Reading Level II

Was on the simulator just to get a feel of market rhythm. Played around 884.5 resistance for around an hour, using just level II. Bracket orders were sent out once entries were filled. Something I couldn't do when I was scalping on IB. Safety net gave me the peace of mind to focus on the tape. For all long entries, I had covered once bids were starting to get snapped up. I did steal glances at my 5-min chart. Needed to see that price has pierced uptrendline, closing strongly above it.

So, I'm still very much reliant on the tape. Without it, I can't let profits run. It's a shame that the tape is so difficult to read once the US market opens. Will give it another shot though.

Oh, Emini Player, I got rid of the panic buttons yesterday :-) Thanks for the suggestion!

ES Trades 4/29 - FOMC Curse

I want to blame FOMC. I really do. But that won't do me any good. So I'm just going to curse it and turn in.

Generally too slow a market for me. Took 187 in the 1st trade, and returned double of that to the market in the 2nd trade. Then made a little back on my 3rd entry. I had good reasons for all entries (I made sure I had more than 2). The problem was with stops AGAIN. I tightened my stop for the 2nd entry (inside bar or no inside bar, in future, I will keep to my usual stops), and because of that, I started paying attention to my stops instead of using my brain to THINK. I need room to strategize. I would rather scratch my trades while having a safety net to prevent from losing what I want to lose in a day. I had many chances to scratch, but I kept staring at my stop. Stupid.

3rd trade (Long, again) was today's best actually. I scaled down to 2 contracts and put in a 3 point target. D suggested I get out and go for a break. I did, but only after making him stay to look at price soaring in my direction. I'm evil. He feels really bad now coz price went up by more than 3 points. I told him that it wasn't his fault (i'm also a good liar), and that had I been sure (ok, i really wasn't, coz the market's not moving. A stalling market kills me), I would have had turned a deaf ear on him.

D made decent profit on TF (after he told me to get out, and after I said it's ok, nothing will happen before 2pm - and he was kind enough to tell me he shouldn't have doubted me), and thanked me for my commentary throughout the session (I tape my trading sessions).

So now we're both happy that I lost only USD 167, and D made 2 points on a FED day.

I'm not changing my strategy anymore. No more tight stops.

Details of trades (all LONG) are all on chart above.

ES 4/29

Again, a simple analysis just to get a general idea of where market could be heading. It's difficult to not have a view. Better to have one and when you don't think you're right, you simply switch side. Ha.

On the Daily:

Highlighted in yellow is a Rising Three pattern (to qualify as rising 3, all bearish candles should be small-bodied candles with bodies that are within the range of the long bullish candle, and there need NOT be 3 candles....It think it's called 3 coz in Japanese culture, the number "3" is significant...), I THINK.

Volume doesn't substantiate it though. Besides, it's appeared just right below a strong resistance area. So I'm really keeping my fingers crossed that we'll have an up day tomorrow. For today, I'm expecting anything to happen. I mean, it's FED DAY!!! *7#$&*@!!!!

On the Hourly:

I would be cautious if price gaps up at open (well, it's already UP...). I would be more bullish if it didn't (means that price will have to start plunging right about now). Having said that, if it opens below 850 (below that gap highlighted in blue), I'll be very bearish.

A lot of "IF"s. But that's the reality of daytrading. That's why it doesn't make sense to me to do any detailed analysis. CURRENT price action is what matters to me.

But still, I don't want to go into the market with a blank mind. I go in with some kind of hypothesis, and let the market prove me right. If I'm wrong, I get out before I'm proven wrong. Sounds good in theory at least....difficult to execute in practice. I've made it easy by simply RUNNING when price stalls after I enter. I get nervous when buyers and sellers stop to think. If I've gone in short on a bull trap setup, I want to see bulls running. If they aren't running, it means they're not so trapped, and I had better get the hell out.

Will be trading light today, I think. Will stay away from 2pm on.

I hate Fed days.

ES Trades 4/28 - Super Pissed!!!

(Scroll right to the bottom for PnL if you don't wanna read my rant)

I've gotten rusty! Am extremely fedup with myself. Missed 4 trades that are my favorites!! (1)Hammers (2)1st bearish candle/lower low in upswing (missed two of this!!) (3) pull back at hammer support (aka trading back to resistance in anticipation of a double-top in the making!)

