fozzkingtrading

2011-06-22T17:51:00.000-07:00

2011-06-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

don't know how i missed the qld trade. i was watching WFM but turned away for a sec and it jumped 10 cents. looks like i didn't miss much.

2011-06-20T14:33:00.000-07:00

no trades. i was eyeballing the CRS but it never turned back up. RIMM and JVA i saw EOD

2011-06-01T16:54:00.000-07:00

epic day. missed it all. i get frustrated when i sit in front of the computer for days and can't find a good setup. i think my edge has disappeared. then you get a great day like this that you miss. it is very unfortunate. any losses over the past two weeks could have easily been made back today. only one setup failed, RKT.

2011-05-26T15:40:00.000-07:00

I lacked focus. Need to get my head right again.

I was watching this one but didn't believe.

2011-05-25T22:13:00.001-07:00

Only traded WPRT. I have to get back my focus. I had it for a few days but lost it. What a joke EOD with the Q's and SPY. Lots of good setups early today.

2011-05-19T14:35:00.000-07:00

WTW: caught this one late. this had a gap of 1.4%, my scans only show 1.5%

AAP: was watching AAP turn over. never really saw a clear set up. I did see a clear setup in ORLY below.

FLO: entry. not ideal for me because the move back from highs was a V, I am looking for a U shape. i guess I need to be more picky. Plus, this stock atr is only .60

FLO: eod

GME: if this was a gap up I would have gone after it. because it was a gap down i didn't. but you can see the first bar is hammer, pulls back forms doji, then makes new high and pulls back to the 20 with the 20 rising. pretty good setup.

HLF: would have been a good trade.

ORLY: entry

ORLY: stopped out around .59.

PETM: i was watching this one as well but passed it up around the 11am mark. then the red doji around noon isn't ideal. i would like it to be green.

WSW: i think on the 5 min chart, this was a nice morning trade. i am considering seeing what happens in the first hour and half on the 5 min. somedays i feel like hunting for a trade between 11-2 is okay, but you aren't going to get the stock to move much until after 2pm. if you find a good setup around 10am the trade could be over by 11am.

2011-05-18T16:03:00.000-07:00

VECO: I almost went after this around noon, but decided it was too far from the 20, even though it was very very close. Also, I checked the average true range, which was about $2 and this stock more than exceeded that in them morning. i figured it had exhausted itself but i was going to watch for a break of that consolidation area for a long confirmation.

ADI: This one I actually put an order in and immediately it jumped up. I thought I missed the boat. When it came back down, I decided to not get into it.also, the chart was starting to look a little whippy.

CF: Didn't see this until EOD

GPRO: I wish I had the skills to trade something like this.

SODA: another ripper that I was not about to get involved in.

SPY: i think the spy had a better chart than the q's. wish i would have seen this during the day.

TCK: Sitting right on the line. I would have like to see a more rounded bottom but I wasn't going to take the chance with that nice doji on the 15.

TCK executions.

2011-05-17T15:47:00.000-07:00

i am only upset with my trading in QID. it was momentum based which i am not good at. besides that, i had all the correct stock on my radar. i was early on FE and ERF and never took a shot with MAKO because I like to see a green doji as opposed to red. The only thing i can think on FE and ERF was that they were not close enough to the 20 yet. The Q's were very hard for me to read today. i don't know if was due to lack of focus or all the fakeouts.

2011-05-12T00:36:00.000-07:00

TEVA: almost went after this one

Q: I got to the computer late because I'm up all night looking at charts. Like tonight. I need to stop this. Anyway, I watched as the market flushed out on that hammer around 2pm. The tick was well below 1000. As much as I wanted to find a short setup, I felt that the market had been in the low on that whoosh down. So, I decided not to trade anything. Just watch. My hunch was correct.

2011-05-11T00:22:00.000-07:00

Although I wasn't profitable today, I am still quite happy. I only traded the stocks I wanted to. The setups I liked. I was very picky. In fact, it was strange, because it seemed that there were a lot of stocks that were setting up how I liked. The q's though, weren't moving anywhere, and then boom, they took off. looking now, i can see SPY had the much nicer chart today.

APOL: only passed on this because of past history. i know this stock can go up or down like a rocket some days, so i was timid. she did work out nicely though.

EBIX: not exactly my smooth chart i am looking for but, when there is big bar down, and then a nice retracement that ends in a doji right on the moving average, i feel quite comfortable. it seemed orderly to me. i sat in the trade for a long time. the thing is, i can't pay attention to the level 2. it makes me nuts. i need to just stick to the graphs. watching the level 2 you want to enter and exit every second.

FE: nice orderly chart. 100% comfortable with taking on trade here. also, nice .10 stop so i could grab a few more shares.

