Spydertrader's Jack Hershey Futures Trading Journal
- Thread starter Spydertrader
- Start date
- Status
Spyder I would appreciate if you would tell me how I can avoid this kind of scenarios.
This it basically my first two trades I did on Friday and what happened basically influenced my trading for the rest of the day. That is I became too concerned with trading traverse and retrace to avoid giving my profits back.
My first trade was a short on the break of the low of the first ES bar (and BO of SYM pennant on YM), held through to the 9:55 bar because the retrace was on decreasing volume. When the 9:58 YM Broke out of the FTP, I assumed the dominant direction had switched and reversed only to get stopped out within 2 minutes.
On the execution, did I do anything wrong with the reverse from short to long. Unfortunately I did not record my screen today to replay the trade. But I recall both the YM and ES PRV was showing increased volume and both prices were moving out of the pennant before turning back.
As for profits, my trade logs showed the first trade had a gain of 3 pts but ended up flat after the retrace and the reverse. My trade logs from Thursday show trades with gains or 3 or 4 points and finally taking only a fraction of that when the trade is closed. After seeing the these gains evaporate, I become concerned with trying to trade every traverse and retrace to try and book the gains and this leads me down the rabbit hole. Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance
This it basically my first two trades I did on Friday and what happened basically influenced my trading for the rest of the day. That is I became too concerned with trading traverse and retrace to avoid giving my profits back.
My first trade was a short on the break of the low of the first ES bar (and BO of SYM pennant on YM), held through to the 9:55 bar because the retrace was on decreasing volume. When the 9:58 YM Broke out of the FTP, I assumed the dominant direction had switched and reversed only to get stopped out within 2 minutes.
On the execution, did I do anything wrong with the reverse from short to long. Unfortunately I did not record my screen today to replay the trade. But I recall both the YM and ES PRV was showing increased volume and both prices were moving out of the pennant before turning back.
As for profits, my trade logs showed the first trade had a gain of 3 pts but ended up flat after the retrace and the reverse. My trade logs from Thursday show trades with gains or 3 or 4 points and finally taking only a fraction of that when the trade is closed. After seeing the these gains evaporate, I become concerned with trying to trade every traverse and retrace to try and book the gains and this leads me down the rabbit hole. Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance
8833broc,
This is my take, with some benefit of hindsight: looking for what went wrong, what signs could've been overlooked, without pressure, with full bars, etc..
I'd be interested what's your take on these seven trades. If you haven't done so, before reading my comments try to analyze your trades, try to find out what signs should've made you make different or the same decisions. Doing so regularly (debriefing) will train you to see more in real time.
I think you probably broke about even, excluding commissions.
Overall it seems that you didn't give enough room to your trades to develop, but on the flip side you cut your losses short, which is generally good ... One reason I like SCT is because you don't miss on the nice moves. Surely, during congestion or extreme volatility periods you could often find yourself on the wrong side of the market. You can avoid it by exiting at the first sign given by too low or too high volume levels, or erratic or converging price action, but you may be late to re-enter ... Point 3 entry trading can make you miss nice runs, like the one between 10:30 and 11:30, which your chart conspicuously shows that you were on the sidelines waiting.
Trade 1: Premature entry. When a formation develops, in this case the 9:45 9:50 pennant, I look for the BO of that formation, which is the 9:45 bar. The exit was premature too. If I enter on the BO in one direction, the logical stop would be the BO of the other end of the formation. If the risk seems unacceptable high, it's better to pass.
Trade 2: Good trade! You actually entered on the BO of the pennant ...
Trade 3: Good entry. Premature exit. The green volume was lower, the RTL was far. This made you miss the nice run that followed.
Trade 4: I can't comment on your decision based on resistance as I usually don't look at it. As it looks, you entered on a retrace, as no new trend was confirmed, like HH HL. From this point of view, the exit was good: small loss.
Trade 5: Point 3 like entry not supported by volume: overall decreasing volume, and green volume bars even smaller than red ones. Good exit for minimum loss.
Trades 6 & 7. No reason to enter. You got caught in congestion: retrace of the retrace (red volume lower than the already low green volume). You cut losses short: good!
Let me know if you disagree with my comments.
One final note: it helps me a lot to draw in detail, bar by bar, tapes, channels and volume gaussians on the es' 5 minute chart. It actually fills some of my time I could otherwise have to worry and make mistakes.
