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Yes, the big win thing is ever present. Too many times I have gotten out of a trade way too early. Today's journal is a doozy.
If I did anything well that day it was to catch the falling knife by identifying support areas. Of course that was overshadowed by my inability to see what was happening. I will keep plugging away.
Did a little better today on my entries, but my exits suck bad. I know this is where the game is won, so I am working on it.
Overnight session was a weak uptrend/sideways market. The 05:30 bar poked above the overnight high, then the next 4 bars kept poking at it.
Trade #1
I know that continued poking at a R/S level tends to weaken it, but on the flip side, this could be shaping up to be a range day. My 3 choices were to play the range day and this would be an excellent place to short, play the breakout to a new high, or do nothing. I chose to short at the upper lever with a tight stop. Wrong decision. I guess when in doubt, do nothing. -6 ticks.
Price moved sideways for awhile, but formed a second double top at 06:50, with that bar making a HOD.
Trade #2
Entered a stop sell under the 06:50 bar and was filled. Looking at the chart and where I entered, you'd think I'd be heading down to the Benz dealership, but I really screwed up the exit. In spite of the double top and failed HOD breakout, I'm looking at the EMA and still thinking uptrend. There looked like support in between the double tops, and at the top of the first wedge break out back at 06:00. I really had no clue how to manage this trade. Maybe I need a rule that says do nothing for 2 bars. Anyway, +10 ticks.
Trade #3
Price recovered back to the EMA. The 08:20 bar was an outside bear bar that formed a double top with the previous bar and closed back under the EMA, back with the trend. I calculated my stop 1 tick above the double top and entered a sell limit order at 88.07 and was filled. Got my hard target of +25 ticks.
Didn't see any other signals to trade, although I was tempted to short under the small doji at 09:15. This seemed reasonable, since it failed to go any higher after the strong momentum from 08:50 and 08:55.
Took 1 6E trade for +1 tick. I was using my second monitor for programming and didn't follow the market much.
Very strong over night up trend, so I wanted to avoid shorts. Got a short signal at 06:05, but it was too close to the EMA so I passed on it. Would have been a winner.
The market got extremely choppy from 06:55 - 07:40 before it looked like it wanted to roll over.
After a 100 tick drop from the HOD, a right triangle started to form.
Trade #1
I was expecting a breakout to the upside towards the EMA, but didn't want to get snagged on a noise spike. I placed a buy stop at 88.59 (2 ticks above the line) and was taken out by a noise spike. -8 ticks.
After getting stopped out of my first trade, CL dropped to the bottom of the 08:30 bar.
Trade #2
Placed a sell limit order at the end of the doji, looking for another test. Got a great fill at 88.52 and 16 MFE. Moved my stop to BE +1 where I was taken out. I debated leaving my stop above the 08:55 bar, which would only be a 5 tick risk, but chose to move it. +1 tick.
Trade #3
After the resumption of the down trend, placed a limit sell to catch the pull back leg. Filled at 88.36 and left a hard target in place. +25 ticks.
Had 2 trades on 6E for -7 ticks. I let my second trade run too long. I had an opportunity to get out BE a couple of times, but stayed in the trade for 33 minutes - dumb.
Don't focus on W/C/S (woulda, coulda, shoulda). All that is important is did you trade your plan, or did you make a mistake? If you traded your plan, then that's all you can do during the day. At the end of the week, month, year, you can revisit that plan and make changes --- but during the day, while you are trading, all you can do is trade the plan.
Anything in your plan about this? Or just an observation?
Apologize if I have asked before. Is it in your plan to take counter trend trades? What about the rest of your plan. Since this is a loss, I'd like to know if this trade met with your trading plan 100%? Was the trade supposed to be placed here? Was the stop in the right place? Was the target correct? If so, then even though it is a loser, all you can do is trade your plan. Don't fret over a loser. Losers are part of it.
Sensing some frustration here. Did you miss the short opportunity because you were caught up in the long? Is that a recurring problem? Were you supposed to be in this short per your rules?
I think we've already discussed my personal feelings on the BE+1 stuff, but what is important is whether or not you followed your plan. So, if moving your stop to BE+1 is your plan, and you did everything according to plan, then you can't worry about it. Especially not during the trade, or during the day. Worry about it only once a week, month, or year when you are reviewing your trade plan to ensure that your edge is being maintained.
Good, is this trade part of your plan? Was it executed correctly?
Is trading two markets simultaneously part of your plan? I know you say "dumb" on staying in the trade, but you've got to get past the emotional part of it and focus on the "why" and then really focus on correcting it. To me, if you say something like you stayed in a trade for 33 minutes and it was dumb, then it is telling me that you knew you shouldn't be doing that, you probably knew it way ahead of the 33 minutes, and yet you did it anyway. If that is what has happened, then you have got to focus all of your energy on eliminating that type of behavior.
