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Today could have gone a lot better. The market was choppy and I got caught in the back and forth. One of the trades I should not have taken. I tried to jump the market and I was wrong.
My final trade of the day was the big one. It broke support at 1658 and I knew it was going to go lower. After 40 ticks it had a hard reverse and went back to my original entry. I didn't panic. I knew the day was going to be down day so I waited for it to go lower. I got out with a 30 tick gain I had originally thought of moving my stop up and letting my stop take me out but decided against it because I was down already for the day and this would get me back close to even. Soon after I exited the trade it ran down to my original target.
I was bummed that I missed out on a huge run but there will be other days. At lunch so I will post my trades later today.*
Attached are my trades for the day. Trade number 4 is trade I should not have taken. As you can see it is the largest loss. I tried to Jump the market and anticipate a breakout. It cost me big time.
Robert
What was the best thing that happened to me today:
I didnt panic when the trade went against me. I trusted my initial analysis of the chart that there was going to be a pull back.
I demonstrated that when you dont follow your rules it results in larger losses. I now have more conviction that I have to follow my entry rules. Following entry rules leads to smaller losses
What was the worst thing that happened to me today:
I didnt let the market stop me out on the last trade. Had I done this there would have been a chance that I could of exited near the original target. My fear of taking a loss was greater than the potential profit I could have made.
Today was a one and done day. The setup was perfect. Placed a buy stop just above the trend line and price was hit and 7 seconds later my target was hit. Didnt even have time to enjoy it. Money is great but I still enjoy the trade. Traded some SIM afterwords but nothing serious. Had a couple good trades and I missed the two other breakouts to the upside.
I started to set a overnight trade last night but chickened out. My target would have been hit.
I am getting better at recognizing setups. Its allowing me to set my buy/sell stops and if my entry gets hit then great if it does not then I was wrong and I am glad I did not enter on impulse.
I reflected on yesterday; I was worrying that I would not be able to hit my daily targets everyday.. and well, this is true. Someday's will be like yesterday with small to no gains or a loss and other days will be like today with big score. The rest of the time it will be somewhere in between. Trading is so different from having a day job. In a day job you get paid the same amount everyday that you are there. In trading this is not the case. You cannot count on having a positive day everyday. In fact there is no guarantee at all you will even make any money after a week, month, year...
Robert
What was the best thing that happened to me today:
followed my rules and was patient. Waited for the price to come to my entry.
What was the worst thing that happened to me today:
The trade went too fast!! I enjoy the hunt so this was a bit of a downer for me.
Nice Robert - your consistency is inspiring. I'm curious how you set your targets, did you use a fixed price on this one? In general do you use fixed targets and then adjust as price action develops while in the trade? Thanks for your journalling.
Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty. - Frank Herbert
Yes on the fixed targets. Although, I am still trying to figure out the best setting. Today for example a 50 tick target would have been much better but on Wednesday 10 to 15 tick target would have been best. It really comes down to market conditions. I am trying to make a best guess based on the overnight movement and set my stops and targets accordingly. Ideally if the trade today had been slower I would have moved my target higher until I was stopped out by my trailing stop.