Prop Trader Journal

Some good examples of example trades in the SPY today. I am usually trading stocks in the daytime, but there wasn't alot of stuff in play today and the macro market was basically moving everything after the bernank's speech! I traded the SPY because of this!
 

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Quote from Shanb:

So been away from this journal for a while. I am back, because I feel like articulating my thoughts on here and having a written form of my trading in some form will greatly help me! I've definitely noticed that one can make alot of the same mistakes over and over again and not know about it! Writing shit out will help me see consistencies and inconsistencies in my trading.
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So I do have a trading plan of some sort. I am generally looking for two types setups. One setup trading with the intraday trend. Looking for pullbacks in healthy trends( no climax, volume, etc.) Looking for things to hold with with price showing there are buyers and sellers in an area. I look at the 5-minute and 1-minute for volume and micro S/R. Bar closes/patterns and volume are what I look at here. Volume divergence on tests is one of they key things. Also for bullish and bearish volume to start to come in before a move happens. What I have been doing is if something is holding to put on an initial position and hug the stop and wait for confirmation. I then add to it after I get some kind of confirmation, usually the break of a bar or a level. After the break and watch the 5-minute and start taking off portions at key levels or let it run if PA suggests so.

If I miss a move with the above setup, will simply get in off of a pullback on the 1-minute as in an area where I would trail my stop or looking to add.

The other setup is usually the first bull/bear flag after break. I wait for a break in the direction of a trend or a break of a level or trendline. I wait for the first pullback that will break the intial micro trendline. This is Al Brooks talk, but I find this setup works pretty well. I take the break of the bar on the 5-minute and hug the stop pretty tightly as if the trade works it usually will immediately work and otherwise it will fail and you need to GTFO.

On both of these types of trades, if I get in and get shaken out I will simply reenter as necessary.
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So.....yea! My read of price action has got better and so has my trading. this week has been decent and I have learned alot about myself and my trading.
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I have been finding that I do well with a flexible approach like the above instead of setting a stop and and entry and letting it hit one or b/e etc. With the presence of bots in the market it is so hard to have a perfect entry and not always getting shaken out and taking the full stop losses. The way I'm trading I have some small losses but when the trade works I will make alot more on more winners.

Also I am finding that I trade the first half of the day alot better than the close. After the first part of the day, the rest of the day is dedicated to either attempting to finish well and just losing more money or just grinding things out and not making alot of headway. Alot of moves in the afternoon just don't have the follow through or cleaness that the open tends to have. This is just IMO. Maybe I will find a way of trading mid-day and the close with more success, but as of right now it isn't working for me.
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So going forward I am going to trade as I have, but significantly cut back activity in the afternoon. The only reason I am going to trade the close is if there is a significant move or break and the volume is there to show some follow through. Also continue to be disciplined in my setup and just keep makin progress.

My pnl which doesn't matter much at this point, more trying to have my process down as I know I can scale up as I become more consistent and can execute. My pnl was 150+ everyday in the morning except today. I kept it on some days and give alot of it away on others.
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So going forward I am going to trade as I have,

NOT TOO SURE THAT YOU OUGHT TO CONTINUE TO DO THAT....

sorry trader shanb, i almost got a headache from just reading what you have to do before coming to the apex decision whether or not to execute your trade. you have prescribed just too many incidentals in your setup. by the time, you evaluated everything you described, the golden op already is beginning to wane....

especially, when you mention.... scalping; there is just not too many seconds before it pulls away from you....

imho, you are still way too loose.... way too many ifs.... and whens.... before you can pull the trigger to go long or short.

is there someway or somewhere, you can reduce your setups and trading decisions to no more than 3 steps.... before you decide to pull the trigger long or short.... pls?

another thing, just for now, choose just ONE PRODUCT, and certainly not FX and just focus and practise your new setup of 1-2-3 steps on this one product and only one product alone.... for the time being....

