2010-05-17

A very bad day. Nothing worked. Staying with the trade didn't pay off. It was scalping environment. By the time I realized I was down a bug bunch. Most picks went in my way before turning around and pooing.

Day Result

Big Negative -121 (-111 before commissions).

STATS

- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Win $: 16 Win Shares: 200 Win Ratio: 80.00 Loss $: -127 Loss Shares: 1400 Loss Ratio: -90.43 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Max Win $: 16 Avg Win $: 16 WRatio/LRatio: 0.88 Max Loss $: -28 Avg Loss $: -18 Win$/Loss$: 0.13 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Long P&L: -40 Long Shares: 1000 Long Ratio: -39.60 Short P&L: -71 Short Shares: 600 Short Ratio: -118.33 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Comments: Just a bad day. Looks like not all days are going to be positive. I have live with this reality and make sure negative days are less negative. This will have statistics in my favor. I cannot be hero everyday is what I learned today.

Mood	Great at the beginning. Bad at the end.	Perhaps losses turned my mood down.
Stress level	No stress. Screen time: 60 mis.	Tried 60 mins of screen time. Was little stressed at the end. (perhaps because of losses)
The Good	No setup worked today.	Goal: Keep working on this strategy until May 30.
The Bad	I got chopped around like crazy on all picks. I still have confidence in the setup. It was just not my day.	Goal: Identify candle patterns at the end of 5 min bar to decide whether to stay or leave trade. Work on exits now.
The Ugly	Staying with winners didn't work well. Most position turned against me after seeing some green territory. I don't know how to handle chop days.	Goal: Lean to identify chop days and stay away or have a strategy to deal with them. I'll have to write a separate setup for that.
Psychology	Hard thoughts are not working. Markets are fluid, one day trending other days chopping. If I keep saying to myself that I need to stay in a position longer on chop days, I'll get killed like today.	No hurray, no sorrows is the goal. I have to think more about chop scenario and avoid such big losses.

2010-05-14

Day Result

Postive +35 (+41 before commissions).

STATS

--------------------------------------------------------------------- # Win Trades: 4 Win %: 80 # Loss Trades: 1 Loss %: 20 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Win $: 59 Win Shares: 800 Win Ratio: 73.75 Loss $: -18 Loss Shares: 200 Loss Ratio: -90.00 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Max Win $: 27 Avg Win $: 15 WRatio/LRatio: 0.82 Max Loss $: -18 Avg Loss $: -18 Win$/Loss$: 3.28 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Comments: Good win percent. See psychology for issues identified today.

Mood	Great.	No issues.
Stress level	No stress. Screen time: 45 mins.	Still working on 30-45 minutes screen time. I am at 45 min screen time now.
The Good	Finding good setups. Entry points are good. Average hold time was 15 minutes.	Goal: Keep working on this strategy until May 15
The Bad	Only one loser (IAG) was because of bad interpretation of the bounce. I thought it was dead cat, but obviously it was live cat :) Exits are not good. Need to increase hold time with winners. See TEL, PAAS, GFA, PCX all went down after exit.	Goal: Identify candle patterns at the end of 5 min bar to decide whether to stay or leave trade. Work on exits now.
The Ugly	None. Stay with winners.	Goal: Think about staying with winners longer.
Psychology	Somehow, my patience clock start ticking after 10 to 15 minutes in winning position. I need to practice to hold on to winners longer than that. See pics to see that all winners could have held longer for some more juice. My work commitments are another reason.	No hurray, no sorrows is the goal. Practice scenarios in imagination to avoid such situation in future. Before beginning close eyes and imagine all green in PnL. And still waiting for candle signals to show up before exiting.