Most of all, I wanna kill myself for hitting the "flatten" (aka PANIC) button instead of the bracket order button, closing a trade right after I entered - AT MARKET!! Because of that, I screwed up the next 3 trades - 2 coz I chased, 1 coz I couldn't get my H1 short entry (enter short on the first higher high that formed in a downswing)!! Scratched all 3 trades (1 at breakeven, 1 at 1 tick loss, 1 at 1 tick gain).

I really have to start pulling triggers like I did last year!

Consolation is: I am quick to run again.

Consolation 2: my broker's finally making money from me (I like him). LOL!!

Chart above shows all my entries (Longs highlighted in blue; shorts highlighted in yellow) and all my mistakes.

This is just day 1. There're a lot of valuable lessons all packed in a half-day session that I can chew over tmrw and in the days to come. I have a daily target in mind that I would have gotten if all the above hadn't happened (missing trades, HITTING WRONG BUTTONS - unforgiveable crimes!!!!). After this inital warm up period (probably in a week or so), I'm trading the after lunch session as well.

Total contracts traded: 33
Total number of points: 7.75
Profit: USD 387

ES 4/28

Am keeping my analysis simple to avoid thinking too much when I'm scalping.

On the hourly: For as long as 850, 823 and 810 are not taken out, we're still on an uptrend. Those gaps have not been filled so far (none of the candles had closed below them).

On the daily: The longer we stay in that channel, the fiercer the breakout. Am definitely hoping it's on the upside. I just can't sell these days! 865 has gotta be taken out.

Going full throttle tonight. Will have to trust my new platform at some point.

ES (Live) Trade 4/27 & A Horror Movie

Thought I was going to be at least mildly depressed over the weekend - because of Apr 26 - but both Sat and Sun turned out to be rather productive, much to my surprise.

I washed D's shirts! Am proud of myself. D rewarded me with "28 Weeks Later".

What happened was, I was setting up dinner, and D asked what I would like to watch while we eat.

Me: Actions! Adventures! Anything that's not artsy-fartsy. Something like Iron Man?

D: Hmmm....we're out of those....how about thriller?

Me: Thriller's perfect!

D: There's just a bit of gore...but you've seen worse...it's NOT a horror movie anyway....alright with you?

Me: Just play the *%*$#! video!

So, we had dinner with "28 Weeks Later".

99 minutes later, I was completely speechless.

We went for a smoke, did not talk about the movie, and when we came back in, I went to work on my charts right away. D played online poker. We turned in at 2am. Lovely evening.

A conversation I had with D this morning while we were getting our first nicotine fix of the day (daily ritual - we chat before he goes to work):

Me: You know, I was thinking...

D (as if waiting for me to say something really wise about the market...which I often do - but only early in the morning): Yes?

Me: "20 Weeks Later" is totally a horror movie! A whole bunch of zombies going around gorging on the living, nearly non-stop screaming...and EVERYONE DIED!! I hate an ending where everyone dies!!! No one's supposed to die after trying so hard to live!!!

D (totally amused): So, you are disturbed by the show! Hahaha...

Me: No, I didn't sleep very well, that's all. I LIKE HAPPY ENDINGS!!!!

Not exaggerating. I tried catching a nap, but just couldn't fall asleep.

So I'm now tired, and tensed, and my eyes are killing me after 2 days of looking at this:

It's just an observation that I made and I began backtesting over the weekend (Lonely, if you're reading this - yes, I'm still as insane as ever).

This is a little different from my usual approach, where I write a story for EACH and EVERY candle (so by the end of the day, I would fill up 6 A4 size papers with 70 stories). Using this method has allowed me to see the big picture (ironically) while not missing any details.

With the candle counting method, I don't make notes. I just count. It's easy to miss the big picture. But it's supposed to give me better entries and more concrete exit plans. Still working on making it work for me. Anyway, I missed my strong open after a gapdown,followed by deep retracement "W" setup, and am starting to have to squint my eyes to look at my candles, so I'm calling it a day. Just occurred to me that it's Monday ie. NOT my day. Definitely wrapping up.