FEIC: i was watching this one as well. i wanted to pull the trigger but the 15 closed below the moving average and that called it off for me. would have been a great trade but i need to be disciplined and selective.

i have the confidence now to know i can find the correct stocks. it is going to be a matter of patience and timing. the best thing i ever did for myself was to trade from 11am-2pm only. yes there are setups that i miss, but i can't worry about that. today i had a good 1 1/2 of focus from about 11am to 12:30 i was on my game, scrolling through charts and soaking the market in. sitting here all day was too boring. limiting myself to 3 hours is very helpful.

2011-05-09T22:20:00.000-07:00

ARE: The arrow are the trades i placed the day earlier. After sitting in the trade for a while, it seemed like it was making a triangle shape (i'll try to put up a chart with the marked triangle). I also noticed the volume on the up moves was increasing, not decreasing like i would like. so, i started getting iffy on it. i finally cut it loose because i couldn't take watching it any longer. it was another long night, the day before, so nap time was calling.

ARE: wedge/triangle/flag that was forming

ARE: the wacked out volume that was happening. rising volume on the upside and downside. too confusing. not a good trade.

EL: I don't think there was anyone to catch this setup earlier in the day. it only popped onto my radar as it started to make new highs.

PXD: one I was considering but didn't pull the trigger. the market was seeming sluggish

Q: here comparing the difference to the previous days orderly morning, versus today's mess.

SYY: this one i was very close to pulling the trigger. most likely would have turned into a stop out. my only hesitation was the top out around 11am and the pullback wasn't as smooth. i am trying to decide when i am being to strict and not strict enough. on trader x's blog, they were talking about failed trader x setups. there was a commenter who mentioned, none of the setups are "failed trader x setups" because each trade was missing an element, therefore they were just failed setups. so, i am trying to become more strict in putting on trades. not taking chances. i am trying to find an orderly chart pulling back to the 15min ema, have some narrow range bars, correct volume, and correct stop distance (preferably less than .30) and go for it. i think i could increase my probability right away by being stricter. let us see.

2011-05-05T22:26:00.000-07:00

no trading today. i was playing with my scan settings all through the night and overslept this morning. found a couple nice charts. i was trying to see how they compare to the index. for TRMB it fought most of the day and then had a reality check with the rest of the market. i need to work on finding the stocks as they are making the nice chart as opposed to spotting them end of day. hopefully i get better at this real soon.

TRMB against QQQ

SAM

TRMB getting caught near the end of the day

again these setups happen between 11am and 2pm east coast. 3 hours a day. that is all i need the intense focus for and i will tell you, it's still too much. i find myself having wondering thoughts or getting off track after 20-30 mins. which is better, because it used to be 10 mins or so.

2011-05-05T01:26:00.000-07:00

i spent a few hours this evening going over my scanning software and trying to figure out why it pulls up the best stocks near the end of the day. when i peruse my lists in the evening, i see some beautiful setups. i always am wondering why i missed them during the day. anyway, i have to tweak some settings in order to get the scanner (trade ideas) to bring up the stocks in a timely fashion. like below, on the TRMB chart, that originally pulled up around 3:15 on my making new lows ticker (a la dtf). i have it set to show me stocks that have had this alerted 75 times, which in my mind meant that it was down at least .75. but this is not the case, sometimes the stock is moving so fast that each alert could span the range of .08-.10. so, when the 75th alert shows up, it is not down .75 it could be down 1.25 or 1.50 already. the other trick is getting too many stocks. it is a fine line to tweak the settings so i am working on it by adding how much down from the open, current volume, and i would like to get it to work properly to show me stocks which are near the 20sma. that would be ideal. we will see.

NUS: i was nearly ready to short this stock. i called it play by play but this is not what i am trying to focus on. i am trying to only trade stocks that show the pretty form in the other charts.

i went to see william fitzsimmons tonight. he was good but i was more moved by his videos on youtube than the concert in person. i don't know why. i wasn't really feeling all the sorry and sadness he sings about tonight. although it is comical, because he makes fun of himself for only writing depressing songs. i got more enjoyment out of his interactment with the crowd between songs than the songs themselves.

he had a great opening band who also were his backing band as well. slow runner. here is a decent video from a couch. i think it is in mono which stinks, but whatever. that dude's stache may have to go though. it is slightly freaky.

2011-05-03T23:10:00.000-07:00

No trades today. I didn't see anything in time.

'
CTSH: I'm impressed by the move end of day here.

This one would have been a dud.

Q: The arrow highlights the area where the q's were pushing higher but the high/low ticker was blinking red. I couldn't figure out what was happening. Was the market really going up or was it a fake out. Of course now, I see the volume was nul.

The trick for me is finding these while they are developing and having the mindset to go with it. I saw some mediocre setups that I passed on, so that feels good. I need to remind myself, not trading is still trading. I am trying to stick just to the setups I like to see, which are located above. Basically a move either way, a retracement to the 20ema, and then continuation of the original trend. It is boring, but everyday there are stocks that do this.

