[brownsfan019]

Good analysis so far in deciding whether to trade w/ the trend, against it OR both. Most people head in 1 direction, but that's not necessary.

Keep it going, good work.

[swansjr]

Day 26
June 22, 2009

No trades today.

[swansjr]

Day 27
June 23, 2009

Four Trades. One winner and three losers.

My gosh I traded like an armature today. Today's early morning session I found the market was simply melting upward. All my indicators pointed higher and it should have been a cake walk. But all those divergences spooked me into not taking action. What! We're on the 6th wave up. This is going to end soon. Up the market melted. The market trends longer than I often think it will and there is my problem once again. I was frozen because I was thinking too much instead of acting on my signals.

Once I did finally get the guts to push the button the inevitable happened. Two losers in a row as the market dynamic shifted. My rules state to stop trading after two losers. But I just had to put on one more trade to show mother market that I know what I'm doing as a trader. Smack! Three losers in a row. I could feel my emotions bubbling away and a little voice in my head stating, "The market is out to get me. It does not mater where you enter, you are doomed to fail. How stupid are you!" I walked away from the computer and did some other stuff.

Man, this month has been a rough road. I hope to learn from it. I know I can learn from it. But right now, I'm licking my wounds again.

P&L: ($210)

[swansjr]

Here is a 5-minute video on my basic scalping setups. The setup is designed to scalp within the intermediate trend.

Watts_Scalp_Entry.swf

[Bear Mtn.]

Thanks for the video Swans. Re: yesterday.. don't worry I think everyone who reads that post will be saying "yes, yup, been there, yep, done that" as you describe your day unfolding! I have been working on trying to do the last (hardest) part of just leaving the computer and market well alone without trying to take revenge, and I'm slowly getting there now....

Hope you have a better day today.

BM

[swansjr]

Originally Posted by Bear Mtn. »

Thanks for the video Swans. Re: yesterday.. don't worry I think everyone who reads that post will be saying "yes, yup, been there, yep, done that" as you describe your day unfolding! I have been working on trying to do the last (hardest) part of just leaving the computer and market well alone without trying to take revenge, and I'm slowly getting there now....

Hope you have a better day today.

BM

Thanks! I agree that knowing when to step away and stop trading is a great skill.

[swansjr]

Day 28
June 24, 2009

Three Trades. One winner and two losers.

I actually felt I traded better today. My first trade was a loser that was an attempt to capture a trend change. I went long and like a lot of my trades my timing was off. I missed the low by just a few ticks - just enough to get me stopped out before the market moved without me. After that I needed time to mentally recover. Amateurish, I know. If I followed my mid-timeframe it sure looks like it would have done well. I just jumped the gun.

Missed bottom by a few ticks.



The next two trades were trend continuation trades.

During my next trade I decided to perform a video capture. I though talking my thoughts and recording it would be good both during the live trading and provide valuable trading review material. If you watch the video you will see I still hesitate to take my signal, but at the next opportunity I jump right in. This scalp trade would prove to be successful and I then re-entered (with no hesitation) on the next signal in order to capture a runner. It did not work, but my rules where followed very well on these last two trades. You can watch it here.

Live_Trading_2009-06-24_1.swf

My trading performance was better while I recorded myself. This may become a new habit.

P&L: ($95)

[swansjr]

Day 29
June 25, 2009

Three Trades. Two winners and one loser.

I recorded two out of three trades today. The loser was the one I did not record. It was also my first trade of the day. I can't say much about today other than I feel I followed the rules well. Attached is a recording of my second trade which was a good Long scalp. Then I used my higher timeframe to keep me out of a market which was now Bearish.

Live_Trading_2009-06-25_1.swf

On the second video I Shorted and captured a nice $200/contract runner. However being an idiot, I accidentally deleted the video. Oh, well. Here is a picture of the runner. I used a higher timeframe to help time the entry on both my successful trades. Using the higher timeframe has helped me a lot over the last two days. The only time it seems not to help is during a strong trend - which is not most of the time.

Solid Runner



P&L: $180