Am no longer on the simulator. Infinity's platform is very ME-friendly so far and I'm comfortable with going live from today on.

Just 1 scalp to start the week: USD 112 (I need to have a green monday!!)

ES (Simulated) Trades 4/24

Signature trades...GRAB & RUN

1st : Long (Scratched): +0.25
2nd: Long: +1.50
3rd: Long: +0.75
4th: Long: +0.75
5th:Long (Scratched): -0.5

Total: +2.75 (USD 412.75)

Hard stop for all was 4 points away from entry.

D is sick and needs nursing. Notes to follow tomorrow.

Mind Over Market

Found this gem on Jame's blog. A presentation on trading mentality by Mark Douglas (author of Trading In The Zone).

ES (Simulated) Trade 4/23

Waited for gap to be closed, and was looking for a short setup. But 833.5 support managed to stop price and I was surprised to see a gravestone doji, then another that closed ABOVE 835.5 resistance. A setup that should send sellers covering.

Used a buy stop order to go in 1 tick above the signal candle's high. A gravestone doji at price low is a bullish enough pattern I can trust, but as always, I don't trust the market. Thought 839.5 could very well send price back down, and I covered once price broke above it momentarily. Set a hard stop at 835.5, but my finger was on the panic button and I was ready to scratch my trade before it hit my stop.

I'm very comfortable with the new platform. Love the panic buttons.

LOVE A CHART THAT MOVES!

Kissing pre-market goodbye forever.

Moving On

Been going over my trades and given a lot of thoughts about the progress I'm making with the current way that I trade. The conclusion is that trading 1 contract just doesn't do it for me as far as practising scalping is concerned. I end up taking sloppy entries (which include scalping during the non-active hours and putting up with ridiculous slippage), holding my trades and losing sight of my exit plans.

I've paid very dearly for abandoning what had worked for me. The past 4 months have been a living hell and I'm just glad that after having blown away nearly half my account (trading just 1 contract!!), I still love to trade. I've been irresponsible with my money, and that's the only reason that I've lost it. Simply put, I have only myself to blame. The market's still the way it is - it didn't scare me before, and it shouldn't now.

My account at Infinity Futures has been funded but I'm not going to go live until I can start scalping the way I used to. So instead of continuing to practise using my LIVE IB account (where I'm restricted to trading 1 contract during pre-US session and 3 contracts during US session), I'm going to simulate trade on Infinity with 3 - 5 contracts/trade. My focus would be on "perfect" entries and I'll scratch if price doesn't immediately move in my direction. I won't hold any trades for more than a point. Instead, I'll look for re-entry in the same direction based on how and where (in relation to S & R) a candle has closed.

I'll most probably go back to trading the active US hours and give up the pre-US session altogether. Following the quieter hours tick by tick has been draining me of energy I desperately need to trade the active session. The earliest I'll go into the market would be at 8 - 9am N.Y. time from now on.

D will be glad. He's been out of clean shirts, socks, and basically everything else that he need to look the way he wants. I'll resume the routine of driving him to work (which actually makes me happy....coz driving makes me happy LOL!!), and picking him up daily, and running my errands in between (so D can rest over the weekend instead of having to run errands!).

Ok, I'm happier now.

ES Trades 4/22

Didn't realize how important my pills have been to me until I ran out of them. Was supposed to pick them up from my doctor but I had been afraid/reluctant to step out of my house (let alone drive). D left his office earlier than usual today so we could run all our errands including picking up my medication.

This is the first time I totally ran out of my pills. Couldn't sleep, couldn't focus, and the only picture that kept playing over and over in my mind has been that of a frail old woman completely wrapped in a cocoon of desolation and SPIDER WEB, waiting to rot. I need a brain transplant.

Managed to do a little scalping during the asia & europe session. All longs, but price was just not ready to go up yet. Took a small loss of usd 68 and went out to run my errands. Came home to see that the bull flag (on the hourly) had done its thing. Market's likely to stall after the fierce move. Don't see any reason to stay up. Taking my pills and turning in early.

ES Trades From 4/21 - Charts

Wasn't me...

Definitely not me....

Ahh... totally ME!

