trying to buy the retracement. just had to wait a little longer. i put an order in for that later pull back but didn't get it.

break down from the triangle, bull flagish formation. i did not want to hold too long as my stop was too far away.


















shorting retracement. i thought it was going to work well. i even put on a few more shares. did not work out. ripped up, came back down, and then a long the rest of the day



































i saw a double top with a doji. i didn't really feel like i should have to tech positions on (rimm and amzn) so i got out for a few cents. a bar later, it doji again, and looks like it could have been taken long at this point. i had already shut down the computer. my brain was fried from watching amzn all day.


















here i shorted the high of the consolidation above lows. it wound up retracing to the 50% level, and heading back down.

















shorting the retracement.

















here i bought the low end of the consolidation. i had no confidence in the trade, yet it went $2


















i was shorting the low of the consolidation. it wound up stopping me out. then headed lower only to turn around and head higher. crazy market

















i shorted the highs of the consolidation. too much spread, i was not comfortable so i took the trade off.

















i thought about shorting during the first consolidation but of course i had no confidence so i did not. then when, it retraced, i figured i would give it a go. it just consolidated until i finally had enough. looks like she went right up after i got out. pretty good timing. better timing would have been to go long.

















i was buying the pop. i didn't really like the trade. just a scalp. the better trade would have been to buy the retracement that followed.

today was a good learning day. all day you are leaning short and then boom, you have to change on a dime.

i chickened out on this trade. i didn't believe. no confidence. it turns out it was 100% correct. i also wanted to get in the trade after the hammer around 1pm. i did not because i said to myself, why am i getting in here .30 higher. again, the right move would have been to buy. instead i focused my attention on IBM which didn't move anywhere but i still managed to lose a couple bucks. instead of finding something that will follow AAPL's lead, i just need to trade aapl.


















good looking chart. pushed higher, pulled back. nice consolidation. it just didn't work out. should have not wimped out of AAPL. or i should have had both positions working.

















didn't trade this one. i got in late today. haven't been sleeping much. chart is a little hard to discern, but decent pullback after a drop down. and then full collapse.

































not really a pattern here. it kept popping on my scanner and i know this thing can run sometimes. i thought i would give it a shot. i think i wound up break even.

















move higher. then pullback. then bounce off pullback and retest of 50% retracement. it was just like the FST trade from yesterday that bounced of 50% and then collapsed through it. i should have known. in fact, the trade from yesterday was in my head. i should have gone short after the second test failed. why not? no confidence in my analysis.

although i am trading well, unemotional i still need to have confidence. have to put scenarios and the table and let them work out. period.

not the best, not the worst

i thought i would collapse after testing the third time. i guess after 3x, it is going to break through.

















missed this one. i put it up here to study. pretty strong retracement to the 50% level. came close to hitting full extension.


















from yesterday. again, playing retracement.


















i missed this one. almost like a few weeks ago. touch level, three times and then break down. could have had a nice tight stop.


















no so pretty retracement, but still worked out.

















here is the kick myself in the ass trade. i got in the trade because it felt like the market was going to collapse. i decided to give it to .09 (top of entry candle) instead of .18 (top of prior candle) because i didn't want to lose an extra $10 bucks. actually, i would not have gotten in the trade at all, because it would have cost me $40 to see if it worked out. but, i held on through the first drop. i was patient. i was waiting for a $1 move. the son of a gun, retraced to my stop, but never hit the .19 level. again, if i would have just waitied for my price, i would not have gotten shaken out. but, i really felt the market was going to push straight down. i should have known that as soon as it made new lows, to cover, and then short again. lesson learned. wait for price or cover at push into new lows. i should have just waited for my price. then i could have gotten in a couple hundred shares and made some decent coin.

















bought retracment. collapsed at stop. should i have gone short? possibly. but you never know, is it going to rip off that level. what i should have done was short it after the consolidation. the problem here was, the major trend was up, so i didn't want to short.

















i thought the son of a gun was going to pop. but it didn't.


my trading has been very focused. i have no emotion win or lose. actually, today, i am slightly upset but not overly upset. i accept the risk of $30 per trade. i know i will have losing trades. i know i will have losing days. i know i will have losing weeks. but if i stick with the plan, i will be profitable shortly. i just need to keep focused. review the charts. and focus. i do not want at all to ever have to work for somebody in an office job. i will figure this out. i truly believe i am there.

i can't remember where i was reading this little tidbit but it struck a chord with me. the reason why traders, and I, get out of positions prematurely is they don't want to feel the emotion, the nervousness of being in the trade and watching the P/L. i know i close my positions after .20 so that i don't feel that nervousness of losing some of the profit. this is the wrong way to trade. i have a plan now to exit positions, and looking back over the past two weeks i would have made a decent amount of money. there is no reason to take profits to stop the nervous feeling.