2011-05-02T18:02:00.000-07:00

2011-05-02T17:14:00.000-07:00

one of the WFMI charts has the 8 ema and the other the 20. I was checking to see which one I was using today. Sometimes I use the 8ema on the 15min to mimic the 20 on the 5min. I was watching WFMI scroll through the h/l ticker a handful of times. When it went through again I decided to short since it broke down after that pausing doji. a good thing for me maybe to capture the chart the moment after entry. to me, it seem stuck between .40 and .70. i guess i really don't have the right to say that and it could just be my anxiety talking. i thought we could get another volume breakdown but the volume was very light. also, the q's look they wanted to head back to highs so i took the position off.

i would say this is ideally what i am looking for. just no follow through. looking back now, i realized i never even check the volume on this chart. not that it would have mattered in this instance, but i need a work sheet like scott. check spread, check volume, etc...

S
o, trying to get back on the trading horse. Most of the large projects are complete around the house I bought so I am trying to find 3 hours a day to trade. From 11am est to 2pm. While reviewing my charts, I have come to the conclusion that the charts I like to see forming are made in this time period. Let's see what happens here before I possibly head back to school for a masters, boo!

2011-04-15T22:44:00.001-07:00

2011-02-22T19:34:00.000-08:00

phew, it's been along time not trading, i haven't even realized.

i just got back from working at the daytona 500. i have a few more things that need to be done before i fire up the old trading computer. i was hoping to get it fired up early march, but it is looking like early april. the new house i bought needs mucho mucho work before we can move in. late march most likely i'll be heading to lakeland,fl for sun n fun. so, early april should do the trick. in the meantime, i'm just visualizing the charts over and over and over again. hopefully, it will make the difference in my trading. i don't think my problem is trading, but NOT trading. learning how to keep from being bored just waiting for the one setup all day long. it ends up being quite boring. all right, enough writing and thinking.

busy busy busy. i hope you all are trading your asses off.

2011-01-10T23:13:00.000-08:00

Just watching and working on the mental side. NT is acting funny by not loading up the past days action. So, the EMA doesn't come out right, but what can i do.

ROVI: showed up on the runner screen. she kept going

ACOR

DV: I would have gotten caught trying to short this a couple times.

KCI: long pause before explosion

MAKO: another one that paused and exploded

MUR: i was thinking an entry somewhere around the 1:30 hammerish doji candle.

PGN: another one i can see myself getting stop in a few times.

2011-01-06T20:10:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, I only had enough time today to see the trades I missed, lol. What occurred to me today is how this is the greatest job in the world. You are working for yourself. No customers, no bosses, no partners, no teammates. Just you and the market. It is the same reason why golf intrigues me. I do not play the game but the idea of being a pro golfer is interesting. It is just you VS. the course. No teammates. No coach. You are calling the shots. I love that.

I was also thinking today, that when you own a store, you are bored waiting around for customers. It is the same thing with trading. I am scrolling through charts all day waiting for the right customer. That is it in a nutshell. If you want more eloquent writing, visit bankrobber, dtf, or tarigal, lol.

SRX: Below the moving average. I don't know if I would have pulled the trigger, but it certainly is pretty. I first noticed it after that beautiful top.

ARMH: This one was interesting. It did not show up on lightspeed's riser faller list. But, it did show up on DTF's new low screener. It is then that I realized that DTF's screen will pick up gap ups that make new lows, where lightspeed's screen only calculates from the prior close it misses a beauty like ARMH.

CPX: beauty

updated screen shot. the charts on the left in gray are actually on a monitor mounted above the middle monitor. so they are located above the main middle screen that shows the charts of the q's,spy,trade alert tickers, etc..

2011-01-05T16:27:00.000-08:00

i fired up the old beast of a computer today. from around noon until 1:30 east coast, i checked the charts. i saw nothing i liked. hopefully, i am not becoming to picky.that may be the problem with the 1 trick pony. not everyday will fit my style. some decent charts but nothing ideal.

yo

2011-01-02T00:14:00.001-08:00

http://stockbee.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-to-be-profitable-in-2011.html

its just like learning to swing a golf club. muscle memory. practice. visualization. repeat

sweet, my bank has a great rate of 1% on their savings accounts. is that something to advertise?