ES Trades 4/21 & Infinity Futures

Recovered my losses (trades 1,2 and 4 were scratched trades mentioned in my earlier post), and took an extra 60 from the market. Ha ha.

Lessons learned:
1) Greed doesn't pay
2) Scalping pays
3) Swinging pays too, just not yesterday and today

FRO is D's. He's starting to liquidate his positions in my account and buying them back via his own account.

Just wired funds to Infinity Futures and should be able to use my new account soon. Am keeping the IB account still. Will be trading from both accounts until I am perfectly comfortable with Infinity. So far, I am loving Infinity's service (big THANK YOU again, Emini Player! Your rep is superb!).

D just complained about IB's haughty attitude (he has been defending them before the incident). So now we are both happy to liquidate my IB account. I'M THRILLED!! I'll rather put my money in the bank and earn a 0.45% interest!

Now I can call it a day.

ES Trades 4/21 - A Complete Mess

My profit-taking mechanism is officially down. Didn't take a profit yesterday and ended up with a 700 loss. Didn't take a 112, 80, 60 profit today and ended up having to scratch all 3 trades. After that, I just couldn't think anymore.

Market's totally chaotic, and I wish I can blame it for my very BAD DAY. But I know too well that had I taken my profits and called it a day, I would have had a nice 200 plus profit day and not have to bother myself with a market that's simply gone untradable (for me) once the europe session began.

That's 2 days in a row. I'm forgetting how to be ME! Take the bloody scalp profits!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Am 150 in the red, and going in again if I see anything that I'm comfortable trading. I can't call it a day. And if D were to suggest that I do, I'm going to have to clobber him!

ES 4/21

ES Hourly

Game plan for the day:
Whenever price closes above 833.75, I'll consider a long entry. Targeting for 842.
Will consider short positions below 830. Target: 820

After Action Review - I Need To Trust And Trade MY WAY

Yesterday (Apr 20) was a bad day for me, simply because I had lost it again. When I could have taken a net USD 100 gain, I ended the day with a USD 737 loss. The first trade messed up my psychology and things spiralled down from there.

My first trade - I was experimenting with an entry that I wasn't familiar with, and because of that, I had a hard time managing my trade, and exited at a place I usually wouldn't have. Took a 140 loss. Got back in again, using the alien method. While I could have taken a USD 120 gain on the 2nd trade (had I used my own familiar approach, I would have recognized the loss of momentum and gotten out), I ended up getting out at where I've placed my protective stop and took a USD 300 loss.

I could have stopped there. But unlike last week, I refused to accept a losing day. I went in again to fade the down move during the US lunchtime session. It started out fine - I caught the hammer and the move went at least 2 points in my direction promptly. On any other days, I would have taken my profit given that it was just a scalp. I didn't. When I had gone in with the intention of simply fading a trend, at some point during the trade, I had assumed that that was going to be a major 6 point retracement at least. After all, a hammer had formed on the hourly chart, and there were piercing patterns, hammerS, bullish engulfing patterns and all on the 5min. So I stayed. And let a 2 point profit turn into a 6 point loss.

All because I got emotional again. I had traded with a different appraoch (when will I ever learn to just TRUST my own method???), and because of that I couldn't own the loss.

Consecutive losing trades on any given day is an indication that the tone of the market has changed - and I could either take a loss while it's still small (yes, like last week), or deploy a different strategy (I scalp on trending days, and "swing" on other days). Last week was week of chops and range-bound moves, and I did ok with my "swing approach" from tuesday to friday. Yesterday was clearly a trend day, and I made the mistake of using a loose stop, and then of overstaying in a counter-trend move.

Mistake number 3: staying with ES on a trending day. I can't handle ES on trending days. I'm used to TF's nice 3 - 6 long-bodied bearish candles down with 38.2% retracement on a trend day. With ES, I love the choppy days, coz I just somehow grasp ES' choppy moves.

It's a day full of mistakes that I can either learn by heart and move on, or get grumpy and all and take a break for the next few days. The latter is clearly out - I don't remember having really taken a break even when I felt ,at my lowest point ,that I simply couldn't go on anymore. I don't know if that's a virtue or a vice - that I don't know when to STOP. What I do know is that I'm not easily defeated. And that's an understatement. Maybe things would have been better had I learnt to back off sometimes. But I don't stand down. I can't. I would have to be a different person to do that.

