Newport Beach, CA
Experience: Advanced
Platform: TS
Broker: IB, TS
Trading: ES/YM
Posts: 43 since Jun 2010
Thanks Given: 4
Thanks Received: 43
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Thurs Feb 19 thru Mon Feb 23: Up $1393 net.
I haven't included trade details such as interval, chart, or notes, but am planning to from tomorrow. I am trying to streamline how I capture my trade activity but that requires that I actually keep reasonable notes pre trade, after entry, and post trade. I am not keeping good notes so this implies that I am not properly planning trades in advance - too reactive. One theme I keep returning to is simplification, both in terms of process as well as number of markets followed. Over thinking the process and looking at too many markets results in reactive trading. I am slowly coming to terms with 2 basic ways to trade (at least for me): 1) stick to the higher time frame, take the high probability trade at the favorable structural location, don't worry so much about ideal entry, keep stop wide, or 2) fine tune entry at structurally favorable areas by identifying the "tell", the 1-2 lower time frame bars that indicate sentiment has shifted because they took out a key price level that should have held if the current market condition were to continue. The first can be managed by setting alerts ahead of the set up area. Unless counter trend momentum has meaningfully strengthened, simply enter limit order with bracketed stop loss and target, or use a simple trigger. The second requires dramatically more focus, often at the expense of missing opportunities in other markets. In theory the dramatically smaller risk should permit one to trade much bigger size such that only a few good trades are necessary to have a good day. My goal is to be able to do both but I struggle to balance the two.
I tried to include the trade data from my spreadsheet but the formatting doesn't stick. I attached a jpeg file that contains an image of the spreadsheet that should be easier to read.
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