Testing Times.

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 5th.  Feels like I have the anti-Midas touch sometimes.

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 6th.  Another day with high volume and big movements.

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 7th.  It was a half day as I missed the afternoon session.

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 10th.  It looked like a bad day for trading but I still managed to force a couple of trades, it never ends well.

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 11th.  Kinda shut down by lunch as I just expected price to back fill and chop.

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 12th.  I'm passing on way too many trades.

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 13th.  

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 14th.

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 17th.

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 18th.  Feeling pretty frustrated with myself, T1 was not as clear cut as I would have liked and the following highs ended with deep rets.  I thought price would grind higher, by T2 I thought the volume was spasmodic (volume spikes on up and down bars) and not really offering much information, I took the shorts but thought they were likely to fail.  Despite thinking price would go higher I could not see an entry that I thought would not be whipped by the PA.  I was out of position in what I saw as a grind higher that had a high risk of trashing any longs in PA that was a little indecisive in a volume environment that offered very little in the way of clues, trending chop.  I wanted to shut down before T2 but forced out trades trying to make something out of nothing.

I missed a long right off the open as I was ill prepared for it, if I had been long I would likely have bailed out, but, being better positioned would allow one to relax and let it run instead of trying to chase and getting stung.

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 19th.

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 20th. 

 

Edited September 21, 2018 by Gamera

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 21st.

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 24th.  

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 25th.  Missed the open and when I took a look it seemed a little choppy.

[Gamera 15]

Just updating things for the higher time frames.

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 26th.  Saw and thought a lot throughout the session but did little with it.

Edited September 27, 2018 by Gamera

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 27th.  I think I need to stop.

[Gamera 15]

I'm going to start posting again but will take some time to try and fill in the blanks since my last post.

 

If it wasnt obvious from my last few posts I was in the process of blowing up, it was not something that spontaneously happened but was rather the culmination of a number of factors over a lengthy period of time that led me to think it wasn't possible for me to be profitable, at least not by how I was doing things.  I felt as if every trade I touched was going to fail and had developed a losers expectation, in tweaking the strat to avoid losses I had more losers which exacerbated the problem. 

I was increasingly unable to figure out what was going on, the charts looked like mince and I doubted what I was coming up with would stand any scrutiny in real time.  I was in a perpetual state of tilt and I was left feeling like I was being screwed around with over the last couple of months leading up to the pause in September, none of this was my fault of course, it was just the market playing its games.

The frustration of watching trades failing within seconds had led me to the conclusion that I needed a change of strategy, I started to play around with a few ideas but a nagging doubt remained.  What use is there having a strategy if I cant follow it consistently?  

I came across my copy off trading in the zone, which I haven't read in a while and by chapter 3 I was ready to hit myself over the head with it.  How the f*** did my attitude get so bent out of shape?  It was a slow erosion that took place over a prolonged time frame, probably started back in 2017 when my results were sucking a lot after having spent the latter half of '16 absent from the markets.  I was aware that I had issues gnawing away at the back of my mind but actively avoided dealing with them which led to me becoming increasingly frustrated as time wore on, I was to blame for all my failings and I needed to accept that "Taking responsibility is the cornerstone of a winning attitude". 

I started simming again in the last week of November and results have been better, I'm finding it easier to take trades without foaming at the mouth, its easier to hold them which is resulting in bigger gains and I am a little more patient with where I take the trades (I looked over my charts and I was taking trades all over the place and in particular places where PA was likely to chop), BUT, when I hit a patch where a handful of trades don't work out so well my attitude starts to waiver.  I seem to over trade and I also tighten up on my trades choking them out, this is a lack of resilience, I think I have to persevere with it to see if it can hold up because my results have been better than they have been in a long time.

I am thinking about switching to a 2 or 3 lot strategy as I find a 1 lot a little restrictive, I cant realise the full potential of a move as I have been targeting the first hurdle for an exit, it might be more productive to take one off early and leave the other to run.  With a range play in mind take one off at the MP and leave the other for the opposing extreme, just a thought for the time being.

Edited January 13, 2019 by Gamera

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 14th.  Not the greatest result but its something, I move my stops positive when the trade moves far enough but have a tendency to get stung on it.  In my last post I was entertaining the idea of trading 2 lots as a lot of my trades meet that requirement now that I could target that initial move with one and let the other breath a little, one of the many things I'm trying to figure out.

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 15th.  Still positive but got sloppy on more than one occasion.

Edited January 16, 2019 by Gamera

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 16th.  After trade five I sat and watched as the PA and volume seemed a little indecisive.

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 17th.

 

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 18th.

[Gamera 15]

Actions for the 22nd.  I seem to be on a bad run, I'm really struggling with the opening minutes of the trades I'm taking and then get sucked into a little over trading.