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Had 3 6E trades, 2 for BE+1 and 1 for -10 ticks. My Passed Trades log was about flat with equal numbers of winners and losers.
I'll go over my 6E trades since I don't have anything else to share.
Saw the double bottom price made early this morning with the over night low, so was cautious about entering in short trades too close to that. Passed on 2 short trades because of that, both were losers.
Trade #1
Got a little bit of a pullback and bounced off of resistance at the 1.2930 area. Got a couple of red bars, then a green spinner right at the EMA. Placed a sell stop 1 tick under the spinner and was filled. Kept a tight grip on it because at this point I didn't know if this was a pullback to the recent up trend, or a continuation of the down trend. In my mind I felt a good stop would be above the spinner, but about 4 ticks, moved my stop to BE+1 where I was stopped out.
Trade #2
After the 07:00 bar failed to continue higher, placed a sell stop right below the low. I was a little concerned that 6E now appeared to be in a range and I was taking a trade right in the middle of it, so I kept tight control on the trade and was taken out BE+1.
Trade #3
Got a nice push to a new HOD, then some HH/HL consolidation bars. I was looking for this trend to continue. Started to trail a buy stop on the first pullback and was filled on the 08:05 bar and stopped out. -10 ticks.
Going to spend the rest of the day reviewing past trades, reading my log, and simming.
Not happy at all with today. I don't know if that Passed Trades log is a help or a problem. Any time there was the slightest doubt about a setup, I logged it in the Passed Trades log, passed on the trade, then watched it turn to a winner. There were 4 winning and 2 BE trades in there. Maybe I need more sim time.
Trade #1
CL had a couple of big pushes up to go along with the general trend, but from 06:00 - 06:30 price stalled and started to roll down. I saw price falling on increasing volume. At 07:05 price turned around on big volume, but 2 bars later a shooting star formed as price failed to follow through. I debated on whether to place a stop sell under the shooting star or place a limit order on a 50% retrace. I opted for the stop order, was filled and stopped out. -11 ticks.
I was waiting for a pullback in the trend to enter. A double top formed at 08:15, then the next bar was lower. I was waiting for a second pullback bar to enter, but never got it.
The pivot made by the 08:10 bar would have been a great place to put a buy stop, but my track record with those trades isn't great, so I passed.
Meanwhile on the 6E side, I watched several trades turn to winners because they weren't "perfect" setups. There was one limit order I placed and watched the DOM hit it, but I wasn't filled - WTF!?! Price then continued on in the direction I wanted to go.
Frustrated, I switched to sim.
Sim Trade #2
Price was increasing again on decreasing volume. CL formed an IB at 09:05. I placed a buy stop 1 tick above and a sell stop 1 tick below. I misread the scale and my sell stop was 91.05 instead of 91.06. I had a 10 tick stop and was stopped out at the high of the entry bar, to the tick. Jeez. -10 ticks.
If you are changing things about your trading, maybe sticking to just SIM isn't a bad idea? I see too many people who think if you go SIM you are a WUSSY. I know that isn't you, but nothing wrong w/ SIM until you get the kinks worked out?
Also, just mark the SIM trade w/ a quick line and come back and journal everything later maybe? That way it doesn't 'f*ck' with your head maybe?
Better today - more relaxed. I think trading only 1 setup is the way to go for me. I still noted other setups, but wasn't tempted to trade them. I just recorded the stats.
Only 2 negative things: I missed a valid trade on 6E because I was annotating a chart and thinking about something else, and I didn't take 3 6E long trades because a resistance level was too close. They were winners.
CL had dropped from the overnight high, but started climbing back up around 05:30. I plotted a resistance level around 91.60 - 91.75 and watched as CL churned through that over the course of an hour. I didn't want to take any trades under or in that area, and by the time CL poked through and had a valid pullback to the EMA, the oil report was right around the corner.
Trade #1
Finally got a pullback to the trend and a place where I felt I could enter. This was very near the HOD. Placed buy stop at 92.21 and was filled on the next bar and price soared to the HOD. I strongly resisted the urge to lock in 10 or more ticks and left my stop at BE+1 where I was stopped out. +1 tick.
I moved my stop way too soon on my 6E trade and got only 1 tick Once I conquer my fears of entering ALL my setups, I'll work on holding longer. Baby steps...
Could I just say that your second negative, namely not taking those three long trades into resistance, was actually a positive if not taking those sort of trades is in your plan. An outcome of a trade that is not in your plan is immaterial.
Thanks Mickey - that is definitely in my plan. I need at least 20 ticks of room before taking a trade like that. Just turned out that price penetrated deep enough to make those trades winners. Nothing I'm tempted to do in the future.
Hard to say. I haven't been trading the 6E very long. There is definitely an attention span issue trading more than 1 market, but I think I'm getting better at it.
What I attempted to do today - and I like it - is to trim down the number of signals I'm looking for. If I notice another setup, fine, I'll log it, but I'm not going to agonize over whether or not it's good enough to take. I'm hoping that after awhile the pullback entry I'm focusing on will become so automatic that I can add another signal into the mix without any significant brain drain.