27/06/2022

Down $900 on the day.

Some decent trades at first, ideas were sound but execution was bad. Always got stopped and had to re-enter to get a profitable trade. As I always have my target at least 2 times greater than my risk it's usually ok, but the accumulation of poor execution, then getting stopped to the tick and not getting filled on the idea got me tilted.

I ended up overtrading and did not respect my risk rules. Should have stopped after getting 3 losers in a row for a small loss on the day but kept trading and earased all the profits from the last trading day.

I struggle a lot with my losing days lately, I'll make it my current goal to respect my risk rules in all circumstances.


I don't have the screenshot while writing this as I'm on my phone, I'll add it later.

I failed the evaluation and will not restart one. I am clearly not ready, evaluation puts much more emphasis on PnL and makes it hard for me to focus on the process. I tend to focus on the money making it harder to stay disciplined and follow my rules.

I will keep trading on my own account with MES where I can focus on my process and on taking good trades without feeling the need to trade to complete evaluation goals.

I will keep journalling my journey here as I switch to my own account.

08/07/2022

First day of trading my own account again with a starting capital of $1000 to trade 1 MES.

I took 7 trades today for a profit of 13.5P. It was a good day when it comes to process as I did not make errors and took decent setups without overtrading, I walked out when my PnL was at its highest.

1) Entry on the retest, unfortunately it was 2 ticks from my target and ended up reaching my stop. I hesitated to flatten the trade as there were signs of reversal but held it, normally I'll leave the trade on until either my stop or target is hit. This is something I will be monitoring in my excel journal to see my trade management impact if I chose to flatten or let a trade run compared to leaving the trade hit my target or stop.

My targets and stops are based on rotations, I change the zig-zag settings based on volatility but arrived late today and did not adjust it, otherwise target would've been smaller and the trade would have been a win. Of course, this is hindsight and if the trade was a winner I might not have changed the settings.

2) Stop-run/fakeout setup.

3)4)5) Multiple attempts at a short. First stop out according to plan. The second one I messed up and exited too early, should've held it to target/stop but lacked confidence. 3rd try ended up working out but is basically the same trade.

6)7) 2 attemps at a long as we retest previous structure, also at IBH and a zone I had marked.

I stopped trading here as I was satisfied with my profits and I tend to lack focus and patience when I stay longer. This is a skill I'm working on and now monitoring with what I call daily efficiency.

2022-07-08

11/07/2022

3 trades today for a profit of 20.5P.

I was looking for the ONL to be taken out early in the session but did not find an entry I liked early, there was a decent one at 09:45:30 but I missed it.

1) Shorted the retest of the ONL which was in confluence with the vwap. +6.75P

2) Long as we retest and hold volume built at the lows that saw decent absorbtion and seemed rather strong as agressive buyers are picking up strength. +6.75P

3) Short fakeout/stoprun, missed first entry but entered on the retest of the area. +7P

Overall strong day, only took trades that are defined setups, walked out at my PnL high.


2022-07-11

12/07/2022

Arrived late to the market, 45min after open. Prep was not as thorough as usual as the market was already open. I was tired so decided to be very selective and planned on not trading much.

I took one trade for a profit of 7 points and watched the rest of the day. I saw other opportunities but as I was tired and not focused I did not enter trades as I did not want to make stupid mistakes.

I have been much more patient lately and mostly took trades that are defined setups. The E2T evaluation I tried before definitely put more pressure on myself and encouraged mistakes. I can focus on the process much better with my own account, taking it slow and not trading my PnL.

Hopefully I'll be able to keep this level of discipline in the future, but as of now I'm seeing progress.


2022-07-12