james_gsx

Alright, my first trade was profitable with a 2.50 ES gain. My second trade was a mistake by me, and I saw what I did wrong and lost 1.00. My third and 4th trades were basically break even since I saw my entry points were bad and immediately got out. This trade bothers me though, not sure what I did wrong. You'll see we had a spinning top (I think?) then confirmation after that, I went short on the 2nd red candle at 1452.75 where price stood at a standstill for some time. I got stopped out at 1454 essentially wiping out my gains for the day. I'm wondering if I saw the chart right, and it just didn't work out or if I did something wrong?

Does anyone know how to change my background from this light blue to white so I can print it? Right now if I print it, my printer shows the background which wastes ink and bends the paper in a wavy look :crap: I just want it white :o

He doesn't want to do something like that, it would represent desperation on his half. He wants his group to come across as organized and have the ability to lay out well planned attacks that would lay more fear than a simple bombing in a mall. Anyone can bomb a mall, and he's smart enough to figure that out. But not everyone can plan an attack of the same caliber as 9/11. That would be something in Iraq because most of that is Sunni vs Shiite no Al Qaeda vs USA. Again, three bombs going off at the same time in Baghdad still isn't as complex as 9/11. Osama is a smart man, look at his family. I don't think he'd want to carry out small attacks when he could just deliver one massive blow. Thats my take on it at least.

Well, looking at the ES and being bored I couldn't help myself Is it wrong I see things like this while I'm trading? Or should I be more serious?

Well I made a good trade and followed my system. I could have waited for the candle to close and the overall trend, but I set a trailing stop after a breakout and was stopped out as I expected would happen. The tape was mixed and i knew a snapback would occur, so I just took my profits. I realize price moved lower after that, but frankly I'm not worried about it since I still followed my setup. There are several potential plays available before the one I took, but most were within the first 30 minutes and I don't trade during that time frame. Between 8 and 8:30 price moved sideways on the S1 mid, thats where I lost money Friday trying to trade in a sideways market. Then we had a bearish engulfing candle, and I went short at 1452.50 after price rallied then fell. Overall - I could have made more money but that's not the point right now. My first ES trade was successful because I followed my setup and I looked at the big picture before making the trade. I kept my emotion at bay and got out by reading the tape - not by my heart beat. I also closed the P&L statement on the Matrix because I found it added way too much emotion and I couldn't focus on the setups at hand. If someone sees something I should look at next time let me know. Next time I'll also try and hold on for a longer period, but as of now I'm happy with the profitable trade.

That's interesting that black would cause more strain, even if I have very bright colors? I have always had excellent eyes and for some reason white always makes it difficult for me to see. I should play around with some different background colors and see if I can get used to anything.

The steal beams didn't melt, they don't need too. http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/1227842.html?page=4

Well thats a lot of dust that was created, the towers didn't just fall and turn to dust if thats what you mean? They fell and there was a ton of debris everywhere.

Thanks Brownsfan, I'm not going to trade tomorrow (I'm getting worse every hour and I don't know if I'll get out of bed tomorrow). But if I can make it out of bed then I am just going to watch, and take notes of setups I see. I'm going to make it a rule that I wait for a candle to close before exiting a trade to prevent a lot of emotion.

The pancake theory was never supported. http://wtc.nist.gov/pubs/factsheets/faqs_8_2006.htm A lot of that stuff is on the Maddox site I posted for those interested.

I like light blue and red on a black background, it just works with my eyes the best and I see things better. Thats just me, not everyone. When we had a ton of volatility I increased the size of my Y axis to better scalp breakouts. It did exaggerate things, but I found more small breakouts that way, now if I use the same size I get screwed up every time.

This whole thing was debunked far too many times. Can't we just agree that something of that magnitude is far too large for the government to plan and never have any sort of leak 6 years later? I've heard all the arguments for and against a conspiracy, and I chose not to believe one happened. I've seen more independent evidence against the theory for it, so for those of you who will think I am brainwashed by the government please don't bother. Of all the research I've done on this topic (because I've argued it too many times) I find Steve Maddox to have the best review, enjoy http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=911_morons

One more thing, I'll try to trade tomorrow but I am 99% sure I came down with strep so I might not be able to do it. I may just watch the markets and finish writing my new trading plan. The fact I struggled so much tonight just to do this simple analysis makes me wonder if I should trade live tomorrow, but we'll see.