So I'm going back in today. Not doing any analysis of any sort. I'm not going to guess where the market's heading. It could move up higher than its previous high, or it could reverse to look for 660, it doesn't matter. What matters is the price action within the day - you can never know for sure if the bears or the bulls are going to win until the battle's over, so you take cover when your side is clearly no longer in the upper hand. Don't hang around and become a casualty. Know that something's NOT looking right, and bail before the ultimate worst happens. That's what I always aim to do.

I'm going to be scalping mostly - I seem to have lost touch and apparently need a lot of practice to learn how to RUN again - coz as soon as my application to Infinity Futures is approved and my funds wired, I'm going to be trading multiple contracts. I have to accept that every individual is different - with me, I can never trick my own brain into thinking that a 100 loss is a 1k loss. When I'm faced with a situation that I can easily lose my shirt, I WILL run. Otherwise, I won't. Just me.

Again, I won't post my P&L for yesterday until end of this week. All reds pisses me off. And I can't trade when I'm angry with myself.

ES Trades 4/20 - ????!!!

Covered my short position BEFORE it hit my protective stop. Then covered my long position AFTER it hit my protective stop. Sold when I was supposed to have bought. Then bought when I was supposed to have sold.

Not complaining. Can't think of a better way to start a new week.

A Scalper's Diary

I can't help but love a scalper's blog that documents in detail each and every scalp that's taken. JE's blog's looking really interesting.

Seabloke, don't bother checking it out. You won't understand a word, and you'll bleed from your nose from trying too hard. LOL!

ES Trades - Week of 4/13

I'm seeing my "M" & "W"s. Am tempted to get in but instinct's telling me to stay out of trouble.

For this week:
Mon: -USD 150 (P&L details at the end of this post)
Tues: +USD 253
Wed: +USD 283
Thurs: +USD 173
Fri: +USD 173

What I've done very different this week is that I've held my profits a little longer, gotten rid of all the clutters on my charts (anyway, the only time I looked at them was when I was DISTRACTED) and really focusing on just my candles. Gotten rid of my 10 and 15min charts too and trading with only the hourly and 5min. I've traded only the ES for the entire week and am contemplating sticking with just the ES for the time being. Will be studying the Euro futures over the weekend - I like it a lot but there's something about it that intimidates me.

I'm looking forward to trading on the Infinity platform - lots of form filling and I'm glad I'm not the one doing it. Sorry, D LOL!

Will continue to trade single contract for a while.

Still haven't quite figured out if I should continue to watch the market from 7am to 2am (local time). I guess I'll let my body decide.

Won't be capping the number of trades I take per day. Whenever I see a setup I like, I'll take it.

It's apparent that I don't have many rules. The thing about rules is that they invite me to break them.

I'm going to stop fretting over not having a system. I AM the system. It's not ultra sophisticated, and gets a little cranky a little too often, but it's the only thing I've got. So I'm going to make the best out of it.

Apr 13's trades (which I didn't want to post at the beginning of the week coz rows of REDs affect my psychology):

ES Trades 4/17 - Scratch, Salvage, Scalp

3 trades - all Longs.

Scratched the 1st, held the 2nd, and scalped the 3rd.

Reason for entering long:
Gathered ES could bounce at 857.5 after coming down from peak of 867.
The main reason is a tad difficult to explain. I watch the hourly chart, keep track of patterns, use Fib on upward and downward moves for the month to gauge how stretched the current move is, go over the past few days' charts to give me some clues as to who will be wanting out of their position today.

Protective stop:
852 - Peak is a bearish engulfing pattern with one of the candles' long upper shadow sticking out prominently. I trust S/R formed by bullish/bearish candlestick patterns to hold. As usual, I had removed it as price started coming down gradually in a downsloping channel. My stop is there to protect me from bull traps, not to be run by floor traders.

D's been asking me to keep him updated on Citi but I was too busy watching my charts. Ok, that's not true. I simply didn't take him seriously. I couldn't. He's just too hilarious.

Taking a break and will likely trade the US session.