2010-12-30T17:06:00.000-08:00

i have to say taking time off recently has allowed me to clear my head. i realized when you are trading everyday, and are consistently wrong, it is very hard to get out of a negative mindset. imagine going into a job everyday, and every time you go to do a task, 30-40% of the time you are wrong. you would feel deflated at the end of everyday. i believe you would even tell yourself you aren't made for this job. find a new career. that is the place i was at. i think with enough time, and capital, one can train themselves to be an excellent trader. after you have developed a plan the trick is to stick to that plan. i have to be okay with being a one trick pony. i have to be okay with being bored. if i can make $300/day, which is 2 300 share trades for .50 i would be happy. granted, i would like to make more, but i can afford to make even less than that and still live happily.

looking over the years past charts, its crazy to see how many perfect setups there were. a nice move up, a gentle pullback to the 20 moving average, a nice narrow candle, confluence on multiple time frames, and then the trade goes your way. the hard part is having the patience to wait and not jump the gun. if the stock is too far from the 20, i need to pass on it, or just wait. once the stock takes off, i need to lock in profits at an ideal area, not just because i'm up X amount. i have to be okay with not hitting homeruns. everytime i trade, subconsciously i'm trying to get back to even. if i just hit singles day in and day out, i would be fine.

this job affords the ability to do what you want when you want. the secret for me is believing in myself, my system, and again having patience. i need to get back to listening to the affirmations and visualizing my setups. although i question the effectiveness sometimes, i know i am better trader with the affirmations and visualizations then without them.

i have a much going on over the next few months. on the days where i can fully commit my day, or a period of the day to trading, then i will trade. no more, haphazard trading; trying to accomplish tasks while i am trading.

i feel good. i believe i can do this. the only questions is whether my capital (both financial as well as mental) with outlast my learning curve. if i see myself becoming negative, i'm going to take a few days off. as for the financial capital, i was lucky enough to hear some good news. once a month i will be flying to different events around the country for embraer. i will gone from 5-10 days at a time. enough chance to make some money, while still having the ability to trade when i get back.

i will have to see how things are playing out by the summer time and decide to go to a 1 year masters program or continue trading. ideally i could do both.

i hope everyone is doing well out there in blogland!

some comedy

2010-12-15T16:27:00.001-08:00

no trading today. just some charts. some worked, some didn't.

2010-12-14T22:49:00.000-08:00

what's up blog world. i have been a little under the weather the past few days and have been trying to take care of some other items of life. i only had the energy to put on one trade today. boy, where there ever a lot of opportunities for the patient ones. looking over these charts i realize, if the signals show up on the 15, i still need to wait for confirmation from the 5. sometimes, that will be one candle, sometimes 3 more 5 min candles. i really thinking patience is key. but, i don't know if i have it. when i first started trading i was wowed by all the blinking lights. now, this learning curve has become boring. sitting here, clicking through charts all day. that is boring. i think i will get my energy back when i possibly go live again some time in the spring. i need to remember what i am doing this for. to make money, that is it. that is the purpose. if i am bored making $500 a day so be it. but by that point, i think i will get enjoyment from screwing the silver spoons not necessarily from an accumulation of funds.

i sucked up my dizziness tonight to go to see the paper tongues. they were opening for neon trees. paper tongues blew it out of the box. these dudes are incredible and entertaining. unfortunately, i couldn't really find a video on youtube to do them justice. both videos are the same song, one acoustic and one okay recording from a club. this singer didn't miss a note. he can hit highs like nobody's business. unreal. they were truly entertaining. crawling on the floor, down in the crowd singing, a true performance! there were some people behind us who came to see neon trees and they were wowed by paper tongues.

Charts:

AIG: this was the one trade i put on using the 5 min chart alone. i thought that it had come to far too fast and i waited and waited. when it showed it wanted to go down i got short. the real trade was on the triple confirmation around 1:30.

SPY: that is rough looking. that action around 2:30 could drive a man to drink. and then the last 15mins, wow.

RDWR: i was contemplating shorting this one. i would have been stopped.

FFIV: i had my eye on this as well by chance. it was left on the screen from the day before. sometimes, i find great setups from stocks that trading well the day before.

BCR: didn't work this time

good luck to everyone tomorrow. i don't know if i will trade. hopefully, i will catch everything up by tomorrow evening and can devote my time fully on thursday and friday.

2010-12-10T15:17:00.001-08:00

i don't feel like reviewing right now. here are the charts. have a nice weekend.

2010-12-09T17:08:00.000-08:00

X: booyah, its been a long time since i have bought the high.

AIG: i was short, long, and maybe short again, i forget.

Crazy stock

I traded like a maniac today. Time to re-asses. I trading like its monopoly money and I shouldn't be. I need to remember why I am doing this.

2010-12-08T19:00:00.000-08:00

2010-12-07T19:23:00.000-08:00

CELG: I am okay with this trade. It seems there was significant evidence to go short after the stop.

CRZO: For the brain.

DE: Nice spot to get long around 12:30. Nice entry short. I covered because I get frustrated quite quickly. I have been doing quite poorly as of late. I don't know if I need to switch back to some real money, so I remember what I am trying to do. Why I am doing this? Right now I am more focused on the GMAT and accounting classes than on the trading.

