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"The level of achievement we have in anything, is a reflection of how well we were able to focus on it. Because the only thing that's holding you back, is the way you're thinking." - [U]Steve Vai[/U]
I want to thank Steve over at [U]Price Action Trading Journal[/U] for posting this clip a while back. I stumbled across it this weekend and I was floored by the things Steve Vai said when speaking to a group of aspiring guitarists.
It wasn't about guitar-playing techniques. What floored me was that he talked about the importance of visualizing your desired outcome; fundamentals that should be applied in any area that you want to succeed.
Watch it at least twice because he says so many important things in such a short period of time that you'll miss some of them the first time through.
I have a lot of studying to do so I won't do a play-by-play today. I actually traded around my Fib levels today so it should be fairly easy to see what I was thinking, although I probably took too many trades. I traded my method relatively well, but messing with my stops/targets cost me again today. Changing my stops affected three trades: on one it saved me 6 ticks, but on two it cost me a total of 13 ticks of profit. So overall it cost me profits rather than saving me losses. Again, I'm keeping track of this so that when/if I have enough data to support it, I'll have a solid reason to leave them where they are once the trade is on.
I'm still developing my "method" here, so I'll probably be making some minor changes in the way I'm looking at the market (different timeframe or type of chart), but the basics of Fib and s/r levels will remain the same.
"Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitude. It's having the right attitude that's hard." - Robert Pirsig
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My "slightly modified approach" from yesterday caused me to be lost today. I amaze myself with how quickly I can get off track. After today's antics I came back and saw how the (simple) method I was using prior to yesterday was quite effective again today. The only problem with it is that I'm not applying myself and getting good at using it (again with X's [U]Chasing Success[/U], and even more simplicity in L&W's [U]3 Lines[/U]).
I have to get focused and get back to basics. I took a few minutes to review my [U]TRADEthemove.com[/U] materials (that I've had for a couple of years now) and will be trying to use much of the method they teach (again, similar to [U]X[/U]) moving forward. Ideally I would stick with this and not make any changes, but I guess we'll see about that.
There's no benefit to reviewing any of my trading today. Rather, I'll use my time analyzing today's charts and what I should have been seeing/doing.
On the 5min, because price opened and didn't form an opening range swing outside of yesterday's range, Fib lines are plotted from yesterday's high to low. On the 15min Fibs are plotted from the most recent swing high (5/2) to low (5/3).
On the 5min, price closed yesterday, and opened today, in a perfect ambush setup between the 50% and 61.8% RZ, below falling EMAs (first black arrow). The 5min doesn't give a great candle trigger to go short, but it probably would still have been acceptable. On the 15min, yesterday's last bar, a narrow range inside bar (actually a NR7), could have made a good trigger to short (first white arrow).
After the report, price dropped straight down to 5min FE for a perfect trade (second black arrow). Price proceeded to bounce back up to 1/2 FE and then down to 161.8%, and after a second (and quick third) test of 161.8% (third black arrow), price began to climb. These second (and third) tests occurred right at the 15min FE (second white arrow) giving a pretty solid setup for a long entry. Price then moved back up to yesterday's low for another nice trade. Notice that price tested the 100EMA, and pierced the 200EMA but couldn't close above it (third white arrow).
"Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitude. It's having the right attitude that's hard." - Robert Pirsig
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Sorry. I added the images to the body of the post and then removed the attachments just for a "cleaner look." Are the images in the post not visible (I can see them here)? And/or are the attachments necessary for viewing? Or is it just bad form not to include the attachments?
Oh, and I guess I need to know how to re-up attachments on an existing post - I don't see an option for attachments when I try to "edit."
Still learning here!
Thanks,
-AT
"Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitude. It's having the right attitude that's hard." - Robert Pirsig
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Ok, I think I got it. I've modified the post using tags to two new images uploaded to bmcharts.com.
Let me know if I need to do anything else.
Thanks,
-AT
"Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitude. It's having the right attitude that's hard." - Robert Pirsig
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I got long after price pierced 1/2 FE of yesterday's high to low and tested the overnight low, where it was rejected and created a bullish-looking spinner (2nd bar, first black arrow). I mentioned this pattern in [U]my post on 5/3[/U], and today I took advantage of it.
At this point OR hadn't formed yet and my initial target was yesterday's close. As you can see, at that point the 38.2% level of the RZ was just above yesterday's close.
Second 5-minute chart: (White diamonds are my entries/exits)
But once price moved up from my entry and broke the first bar high, the ORL had formed and I moved my lower Fib line to that point. Now yesterday's close is right at the 50% line and a seemingly good target. However, because the overall trend is down (falling ema's), I opted for a more conservative target and placed my exit order one tick below the new 38.2% RZ level. After price made its first correction of the move up (6th bar), I began trailing a stop at the low of the bars in case price couldn't make it to my target. Shortly after that my exit order was filled one tick from the high of the swing (second black arrow).
I was holding an upward bias so I wasn't confident that that was a good place to short. However, it turned out to be a really nice short down to ORL/LOD (third black arrow).
Not only did price test ORL, but it hit the overnight low (bottom yellow line on 5min and yellow line on 15min) to the tick, creating a red (not-so-bullish) hammer. However, it was followed, and engulfed by, a fairly strong green bar (which I considered a bullish engulfing pattern), so I went long on a break of that (22nd) bar high. This was a higher risk entry for a few reasons: 1) the hammer was red, 2) the overall trend is down, and 3) the trigger bar has a fairly wide range rather than being a (possibly) higher potential narrow-range bar - meaning that I'm late getting into the move up at this point. Target is three ticks below 50%, which is a little below yesterday's close (top yellow line).
At the completion of the hanging-man-like bar (the bar after my entry) I moved my stop to one tick below it in case this was a short-lived move. Fortunately, on the next bar, price started to take off, breaking the high of the piercing bar on the 15min chart as well (first white arrow). At the completion of this bar I moved my stop to b/e. That's not something I generally like to do, but price was running into a downtrending 50ema, so I decided to play it with caution.
The next bar (26th bar) was just as strong but touched the 50ema, so I moved my stop to the low of that bar. I expected some resistance at HOD, so I didn't move my stop up to the low of the 27th bar in case there was a small move back down. But price broke through the 50ema, HOD, and ran up nicely to hit my target (fourth black arrow) where it pierced the 100ema before dropping back. The gap was closed three bars later and pushed nearly to the other side of the RZ, as well as testing a falling 50ema on the 15min (second white arrow). In fact, that action put price right in a perfect ambush zone on the 5min (between 50% and 61.8% RZ) below a falling 200ema, for a potential short setup.
I was out of the office for the rest of the session but you can see how price moved back down to yesterday's low (middle yellow line and fifth black arrow), created a bullish-looking doji, then moved right back up to the 50% line (sixth black arrow). It created a bearish engulfing pattern (nearly the opposite of the second long trade I took earlier), which would have been an acceptable place to short, especially as it had sliced through the 100ema and 50ema and closed below them. Additionally, on the 15min chart, price had created a perfect shooting star (third white arrow) after touching/testing the falling 50ema, and ultimately created an evening star pattern. Price then fell beautifully right down to 5min FE (seventh black arrow), and notice that it was also 1/2 FE on the 15min chart (fourth white arrow).
"Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitude. It's having the right attitude that's hard." - Robert Pirsig
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