update

I am not day trading due to certain commitments. I was in some swing positions that resulted in a good 10% return in recent bounce (mostly gold/silver miner stocks). However, looking back at them I sold them too early on Monday's big bounce, they are still continuing to Rally and would have given me 20-25% return in this bounce. Looking back I had an exit strategy that I did not follow, just because of fear of losing profits. I was down on these during dive on Thursday/Friday. However, I held onto them seeing that gold was going up. My exit strategy was to hold until I see a big negative day or if it becomes to overbought. However, on Monday, I saw my account green and up 10% and my fears kicked in after seeing account in red on Friday and green on Monday that I may lose these profits, so exited without any reason other than fear. I also noted technically that when bounce starts from extremely oversold state, it should last at least 3 days. However, I should be on a quick watch for exit whenever things start breaking down. (similar to what Tina Logan mentioned in Telechart webinar on swing trading).

Good lesson for today is that stick with the plan and shrug off greed/fear while trading. Easier said than done. It's all Mind game, market is a good place to test toughness of your mind, nothing more, nothing less.

2010-05-05

Not a good day. Anticipation is important in such environment. When markets are oversold, bounce is imminent. Tops take longer to form and are rounded, but bottoms are sharp and quick. Found opportunities, but breakouts did not work. All action was mostly done in first hour of the session. I was able to catch some fishes, but I was trading breakout method which did not pan out well. Overall a learning day, rather than profitable one. Mean reversion method (RSI2, BB Crash, rubber band) works better here, to keep the list short and look for anticipatory bounce.

Day Result

Positive -35 (-30 before commissions).

STATS

--------------------------------------------------------------------- # Win Trades: 1 Win %: 25 # Loss Trades: 3 Loss %: 75 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Win $: 2 Win Shares: 200 Win Ratio: 7.50 Loss $: -32 Loss Shares: 600 Loss Ratio: -53.33 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Max Win $: 2 Avg Win $: 2 WRatio/LRatio: 0.14 Max Loss $: -26 Avg Loss $: -11 Win$/Loss$: 0.05 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Comments: Obviously a bad day for PnL, but good day for learning.

Mood	Great.	No issues.
Stress level	No stress. Screen time: 45 mins.	Still working on 30-45 minutes screen time. I am at 45 min screen time now.
The Good	Did not scalp today. Average hold time was 10 minutes. Market was not cooperating. Getting better at removing emotions with position on.	Goal: Keep working on this strategy until May 15
The Bad	Today was not a good day for trading breakouts. After large move down yesterday, it was supposed to be bounce day, with meat of the move happening in first hour of trading. However, I will not change the strategy because of just 1 odd day. This strategy has worked for me in last 1 month, giving about 80-90% positive days.	Goal: Identify candle patterns at the end of 5 min bar to decide whether to stay or leave trade.
The Ugly	Nothing to say here today. Just identify context with candles.	Goal: Think about staying with winners longer.
Psychology	Keep unattached from P/L and focus on charts. Charts saying. Listen. Play small until emotions are totally detached. No emotion or rush of blood during the red PnL, which is good. One entry was based on fear of missing the train, so I'll keep that in mind and make sure that I practice this scenario to avoid such fear before entry.	No hurray, no sorrows is the goal. Practice scenarios in imagination to avoid such situation in future. Before beginning close eyes and imagine all green in PnL. And still waiting for candle signals to show up before exiting.

2010-05-04

Another good day. See psychology section to polish strengths and remove weaknesses.

Day Result

Positive +56 (+61 before commissions). Largest total win since writing the blog.

STATS

# Win Trades: 4 Win %: 100 # Loss Trades: 0 Loss %: 0 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Win $: 62 Win Shares: 800 Win Ratio: 76.88 Loss $: 0 Loss Shares: 0 Loss Ratio: 0 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Max Win $: 21 Avg Win $: 15 WRatio/LRatio: 0 Max Loss $: 0 Avg Loss $: 0 Win$/Loss$: 0 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Comments: Excellent win %. Total win is largest since start of this blog.

