humbled

These are my levels for 6/13/2013 I will be using the comments here along with what I have already shared to trade at these key levels. It will not be an overnight change as many of these ideas are fresh to me but progress is all I can ask for.

Thales, Thank you: I am so glad you pointed these out. They seem fairly simple to put on my checklist to watch for. I am not sure that screen time will be needed so long as I am not trying to execute at lighting speed, I should have the moment to check my surroundings before taking a trade. My pre-market work had already selected these key areas to focus on so as long as I have the "Prior Low" , "Prior High" and "Prior Mid" marked up along with other swing levels, I should know where to begin looking in real time. I can watch the patterns and price swings in between these levels but I assume I will need to hold off taking action till I reach one of these junctures which is how I have handled my few trades in this thread so far. This quote I pulled from your post brings up a critical issue. If you believe I have identified the right areas in my last few days then this thread has found an issue. I need to define rules and methods such as your comments here to build that ability "to interpret price action at those levels". I have copied all of your notes into my trading journal and I will use these assumptions at the point of interest levels you have highlighted. Keeping it simple works for me. I am happy to sit and wait till an edge appears. I would rather watch multiple symbols and take fewer trades per day than find myself chopped up with the low accuracy I have experienced day trading. I will continue to show my thinking taking your comments into consideration when I act. If people like yourself can highlight the errors where my thinking is "off", I can make some course corrections toward fixing these like you have shown me here. The first trade at the gap fill area yesterday did not match any of the rules you suggested so I believe that is the reason for most of your comments. The second trade I consider valid and I believe my stop was too tight. If I had held that stop above the key level I highlighted, I would have had a very profitable short trade regardless of the turmoil I had in deciding if it was a short. The action was correct, the stop was not. Again thank you so much for your direction. Humbled (again)

This chart explains my experience today. Two losing trades. One I still question the decision on and the 2nd which was a big area of confusion for me. Long or Short? I must have asked myself that question 4 times while looking at that spot in the 2nd yellow box. I questioned " Was this a shakeout just under support and it will go back up or do I short to the next support?" I decided to short but was stopped out by a few ticks before it proceeded to new lows.

I just noticed as this SPX cash market drops. I selected one level for support and 3 levels of resistance. I clearly had a long bias to some degree when I posted those levels. An error in my thinking pre-market

For 6/12/2013 I have distilled my key levels down to this one chart. The red lines are the prior day's highs and the green are the prior day lows along with key levels in magenta. The support remains in the area of 1623. Resistance levels are 1639-1640 which is both the high of yesterday and Monday's low. If this level is support I see a move to the swing high or Moday's high around. 1646-1647. If these levels were busted and support was found I would consider a move to the cluster from 1658 to 1661.

Thales, Thank you for your post. I will "drill down" closer when I get to these levels. The risk/reward was clearly better on your chart. Lesson learned. In hindsight I now see my mistake at the "Prior Low". I took my first target but held on for the second target even though I now see the signal to short. When I reach a key level I must be flexible to listen to what the reaction tells me. Here is what I was thinking: When we hit that "Prior Low" as resistance I thought............. Maybe we will make a pullback but the trend is up on my larger charts and the big test level was a good reaction earlier. I was rigid in my thinking that the direction may have been decided already. Once again thank you for the help. I am taking notes in my journal to make these adjustments.

I leave today net positive a few dollars. Not sure if that second trade should have been taken. The first had all the planning behind it and was a good execution. The second trade I am not so sure. Maybe it was and as a losing trade I automatically question it.

I was stopped quickly on this second long trade today.

We are still above the support area I posted this morning near 1623 to 1625. We now made a higher low. I have entered on the Green line with a stop at the Red swing low. Here is an image of the trade.

The first target was profitable the 2nd was stopped out at my cost. +4 Avg ES points using the SPX for entry but trading the Emini.

I am sorry for the delay and TL is holding my posts back anyway so I will have to show this trade in hindsight. I did take this position. Green = Long = 1630 Red = Stop 1625 Yellow = 1st target 1638 = 2nd Target 1646 approx has not been hit. I am holding one additional long for the resistance on the hourly chart which is the prior day high and also a key swing high from my prior charts.

Thank you very much for the review. I am reading a few other books, but I do own the stuff I bought before from DbPhoenix. I will review those again after I am caught up. I have added the "Prior High" and "Prior Lows" to my work as well as the "Previous Mid". Today I used a Fib to show the 50% from the high to low which matches an area where I see more reasons to watch. I am watching the key level of 1623 to 1625 on the SPX cash.

A potential setup for tomorrow could trigger. Entry, Stop and Target areas are marked on the chart.

Just what I see. Nothing traded today.

This screenshot shows a small 5 minute potential short but with a market consolidating at the highs I will just watch.

We are at my first resistance level I posted this morning. We rejected off this level and now are testing it with a potential lower high. I am afraid to short against the trend but would love some advice. My notes are on the chart for a potential trade that I will not take.

1 hour chart for 6/10/13 with support and resistance levels marked.

For Monday 6/10/2013 on SPX Key Levels Resistance = 1646 prior swing high - Above that is a cluster from 1655 to 1662 Support = 1633 minor intraday swing from Friday with a gap fill and prior swing low at 1622 which would lead to an inverse head and shoulder right shoulder pattern if held.

I need to learn how to become consistent on a weekly or monthly basis. That is the focus of this journal. I have traded with some success and some failures. This journal is not about the roller coaster version of trading I have done in the past. This is about extracting a return out of the market that is reliable over time.