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ok, yesterday i got real busy with the family
day total:4 trades
-8
+2
break even bad fill
ok, pics are out of order, will go in order of time of day
actually missed the original entry, ended up taking 1st entry at high, which gave me -8.this was essentially a pullback entry, but, really, there is no pb, just chop
also realized, entry which is hod, which i avoid
for chart trader on nt, i set stop loss/stop gain at 8/8, and when price moves to +5, my profit stop goes to +2
i know...conservative
2nd trade , being stubborn, because the 14 ma rising,(green), again at hod, went to +5, stopgain at +2
3rd trade, countertrend, had some room to the 4o ma(purple dash), but, should have entered earlier upon 3ma cross of 14 ma.anyway, went +5, bad fill..breakeven
reason for trade, price trying to find bottom, reentered sr channel
4th trade, broke out of channel, took 1st pullback, when my mas were lined up +8
this , ithink, had full agreement for perrys method, and had enough room to the 2oo ma(orange)
by far, best trade of the day
in summary, i missed 2 or 3 good trades, typical..so easy to say afterward, but they were trades that fit my method...
will do better when...1)dont miss those trades, focus harder
2)dont take trades that arent in the method (usually chop)
ok adding a quick entry today 3/17/11
bad day, got caught up in the ym chop fest, throw in some slippage, and pretty much sums it up
went back to sim3 months ago, ..yes..went back..got tired of giving $away
the market always lets me know when i make mistakes, and im grateful for that..no need to waste time imagining, would rather realize the problems , and adjust and learn
been going for 2 years now, and its mt 3rd time around, thankfully, i keep my stops, or id be long gone
at any rate , tomorrow is another day..trades not worth poosting
i just wanted to say a huge thanks to big mike, for the webinar on saturday.speaking for myself,the road has been a long one, with many downs, and few ups.if this were easy , everyone would do it.i appreciate mikes personal candidness, and open honesty.i continue to look forward, and stay positive, and intend to reach my simple goal..to be a consistent profitable trader
i had to leave before mike wrapped it up, but i seem to remember mike saying it would be recorded
ill be looking for it
thanks again mike!!
3/23/11
ok, been out of my journal, last 2 days, because i had no trades.after mikes webinar, ive been doin some hard thinking.in the last few months, had so many changes, it was silly.the only good thing, is they all got simpler, as i got rid of most of the indicators.
right now, i use a 4rng entry chart , and a 5 min for trend, 60 min just for pivots
the key on the 4rng, is , i have a 3ma , 14 ma, 40 ma, and 200 ma.as much as ive wanted to take the 2oo ma off, ive watched it prove itself too many times.
i also have dynamic sr on 4rng, which gives me a channel to see.
simple method, is, watch every 3ma /14 ma cross.the 40 ma should be underneath for longs.when these 3 mas are alligned correctly, what i like to see, is, the 3ma cross the 14, pb, and then bust out of the sr channel.the 1st pullback after this, is usually goo to take.2nd is more risky.always try to be with 5min trend, if there is one.
i get up at 3 am to trade 6b and 6e.i also watch the cl.
trade 1) 6b, stopped out +1`, it had dropped pretty far, and the 5min was pretty extended.forgot about 5:30 news, got lucky
trade 2)6b didnt take..hesitated..cant do that, gotta take the setups trade
trade 3)cl continuation long, -7, was a pb, (pull back)
trade 4)cl long, was a 2nd pb after channel break, more risk-6
trade 5)broke out of channel, stopped +4 long on cl
trade6)1st pb after channel breakdown, stopped +4 on cl short
good things for today
no laptop on while trading..missed so many trades while head is turned
dialing in a specific method
focus getting better
no changes on charts for 2 weeksd...have a list allready '
things to work on
focus..keep working onit and improving
adhere to method, take all the signals without hesitation,
when in atrade , that is a breakout in a trend, focus on the pbs that could come, dont be so engulfed in the trade , that you miss opportunity
focus at all times on what market is giving me..its rarely perfect, but small pieces of transparency do occur
totals
6 trades -43
commiss-30
total-73
i will , in the future, get more specific and detailed about my journal
3/24/2011
ok, took a trade early, like 4 am on cl, +6
was a countertrend, price had shot up, and based , forming a channel, ..bounced off bot o channel, 3x, so i put a sell stop just below channel, got hit, lucky +2 fill, but i only barely came down , before it rversed..ill call that lucky, as i was out at +6
2nd trade
took a long on cl, my 3 mas were in order, price tried to bust out of channel, then retraced to rising 14 ma, so i put a buy stop at top of channel, order got hit, and hesitated, testing the rising 14 ma 2 more times, got filled at +6
the problem with this trade , is, i was so focussed on the trade working, didnt take a 2nd entry, which was much better.
