A more relaxed day. Probably helped by a longer meditation prior to the open.
14:36:00 Trade One: Overnight action was one way. Up. So I was looking for positive $TICKS and pullback on price and $TICK to enter long. Got it and then a $TICK extreme against Yesterday’s High. I waited for a test of the high and a divergence. It didn’t come so I stopped out on a Tine Stop.
R-Multiples: Entry 1 -0.13R Total -0.13R
In hindsight I could have taken the divergence that set-up trade two and been up a tick or two…
14:41:00 Trade Two: DivA against Yesterday’s High. I was able to scale-in early and managed the trade over the next 20 mins to target -0.25pts. Very orderly price-action showed no false signals all the way down. Was keen to exit on the 1 pt thrust down. Price was penetrating the trend line I had drawn on the 5 mins chart and this had shown fairly strong bounces overnight.
R-Multiples: Entry 1 2.11R Entry 2 1.88R Total 3.99R
Decided that I would have a short trading day today. Looking at the chart as the day has progressed the market would have presented at least one more full target trade (DivW against 20MA on 5mins). Left on the table… oh well!
Total 3.86R before commissions
OK… Today was very tricky for me. Overnight action was down and the market gapped lower by 3 pts. I waited for a test of the pivot and a Divergence against (DivA) this resistance point and nothing materialised. Then…
14:42:00 Trade One: Fairly sloppy action and no exit/stop and reverse signal at Overnight Lows so only had Time Stop as a valid exit…
R-Multiples: Entry 1 -0.29R Entry 2 -0.88R Total -1.17R
Did not take the Cyan marked divergence. This was a mistake. Price was bouncing off of 20MA on 5 minute and recently this has been useful resistance. I have made a not to respect the 20MA more throughout the trading day.
15:06:00 Trade Two: To be safe I could have waited for a close above the consolidation as a signal to go long, especially with the down trend in place and the starts of a lower high in place.
R-Multiples: Entry 1 -1.00R Total -1.00R
I didn’t take the DivA against R1 because I was looking for a short opportunity. This turned up at…
15:16:00 Trade Three: Intuition (IG) had me choose a wider stop than normal but the extra tick I gave it was not quite enough and I was stopped.
R-Multiples: Entry 1 -1.00R Total -1.00R
15:24:00 Trade Four: The divergences were building up around R1 and half a point from 200 period MA on the daily so I considered this a safe DivA. It too was stopped.
R-Multiples: Entry 1 -1.00R Total -1.00R
15:35:00 Trade Five: This was a DivA bang up against the 200 period MA on the daily. Just as I scaled in a $TICK Extreme plus divergence exit signal popped into view and so I exited with a small profit.
R-Multiples: Entry 1 0.64R Entry 2 -0.13R Total 0.51R
15:46:00 Trade Six: I waited for a close below the low of the high bar as confirmation of this short signal. I had no reason not to take the Time Exit and stopped out for a small loss. Price sold off here but I was out… Pat on back for following rules.
R-Multiples: Entry 1 -0.14R Total -0.14R
As I said tricky…
Total -3.79R before commissions
No appreciable gap and ticks slightly positive. Looking for divergence’s…
14:37:30 Trade One: DivA against Yesterday’s Close so went short with the trend of the past 30 mins. $TICK turned up and then down for scale-in confirmation then hit overnight consolidation put in a divergence and reversed. I have no rule to get me out of this apart from a time stop.
R-Multiples: Entry 1 -0.38R Entry 2 -0.90R Total -1.28R
14:48:30 Trade Two: DivA against Yesterday’s Close plus sloping trend line. As price was in consolidation did not wait for close below low of high bar. $TICK turned up and then down for scale-in confirmation then hit overnight consolidation put in a divergence and reversed… Sound familiar! Time top again.
R-Multiples: Entry 1 -0.40R Entry 2 -0.78R Total -1.18R
News moved price through Daily 200 MA and Overnight High and started to consolidate and put in a divergence. I noticed that S1 was coming up on ES and YM and had busted through S1 on TF.
15:11:00 Trade Three: DivA against ES, YM S1. Price continued higher for a full -1R.
R-Multiples: Entry 1 -1.00R Total -1.00R
15:15:30 Trade Four: DivA against ES, YM S1 plus 5 min chart had set-up a doji.