just plainly ignore totally and absolutely those guru suggestions, particularly many of those appearing on et as sponsors and other national ad seeking fees or the likes.... in exchange for their privately grown trading methodologies and the likes.... (some so-called self-established guru sponsors on et here can not even distinguish between a tf chart from a cl chart.... and the same guru keeps on persistently calling other traders' posts as fake.... and also calling other traders some nasty name as f.... which has no place in trading arena....)
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try out my humble suggestions for just one trading week.... and come back with your results....

i am very certain that if you come back with specificities such as:

1--what are the specificities of your trading plan? if you can not be specific about your trading plans, then it is an important clue to you that you are not ready to jump into the pool with the sharks as yet....!

if you do, you will be totally and absolutely confused by all the other nonessential market factors that would eventually cause you to lose your own focus and your own trading plans.... been there and done that already.... LOL

2--what you traded,

3--when you traded,

4--exactly what influenced you to decide to pull the trigger,

5--what influenced you to to close out that trade, et cetera....

if you would come back with those info, a week or so from now , many currently profitably traders around here just might give you many more significant pointers to help you zero in to sharpen up your trading plan even further....

good luck and have fun revising whatever you wish to revise.... 3 cheers for you shanb....

:)
 
Quote from nakachalet:

So going forward I am going to trade as I have,

NOT TOO SURE THAT YOU OUGHT TO CONTINUE TO DO THAT....

sorry trader shanb, i almost got a headache from just reading what you have to do before coming to the apex decision whether or not to execute your trade. you have prescribed just too many incidentals in your setup. by the time, you evaluated everything you described, the golden op already is beginning to wane....

especially, when you mention.... scalping; there is just not too many seconds before it pulls away from you....

imho, you are still way too loose.... way too many ifs.... and whens.... before you can pull the trigger to go long or short.

is there someway or somewhere, you can reduce your setups and trading decisions to no more than 3 steps.... before you decide to pull the trigger long or short.... pls?

another thing, just for now, choose just ONE PRODUCT, and certainly not FX and just focus and practise your new setup of 1-2-3 steps on this one product and only one product alone.... for the time being....

just plainly ignore totally and absolutely those guru suggestions, particularly many of those appearing on et as sponsors and other national ad seeking fees or the likes.... in exchange for their privately grown trading methodologies and the likes.... (some so-called self-established guru sponsors on et here can not even distinguish between a tf chart from a cl chart.... and the same guru keeps on persistently calling other traders' posts as fake.... and also calling other traders some nasty name as f.... which has no place in trading arena....)
--------------------

try out my humble suggestions for just one trading week.... and come back with your results....

i am very certain that if you come back with specificities such as:

1--what are the specificities of your trading plan? if you can not be specific about your trading plans, then it is an important clue to you that you are not ready to jump into the pool with the sharks as yet....!

if you do, you will be totally and absolutely confused by all the other nonessential market factors that would eventually cause you to lose your own focus and your own trading plans.... been there and done that already.... LOL

2--what you traded,

3--when you traded,

4--exactly what influenced you to decide to pull the trigger,

5--what influenced you to to close out that trade, et cetera....

if you would come back with those info, a week or so from now , many currently profitably traders around here just might give you many more significant pointers to help you zero in to sharpen up your trading plan even further....

good luck and have fun revising whatever you wish to revise.... 3 cheers for you shanb....
:)
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thanks for the feedback. However I would like to point out that my prior post was more for helping me articulate my approach than to be a check-off list. I don't look for all of these things and mark them off and then take the trade. Of course not, you have to be quick to catch any moves intraday! I am just writing things out because it helps me distill me thinking! Many times I can glance at a chart and usually make a very quick decision, I am only getting better as I am more exposed to the market every day.

Also one more thing, do you really think trading can be that simple...1,2,3? After an EXPERIENCED trader has done something a thousand times the steps can be distilled because it becomes SECOND NATURE. When you ask a boxer how he jab, cross etc. They will say it is simple and proceed to do it. But, there are so many intricacies that are involved, they are conditioned in the athlete and are second nature.