DECK: I had these lines drawn and was waiting for the break of the wedge. It broke up. I went long. and then it collapsed, ha. It truly is amazing how one can be wrong so many times. Again, much evidence to go short as well after the entry or after the stop.

PXD: Stopped out. I could have gone long after the stop. Then I would have gotten stopped out but I wonder if I would have gone short.

Q: This consolidation was driving me nuts. You have to love the pop up, and then subsequent collapse.

At the end of the day, I forgot how frustrated I get during the day. I think how many times can someone be so wrong. I really get on the wrong side emotionally. I may have to step away for a few days to clear my brain. Most likely that won't happen, but I probably should. Or I need to stop studying while trading. We will see.

2010-12-06T21:03:00.000-08:00

WHR: Long, doubled up. Then stopped out. I tried to short it, and boom stopped out within a few minutes. It is quite funny that i spend a few hours waiting to make money on the long side and then a few minutes losing money on the short side.

BCSI

CISG

CRZO: amazing again, i sit in it all day waiting to make some money. then within 2 bars it is wiped out. i doubled up.

LPS: trying the crazies

RVBD: this is the one that needed the most analysis. i think the thing here is, i should have closed the short and went long. there is no point in waiting to get stopped out. if the candles change, and show something new, then go that way. i really have to evaluate each new 15 min bar separately. What is it telling me now?

Not too many opportunities today that I missed. Mostly, the stocks i entered didn't follow through. WHR was a nice winner but made some mistakes near the highs. I took my shots on the best setups I saw. Nothing to complain about.

2010-12-03T21:39:00.000-08:00

I had a bad opinion of today. But looking back, there were some decent opportunities.

ARG: Something funky happened with this trade. I have noticed that NT has been missing a few stops lately, like they disappear. Here i was long, and suddenly stopped out. I got back in. It seems i doubled up as it was rolling over. possibly i thought it was going to go to highs. as you can see though, the stock trended quite well. i should have been doubling up where i exited.

ATPG: Not as smooth looking as ARG. the trade was fine. the only annoying thing was losing .25 on a $15 dollar stock. for some reason that annoys me. i would have rather put that money into a stock with a larger ATR so there would be room for a larger payoff. maybe not the correct thinking, but this game is risk/reward. the problem is, you always define risk, you just never know what reward is or will be.

BIG: i'm pretty sure that is textbook.

CIE: one where it didn't work. i had the urge to figure out why this one didn't. then right now i realized, it really doesn't matter. had i taken this trade i would have lost probably .25. had i taken the BIG trade i would have gained .50-.60. its all a back and forth motion. i jut have to keep the winners bigger than the losers and hopefully have a few more winners than losers, although i know as long as my reward is 3x my risk, even with more than 50% losers, you can still be a winner. the trick is finding the winners that will payoff. my winners usually go for .40-.60.

GNTX: holy textbook action batman.

NFLX: triple time frame confirmation. i don't remember why i exited. i think i was frustrated and it was naptime for this cranky baby.

PAY: i like this trade. just not much payoff.

PVH: nice doji bottom.

QLD: first short there really wasn't a great signal. i kept shorting each new bar because i thought we may get the woosh down. i let the stops work when in reality, i should have reversed. because i was short, i didn't want to see signals that was saying, this is a long now. i need to remember stocks and markets can go up down, down up, and new highs new lows once or twice a day.

SOHU: described in comment section. i thought there was a .20 stop, wound up it was a 1.20 stop, so i closed early.

SPY: from 12/2. short stopped, long, stopped, ha. that's when you start thinking the game is rigged and how will i ever get this right.

more opportunities than i had thought. no reason to get frustrated. just trade. maybe i need to be drunk or stoned when i trade. that way i won't feel as bad with a couple losers.

2010-12-02T22:02:00.001-08:00

can't get NT to start up. have to put charts from today up tomorrow.

2010-12-01T18:57:00.000-08:00

Lots of narrow candles on all the charts today.

SPY: I think it was a great entry. Hung out for a bit. too many narrow candles, i bailed. check out that big 5 minute bar. nice double top.

2010-11-30T20:36:00.000-08:00

SPY: late on the entry, the proper entry was on the 1245. with that entry, i would have survived the pullback that stopped me. the exit would have been the 14:15 inverted hammer. short hopefully, cover on the 1445 and long again. around 13:30, the 10 min was screaming exit but i was trying to just trade the 15min for entries and exits. after studying the chart, i realized there was a confluence of events, you had double dojis on the 10min, the TICK was over 1000, and the range chart's volume dried up. maybe those 3 events together could let me know that an exhaustion exit should be in place. but again, had i entered properly, i would have had a proper exit.

q's: blah

2010-11-29T18:34:00.000-08:00

AMAG: Not too sure what i was thinking here.

ANF: I was thinking it was going to collapse after that consolidation area.