Traded lower and a DivW set up. I decided to reverse into this reasoning that the large push up could continue.
R-Multiples: Entry 1 0.33R Total 0.33R
15:24:00 Trade Five: DivW set-up and price continued to consolidate and then hit stop. This was a mistake because I should have closed on a time stop for 1/2 point loss…
R-Multiples: Entry 1 -1.00R Total -1.00R
Total -4.12R before commissions
Below is how I could have traded the session with a little more wisdom/experience.
The first two trades were spot on and to plan. The divergences that warned of a reversal were against no precise support so my only exit left was a time stop. Yes there was the overnight consolidation so with more experience maybe my IG will ask me to bail early.
Trades One & Two:
R-Multiples: Entry 1 -0.38R Entry 2 -0.90R Total -1.28R
R-Multiples: Entry 1 -0.40R Entry 2 -0.78R Total -1.18R
I could then have been more patient with the next trade and waited for price to touch S1 on YM and ES. This would have nulled Trade Three.
Trade Three: I could have waited for a close above the consolidation to reverse the trade long. This did not occur and I could have set myself a target of just above the Daily 200 MA.
R-Multiples: Entry 1 1.71R Entry 2 0.88R Total 2.59R
Total 0.14R before commissions
To trade like this I need to be more responsive to the market and be more patient. Maybe the divergences at Overnight Lows could have been an exit signal??? I probably need more time in meditation… only 22 minutes today!
Today I was late returning from lunch so had not prepared for the trading day. Preparation is key to my trading so I do not trade if I have not gone through the whole of my pre-market check-list.
So…
The trades below are purely hypothetical. As it turned out today was a tricky one for the system. That’ll be the laws of probability working themselves out…
14:35:00 Trade One: Pre-market down trend with a small gap and negative $TICKs so I was looking for a DivW or a $TICK hook down to confirm an entry short. A $TICK hook emeeged and I took the trade on the lowest tick of the move and was stopped for a full -1R.
R-Multiples: Entry 1 -1.00R Total -1.00R
15:10:00 Trade Tow: DivA against Gap Close resistance failed as soon as I was in the trade for another -1R.
R-Multiples: Entry 1 -1.00R Total -1.00R
15:36:00 Trade Three: DivA against prior resistance was followed very closely with a DivW that I stopped and reversed into…
R-Multiples: Entry 1 -0.13R Total -0.13R
15:40:00 Trade Four: DivW trend
R-Multiples: Entry 1 1.25R Total 1.25R
15:49:00 Trade Five: DivA with test of high of day and past resistance. As this trade signalled in consolidation I took the trade imediatly and did not wait for confirmation of trend change with a close below the low of the high bar.
R-Multiples: Entry 1 1.25R Entry 2 -0.13R Total 1.12R
Total 0.25R before commissions
This result shows the power of a system that has tight stops and larger R winners than losers. The system had 66% losers and still came out at close to break-even.
Today my Internal Guidance asked me not to trade so the charts and the trades outlined are purely hypothetical.
Big Gap up so looking for signals to go long. This could be a DivW or a $TICK hook in direction of trend.
So…
14:34:30 Trade One: $TICK hook then DivW one bar later as confirmation. Scaled in as $TICK hooked down and then up with at least a 3 tick difference in price from entry. Took profits at 2nd test of yesterday’s high with $TICK divergence plus $TICK extreme.
R-Multiples: Entry 1 2.67R Entry 2 1.5R Total 4.17R
14:52:30 Trade Two: DivA against Yesterday’s High plus NQ was hitting R1. I waited for close below low of high bar and went in market. Price went sideways for two minutes and set-up a DivW.
R-Multiples: Entry 1 -0.25R Total -0.25R
So…
14:54:30 Trade Three: DivW. Trade didn’t really look back as soon as it was in play. $TICK hook up confirmed scale-in point before the breakout of Yesterday’s High and the trade went to target within 5 mins.
R-Multiples: Entry 1 4.00R Entry 2 2.00R Total 6.00R
Total 9.92R before commissions
So that was a perfect day’s trading. I didn’t take because:
1-I did not feel prepared (no meditation before open)
2-My IG was not in agreement
I have described the trades as if I actually took them. I believe that after the fact my mind knows no difference between what happened and what I make up… So. For training purposes I want my mind to believe that I took every trade perfectly.
