Here is the first setup for today. Stop was too large and didn't feel like messing around with the MYM. Here is the trade in progress as dictated by my plan.



Realistically, I probably would have aggressively trailed as we approached the target.

And a followup.

Closed out for 1.27x the size of the stop. Not a blowout, but a nice trade nonetheless.

woah. to the tick.

This one does not meet all my rules. Projection decreased. I still think this one will play out but I intend to follow my rules to the letter.

I did not take this trade because it did not meet all the conditions of my rules. It is working out well. When I reach the point of being able to make discretionary trades WITHOUT emotion I will allow myself to make these discretionary trades. Until then I will do my best to adhere to the plan, and simply observe the market when there are no valid setups.

Nailed the target area. I am now looking for shorts. Lets see if my patience will be rewarded today!

Patience was the name of the game today.

1 and done!
Trend Continuation:
This trade is an example of both perfect execution and the market respecting the rules of my trade plan
-Was looking for shorts all day
-Russell just would NOT stop going up.
-Once we broke clean through the ONH with no evidence of stopping I decided to enter.
-Projection had increased.
-Entered with my entry method and took NO heat.
-Projection did not decrease so I trailed the swing low.
-All the other indexes broke their swing lows and I no longer wanted to be long.
-We got a quick push up beyond the 1:1 projection and I trailed aggressively capturing damn near 100% of the move.




Results:
1 win
+1.19R
+1.63x size of initial stop

Self-Eval:
-100%
-I missed one setup on YM, but it happened so quickly that I do not fault myself for not getting in it. What I did well was not chasing price after I realized I missed the setup.
-I did a good job interacting with the market and remaining focused despite the lack of setups.

Ending July nicely it seems. Maybe this will set the tone for August and I'll have a blowout win of a month!

I am embracing positivity in my trading but it is difficult for me to feel good about today. This session offered four perfect opportunities, none of which I was able to participate in.

The first trade I was waiting for. Once I saw price approaching my entry zone, I switched to my entry chart. My internet was sluggish today and by the time my entry chart loaded, price had entered and left my entry zone. I didn't chase price but followed along, managing the trade as if I was in it. That trade ended up going 1.6R.

The second trade I was waiting for and made the same mistake again. Moved over to my entry chart just a couple seconds too late. After the chart loaded the opportunity had passed. This one was a base hit. 1R or so.

I was feeling slightly frustrated at this point that on the last day of the month I missed two golden opportunities that would have actually taken me out of my drawdown and put me back in the green.

I drew up the next setup which looked like it would take some time to trigger and got up to use the bathroom. I returned to my office to find the setup had triggered and already traded down to my first target. This one ended up being the blowout: +3R, second target hit in 10 minutes.

Now I was just feeling bummed. What a way to blow amazing opportunities!

I sat and observed price for an hour or so and saw no valid setups. Finally a fourth setup occurred. I was sure price would tick just a couple points higher (YM) and missed this opportunity over 3 lousy points. Price immediately sold off and I did not enter where my rules indicated. This one went a comfortable 2R in no time at all.

I knew I missed the best opportunity but there was still a likely continuation by my analysis. I told myself I absolutely would NOT miss this setup. I took this trade and naturally it hit my stop. To be completely honest with myself, this last trade was the lowest quality of all the setups today. Did it meet my rules? Yes. Were there reasons to avoid it? Also yes.



Results:
1 loss

Self-Eval:
-Hard to say.
-The trade I did take was 100%. It did meet my rules and I did execute according to the plan.
-The trade I passed over 3 points gets a 0% because I tried to outsmart my rules and it resulted in a missed opportunity.
-The other three missed trades, while unfortunate, were mostly out of my control. Some day I'll have fiber optic internet hardwired to a dedicated trading desktop. Until that point I need to work with what I've got.

Thoughts:
-After I finish updating this journal, I intend to go about the rest of my day without dwelling on this disappointing session. Trading is a job and as of 12 noon I am off the clock. Tomorrow starts a new month. I know that if I follow my rules, there is a very high probability of making money.

Total Trades: 29
Total Wins: 8 (27%)
Total Losses: 16 (55%)
Total Break-Evens: 5 (18%)

Avg Win/Avg Loss: 1.5
Expectancy: -14.5R/100 trades
Max DD: 5.9R
Total Return: -5.2R

mtzimmer1 

Course of Action for Next Month: -Improve avg win/avg loss ratio while maintaining accuracy.

I DID improve my avg win/avg loss but did not maintain accuracy.

Thoughts:
-This was a tough month for sure.
-My mettle was tested and I must say I fared poorly.
-My results were poor because of my poor adherence to my rules.
-I am capable of trading profitably but some part of my psychology is unwilling and providing resistance.
-50% of my losses for the month happened on the same day. (July 19)
-Eliminating that day alone would have put my win/loss/be rate at 38%/38/24 instead of 27%/55/18.
-It requires lots of discipline and hard work to build good results, but little deviation to negate these results.

It is much easier to destroy than to build.

Total Trades: 29
100%: 10 (34%)
75%: 2 (7%)
50%: 7 (24%)
<=25%: 10 (34%)

Past Three Days ONLY: 6
100%: 4 (66%)
50%: 2 (33%)

Closing Thoughts:
I was surprised going back through every journal post for this month to see how many trades actually DID adhere to my rules. Truly a testament to how easy it is to give all your hard earned gains back on a handful of unqualified trades.
My only goal for the month of August is to IMPROVE my adherence to my plan. For July my average adherence per trade was 51%. It shouldn't be, but expecting 100% from myself in August seems unrealistic. I feel that expectations that high will set me up for disappointment. I am shooting for 75% average adherence in the month of August. I believe that I will be profitable if I adhere to my plan.

Today's session was excellent for many reasons.
-Most importantly, I adhered to my rules 100%
-Also the results were positive
-It was my second largest day in $ amount

Trade 1:
Trend Continuation:
-NQ stop was 2x larger than my max risk. I decided to take MNQ. My broker's commissions on micros are absurd so I only ever trade 1 contract, and even then it is more for the experience of managing the trade than actually making money.
-Nothing up above for a long ways. No signs of this freight train slowing down for a station.
-Perfect entry.
-Managed the stop loosely as we approached the key level because there were still no signs of decreasing strength and we hadn't HIT the key level yet to trigger aggressive trailing.
-Stopped out at an appropriate price.





Trade 2:
Trend Continuation:
-Beautiful setup. Similar to the NQ setup but much later in the move.
-I am getting over my fear of entering trends late because they usually end up going much farther than I expect them to.
-This had no signs of stopping so I entered in a good value area, took very little heat.
-I became uncomfortable with how many swings it was taking to approach the previous swing high but I consulted my rules and they state I should do NOTHING until the previous swing high is tested. That's what I did.
-Hit my target to the tick and then sold off a little bit. I tightened up my stop and captured all but 7 points off the move.





Results:
2 wins
+5R
Only counting the YM trade as the MNQ was not appropriate position size and would impact my statistics for the month.

Self-Eval:
100%