the exits will be decided by either the first 100 shares going .30 so that my trade is risk free, or if the candles are acting properly, i will hold onto all the shares until momentum starts to slow i.e. smaller candles, less volume, dojis.

the plan will work.

i felt market was going to break highs. looks like they slammed it down.


















news about them buying SII. tight consolidation. i had a trendline alert which fired off but i passed on the trade. i just haven't seen breakouts work in this market. maybe this scenario was different because it was down on a buyout offer. i passed the trade because i did not want to be wrong. i.e. lose $30 bucks. but at one point are you not taking the trade because you don't want to lose the money, or not taking the trade because you didn't think the setup would work. first and foremost, i didn't think the setup would work.






























shorting retracment

















just a gamble. either it was going to keep going up, or down. i choose down. looks like it should have been up. going up against walmart is a big deal.

















i felt market was going to break highs along with fcx. even doubled position. didn't work. no big deal. nice drop after though.

















buy the retracement. looking back, maybe the pullback was to deep.

shorted retracement but got out after the market started to make new highs.

















shorted the high of the day. should have went long after closing position but chat rooms was all about going short.


















shorted retracement. no patience. this was free money. i got out of my first piece +.18 or so, so that the trade could be risk free, i guess what, i still couldn't hold onto it.


































perfect retracement. sitting right on the 50%. i of course, go it before the bar was finished and it ended red. and continued to go down a little more past my stop. i wanted to get back in around .85 but thought i could get a better price. i guess not. stock moved up, came back down, but i didn't think it would go again from that point. it did go for .50 so i was wrong. you just have to take chances.

i think i need to go back over all the trades this week. i am pretty sure a majority were correct and that i just got out early. i am definetly seeing the setups much better now. now, i need to accept that losing $30 is okay. i have to be comfortable with that. right now, i am not. i do not know why. yes, i have money so that i can live on for the next year and learn to trade. but i am scared. i need to focus on that fear this weekend and learn to get rid of it. i know i can make 200-300 a day with small share size of 100-300 shares. i see the trades properly. my problem is holding on. i need to focus on that as well.

when you see these positive trades, such as CSIQ, that was all freakin' day. i need to get this in my head. maybe next week, i need to put on trades and let them go all day. no matter if they come back to break even or not. there will have to be some other criteria so that i don't totally blow it, such as watching the charts for lets say 3 big bars, then i will need to get out there.

but like i wait for a setup to get in, i need to wait for a setup to get out. all i do is watch my P/L. i will focus my energies this weekend on going over in my head holding trades and accepting a loss of $30. although, i think holding trades needs to be done in real time. so, defintely, focus on not being afraid of losing $30. its so stupid, i lose $400 a few weeks ago on one trade, and now i am scared of $30. WTF!

i am also in the process of re-reading trading in the zone for the third time. i got to put all the pieces together now. 200-300 should be no big deal and it will create comfortable living for me. eventually, i would like to make more, but i have set my self up so that i am in no rush.

going to Arizona State campus tonight for some free music and snowboarding,bmxing. they are trucking snow in just like the olympics, ha! dear and the headlights are playing tonight, as well as thrice and story of the year. dear and the headlights are a local band who are on the edge of making it.

cheers!

didn't get this trade, to much risk after the pullback (greater than .35 cents). but the chart is worth remembering

















got in the trade. accidentally hit the buy more button. got out for scratch. my buddy was shorting the market and that was throwing off my confidence. later in the day, i went for it again, but i thought, can it really bounce off this level, 3 times, i guess the answer is yes.

















bought sold bought sold. just a piker. i need to get my share size right, and accept a loss of $30. i don't know why i can't except that. i am trading ass backwards. again, i am trading not to lose instead of trading to win. i have to put on one good trade (+100) so that i know it is possible. right now, i hit the exits real fast. the thing i tell myself in the day, but i don't listen to, is that when you review these charts, these upmoves are going on for 1 2 or 3 hours, not 5 minutes.


















buy the retracment. no action, closed it. need to just the stop work. lose or win.

















but the retracment. took a little off. need to wait until i can at least get to play risk free. if i am risking .30, then can't take off trade until the first part gets plus 30.

















caught the pop but couldn't hang on. i knew it would go a dollar or so, but took the profit of 39. it is really silly. have to learn to hold these trades. i think i need to time the trades so that i don't get out before 1 hour is up. either the stop hits it or its 1 hour that is it.