[emios]

Originally Posted by NoviceTrader1 »

P/L: -147
Account balance: 3715

Today was a limited opportunity day, at least for somebody with my trading style. I did make two trades, I was stopped out of both of them. The first trade was made after a break of a coiled range, the second trade was made after the failed break with the reversal. Both breakouts were false, and eventually reversed. As far as I can see, both trades were relatively good, and I would make them again in a similar situation...if anyone has any comments it would be appreciated.

Hey there! Oh well, you lose some days, you win some...Personally, I am more comfortable with a breakout above a horizontal line of support/ resistance, as I find that entering after the break of a trendline wedge can result in getting headfaked, this is what happened with the first trade...therefore, if I had entered, it would have been above the level of 964. However, I wouldn't have entered the trade, as none of the candles managed to close above this level, indicating that there were either latent sell orders resting at the level, or that simply buyers had lost interest, as they perceived price was too high. When there are traders in the pits playing call spreads, as is the case when there is a ranging market, their entry points have to be precise, as they operate on such small margins. Also, note the VOLUME. This is key for me, I would only enter a breakout on high volume, knowing that I can effectively 'surf' the momentum wave up, and sell into that buying when I have made some profit. Not only did price not break and 'hold' 964, the thrust up was on very low volume, which suggested that the move lacked conviction.

Ok, second entry...I would have probably entered at 962, considering that this represented a break from the range. The volume supported the move, which is good enough for me. Whether this was a scratch trade or a loser is dependent on profit targets to be honest. I would have moved my stop above the 'wicky' green candle which followed the two bearish bars, so I would have stopped out for a small winner, barely better than BE. However, there was a run up to the top resistance level, which price was not able to close above. NOTE THE HUGE VOLUME WITH A FAILURE TO BREAK AND HOLD HIGHS- POTENTIAL SELLING CLIMAX. This is what happened. I would have entered on a break of 962 to the downside, so long as the volume supported this. As it happens, in this case, it did. Price is currently 959.50. It will be interesting to see what the reaction is in the next market session, we could see a test of the lows of 955 and a rebound.

Hope I have been of some help. After all, I'm a youngster like yourself and learning new things every day! I'd be interested to see what more experienced traders would make of the chart...

[emios]

I've been daytrading us equities for the past year or so, with varying success. However, the intraday stock market is manipulated by complex algorithms which detect volume surges, which has made determining a 'true' breakout more and more difficult. I have since adapted a swing mindset, stocks generally tend to respect s/r on the daily chart more than the 5 min. I find that looking at finviz.com for my levels is very useful indeed, then I can assess whether that stock or etf has a good chance of rebounding off those levels.

Future plans...Well, I'm currently at Oxford studying Modern Languages ( not a financial course, I know!), and I'm hoping to get a job trading equities or commodities at Credit Suisse when I graduate, which will be two years from now. However, I know that, given my background and the rise of the 'quant' traders, that this may be nigh on impossible to achieve. Therefore, I'm trying to widen my skills, in order to follow a more standard Investment Banking path...hoping to complete a CFA designation in a few years, and might take a law conversion, focusing on corporate acquisitions and mergers.

That's the plan, anyway. It's not an easy world anymore, and given the stringent reforms that may be headed Wall Street's way, it's about to get a whole lot harder.

[NoviceTrader1]

Originally Posted by emios »

Hey there! Oh well, you lose some days, you win some...Personally, I am more comfortable with a breakout above a horizontal line of support/ resistance, as I find that entering after the break of a trendline wedge can result in getting headfaked, this is what happened with the first trade...therefore, if I had entered, it would have been above the level of 964. However, I wouldn't have entered the trade, as none of the candles managed to close above this level, indicating that there were either latent sell orders resting at the level, or that simply buyers had lost interest, as they perceived price was too high. When there are traders in the pits playing call spreads, as is the case when there is a ranging market, their entry points have to be precise, as they operate on such small margins. Also, note the VOLUME. This is key for me, I would only enter a breakout on high volume, knowing that I can effectively 'surf' the momentum wave up, and sell into that buying when I have made some profit. Not only did price not break and 'hold' 964, the thrust up was on very low volume, which suggested that the move lacked conviction.

Ok, second entry...I would have probably entered at 962, considering that this represented a break from the range. The volume supported the move, which is good enough for me. Whether this was a scratch trade or a loser is dependent on profit targets to be honest. I would have moved my stop above the 'wicky' green candle which followed the two bearish bars, so I would have stopped out for a small winner, barely better than BE. However, there was a run up to the top resistance level, which price was not able to close above. NOTE THE HUGE VOLUME WITH A FAILURE TO BREAK AND HOLD HIGHS- POTENTIAL SELLING CLIMAX. This is what happened. I would have entered on a break of 962 to the downside, so long as the volume supported this. As it happens, in this case, it did. Price is currently 959.50. It will be interesting to see what the reaction is in the next market session, we could see a test of the lows of 955 and a rebound.

Hope I have been of some help. After all, I'm a youngster like yourself and learning new things every day! I'd be interested to see what more experienced traders would make of the chart...

Thanks for the insight. One thing that I would note, is that every market tends to be unique. From my experience grains tend to break on low volume, high volume, and everything in between. I have seen many breaks happen on low volume and on normal order flow...I think this will be evident as i continue to update this log. On both trades I entered by judging support and resistance levels through the DOM(depth of market) and volume by price.

[brownsfan019]

Good luck on your thread and journey! That's great you are starting at such an early age getting into this!

[NoviceTrader1]

Originally Posted by emios »

I've been daytrading us equities for the past year or so, with varying success. However, the intraday stock market is manipulated by complex algorithms which detect volume surges, which has made determining a 'true' breakout more and more difficult. I have since adapted a swing mindset, stocks generally tend to respect s/r on the daily chart more than the 5 min. I find that looking at finviz.com for my levels is very useful indeed, then I can assess whether that stock or etf has a good chance of rebounding off those levels.

Future plans...Well, I'm currently at Oxford studying Modern Languages ( not a financial course, I know!), and I'm hoping to get a job trading equities or commodities at Credit Suisse when I graduate, which will be two years from now. However, I know that, given my background and the rise of the 'quant' traders, that this may be nigh on impossible to achieve. Therefore, I'm trying to widen my skills, in order to follow a more standard Investment Banking path...hoping to complete a CFA designation in a few years, and might take a law conversion, focusing on corporate acquisitions and mergers.

That's the plan, anyway. It's not an easy world anymore, and given the stringent reforms that may be headed Wall Street's way, it's about to get a whole lot harder.

That is great man, glad to see you have some goals set for yourself. As long as you put your mind to it, you can achieve it my friend.

Even with the rise of algorithmic trading, there are opportunities to be found and exploited. Swing trading is definitely a viable alternative to day trading. My next venture will actually be swing trading equities, I will start pursuing this when I reach a certain balance in my account.

[NoviceTrader1]

Originally Posted by brownsfan019 »

Good luck on your thread and journey! That's great you are starting at such an early age getting into this!

Thanks, I appreciate it

[NoviceTrader1]

I have midterms next week so that may interfere with my log slightly, I will try to get in as many trading days as I can throughout the next week or so.

P/L: -190(don't have the exact numbers in front of me)


I had a rough trading day, I found myself making mistakes and becoming impatient and making bad trades. Looking back, I should have been profitAble today. I won't be posting any screenshots as I don't have the time and I know the mistakes I made. I will take this as a learning experience and move forward.

[brownsfan019]

You might get more out of posting the charts of the days you made mistakes on vs. the perfect days.