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"If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much." - Jim Rohn
It was a class 3 setup - a three tick profit vs. a nine tick stop.
And no, although I had a fair idea the market would come near my stop, (mainly because I had entered prematurely), I had no idea than it would hit my target and from that tick onwards start tanking in such a shocking manner. Though I was flattered to be on the right side before it started the descent, really, I had no idea of the viciousness of that move. Rather I would have had my target higher than than had not I 'sensed' that it would be likely to form a double bottom. Hmmm. +$37.50.
This is a very inspiring post. I am not a scalper, yet i keep coming to your journal just to hear you, the way you connect life & trading as one into the other.
What is this 'intuition' that I talk about - the one that makes me violate rules sometimes and yet be calm and perfectly okay with it?
I doubt that I know the answer!
Anyway, here is the exit in perspective - couldn't have timed the sell any better - no, I haven't shorted there just squared off - then I left for my day job and logged in sometime back to see this!
Like a silly child obsessed with something that accidentally makes him a hero, I looked with awe once again for 'selling the top to the very last tick' so to speak. It is silly that I consider it because it was pure coincidence. A fooled by randomness event, so to speak.
Here is how it looks like:
Which is balderwash, and it would be pulling wool over your eyes if I puff myself up and say 'Hey, I sold the top.' Pretty silly it would make me feel. :-)
On a more serious note, here is a 10-tick target trade I took a few moments ago that is countertrend but seems well on its way to its target:
The fun part is that I was so occupied with life's mundane chores today that the little two hour trade I took today (that top thing) was the only time I got for trading today so day 1 concludes as a +$32 day. Perfectly acceptable, really. A really productive day in office and an evening well spent. How could I not resist my little daughter's tug at my shirt sleeve when she wanted to come and give her a swing. :-)
The two early trades I took were not setup based and hence I scratched them. I did think that a 3 - 4 target was achievable but was not prepared for anything.
The third trade was executed perfectly, long from the bottom of the range and it hit my target at 8 ticks (my method target is 10 ticks but my experience is that T4 leaves me high and dry as it does not simulate a fill at the edges of a range, i.e. even when the queue of sellers dwindles it still hasn't given me a fill even though I was in the queue, so I settle with 8 ticks.) It did go to 11 - 12 ticks though, to give credit!
The fourth trade was selling the edge of the range (covered quickly)
The fifth trade is where I goofed up, losing -$150 (fat finger error). It is trades like this, out of my pattern that have potential to unleash tilt. However good sense prevailed. You need to accept what happens, error or no error.
However the fumbling had caused me to lose my touch, even though I did not do mad things. So I just patiently waited for a technical exit. News was about to hit but I had my stops alright and soon the news turned out to be a boon driving price to my expected levels. Further trading was out of question because bars were being spit out on the screen like crazy and though I could see many setups flying by it was too much risk. Never lose your appetite over anything, so its a day for me.