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From time to time I will not only evaluate my trading(process) but also evaluate my journaling to see if it still meets my objectives. I will then decide if I will continue in the same way, in a slightly different way, or whether I will stop journaling.
In my first post I wrote the objectives for starting a journal here on FIO.
The objectives were:
1. to receive feed back.
2. to see if I will make better entries & exits (with less over-trading) now going on record.
3. to test and see if I have an edge (with a positive trading expectancy).
4. to identify areas for improvement (be it technical or psychological).
5. to see if a low(er) leveraged instrument like the Micro-ES can provide for an (extra) income.
6. to hopefully present something which you, the reader, can add to your methodology and thereby contribute to the community.
7. to learn from the experience of journaling in public.
The single most important objective is to develop a positive expectancy, point three in above list. The points one, two, four, five and seven relate to this as well. So from now on I will mainly concentrate on developing a positive expectancy over a certain period of time.
Ad 2.) It really did not make any difference. Matter of fact is that posting my journal in public had a negative impact on my trading in the first week and I am still having difficulties from time to time. I think journaling magnifies the problem.
Ad 3.) Not there yet but the performance is in an uptrend. All I can do is work hard on my issues and try to do better each and every day.
Ad 4.) I've made some small adjustments already along the way:
- scaled down from 2 lots to 1 lot trading to minimize losses.
- switched from MES to MNQ because of personal preference for the price movement.
- involved the 1H higher time frame (for entry & exit levels).
- added more instruments (on 1H time frame) for swing trading.
These are all more or less technical.
On the psychological front I need to find a way to overcome tilt (revenge trading) and let winners run longer.
Ad 5.) We will see. Of course one can always scale up to the mini contract. I think the micros are a great, and relative cheap way, to develop consistency.
Ad 7.) I experienced the first month of journaling as very intense but feel I've made some progress already because of this. Ingrained habits keep coming back and I still need to work on it.
I think journaling magnifies the obstacles you need to overcome. If I am going to overtrade more because of the posting it only seems logical to think about quitting to post in public. But that would not be the solution to the underlying problem which, I think, is a need to prove something, having difficulties with losing (being wrong/wanting to be right) or wanting to force things my way.
A journal is very confronting. It forces one to face reality which is sometimes hard to accept (by the ego). There's no escape, you have to face yourself if you ever want to become successful. That's why for now I will continue my journal.
Recap:
- Focus on developing a positive expectancy over a certain period of time (consistent).
- Continue journaling once a week (with maybe extra posts throughout the week depending on time schedule).
It's nice you enjoy my journal but that you enjoy my struggles is a kind of masochistic (LOL).
Yes, I use NT8 and the levels I used in the beginning were:
- High, Low and Close of the previous day (ETH+RTH).
- Overnight High and Low.
- Open, High and Low of the trading day (RTH).
- Major Swing Levels.
- Range Highs & Lows.
- Volume Point of Control, Value Area High and Value Area Low of the previous day (RTH).
- Initial Balance, Volume Point of Control, Value Area High and Value Area Low of the trading day (RTH).
I think yesterday was an interesting day. For that reason I decided to document it in my journal. This way I will be able to look back on it and monitor the way my development is progressing in chronicle order.
I did not trade last Friday because of NT problems and a scheduled support call with NT. I think I did good not to trade while having problems and not to risk losing my profit of the week going into the weekend with a bad feeling. Staying positive is important.
In the weekend I had some family affairs which took time and maybe negatively impacted me although I did not feel it that way.
Yesterday I booked three losers in the MNQ during the EU session for a total loss of -12.50 pts. Although I recently switched from MES to MNQ I yesterday started the US RTH session trading the MES because of the earlier losers in the MNQ (during the EU session) and mostly because of the volatility in MNQ in the beginning of the session with 10 to 15 pts wide bars on the 1m chart.
I booked three unnecessary losers in the MES for a total loss of -8.50 pts. Unnecessary because I didn't wait for the market to show direction and so was too early with my entries. Also, the second trade had a MFE of 4.25 pts but I didn't take it because I am trying to catch the bigger swings. You know, let your winners run.
Then I switched back to the MNQ which was still a little too volatile for me. I remember the first two weeks of March were very volatile and therefore back then I switched to the 10s chart which resulted in the best two weeks I've ever had. So I decided to switch to the 10s chart and just scalp. The result was a profit of +29.25 pts. The total for the day was +16.75 in the MNQ and -8.50 in the MES so I ended the day with a small $ loss. It feels like victory. I did not revenge trade, just took my scalp entries. Of course it could be I was just lucky. But the numbers so far show that the results in MNQ are very promising (although I have a preference for the MES because of the volume and because of the experience I've built in trading ES).
I still have not yet decided to choose between just scalping or swing trading. I've red a lot about taking bigger swings with risk-to-reward of 1:3. So I wonder if scalping is a legitimate method. I touched upon the thread " To [AUTOLINK]scalp[/AUTOLINK] or not to scalp". Some things described in Post #8 and Post #9 resonate with me. It seems I have trouble accepting scalping as a legitimate way of trading because of what is generally accepted as the thing to do namely aiming for the bigger swings.
It took the MNQ almost 1.5 hours before it broke out of the 3rd 5m wide range bar after it was unable to test the high (forming a triangle consolidation pattern on the 5m). Such a sideways opening (flat 5m ema20) should not be traded as if it would be a trending market. Breakout failures normally do well in this kind of environment. Also, on a lower time frame there are often plenty of with-trend scalp kind of trades to be found.
Today ends the seventh week after starting journaling. As I wrote earlier, on Monday I traded the MES apart from the MNQ which led to a $ loss that day. Without the MES it would have been a nice positive day so after that I stopped trading the MES and only traded the MNQ. The next four days were positive and the week ended for the 4th week in a row with a higher profit ($115.00) than the week before ($81.25). Still trading one lot with the exception of a couple times when I scaled-in to a trade.
Technically I am not a 100% satisfied with my trading and think there is still a lot of room for improvement. Mostly on timing and further fine-tuning entries & exits. Psychologically I feel pleased. No tilt and no revenge trading yet. Good focus and just following my rules. I really enjoy being alone with my charts, analyzing, concentrating and getting into the flow/zone.
The goal of this whole exercise is to develop a positive expectancy. Last month's expectancy was negative (Avg. trade was -$1.50). For this month expectancy is positive (Avg. trade is $3.51). For next week I will just try to continue and build good habits (and a good process). At some point I will need to scale-up in contracts but don't wanna be impatient. I think it's still too early yet (58 trades this month). Patience and discipline until it becomes a habit. "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Will Durant
Now I've finished my weekly review I can go enjoy the nice weather in the weekend. Wish you all a great weekend.
haha I didnt quite mean it like that, but I see how that came across. 