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One trade on MES today. 1 winner for +32t. Thanks to @Zachary Standley and @mgcharl for helping me through yesterday. It was a a tough day for me, a new personal best for losing days. My nerves were a little raw and I wasn't quite myself this morning, which is probably a good thing! .
The trade: I entered long on bar 18 with 1 contract, STOP placed below bar 1. I entered on a pull back. There were 2 breakout tests of the bar 4 high and the bar 4 BO gap was maintained. This encouraged me to scale-in higher with a 1 lot on the close of bar 21 which was a breakout bar from the bull flag. I moved my STOP to 1 tick below bar 19 to manage risk. I got 2R on the first lot. The second lot: I chirped out on bar 24, a bear bar, due to my trauma from yesterday. I could have bought back in on bar 25 but I was running out of time to trade (work). I felt like the trend was strongish here though. +32t.
Some notes:
*Intensified prep work starting last night and resumed this morning.
*I bought my first 1-lot on pullback. This is unusual for me. Usually I just jump right into the fracas, willing to gut out a pull back if need be. I wanted to try to avoid that today so I bought the pull back. It was an H2 buy, I believe, to use the Brooksian terminology.
*I miscalculated my tick loss from yesterday due to forgetting that I had a two lot on when I took the big loss. The loss from yesterday was -102t, previously edited from -61t. I edited the post, but wanted the extra disclosure. I think I prefer the sound of -1R!!!! .
You're welcome Salao, anytime. As for your trade today, I noticed that we took very similar positions. I got in the market earlier, but we closed within ~5-10 minutes of each other. It's cool to see when trades line up like that!
Anyways, keep the ball rollin'. Don't get too crazy tomorrow!!
No trades today. I could only trade for a little over an hour before heading out the door to work. 0t.
Some notes:
*It's a bummer being on the sidelines on a trend from the open day. I don't recommend it.
*Bar 1 close was a tempting buy on a fade of the channel breakout.
*I watched a bar 8 limit order buy on a failed micro-channel breakout. It was also tempting. If I had more time, bar 11 (not shown) was a nice looking second entry.
*Still trading cautiously, looking for second signal entries (higher probability). I think it's OK to be a little more defensive when you have time limitations.
Trade 1: I entered long on the close of bar-11, STOP was put below bar-1. This was a second entry buy of a breakout from a small pullback. I scaled-in higher with another contract at the close of bar 21 and moved my STOP to 1 tick below bar-10. This was a third signal entry...the market had been micro-channeling up and I faded the BO lower. I took one lot off at 1R and held the second looking for a measured move up. I ended up taking the second lot off at bar-44 after the bears gapped bar-41 below the MA and were able to get 2R. +31t.
Trade 2: I entered short with one lot on a stop order placed 1 tick below bar-21, a previous low. The order got filled but the bulls weren't giving up like I expected them to. I flattened my trade on the close of bar-53 due to a lack of a give up bar, or any follow through for that matter. +1t.
Some notes:
*I was disappointed by the second-lot entry of trade 1. I expected the market to get up to a MM at ~2896.25 or at least fall into a trading range type of price action. But the bears just seemed to keep gaining strength and I had to exit the second lot with only a 2 tick gain.
*Disappointed again on trade 2. The bulls wouldn't capitulate and I ended up getting my trading range price action that I had anticipated during trade 1. What the hell man?
*I didn't enter on the opening BO. Also, I held positions for almost three hours today and overstayed my welcome. Pretty uncharacteristically high-patience. But, too much of a good thing?
*I have a really hard time getting a read of the market in the last 1/3 of the day. I don't get to trade it very often. I need to study up on price action during this part of the day.
*I won't be able to trade tomorrow because I will be tied up at work. Which is a bummer...
Thanks @mgcharl and @snax! I was thinking I would move my journal over to elite once I advance from the full blown beginner phase and into the realm of respectable upper-novice. Of course, I have no idea how to judge that. I didn't want to pollute the elite area with a crazy a$$ clown show journal...which mine largely has been! Haha! . But I admit, lately things have been getting better.
I don’t think it’s about whether you are a good/profitable trader, if it was there wouldn’t be a lot of journals there! Rather, I think it’s about supporting the community.
I did a little market replay homework yesterday because I'm one sick puppy! I replayed the Feb. 5 ES. I took two trades, 2 winners for +29t.
Trade 1: BTC (1 lot) of bar-5. The market was in a bull micro-channel/flag after the BO open. I put my stop below yesterday's bar-81. I added another contract on the bar-9 test of the open/fade of the channel BO. I reduced risk by moving my stop to 1 tick below bar-1. My exits were a little hasty, +13t.
*Bar-12 was disappointing. I found that usually those little failed BO buys run a little right out of the gate. Price action seemed pretty two sided here, so I was thinking the market must be near resistance. I don't use HTF charts during REPLAY, only my 5 min chart, so sometimes it becomes difficult to determine S/R. But I was able to determine that a few different MM measurements put resistance in the 2734-2738 area. So I took my longs off and waited. I suspected there would be a good opportunity coming to get short...
Trade 2: STC of bar-28, a lower high and probably minor reversal. I put my stop above bar-20 and I set my profit target to 1 tick above yesterday's close (the red line on my chart), thinking we would get a good test here. The bulls never really gave up on the sell-off. Bar-44 was an exhaustion bar I guess. The bears couldn't get a trend day. This was followed by four bull bars. I overstayed my welcome a little here. +16t.
Some notes:
*Damn that was fun! Haha! I love trying to solve the puzzle!
*I'm still pretty stumped when trying to identify profit targets beyond 2R.
* I wish I would have went long after the failed test of yesterday's close. This is probably a really good long setup. It just didn't occur to me at the time!
*So this is my last trading entry in this journal. I'm going to start another journal in the elite section. After reading why an elite section? I figured it was best to put my journal over there. I enjoy journaling because it helps with self-reflection and it enhances the way I review each trading day. But one of the best parts of it is the conversations with other traders in the community. These have been incredibly helpful. They have been so valuable that these conversations should probably be behind the paywall. So, to support the community, I'll take my gig over to the elite journaling area!