good things today:
well, 2 winners in a row.i gotta look at that as a possitive, even tho the 1st trade was riskier, and i didnt enter on the better entry on the 2nd
laptop off, less distraction
bad things today:
well, they outnumber the good, by far...take a look at pic 2, these are the setups i want to focus on..pullbacks into the 14 ma, all 4 mas are alligned, in order.why didnt i take these???hmm, im trying to remember, oh, because i was looking at the 6b, and lost focus..bad answer, cl is hard enough to trade, never mind lookin at something else.off tomorrow, starting monday, at 8:30 eastern, only cl up for 2 hours.i will copy this image , and study, and make my screen saver.the crap of it is, as i was lookin back and forth, i missed a good 6b trade too...wrong answer..ive said all along, i wanted to improve my focus, well, this is why
also, been sim trading for 3 months, was in cash prior, but realized, needed more work..now that i have this journal, and im trying to be accountable, the old blood pressure goes up when im in a trade, and im only simmin, mind you
goals for monday
more of the same , wait for my setup, be patient, and focus focus focus, andf dont beat myself up, because progress is being made..baby steps
i was off friday, needed to do some work on the house.the good thing about manual labor, for me, is it gives me a chance to wind down, relax, and regroup my thoughts.trading, i am realizing, has become an obsession.there are good things about it, and bad.i do have some distraction, thankfully, having 2 year old twins, but, to be honest, i seem to be constantly pulled out of the moment, only to think about trading.to be more specific, i am thinking about the method that i am working on, and the rules i need to observe.in the last few months, i had days where i thought , "man , im getting close", only to realize i needed to make changes.well, thankfully, i yanked just about everything off my charts, and went back to a 4 range chart for entries, which seems to work better.the webinar mike gave , is so full of insights, but for the struggling trader, i have one thought that came to me ,this weekend, while thinking to myself.heres the thing: if hard work alone were the key, alot more of us would be alot richer.the combination, needed to cross the line, is comprised of many factors.often, it is our weakest attribute, which could make the difference.when im asked by wife , hows it goin? i just say"still workin", and its obvious, that there is frustration, and for lack of a better word, i, like many others , am just weary, because its a grind, day in and out.if this was easy, everyone would do it.now , i dont want to sound like im complaining, because im grateful, that the market reprimands those who make mistakes, because the 5% that are profitable benefit from this.
to summarize these thoughts, i think that the key, is for me to be confident in my trading.that is a big statement, because i go off results, and allthough better, still not there.i believe, that in the last 2 weeks, i have pretty much finalized the guidelines for my method.this is good.now, i need to focus, and execute.in the last 2 months, i felt this way atleast 3 times, so i am cautious...nevertheless, even though i was mistaken those 3 times, i learned from it.this has been such an absurd lesson in patience, and also, staying positive and subjective , in the face of adversity.looking forward to monday
3/28/2011
mondays , historically, havent been good for me..lookin to change that
the entries , that i am looking for now, seem to be much better.the funny thing, is i am basing these entries , on moving averages.perrys method, is what i started with, and i have altered some things to fit my method(mine includes a 200 ma for instance)i think , that i am the type of person who needs to be beat up, thru and thru, before i finally give in , and focus..the mind is a very tricky thing for me, and my focus , in the past, was not good enough..but, its not just that..ive always used mas.the problem, is i get distracted by the candles!if i focus on the mas, the crosses, pullbacks, etc, it all makes sense.ive got a week left, before i can make any changes on my charts, which is fine
today, i had alt of cancelled trades, the CL was rangy after the open, and i finished at 10:40 am eastern
trade1)a short.price had pulled back to the 14ma, so i put sell stop under that candle..filled, and my +5/+2 profit stop kicked in..no problem, bad fill break even...i never enjoy trading at lod/hod..had 4 lanes, gotta take
trade 2) 4 lanes here , lookin for entry.again, 3ma crossed 14ma, price pb to 14 ma, pu buy stop just above pb candle .ross hook plotted 1,2,3, that makes me feel good too
trade 3)4 lanes here.look at the 3ma and 14ma real close together, gring towards top of channel, which was prev resistance..placed bs just at top of channel..price was riding the 14 ma up, basically propelling the break +6
summary
3 trades.+12 ticks
good things
focus is improving
watching mas more, watching candles less
stayed out of trouble
executed well
things to work on
stilllneed to "be in the zone" with the mas, need to improve on that, so there are less missed trades
also, i quit trading 6b and 6e was getting up at 3 am..exhausting..but it served its purpose
the cl gives so many opportunities every day..plan to trade 2-3 hours of cl each am, and NOTHING else up on any screen
no internet
no laptop
no tv
trade 1)countertrend, a grinder..40/14/3mas in order, 2oo far below..countertrend short, had room though..price pb to 14ma.. maybe my entry should have been just under red bar reject of 14 ma..nevertheless, went +4, stop out -9
trade 2) mistake trade, for a long , 14 ma needs to be above 14ma ..watchin candles, got smacked -7
missed trade?? when price is out in the open like this, i tend to tune out..hmmm easy to see in playback, momentum trade
trade3) ninja shut down on me, hit my profit target,twice, but didnt fill.. +1 scratch
trade 4) ninja weird malfunction i think, anyway,-8 for my effort..i guess there is a reason why i shut down at 10:30,
5 trades
2 break even
3 losses
-255 with commisions
good things...hmmmm focusing better and better everyday.today was a weird day, even my good entries didnt smile for me
bad things..get off computer at 10:30
dont try to make back losses as market slows down
definately missed some good ones, but missing less every day