james_gsx trade log

[james_gsx]

Here are two of my trades from this morning. I accidentally slept in this morning and missed most of the big move and good setups

Please note the reason my stops are 20 and my target is 10, I found if I kept a tighter stop I would get shaken out. This is probably due to bad timing, but with a 20 point stop I have only been stopped out a few times - it keeps me patient and my target is usually hit. I want to work on this though.

Both traders are color coded, light blue was first and dark blue was second. The middle line represents my entry point, top line is target, and bottom is stop.

Trade 1 -

• -1000 tick long at 47 could also be a good pivot play
• Entry 14047
• Target 14057
• Stop 14027
• Stopped out
• Should have seen ticks going below 500 and exited trade while price as 37
• Should have seen kiss to S1 pivot act as support and gone short
• Loss 20 pts

Looking back on it, I made a few mistakes. I don't think I properly read the tape, and if I did I most likely missed a few key things. The biggest mistake I see is when the price came back up to the midpoint, but couldn't break through. Also I should have looked at the ticks and saw they were still negative, and exited my position. I believe I should have turned my long position into a short once I saw the retracement to the midpoint. I was too focused on how my trade was doing, not where price was going.

Trade 2:
The first candle gets very close to the S1 pivot and rallies higher, I missed the trade and waited for it the price to come back down before going long. It came back down and I bought, same criteria as before.

• Took S1 pivot play since I saw reasonable support
• Entry 14024
• Target 14034
• Stop 14010
• Target hit
• + 10pts

That trade worked and fit my plan. But again, I don't like how my stop is so much bigger than my target. I realize if I several stops in a row are hit it could take a big toll on my account.

On the positive side, I never felt emotional when my stop was hit. I just looked for the next trade which was the S1 pivot and moved on.

[james_gsx]

I'm not seeing my attachment show up, and I can't seem to edit the post so here it is.

[james_gsx]

Just took another trade. This one was an ambush play, and worked out fairly well for me.

Entry 14036
Stop - close above .618
Target - 14030

I'm still trying to fine tune this trade, but I need to keep practicing the setup and taking my gains. I think 6 points is reasonable for this trade, if anyone has any feedback on what to look for as far as targets and stops please chime in.

[TinGull]

I think 6 points is reasonable on that trade because its a short amidst a major uptrend. Nice scalp trade. Notice, too, that your original trade was a 20+ point trade. I was in the same trade, and my bracket order was set in as if I had 2+ cars to take off half at +10. So I dont know what you're going for as far as targets...I think you've said it at one point...but definitely try and let the winners go. Its a battle for sure, trust me, I know. Still battling with it, but gettin' there.

Good work, tho, man. You're kickin ass.

[darthtrader]

awesome post james.

I wonder if any market profile gurus could comment on that first trade. I still cant see the actual profile, still not done with mind over markets, but i would assume we were out of value around the pivot on the first trade? From that information would you have been biased to playing a break through of that pivot on the short side towards value?

James, I hear you on the 10/20 target stop as a newb and getting shaken. The problem though is that you need massive positive expectancy to just break even with that over time. I imagine scaling out and moving the stop takes care of this to a degree but that doesnt work with one contract. Even with that though it just seems there has to be a way to make this more algorithmic than just pulling round numbers out of a hat.

anyone have any thoughts on that? that was my main interest with the data mining thread i made. Something like if you knew the range up and down from your setup over the past week you could set your stops/target with better probability than random round numbers. I mean market conditions are not that much different than a week ago, even if market conditions totally changed dramatically tomarrow you would still only be totally off for a week.

[TinGull]

Hey darthtrader,

At the point in question for the first trade, price was at/near the developing value area low. Nice location for a long. As for the data mining, my stops are always placed at pivot areas based on recent trading.

[james_gsx]

The reason I went long on that first trade was because it was a retracement and we had been moving higher earlier in the day before going sideways. What I should have seen though was the rejection when we moved back into the mid point, that should have been my signal to exit the long and go short.

My biggest problem is looking at the big picture. It's easy to focus on one or two things, then completely miss something else. But if I continue to try looking at the big picture with every trade, then I will be successful.

I took a third trade that I'm not going to post here. It was a quick scalp at the S1 midpoint breakout for 5 points - so I dug myself out of that 20 pt loss.

[TinGull]

What time frames are you watching? I assume thats a 5min for the big chart in the middle, right? One thing Ive been working on with my coach is the bigger picture. I have a 15min chart as my main chart that I watch for direction and setups. When something starts setting up, I drill down to a 5min chart and watch for my entry. When I enter, I move back to the 15min and watch for exits. Im trying my butt off to not exit intra-bar and wait for the close. That's harder than I ever thought it would be...but worth the wait. It keeps me out of any noise that I'm not good at playing inside of.

[james_gsx]

They are all 3 minute charts.

What do you about your stops if you can't exit until the bar closes? Do you just exit at the close?

[TinGull]

I'll set hard stops based on prior market pivots on a 5min chart. For the amount of points you're taking, a 3min chart is good. But, for the stops you're using...20 points is too much imo.

For instance...the trade you took long at 024, why have a 20 point stop there? If price goes below that yellow line you have drawn around 021, is it likely to continue going down? At that point, I'd want to be out, especially if I was scalping looking for small ticks.

And, after you got your 10 ticks of profit, that point was broken and the YM dipped down to 14000. Tight stop, tight reward. My trade I took at 021 was a little later in the day now that I look at it. My stop was under the bar that broke out of the 30min opening range, giving me an 11 tick stop. The trade ended up going on for 30+ points, though I would've gotten out around 20 points.

So, thats how I utilize stops more so than an arbitrary round number.