You can develop the most astounding trading plan with a huge edge, but if you can't be trusted to execute on it properly, it doesn't matter. That also means that you have to be realistic on what you actually can execute on. What I mean is that don't give yourself so much (a long checklist) that it is going to be impossible to actually execute on everything correctly. All that does is give yourself an out, an excuse, for why something went bad. The short the list, the better - that way, if you fail to do something it is clear where the problem lies. You need that to be clear so that you can focus on correcting it and moving on.
BTW, I don't mean to beat up on you in any way, shape or form. I just sensed some stress and wanted to dive in on some of these things I have been thinking as I read your journal. I hope they help you, but if they don't then just move on. The journal is for you, not me. I think one of the easiest things any trader can do to improve their trading is to journal about it. Let it all hang out. Pride has no place in trading. Then at the end of each week, go back and read the past TWO weeks of entries and measure yourself. Are you improving? Are you going in circles? Focus on both your strengths and weaknesses and how you can continue to improve upon both of them.
I greatly appreciate your feedback, and it was spot on. I'm embarrassed to admit that my plan is in disarray. The triangle breakout is NOT in my plan, and in fact, I really hate those trades.
I let that 6E trade linger because I was talking on skype and didn't even see the stop get hit. I'm putting a stop to that right now.
As for the BE thing, I'm going to go back and review my charts and see what would have happened had I left my stop in place, then make a decision on how to handle it.
The best thing I can do right now is to clean up the plan: narrow the setups and keep it simple. I'll also start reviewing my journal. Believe it or not, I haven't been doing that. I do study the charts continuously (I print them out everyday and stick them in a binder), but not in context of my journal.
You need to accept that your plan may not be profitable. Accept it, set that aside, and just focus on executing the plan the best you possibly can. Forget about the profitability or the edge behind the plan itself, only concern yourself with executing it to the best of your ability. Every action all day when you are trading is about doing what you told yourself you want or need to do in your plan.
Then later you can go back and make changes to your plan to refine the edge. But until you get to the point to where you can consistently say you are executing on your plan, then concerning yourself over the profitability of the plan will do nothing.
I say all this because the BE+1 stuff really doesn't matter (right now, in this stage). Just make a decision, know it can be changed later, but that right now you are going to follow it no matter what because that was the decision.
Also give yourself some time. You need opportunity to adjust to the plan, and opportunity to correctly execute the plan. If the plan has a bunch of steps, then perhaps ease into it by focusing on only two or three specific items on the list on any given day. Try to do the rest, too, but for "today" you will make 100% sure you execute on those two or three things perfectly. At the end of the day write in your journal and measure yourself (Grade A-F) on whether or not you executed on them correctly. It has no bearing on profit, just on whether or not you did what you wanted to do (in your plan).
After you go through these motions for a few weeks you will start to build a lot of confidence. You can then start to approach the refinement process of your plan, which will take a long, long time. Accept it will take a long, long time.
Tried to focus on the bigger picture today, specifically managing trades for a larger profit and not moving to BE+1 after 8 or nine ticks. The plan is to enter the trade with an initial 11 tick protective stop, then trail the stop to 1 tick beyond each bar as it closed.
Trade #1
Price was moving down, then got a pop over the EMA followed by a red bar. Entered sell limit at 88.52 and was filled on the next bar. After that bar closed, moved stop to 88.56 where I was stopped out. Had 16 ticks MFE. -4 ticks.
I was a couple of bars too early on that trade, since price dropped 65 ticks shortly after, but none of my signals allowed me in.
Trade #2
After the big drop, bars 06:25 and 06:30 formed a 2 bar reversal. Entered long buy limit at 88.06 with a tight stop. A few bars too early again. -7 ticks.
Trade #3
This is a frustration trade and a violation of a rule. Price was trying to make up its mind, but I had already made up mine. After the 06:50 spinner, I entered a stop sell at 87.82, looking to catch the momentum down. Got filled and killed. -11 ticks.
After several attempts to go down, price started to rise. I was expecting a rise back up to the 88.60 area, which was the beginning of the leg down.
Trade #4
Entered long at 88.02, removed my target and trailed my stop. Get taken out of a great run by an outside spinner. +2 ticks.
I felt price made a lower high on that 07:35 bar and was likely to resume down.
Trade #5
Went short 88.42 and moved my stop to the top of the entry bar after it closed where I was taken out. -5 ticks.
Trade #6
After stopping me out on the previous trade, price appeared to resume a downward trajectory. Got a close under the EMA on 3 LL, LH bars, but got stopped out. -11 ticks.
Trade #7
Price made a strong reversal and started higher. Went long at the 08:35 bar. The plan was to trail my stop, but price accelerated violently right into a resistance level. Moved my stop up quickly rather than risk losing much of the move. +28 ticks.
Finished down 8 ticks on CL. Grade-wise, I did well managing my stops even though getting out BE+1 when able would have resulted in a positive day. However I would fail myself on rules following since trade #3 was uncalled for.