This is my take, with some benefit of hindsight: looking for what went wrong, what signs could've been overlooked, without pressure, with full bars, etc..
I'd be interested what's your take on these seven trades. If you haven't done so, before reading my comments try to analyze your trades, try to find out what signs should've made you make different or the same decisions. Doing so regularly (debriefing) will train you to see more in real time.
I think you probably broke about even, excluding commissions.
Overall it seems that you didn't give enough room to your trades to develop, but on the flip side you cut your losses short, which is generally good ... One reason I like SCT is because you don't miss on the nice moves. Surely, during congestion or extreme volatility periods you could often find yourself on the wrong side of the market. You can avoid it by exiting at the first sign given by too low or too high volume levels, or erratic or converging price action, but you may be late to re-enter ... Point 3 entry trading can make you miss nice runs, like the one between 10:30 and 11:30, which your chart conspicuously shows that you were on the sidelines waiting.
Trade 1: Premature entry. When a formation develops, in this case the 9:45 9:50 pennant, I look for the BO of that formation, which is the 9:45 bar. The exit was premature too. If I enter on the BO in one direction, the logical stop would be the BO of the other end of the formation. If the risk seems unacceptable high, it's better to pass.
Trade 2: Good trade! You actually entered on the BO of the pennant ...
Trade 3: Good entry. Premature exit. The green volume was lower, the RTL was far. This made you miss the nice run that followed.
Trade 4: I can't comment on your decision based on resistance as I usually don't look at it. As it looks, you entered on a retrace, as no new trend was confirmed, like HH HL. From this point of view, the exit was good: small loss.
Trade 5: Point 3 like entry not supported by volume: overall decreasing volume, and green volume bars even smaller than red ones. Good exit for minimum loss.
Trades 6 & 7. No reason to enter. You got caught in congestion: retrace of the retrace (red volume lower than the already low green volume). You cut losses short: good!
Let me know if you disagree with my comments.
One final note: it helps me a lot to draw in detail, bar by bar, tapes, channels and volume gaussians on the es' 5 minute chart. It actually fills some of my time I could otherwise have to worry and make mistakes.
Stop trying to trade every traverse, and stick to the dominant traverses until you regain confidence.
With respect to your two Pennant Trades, note how Price forms a formation FBO on each. Remember, these things do occur from time to time (one of three possibilities). We know in advance of every Pennant BO that Price could head back inside the formation and close there. When this happens, one can either reset (wash) and wait on the next bar, or simply wait to make sure Price does not exit the opposite end of the previous bar (See If1/If2** logic from previous threads).
Knowing the possibilities in advance, and knowing what action to take when any possibility arises eliminates the opportunity for these type of events to "influence you for the rest of the day."
Also, when an error occurs, stop, fix the error, then move on - both mentally, and with your trading. If for some reason you cannot determine why the error occurred, exit the market and go figure it out. This same scenario played out one day a few months back in the ET chatroom. I made an error, failed to understand why, then spent a few minutes debriefing in an effort to understand what I obviously had missed. Once I had determined why the error occurred, I returned to trading.
Most importantly, learn from the errors. File them away in your mind, so next time the scenario develops, you'll understand exactly what needs to be done.
Good trading to you.
- Spydertrader
** Incorrect use of IF1 / IF2 Logic places the trader on the wrong side of the market. Do not attempt to use this logic until one has a full understanding of the concepts involved.
Could you delve into the correct use of IF1/IF2 logic please ?
Are you referring to correct useage as needing APA as well ( Additional Protective Action).
Is this document from Jack Hershey on SCT no longer valid ? It uses only IF1/IF2 and APA to do a KISS version of SCT.
Let's drop the act. Based on your posting history in this thread and others (under your various usernames) you have zero desire to learn anything here. Feigning interest under the guise of posting "clarification questions" fools nobody. If you want to learn more on IF1/IF2, use the ET search button.
I did not refer, infer, nor did I imply anything in my previous post. I indicated exactly the specific scenario to which one may need to apply this logic.
I have neither read the document, nor do I have any knowledge as to its content or whether or not the document contains everything required to transfer knowledge into someone of your character.
Obviously, you believe one obtains the same information from reading The 'Cliff's Notes' for War and Peace as they would reading the actual book. I find such a mindset incongruent with reality. I encourage you to put me on your ignore list.
- Spydertrader
- Status