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Trade #277
09:15 Short again right away because price only took out my stop by 1 tick and never reached my original stop level, and I believe the opportunity is still valid.
09:15 Target reached. +6 ticks.
Trade #278
09:51 Long. Thought I was finished for the day, but I watched TICK spike down very low along with oversold readings on my stochastics.
09:57 I moved my stop up several times because TICK was getting pretty high and my stochastics were already in overbought territory.
10:00 Target reached. +6 ticks.
AAR
Objective: Trade the ES the best I can for now and continue to work on developing my trading plan.
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Outcome: Four trades for three winners.
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Observations: I'm using my original "setup" less and less. I seem to be using my ideas of what price might be trying to do (in the very short term) along with my indicators to make decisions rather than trying to execute a mechanical setup.
"Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitude. It's having the right attitude that's hard." - Robert Pirsig
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Mission Plan: In development Theater of Operation: Echo Sierra Mike Three
SitRep
08:30 Unanticipated things going on this morning and late to my desk, so I'm a little frazzled.
Trade #279
08:32 Long. Poor entry (in too early) due to being a little frazzled. Long after price tested Wednesday's close and extreme low TICK reading. Also favorable conditions on my charts/indicators.
08:34 Because of my poor entry, I took excess heat and price came within 1 tick of my stop.
08:35 Price rallied and I trailed my stop up a couple of times and it's now at breakeven.
08:36 Target reached. +6 ticks.
AAR
Objective: Trade the ES the best I can for now and continue to work on developing my trading plan.
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Outcome: One and done today. I'm happy to be positive for the day and for the week, so I'm finished for the day.
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Observations: I was still distracted by some other things, but there were a couple more situations that I was able to recognize as opportunities while they were happening, and that makes me feel good.
"Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitude. It's having the right attitude that's hard." - Robert Pirsig
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I mentioned in a previous Weekend Update post that I was focused on making my attitude the top priority for the month of May. I've done that. There have been some lower points, but overall I have lifted my attitude higher than usual for the majority of this month. As a result (I believe) I've had things working out in my favor more than usual. It has affected my personal life as well as my business. In fact, the amount of paying work that came in for my business was greater than it has been in months - without any extra effort on my part (other than just doing the work).
I intend to do something similar for the month of June. This time it will have to do with gratitude. I did this a few months ago and had very good results - it makes me wonder why I stop. Anyway that will be the focus of my attitude for this month.
An update on my trading in general
Over the past two weeks I feel like I've gotten back on track despite the fact that I seem to be trading more on "context" than on "setups." It's a little difficult to explain, even to myself. But out of sheer frustration in attempting to find hard and fast "setups" or "rules" to follow, I began to just "watch what the market was doing," especially at levels I've deemed important. Then I used my indicators to help support or reject my ideas, as well as to help me enter "better" than I might without them.
Much of this approach has come from contemplating how I would like to trade and making some decisions about that. As a result I've opened my mind up to some somewhat different ways of looking at the market and approaching my trading.
The combination of these things is also changing the way I feel about my trading. I've gained an unusual calmness and confidence about the future of my trading in general.
I've also gained a different feeling about each trade and what the market is doing in the moment. I'm feeling less of a revenge mentality. Less "I'm putting on a trade here because the market should do x, and if it doesn't, then I'm going to be pissed."
I'm feeling more things like, "this looks like it's turning out to be a good spot, price is reacting here, my indicators look good, take the trade."
I'm not trying to quantify everything in an attempt to write a manual (or trading plan) about it. I'm also not trying to make other hard and fast rules like "only n trades per day," or "$n profit per day," or "only n hours of trading per day."
I still have hard and fast rules about my stops and my daily loss limit, but I'm working more on developing my abilities rather than trying to develop a system.
A review of the trading week
In May I bounced around quite a bit between markets and trading styles trying to find the "right thing" for me. I don't like to be scattered and/or inconsistent, but I think it helped me to see what does seem a little more "right" for me. And that seems to be the basic concept that started this whole exercise. So I'm back to trading the ES in a similar way as before.
This may not end up being the "right thing," but for now it's what makes the most sense to me and the thing that I feel the most confidence in. Although I know how long a month of trading can really be now, I'm planning to be consistent with this basic methodology for the month of June to see what I can learn and accomplish.
This past week I didn't try to force myself to "take every setup," but instead took a few trades each day when I thought I had an idea of what price might be trying to do. I made some changes to the indicators/indexes I'm watching and the timeframes of some of my charts.
I feel like I'm creating some structure now with regard to my trading business and my trading style.
"Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitude. It's having the right attitude that's hard." - Robert Pirsig
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Mission Plan: In development Theater of Operation: Echo Sierra Mike Three
The format of today's Training Day post will be a little different than usual.
I took 10 trades today (#280 through #289). Some were taken at inappropriate times. Some were managed inappropriately. One was a lucky winner. Two were well-planned winners.
Although my trading was messy, I found today fascinating. How can a messy day be fascinating?
It was fascinating because I was able to see very clearly what I was doing wrong as I was doing it. No, it didn't stop me from doing it, but my ability to see what was going on was enhanced.
And it was enhanced because I wasn't judging what I was doing and what was going on, I was observing what I was doing and what was going on.
And all of this is due to a very different attitude that I have about things right now. I mentioned this weekend that I would be spending June in a similar way as May by focusing on improving my attitude, and yesterday I had an experience that gave me a lot of clarity about how I will be approaching the task of improving my attitude for the time being.
"Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitude. It's having the right attitude that's hard." - Robert Pirsig
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"Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitude. It's having the right attitude that's hard." - Robert Pirsig
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Objective: Follow my mission plan and do the best I can with what I've learned so far.
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Outcome: 2 trades, 2 wins.
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Observations: My "hypothesis" on the first trade was "wrong," but my standard trade management still allowed it to be a winning trade. Second trade was a better call.
"Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitude. It's having the right attitude that's hard." - Robert Pirsig
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Objective: Follow my mission plan and do the best I can with what I've learned so far.
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Outcome: 3 trades, only 1 winner.
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Observations: I took 3 stabs in the same direction. I was only willing to take 3 losses and when I got the winner I was happy to only be down a few ticks on the day. I'll try again tomorrow.
"Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitude. It's having the right attitude that's hard." - Robert Pirsig
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Mission Plan: Sierra.2013.06.Bravo Theater of Operation: Echo Sierra Mike Three
Trade #296
08:37 Long. Fortunately my entry/timing was good because price only exceeded my target by 1 tick before turning back down.
08:39 Target reached. +6 ticks.
Trade #297
08:51 Long. This entry was much better. I entered on the pullback after the test of the 50% area of the NFP pre-market spike, which was also 50% of the overnight range.
08:53 Target reached. +6 ticks.
AAR
Objective: Follow my mission plan and do the best I can with what I've learned so far.
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Outcome: 2 trades, 2 wins. I'm happy to end the week this way.
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Observations: Yesterday I made a distinction about the interaction of the different timeframes I'm watching, and employed that distinction today. It's helping me to enter a bit better and have more confidence about my entries.</li>
"Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitude. It's having the right attitude that's hard." - Robert Pirsig
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