no distractions. My current career wil get me there so I'm happy.

Blah Blah Cliffs: Non Trader LOL

I do take trading seriously and it is my other major life career goal so I study every day when time allows, and plan to for the next 10 years if need be.

Right now I replay the IWM bar by bar and analyze as I would see it in real time.

For example here was how I saw today. Point 1 yesterday was a break of two down trend lines, so I was thinking there could be some chop or reversal today. The second bar of the day today was a doji and every breakout failed quickly without giving me any of my setups to trade with the breakout(that is a good thing). I saw a few range scalps on the 1 minute chart after I had identified likely chop. I'll post those on the next chart.

Point 2 was the 2nd or 3rd attempt depending on how you want to see it, to breakout above the the swing high I marked. I picked a short under the red outside doji bar.

The breakout to the downside of the trading range I marked failed at point 3, so that was an exit for the short, and a signal to go long above the green inside bar. I marked a second double top breakout entry a couple bars later.

There was a trendline break at 4, and a good short below the small red bar at 5. I didn't see that one till after the fact though.

I did see the short at 6, on a retest of the days high on a range day. Short below the red reversal bar.

Anyways, I replay and mark my analysis, and then look back at the whole day to see how my foward view compares to my hindsight 20/20 view. I'm getting better all the time. 10 more years and I should be doing great lol.



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Here is the 1 minute. I look to look at the 1 minute for the first 30 minutes or so and then turn it off.

1. Roughly where I decided it was a choppy market and would be looking for some range trades.
2. First entry I saw. A red inside bar near the top of a range.
3. A double top inside bar near the bottom on the 3rd weak attempt of the day to break down.
4. Second attempt to breakout and there was a small red bar near the top of the range.
5. Same thing pretty much.

I wasn't interested in the buys in between because although they are the bottom of the most recent range, they are right in the middle of the days range. Buy low sell high, not middle. Although a good setup on the 5 minute chart can change that as it did today.



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I'm going through Al Brooks book right now and its biggest help to me is learning to more quickly identify the type of day were are having at the moment, so I know which types of trades to look for.
 
7/12/11

P&L= -42
Shares Traded=+1800

So not alot of things worked for me today...traded some stocks in play with order flow, but I would either get a bad entry or not get filled as I was trying to add liquidity versus hit or take. This happened multiple times in fact, could've caught some nice moves today if I trusted myself and hit and took when needed. Also I was having a hard time staying focused on one thing, I would see something setting up in the SPY's and then lay my eyes off of what I was watching. I am finding that one needs to be completely in tune with the tape when first starting out, distractions will interrupt your feel of the tape and cause one to chase and become impatient. This is something I will need to work on in terms of when to focus on trading the SPY's versus focusing on some of the momentum/order flow stuff.

NRC:

Focused on this stock off of the open...took some scratches and losers, missed some entries in this one as it was just grinding lower and not really pulling back. I know how to play this type of scenario, but I was greedy in terms of not hitting and taking.

FAST:

Took a trade in here as well, it was near the high of the day...not much to note here, i didn't play it after it reversed momentum.

SPY:

One BE and two losers here. The BE trade here was actually a good trade in hindsight. After the trade worked in my direction for about 12 cents i moved it to BE. Was stopped out and missed the move. BE stops...guess that is a byproduct of using them! I have to keep my risk tight so I will have to try to work around this next time...maybe reentering after there are signs that it is a fakeout etc. The other trade was a trade in expectation of the trend continuing. The market had put in new highs and pulled back with bullish PA, was stopped out. Took another trade thinking I was just faked out...ended up being wrong. Need to be more disciplined with outs in these cases!
 

Attachments

Quote from baggerlord:

Oh my bad. I thought you were getting sick of my non trading monday morning quarterbacking.

TLDR warning:

I was trading forex for a bit last year part time and was doing OK, but found myself waking up at midnight to trade the London open a little too often lol. Decided I had better just quit until I could do it right and focus on it. Before I started my current job I was trading prop remote and making very low 3 figures a day on average after about 6 months. Realized if I got any older I wouldn't be able to pursue my other life career goal.

Anyways, right now I am pursuing said other life career goal. I'm honestly probably on the 10 year plan as far as trading goes right now. I don't intend to trade again until I have 50k capital and a job that allows me to trade a couple days a week with no distractions. My current career wil get me there so I'm happy.

Blah Blah Cliffs: Non Trader LOL

I do take trading seriously and it is my other major life career goal so I study every day when time allows, and plan to for the next 10 years if need be.

Right now I replay the IWM bar by bar and analyze as I would see it in real time.

For example here was how I saw today. Point 1 yesterday was a break of two down trend lines, so I was thinking there could be some chop or reversal today. The second bar of the day today was a doji and every breakout failed quickly without giving me any of my setups to trade with the breakout(that is a good thing). I saw a few range scalps on the 1 minute chart after I had identified likely chop. I'll post those on the next chart.

Point 2 was the 2nd or 3rd attempt depending on how you want to see it, to breakout above the the swing high I marked. I picked a short under the red outside doji bar.

The breakout to the downside of the trading range I marked failed at point 3, so that was an exit for the short, and a signal to go long above the green inside bar. I marked a second double top breakout entry a couple bars later.

There was a trendline break at 4, and a good short below the small red bar at 5. I didn't see that one till after the fact though.

I did see the short at 6, on a retest of the days high on a range day. Short below the red reversal bar.

Anyways, I replay and mark my analysis, and then look back at the whole day to see how my foward view compares to my hindsight 20/20 view. I'm getting better all the time. 10 more years and I should be doing great lol.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Here is the 1 minute. I look to look at the 1 minute for the first 30 minutes or so and then turn it off.

1. Roughly where I decided it was a choppy market and would be looking for some range trades.
2. First entry I saw. A red inside bar near the top of a range.
3. A double top inside bar near the bottom on the 3rd weak attempt of the day to break down.
4. Second attempt to breakout and there was a small red bar near the top of the range.
5. Same thing pretty much.

I wasn't interested in the buys in between because although they are the bottom of the most recent range, they are right in the middle of the days range. Buy low sell high, not middle. Although a good setup on the 5 minute chart can change that as it did today.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I'm going through Al Brooks book right now and its biggest help to me is learning to more quickly identify the type of day were are having at the moment, so I know which types of trades to look for.
More...

Good hindsight commentary there! LOL JK.

I guess I am looking at things in a similar way as you are. I am looking the ES and trading the SPY'S. Looking for PA and volume....while still being open to seeing new patterns, tendencies. Everything that I play in the SPY's is confirmed by my observation of them in real time. I take notes when I see something happen over and over and then test it in real time. Getting better tho! Any suggestions on the second trade that I took in the SPY's? We made new highs with expanding volume and pulled back with a reversal bar with good volume. It was a play in the middle of the day...that is something that I see that may have been something to look at, but I have seen many trends extend in the middle of day as well!

BTW I look at the 1-minute chart for volume spikes and divergence etc. I am finding this is ver helpful. Also noting volume has been tremendously helpful! As a general rule volume should increase in the direction of the trend/move that you are expecting and decrease in the other direction. Not an absolute but a general rule
 

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