You're right about the support on the .618% retracement - I just view that as the daily downtrend had to stop somewhere so that was a good place. I don't know really anything about Elliott waves, but that's an interesting aspect. As far as my chart analysis goes, much of the same. If you went short on the bearish engulfing pattern you should still be short. The long term trendline on the dow is still holding on the weekly chart. But I expect that to fail shortly. The Nas is a little more interesting, not sure what to make of these last two candles on the weekly chart. It looks like the bears tried to take control last week only to have the bulls push higher. Then this week the exact opposite happened - basically like tug of war between the two. And the daily charts I see another island top, so next week should be another week for the bears. We'll see though, good luck everyone.

Hm, thats a very good thought Dogpile and it really goes into what Brownsfan said about about documenting everything NOW. I'm fixing my trading plan now to allow for some new setups that I've grown out of. I had a few setups, but frankly I just don't see them the same way I used to so they don't really work. I still have those setups saved so later on I can go back and view them and edit them. I just need to document more, and pay more attention to whats going on.

I sort of have mentors, but most of this has been on my own. My problems aren't seeing trades, but refraining from taking the ones that aren't there - even when I know they aren't there.

Well the dog thing was kinda weird, I walked downstairs (trading area is upstairs) to get a glass of orange juice. My mom opened the door and the dog took off, hence why I chased him. I used to have my own office in the house closed off from everything, but it got way too hot in there. Maybe I'll move everything back in there since the weather is cooling down. And you're right, I was not confused and I had no confidence at the time. I woke up late, I wasn't in the zone and I knew it. I'm not under capitalized. My futures account is rather small compared to the other portfolio(about a tenth of the size) I have but it's setup that way for a reason. That way if I screw up and blow it up, it won't be detrimental and we can easily move money back into it. I usually do okay in volatilize markets, but today I was just being sloppy and trading in choppy areas I knew I shouldn't be. Here is a chart that kind of outlines what went on. Thanks for everyones replies, I appreciate it.

I know exactly what I did wrong, and it's something I've done before and I have to keep telling myself not to do it. Today while I was paper trading I clearly saw the trades setting up, everything was clear and it all made sense. After seeing this I wanted to get some real money into it. The mistake I kept making was simple, I was trying to make trades out of trades that weren't there. I knew the market at that moment was choppy, and I needed to wait for a clear trend to appear. I would have done the same paper trading, so why I made the mistake with real money I don't know. I bought another 3 ring binder today and notebook so I can document my trades and take plenty of notes. I need to learn TradeStations platform a little better, but that will come with more experience. I'm glad this week happened, because it helped me realize some of the big problems standing in my way and what I need to do to overcome them. I believe I'm at the point now where I need to start trading more often than anything. I can't work full time at Nordstrom anymore if I want to truly become serious with trading. The only problem is the financial aspect, I'm sure if I could bring forward a strong case my parents could help me out, but I'd hate to do that. But trading a few hours 3 days a week isn't cutting it.