CRM: Nice looking short. then double bottom. when to take profits and when to let them run. tomorrow, i may try to play all the waves

FDX: Bought as it was breaking highs. something was appealing about it but i don't know what. set stup under previous candle low. exited as it ran to new previous highs. looks like it setup again later in the afternoon.

MOS: i think its a perfect short. could have exited after the doji and gone long but i was trying to catch a big down move.

qld: trying to trade the open. wow, what a crazy thing to do.

SINA: tried to short after the vertical extension. looking now, it doesn't look so vertical at all.

Today i was thinking the market was evil. much easier to earn a paycheck. this is the hardest gig ever. back and forth, back and forth. how do you string a few winners together? how do you get your winners to be more than your losers consistently? tough stuff.

2010-11-24T20:32:00.000-08:00

AMZN: Some readable action in AMZN today.

ARG: From yesterday

ARG: Yesterday. I shorted as it was flowing. Covered a dollar lower. Let it pop. Shorted it again.

OPEN: sort of like TTM yesterday. Very impressive down move.

No trading today. Just watching. Every time i think my edge won't work it does. I was thinking, holiday week, not much action. But, today was a good day to trade. Also, that is coming from the point of watching and not participating. Had I participated I may have thought it was a difficult day. Even though I know there shouldn't be a distinction between the two, there always is.

2010-11-23T19:54:00.000-08:00

TTM: Nice turnover. I don't think I would have seen that extended drop coming.

AMZN: i was thinking about yesterday's move that went back to highs. on the entry candle, the AMZN had made a doji. the 5 min was showing a bounce back up. i believed the new uptrend was confirmed. i would say this was a successful trade. it would have been better had i sat through this whole move. i actually left the computer for a while. i need to get over this position anxiety.

ARG: ninja is acting very strange tonight. loading some charts and not loading others. anyway, i caught this ARG for two different trades. i will try to load it up tomorrow.

CRM: just for reference, run into doji

Yeah. 100% profitable. i wish i felt better about this summary. i have been trading so poorly the past week the good days don't make me feel better.

2010-11-22T16:43:00.000-08:00

AMZN: The first long was correct. What I failed to realize was that in order for this pattern to work properly, AMZN would need to take out new highs. Thinking about it now again, maybe new recent highs still validates this pattern. I was just looking at my stop area and thinking if it makes a new lower low, then we are out. It seemed to double bottom on the 5 min and I added. Then Smack! I shorted again later on after a run into the doji. Mistake again. I just feel like I was fighting this all day.

AMZN: I am trying to figure out the trend with the lines. When is the uptrend from the morning invalidated.
It seems to be right as I went long and it turned over.

GS: Perfect 15 min short opportunity. I need to concentrate and just keep pouring through the charts to find the best of the best. I know I don't right now.

MEE: intraday snapshot of the 1 min chart of MEE.

MEE: Breaking to new highs after consolidation. The exit looks great but it was premature. Just trying to lock in some change. beautiful re-entry using the 5 and 10 together.

Q: Any other day, I would have shorted the junk out of the q's around 10am. But, I realized I had a recency bias. Last week, the market would pop and consolidate all day. I said to myself, "i'm not getting caught in this shit again". Of course, today it would have worked. It feels like I am always tweaking, always adjusting, when in reality, I should just stick to the same plan day in and day out. If it doesn't work one week, it will work the next. I guess the question is, when is your plan not valid anymore. I feel like a dog chasing it's tail. Never quite going to get it.

SNDK: Proper short and got scared playing the intra 15 min candle. Need to let it finish.

Another not very successful day. I need to get my head out of la la land, and get in the flow.

2010-11-19T21:25:00.000-08:00

X: Since this was a big mover on the morning, i thought i could get some more out of it.

CLF: If i didn't have to run this morning, i think this could have been a winner.

IBN: I like the pattern. Didn't see the double bottom form right in front of me.

LTD: I went after this one a few times. I really thought it was going to go back down. No double bottom on this one. Just straight trend change.

Had to run early today. Closed out positions I would have hung onto. Overall good day sticking with the plan. The market didn't cooperate. I need to recognize when the market is going to go up the rest of the day and not trend down anymore.

2010-11-18T19:25:00.000-08:00

LPS: Traded from the 5 minute turn over.

MOS: Traded from the 15, added on the 5 min waves. some crazy action after i closed.

NOV: Shorted but my plan would tell me to only long this stock.

OPEN: Shorted the run up. Decent cover.

Q: It seems the past few weeks, the action has been in the first hour and then mainly consolidation.

QLD: Shorted, added. Stopped out short, went long. Stopped out long, went short. Finally covered after I was tired of waiting. I also went long TNA as a hedge. I wanted to see if I could get stopped out of both sides of the market, which I did, lol.