I am just trying to write out the step so I can help ingrain the stuff in my head.
 
Quote from Shanb:

thanks for the feedback. However I would like to point out that my prior post was more for helping me articulate my approach than to be a check-off list. I don't look for all of these things and mark them off and then take the trade. Of course not, you have to be quick to catch any moves intraday! I am just writing things out because it helps me distill me thinking! Many times I can glance at a chart and usually make a very quick decision, I am only getting better as I am more exposed to the market every day.

Also one more thing, do you really think trading can be that simple...1,2,3? After an EXPERIENCED trader has done something a thousand times the steps can be distilled because it becomes SECOND NATURE. When you ask a boxer how he jab, cross etc. They will say it is simple and proceed to do it. But, there are so many intricacies that are involved, they are conditioned in the athlete and are second nature.

I am just trying to write out the step so I can help ingrain the stuff in my head.
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then...., shanb, you are surely on your profitable avenue to long term success.... congrats....

as for the other question, yes, it is just 1-2-3 steps for me....

mind you, as you suspected it surely wasn't 1-2-3 in the beginning.... lol

lastly, for what it is worth.... you only need to be super at only one product.... be it; tf, gc, cl, 6e or others.... and you are then set for a comfortable life style.... BUT TO GET THERE, WILL ENTIRELY DEPEND ON WHAT A WANNABE TRADER IS WILLING TO SACRIFICE IN BETWEEN....

wish you the best, shanb.... keep the info coming.... if and when you are discouraged.... come right back.... we are rooting for your success, K?

:cool:
 
Quote from Shanb:

Thanks bro...how's everything on your end?
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Crazy but good lol. In 2 months I'll either be working in a cool setting in Afhghanistan (think M.A.S.H) or doing the other thing we talked about. If I go to Afghan the other thing will take place about 18 months from now.
 
Quote from nakachalet:

then...., shanb, you are surely on your profitable avenue to long term success.... congrats....

as for the other question, yes, it is just 1-2-3 steps for me....

mind you, as you suspected it surely wasn't 1-2-3 in the beginning.... lol

lastly, for what it is worth.... you only need to be super at only one product.... be it; tf, gc, cl, 6e or others.... and you are then set for a comfortable life style.... BUT TO GET THERE, WILL ENTIRELY DEPEND ON WHAT A WANNABE TRADER IS WILLING TO SACRIFICE IN BETWEEN....

wish you the best, shanb.... keep the info coming.... if and when you are discouraged.... come right back.... we are rooting for your success, K?

:cool:
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Thanks, and I have considered trading only one instrument. I am surrounded by other traders who are trading stocks, etf's... stuff that is in play and can move. I guess the reason I am trading a larger variety of instruments is because I have been taking advice from some of the traders at my firm and it has kind of just become a part of the way I do things. I am definitely finding a balance with all of this though. I almost always trade the SPY and GLD throughout the day and of course earnings and news related stocks when they are there. So I guess going forward I have to find a balance between specialization and diversification lol.

Thanks for the kind words!
 
Quote from baggerlord:

Crazy but good lol. In 2 months I'll either be working in a cool setting in Afhghanistan (think M.A.S.H) or doing the other thing we talked about. If I go to Afghan the other thing will take place about 18 months from now.
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Nice, good to hear that you will be getting out there and doing work! I know that you'll do great!
 
Ok so just going to take a look at the longer term picture in the various larger markets.

ES:

Looks like equities are range bound for now. Looks like a coiling type pattern...volume is mixed as is price action.

Gold:

I was taking a look at the longer-term picture and gold looks to be setting up for head and shoulders pattern. The reason I am saying this is because even though this rebound in the last two days has been fast and furious, it is on declining volume and the COT report shows large specs unloading longs into this rally!

TLT:

This looks a bit more mixed of a picture. the major trendline has not been broken, but there has been three pushes up with the last one with major volume divergence.

Should be an interesting couple weeks!
 

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