This week I got absolutely killed day trading the YM. It was like a bloodbath for me, everything I touched turned around and went the other way. Then of course after the trade I saw exactly what I did every time, and I felt the emotion so I would leave for the day. Today I decided to papertrade and stick to it. Well that was going well, everything seemed to be normal again, or so I thought. My first trade I thought was genius, it wasn't. It was a dumb trade that I made without looking at the big picture, I was caught up in the moment and strung with emotion. I immediately got out of my position for a loss. The next trade I screwed up entering it on tradestation, before I knew it I was in more contracts than usual and had no idea whether I was short or long - there goes 60 bucks. Again, I looked at the charts with a clear mind and realized there never was a trade to begin with. Finally the good trade, I went in and it started going my way. I looked at the P&L and I was losing money Apparently on the Matrix I didn't click sell, I clicked buy :doh: There goes 50 bucks. Now I'm down for the week, my biggest loss being the one my dog caused. He ran around the house and I had to catch him, only to walk back to seeing my position down 50 points :crap: So there are my excuses, but what really happened in those trades? They weren't the markets fault, it wasn't Trade Stations fault. In each trade this week I did the same thing all newbies make, I never planned the trade. I went into each trade blindly, without any direction and no plan to manage risk. I did not know where my stops or targets where. I had no idea why I was entering beside "this looks good". The trades didn't follow my plan, but they looked cool right? Wrong, it was my mistake and I deserved to lose the money. I read SoulTraders article about the path of a successful trader. I realized that I'm a developing trader. I've poured so much of my life in the last 7 months into trading. It's easy to think I've gotten nothing back since I haven't made a killing. But what I fail to see is how far I've come along and how many steps I have taken. The first step isn't making a ton of money, it's losing a ton of money and realizing why. I am determined, and I've found new motivation. I realize now that I will need to push myself harder than ever before to get over the learning curve and find my edge. I can feel it, taste it, smell it, now I just have to get there. It's not a matter of if, but when, I start to become successful. I realized that paper trading really doesn't do me any good, I can't feel the emotion. The emotion tears me apart so I need to feel it so I can overcome it. Seven months ago I was arrogant, I thought I was the best and I knew the markets. I was quickly proven wrong, and although I haven't made a million dollars I realize that is not the point. The market will give me my fortune when it's good and ready, but it will never let me have it unless I go through this painful learning curve. Losing money is part of the game, like an entrepreneur who loses money when he first starts up. A business is never successful the first night, but with practice and hard work it will all pay off. I hope some of the newer traders can see this and learn from my mistakes. Remember to not only study your mistakes but your successes as well.

Coming back to AAPL, yesterday (Wednesday) we had bearish engulfing pattern on HUGE volume. Today we have what looks to be a doji, again on very strong volume. Looking at the weekly chart, we had a doji signaling a top a few weeks ago on strong volume. We are back up that resistance level and the bulls can't seem to take control. There was a good hammer to go long a few weeks back, so looking at this week I would assume now would be a good time to exit that long position that should have been established?

I'm not exactly sure what you would call today's candle, if it even has a name. But yesterday we clearly saw a bearish engulfing pattern that pierced two candles. I combined some fib lines and found that the 61.8% line from the bigger swing high/low was right at the 50SMA - where there is current resistance. You could almost say that combined with resistance at the 50 SMA, 61.8% retracement, and bearish engulfing pattern that the dow could be setting up for an ambush play to the short side. I know I said I was bullish the other day, but things happen and I have to stay flexible. We had that perfect hammer a few weeks ago and I believe the day to get out should have been yesterday with the bearish engulfing candle. We had a large move down last week, but that found support on the 38.2% fib line from the swing high/low (not on the chart, but it goes from 12,503 to about 13,400) which I find to be bullish. Plus that support was reinforced the next day on our big move up. Of course it's easy to say that now, not so easy when we fell several hundred points. Again, if todays candle has any importance I'd be interested to know what it is. I thought it could be a piercing pattern, but it did not gap down so I'm not sure it would fit the criteria.

Denver Broncos FTW. I've never really been a huge fan of the NFL, I love college football though.

I got beat up on the opening gap. I let price fall a bit then I went long for a halfway gap fill. The trade was working out and I was looking around the ES for other setups. Then my dog started running around the house, and I had to catch him. I came back to a 50YM loss I closed out the trade before I was stopped out, but that sucked. Nothing really I can do, I followed the plan exactly how it was laid out - just didn't work today. The second was a doji that I let my emotions get to me, I didn't hold long enough and sold for a loss only to re-enter the next candle and make a small gain. I realized I was getting emotional so now I'm just watching for the day - no trading.

What's up guys? I thought I would join you today. Markets opened up down quite a bit but near the S1 mid. Don't be too surprised to see a gap fill here today as I see the markets heading back to "normal" - good luck everyone.

I think the time to shift to a bullish sentiment is now. Using the Nasdaq as a leading indicator we saw a doji form right on the 50SMA yesterday, then today we had confirmation and a big close above the 50 SMA with increasing volume. Now looking at the dow, we had a close right on the 50 SMA and volume is starting to increase finally. I think we could use the Nasdaq as a leading indicator and see some more strength this week. On the Dow weekly we are seeing a move above the trend line, which happens to be a wedge. So I think this could be our breakout to the long side, or it could turn out to be a wick on a candle - but I'm doubting that. I think this week people will start to feel more comfortable buying again since the volatility has calmed down. Good luck everyone.