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Markets offered just limited number of opportunities for my trading approach.
T1 First trade was dejavú from yesterday. I also picked the bottom of the market (NQ this time) just few ticks from lowest low. Unfortunately after my order was filled, there was too much chaos in the markets and the situation didn't provide me with clear edge anymore so I manualy closed the position at BE+2 according to my trade management rules.
T2 After the YM breaked up from the consolidation I saw unwillingness to return and test lower levels. I entered long and found out I hit the mouse button twice resulting in two waiting limit orders. I was filled before I could cancel one of them. So I had to manage both which scared me at the beginning. I closed the first contract at BE+1 and took the primary momentum with the second one at +8.
I hope you enjoy my modest picture As you can guess from the pic I am very satisfied with my performance for this week. Let me clear some things first. I was trading just 4 days this week because of the bank holliday in US on monday. Besides that I also decided to start with live trading beginning from Thursday. So I traded Tuesday and Wednesday on SIM account and Thursday and Friday on LIVE account. Because of that I will publish 2 statistics - one for SIM trading and the second one for LIVE trading and I will manualy count the numbers together.
SIM
LIVE stats and equity
Conclusion
I am very happy not just because of the outcome but also because I took all the trades exactly as I was supposed to (maybe except the T2 on Tuesday). I entered at very good prices, most of the time picking the tops and bottoms of the market which exposed me to very limited risk. It is easily visible from the statistics. Maximum trade drawdown during SIM trades was just 3 ticks for all 4 trades, meaning not a single trade was in higher open loss than $15. During the LIVE trading, maximum drawdown was 6 ticks which is still great. Most of the trades have been without any or just with a single tick heat.
This is why I call it sniper daytrading. When executed correctly my approach allows me to enter the trades with extremely limited risk resulting in great RRR (risk-reward-ratio).
Another good sign is that I was not overtrading which is one of my weaknesses. Overall I took just 7 trades, which leaves us with 1.75 trades per day.
Only value which I am not satisfied with is the average winning trade during the LIVE trading. $24.63 is too low, I am trying to reamain above $30 level when trading. This is something I need to work on next week. I have to give the market more space.
Cumulated statistics
Total net P/L: $212.76 (after commissions)
Total commissions: $32.24
Total trades: 7
Winning trades: 7 Win%: 100%
I will enjoy this winner feeling for a day or two and then I will forget about this week because new week starts on monday and the last thing I need is to be cocky or arrogant while trading. That usually results in big losses.
T1 I took single trade at 9:16. All the other markets have been climbing except the NQ. However, I took the long too soon. I realised my mistake right after I took the position but I also saw that the market is going to turn. Therefore I widened my stop loss a little and kept waiting. I was 13 ticks in heat which is a lot for me. I am used to 0-6 ticks of heat when I am right. So when the market provided me with the opportunity to exit the position on BE+1 I gladly took it. +1
I saw one more setup later on but I didn't want to risk anymore in such a dead market. Tomorrow is another day, hopefully with more opportunities.
Results
Febuary 24
I missed couple of good opportunities today to close the day in a loss.
T1 This was nice trade. The market reacted nicely to my preplanned support level. I took long just 3 ticks from the bottom. However the trade management was a huge fail. There was not really a reason to get out. BE+1
T2 I still cannot understand why I did take this trade. It was short from historical highs. Total crap. I am ashamed. -13
February 25
Today I continued to make mistakes. Even when the market was extremely slow and didn’t offer much opportunities I could end up in black numbers, haven’t I make so many stupid mistakes.
T1 I took the short from what I analysed is a false breaktrough from consolidation. Other markets have been falling. I took the trade prematurely resulting in very bad price and huge risk (not used to 8 ticks). But the biggest mistake was that because of my greed and despite the fact I entered at bad price, I didn’t take 12 ticks profit even when I could. Third mistake was that after I saw the market returning back to my entry point I didn’t close the trade and instead of that kept HOPING that it will return back. Hoping is one of the surest way to lose money in this business. One trade, three mistakes. Not good. -11
Today´s trading was full of mistakes and frustration. The markets are extremely slow which is not a natural environment for me. There is a very easy recipe to counter such conditions. You simply don't trade or you trade less and take just the best setups. I did the opposite and paid the price for it.
T1 Aggresive entry from MID. The entry was not that bad but I couldn't manage it correctly and after I withstood the heat I killed the position at BE. -0 T2 Premature long. -7 A This was today's best trade. I identified it quite correctly and placed my long limit order. Unfortunately, I didn't get fill.
T3 More aggresive entry for bad price. Managed to get out at -4 T4 Very stupid trade. Makes no sense and in addition I couldn't manage it. -13 T5 This was more guessed trade according to the structure of the market. Also very aggresive. +16
This was the point were I should have stopped trading for today, however I continued watching the market and trading.
T6 Attempt from ORH. Didn't work at all. -9 T7 Short from ORH. I took the trade for very bad price and I was stopped out 2 ticks from high. -7 T8 I took this one too soon. Managed to get out at +2 T9 The stupidest trade of today. I took it couple of minutes before trading day close. I didn't believe that the market might actually move higher. And it didn't, it just moved high enough so it took my SL out exactly 2 ticks from high again. -12 Results:
After yesterday's fiasco I traded much more carefully today. And it did pay off even when the markets have been dead again.
T1 More aggresive short but still according to my plan. Thanx to good entry price I was able to close the trade at +8 ticks even when the market was rising. +8 T2 Long for a very nice entry price. However after the entry, the market became very chaotic and I didn't want to risk another stop loss at the end of the week. So I killed the position at +4 Results:
Extremely difficult week to trade, but the real reason why I ruined it was my own head. All I needed to do was not trading when the markets don´t move or have just tiny volume. I did exactly the opposite. I traded too much. The worst day was Thursday when I created -$200 drawdown. I started to recover from it on Friday with results which looks more like me (100% win with 2 trades). I take the whole period as a costly but good lesson. I need to slow down, take only the best setups and slowly recover financially but more important also mentally. I need to regain the confidence in myself and trust in my system. The next few weeks will show how I will be able to accomplish that.
Statistics
Since I switched to LIVE account I am totally $206.70 in loss. Win% is only 50%. I didn’t have such a bad statistics for a long time. During 7 trading sessions (since Thursday last week), I made 18 trades. Half of it on Thursday.
It is difficult to evaluate current week and half of trading. Without Thursday I would be at break even which would be quite ok for a start in such a difficult market. The whole loss was created on Thursday. I need to pay attention for days like this. It is much easier to not create such a huge drawdown on a single day than to come back from it.