ROST: Just watching the action. I think the key is patience. Wait for the setups. Don't worry about the ones you miss.

SH: Boring, closed it. Not worth worrying about.

TNA: My hedge to the QLD short. Stopped out of both.

CAH: Short the pop. I don't remember why I covered.

UTHR: Tried to short the pop. I guess I was a bit too soon.

AFL: Trying to buy the breakout to new highs. Failed.

Today I was playing with monopoly money mentality. I wanted to see what would happen if I tried to trade both sides of moves, e.g. hedge my positions. I also traded mucho size, 200-400 shares at a clip. Tomorrow, with what time i get in front of the computers, i am going to try to be super picky. pick the best of the best.

2010-11-17T18:34:00.000-08:00

CF: I thought i was going to be able to catch the top there. looking back, the previous candle maybe was more hammer like than doji like with that long tail on the bottom. anyway, no reason not to go after it again 30 minutes later. but i didn't because of instant frustration. this is going to sound totally bad, but today i feel like the market is rigged. i can't get anything working. very upsetting and a bad attitude. i know. i am working on it. Had i taken the other side of the trade, i still would have been stopped out.

GD: This is what happens when i try the finger, lol. Had i taken the other side of the trade instead, i would have had a winner (1/2)

NTAP: Had i been paying any attention I could have caught this one. But for a loss or a gain is anyone's guess. Glad not to be stuck holding it when it was halted.

QLD: Had i taken the other side of the losing trade, i would have been stopped at the highs of the day. (1/3 on opposite day strategy). The consolidation volume was so light. Also, it had already shown a lower tail, so i thought they had all the weak hands out and may push it up later in the day. I hung onto it all day and then out of no where, boom, down she goes. when she consolidated on the 5, i waited to see my next course of action. it broked down, so i went short with it.

I can't even think why i am so negative today. days like today gives me the cloudiness in my head that working on accounting or studying actuary exams does. when i can't get something, i get frustrated and my head gets filled with cob webs. tyring so hard to get this, and yet i still can't seem to have a break through. it is also amazing, how one loss can get me so doubtful. on the surface, i know winners come in random distribution. but deep down, there is still some element. that doesn't accept it. i'll have to search dtf's blog because i think he says douglas says something about this.

2010-11-16T18:26:00.000-08:00

mmmm. i shorted after it appeared a triple top had been made. stopped for a loss. then went short again using the 5 min this time. stopped again. then i decided to reverse the position just for shits and giggles. 3 higher lows, new trend established, lets go for it. eeehhhhh, that was wrong as well. i had to laugh. using only the 15 i see a short 12:30, probably would have been stopped out at 1:30, and another short at 2:45

i also noticed the run up on decreasing volume.

qqqq: is it possible to nail these trend direction changes at the proper times?

FIRE: double and triple time frame confirmation.

tomorrow i should be able to sit in front of the screens all day. lets see how it goes.

2010-11-15T18:44:00.000-08:00

no trades today. internet was junk today.

i might have a chance to trade the afternoon tomorrow. trying to wrap some things up with a potential new house. we will see.

2010-11-12T19:35:00.000-08:00

for reference

some go up. what i like about this chart is if you got in around 12:45 you would have been stopped out. i still would take the trade. but, i think the ideal trade is the second trade after the tail down. but, i am never willing to wait for it because it seems to happen 50% of the time. so you need to take the first signal, and if you get stopped out, go after it again. that down tail is the market taking out all the long stops who have been hanging in for a few hours. then the take 'em out, and let 'er rip.

i love seeing the action around the lines. i thought those two doji's were textbook. i didn't want to get long the first doji because so far the trend was down. i prefered to wait for the short entry instead. i got in using TZA long, a little early, but okay.

TZA: I don't know at what time i got in. Seems a little early but i guess it was good enough this time. the only thing i didn't like was not getting paid for holding. i think this trade was worth about .25 or so. and i choose this stock to play against the q's. i guess TZA doesn't have the same umph from when i left. i sold into the second -1000 tick. i was trying to sell into the losers. i also thought the market could double bottom at this point. .i sold on the second push of TZA into the highs thinking it wouldn't push any futher through.
it was in fact consolidating at the lows. i'm sure some of it was mental, just wanting to lock in profit, in fact it probably had a lot to do with it. i always get caught in double tops and bottoms. what would you have done? covered or held?

funny video

2010-11-11T19:07:00.001-08:00

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/i-trade-size

heavy metal and farming southern style

2010-10-21T19:15:00.000-07:00

just some pics from my travels. this is embraer's lineage 1000 based on their e-190

that's my baby. my job is to get that bad boy around, set it up, make it look pretty. next stop NYSE!

phenom 300 with the legacy 500.

my companies 4,000 acre farm in southern georgia. they grow peanut, cotton, and some tobacco. this is also where we house all our mobile marketing trailers and materials. that complex has 2 or 3 guest houses, tennis court, waterski lake, 3 horses, atv's, dirtbikes, shooting range, etc...basically everything them country folk could desire. the owners of the company are very generous and allow us to use anything and everything at any time.

they thought i was there to feed them so they came into their stalls. silly horses, i'm scared shitless of you. there is no way i'm going to feed you.

a bale of cotton? i don't know what you call cotton when it's packed the size of a trailer, lol. it is amazing how soft the cotton is right of the plant.

traveling

2010-10-07T19:40:00.000-07:00

i'll be traveling for a bit. if i get some cool pics i'll try to post 'em.

trade well.

