just for memory

memory

reminder to myself that they don't always work. don't get upset, just probability

i saw AEM and GDX. AEM cracked lows and i kept an eye on it. nice retracement and doji. i started closing out all my positions because the market was just feeling funny. it didn't want to go up or down. all the signals were confusing. i closed out everything but my winners,doubled up in them, and walked away. i had no idea there was a fed announcement. maybe i need to keep a look out for those days. not only because of a large, in my opinion, untradeable move but also because the mornings of these days are mostly going to consolidate due to so much indecision.

lows, retrace, doji, back to lows. for memory

looking gorgeous to me. yesterday BIDU had a sick move so, and the chart was looking excellent. I got stopped out but notice later on the excellent hammer on the 15. That is why i need to keep these charts up all day. today though, i wouldn't have traded that hammer because the market was acting so wacky.

looking back now, i'm wondering if it was too late to get into the stock. like too much time had passed just let it be. but, now i think about BIDU yesterday, it consolidated and then exploded. so, all in all, good trade. also doubled up on this one. there is a slight difference in the pattern. BKE should have consolidated and been going flat or up, here it consolidated as it was going lower. hard to explain, but its for my brain, lol.

about a bar late but that is okay. risk was fine. i doubled up in this one as well as i closed out all the other positions. any other day i believe most of these trades would have worked.

i remember seeing this one earlier in the day but it didn't catch my fancy. now, i am wondering why not. it seems like it had nice movement.

playing this with AEM.

MON reminded me of BIDU as well. tight consolidation all day. i guess the difference today was everything was in this same move. closed because the market wasn't feeling right.

all in all, another good day. finding the stocks that hold up to the plan. put on my trades. no remorse because things didn't work out. today, i got caught by a fed announcement. tomorrow, it could be crop virus or a mine collapsing or an oil rig exploding. just need to believe in the probabilities and that these pattern's are my edge. i believe it.

i was also watching some dvd about disciplined trading today. the speaker is Ari Kiev. He made a good point. He was speaking about a bobsledder who crashed in a particular corner. then whenever he went to do his runs again, he would screw up that corner.  Ari had him visualize the scenario over and over again in his head. Ari said "it takes about 60 secs to go down and 15 mins to do back up. in your head, you can run that track 100 times in a matter of minutes. that is a great benefit". That has always been one of my problems with visualizing charts. I visualize at night for about 10-15 mins and in the morning for about 5. But, i always thought it wasn't as effective because i didn't have that sense of time passing or anxiety about being in the trade. But I realize now, that isn't really the purpose of the visualization. That is something that needs to most likely be overcome in real time trading. The purpose of visualization is to see these charts repeat the same pattern over and over again. And when i see it happen real time, to go after it. Only during the trade can i get a sense of the anxiety or nervousness that I may experience. To combat this, Ari suggests setting a stopwatch and starting it the minute you start feeling anxiety. And time yourself, until you cave in and can't take it any longer and close the positions. He says as you do this, you will gain the strength to hold and not get nervous. Your anxious feelings will occupy a shorter and shorter  time frame until you are able to hold with no anxiety.