Mood	Great.	No issues.
Stress level	No stress. Screen time: 45 mins.	Still working on 30-45 minutes screen time. I am at 45 min screen time now. I felt little stressed at the end of session. That was also because of an early morning office meeting which went for about 2 hours. So, cannot blame totally on trading.
The Good	Continued to get good opportunities with FNG strategy. Airlines and home building sector theme was obvious from NH/NL list.	Goal: Keep working on this strategy until May 15
The Bad	Did not scalp today. Average hold time was 10 minutes. Getting better at removing emotions with position on.	Goal: Identify candle patterns at the end of 5 min bar to decide whether to stay or leave trade.
The Ugly	Nothing to say here today. Just identify context with candles	Goal: Think about staying with winners longer.
Psychology	Keep unattached from P/L and focus on charts. Charts saying. Listen. Play small until emotions are totally detached. Noticed some excitement when all positions went in favor. Didn't stay long because of that, the urge of taking all off the table, kept my fingers on exit button and finally I gave up and pushed the button on all positions. There was no real candle signal to get out. But I did. I guess when all positions are in favor the whole psychology is different. You just don't want to give all these gains.	No hurray, no sorrows is the goal. Practice scenarios in imagination to avoid such situation in future. Before beginning close eyes and imagine all green in PnL. And still waiting for candle signals to show up before exiting.

2010-05-03

Overall a good day. With great opportunities.

Day Result

Positive +40 (+50 before commissions). Largest win since writing the blog.

STATS

--------------------------------------------------------------------- # Win Trades: 4 Win %: 57 # Loss Trades: 3 Loss %: 43 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Win $: 93 Win Shares: 800 Win Ratio: 116.25 Loss $: -43 Loss Shares: 600 Loss Ratio: -71.67 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Max Win $: 63 Avg Win $: 23 WRatio/LRatio: 1.62 Max Loss $: -16 Avg Loss $: -14 Win$/Loss$: 2.16 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Comments: Good win %. Max win excellent. Good control on max loss.

Mood	Great.	No issues.
Stress level	No stress. Screen time: 40 mins.	Still working on 30-45 minutes screen time. Goal is to increase it by 5 minutes daily.
The Good	Continued to get good opportunities with FNG strategy. Nice trade with NEM.	Goal: Keep working on this strategy until May 15
The Bad	Did not scalp today. Average hold time was 20 minutes. Getting better at removing emotions with position on.	Goal: Identify candle patterns at the end of 5 min bar to decide whether to stay or leave trade.
The Ugly	Nothing to say here today. Just identify context with candles	Goal: Think about staying with winners longer.
Psychology	Keep unattached from P/L and focus on charts. Charts saying. Listen. Play small until emotions are totally detached. No hurray, no sorrows is the goal.	Much better today.

A Brief Trading Self-Assessment
* How many of your trades today (or this week) had an explicitly defined risk and reward?	ALL
* How many of your trades today (or this week) did you execute according to the defined risk and reward?	ALL
* How many of your trades today (or this week) were based upon clear market patterns and a clear identification of how the market was trading?	ALL
* How many of your trades today (or this week) were placed out of fear of missing a move? Out of frustration following a loss? Out of boredom in a slow market?	NONE
* How many of your trades today (or this week) would you place again if you had the same circumstances?	ALL.
* How many of your trades today (or this week) came from advance planning and preparation?	All
* How many of your trades today (or this week) were sized properly, given your level of confidence in your ideas and your desired risk management?	Currently on small size. Will stay on this until reach a defined profit targets. (see psychology above)
* What did you learn today (or this week), and how will you put that learning to work tomorrow (or next week)?	Staying on course. I was able to hold winning position (NEM) much longer and was rewarded nicely.
* How did you feel about your trading at the end of the day (or week)? Proud? Disgusted? Regretful? Satisfied?	Good.
* What can you do tomorrow (or next week) to feel proud of and satisfied with your trading?	Keep with FNG strategy.