AbeSmith

Thanks Brownsfan.

My trading summary for today: 5 roundtrips. -2 points. Realized loss -31.30.

That would have worked. The one minute chart is trending nicely. Possibly an end of week sell off is a big part of it.

Trade 5: -3 points.

I see. Thanks.

I see a volume option in chart settings, but not sure how to configure it:

Thanks Brownsfan. I'm not sure if I have the VBC. Yes, the SnagIt is excellent. Thank you for finding it.

Trade 4: -10.

Didn't calculate stop ahead of time. Spur of the moment trade. Should have calculated stop, and then I would have seen that it was too wide.

Trade 3: -21 points. Stupid move. This trade made me appreciate again how important psychology and state of mind is in trading.

Anyone using Sierra Chart getting issue of pivot not showing up in time?

Here is Trade 1 again but in .jpg if you could not open the previous file:

Trade 2: +7. Went long again on pivot. Bailed out just right before sharp drop.

Trade 1: +25. Longed at the pivot which proved strong support on previous low. Sold a bit early due to scary volatility and lack of firm target.

8:30ET unemployment report reaction:

Good morning, and good evening to our fellow international traders. Unemployment data came out today at 8:30ET and YM dropped 40 or so points at that time. Good luck everyone.

Hello. Not sure how to read the 200sma, but it is currently on my chart and I will pay attention to it and see how it plays out. Thanks Notouch and Brownsfan for the insight.

Thanks Brownsfan. Capturing and editing all in one, and easy to draw arrows, especially on laptops where it is hard to use the paint bursh tool with the touch pad. And free. It is excellent.

Just a summary for my trading today: 4 roundtrips. -32 points. -177.04 realized loss. Still paper trading. First trade was a bet on that there would be a price jump on the opening, but it was very volitile and I got stopped out. 2nd trade was a bet on the 200sma support. But got stopped out, the only time price moved bellow the 200sma today. 3rd trade was a short which I got stopped out from. Missed alot of opportunities today. Still very timid to take setups, but I'm recongnizing the problem and that's the first step. I also like to note thaty the 200sma which I discovered yesterday was a significant support yesterday and today. I will be monitoring it tomorrow as well. Here is a snagIt image of today's action, special thanks to Brownsfan for making it happen:

Hey Cooter. I downloaded 7.2.5 from: http://www.oldapps.com/SnagIT.php

Thanks Brownsfan. I'm downloading it now.

Ok Tin. See you later. Thanks for the help.

Also, I like head and shoulders.

Well Tin, today I've been watching the 200sma on a 5 minute chart and like yesterday it seems to be a strong area of support. So I'm looking to go long there. I also tend to look for reversals, so I like to pay attention to the point where a trend seems to turn by looking for areas of support and resistance and then I tend to wait for one opposite color candle print to indicate a reversal. On trending days where there is higher highs and higher lows, or vice versa, I tend to go in the direction of the trend on the dips, using a similar strategy of waiting for the dip, then waiting for an opposite color candle to indicate an change in momentum.

Hey Tin. Sometimes I feel I wait too long to enter a trade. But it is a balance for me because on the one had I feel that I need some confirmation, so by the time I get confirmation I miss a big chunk of the move. Not sure which hammer candle you're taking about. But on the same candle that I entered the trade there was the biggest volume of that move, and then when it started pulling back I though, hey, maybe I should get out now, play it safe and walk away with something rather than turn a profitable trade into a loss. But I decided to stay, and maybe wait until it goes back to the low of that candle around 13420, and then I would move my stop there. But that didn't happen and was showing signs of a pullback. Then I thought, what if my stop gets hit. It is too high. So I decided to lower the stop and I got stopped out. I also considered pulling out of the trade to brake even. I think I'm having some difficulties finding a balance in my trading. One the one hand I don't want to make too many trades and bail out of trades constantly like I used to do. So I want to capture longer and bigger gains. But in the process of trying to do that I'm having difficulty, because now I feel maybe I should have at least come out even from that trade or walked away with some profit. Yeah, my target wasn't hit as quickly as I hoped, but things don't always work out perfectly, and so I think maybe I should have been a bit tighter with my points, and less fundamentalist with my trading plan, which by that I mean maybe I should have been a bit less rigid when I saw that the trade was not going well and my entry was probably flawed with such a high stop, maybe I should have bailed out.