2010-10-04T19:25:00.001-07:00

MOS: I thought possibly I good get a turnaround like the 11:15 doji. Bought after it broke real body of doji. Held for over an hour and then doubled up as it broke local highs. My plan is to enter/exit based solely on the 15min and use the waves of the 5 min to add. Here instead of adding, I actually exited half the shares. I just felt I was holding too much size. I hadn't fully accepted the risk of the second add. According to the plan, I should have been adding at that point. I closed it early because I thought the market was going to collapse and I wanted to concentrate on RIG. Maybe concentrating on one stock is what drives me nuts. All my eggs in one basket. I may have to adjust the idea of the 15min entry/exit. It ruined the RIG trade. I may have to accept an exit with double confirmation of the 5 and 10.

RIG: I like the first short. The second add was an "excited" add as it was breaking recent lows. Ideally, the add should have come after the pop. The third add I actually like. I can't tell if it broke the lows of the prior bar, but it looks like it may have and then went up. All the exits were on their respective stops from each add. At the bottom of the move, there wasn't a huge volume move with RIG but the ticker was running red at this point. I was actually waiting for a -1000 tick, but it never came. Hence no exit. I will say, seeing the 5 doji, and then the 10 doji all I wanted to do was exit. But, I convinced myself to push through the pain. That I am never going to make more money by taking these profits. I will tell you, I felt like throwing up, honestly. I was in such discomfort not closing the trade, but I said to myself "you got to work past this". Oh well, looks like I was wrong. This is what happens. Every time I push, I give it all back. Going back to the double confirmation from the 5 and 10, maybe on the 15, when the new bar (preferable the opposite color i think) closing the exact same size or larger than the previous bar, it is a signal to get out. I was waiting for a doji, hammer, or -1000 tick that never came. The swallowing effect of the new bar I should take into consideration for now on. Lesson learned.

All in all I have to say it was definitely a learning day. I was for sure second guessing everything I was seeing. I think that came from the confusion I was seeing in the market. Was it going down more, was it double bottoming, what is happening. I also passed up a few trades which never set up properly so I feel good about that as well.

Good luck tomorrow.

Nice double bottom here.

2010-10-01T13:56:00.000-07:00

Going to write up charts later. Down day but no problems here. I didn't catch enough trades to get the probabilities in my favor. It is nice to know that no matter what, there is always opportunity. For me, I think its a matter of not losing patience or getting bored waiting around for setups. When you first start trading, everything is mesmerizing. Even for the first year at least. All the pops and drops. Now, I am at the point of just stalking the best charts. And there are only a few a day. And then to sit around and wait for them to setup is boring. Music helps but maybe i need to start crocheting (sp?).

ACN: My first instinct was to short this chart. Then I started questioning myself, thinking back to yesterday's discussion with DTF. Maybe this was a directional change, double bottom (in the middle, i don't know if that counts) and this was just a small turn down in a larger, new uptrend. All those thoughts were based on the 5min. Because I have been trying to find the signal on the 15, but time it better using the 5. Example, the 15 shows me a signal to go short but the 5 is slightly bumping up. I would wait until the 5 rolls over as well. I don't know. After debating for about 5 minutes I said to myself this was crazy. Just pass it up. Then i said, no, just go with your original plan, the gut trade. As you can see, it went down and bit and then starting to swing back up. I reversed the position and got stopped out. If there had been more direction on the chart, I would have made money. But the range was so small, no money was to be made.

WLP: I was trying to compare this doji to the AGU doji. I traded neither. Although I was very close to pulling the trigger on the AGU. Here is the difference, WLP doji'd and the next bar went higher. AGU doji'd and the next bar went lower. Simple as that. Most likely, I would not have taken the long in WLP at that time. The signals are the 11:30 and the 2pm candle.

AGU: Boy, perfect doji. And in inverted hammerish candle on the 10 around 12:30. Why oh why would I not trade this. I know I saw it late, but the stop was within reason to at least take a 100 shares. I know the reason, preconceived notions that the stock wouldn't go far enough. Later on, I tried to take her long after a hammerish type candle. I got stopped but you need to realize when I got in, the 15 bar was solid green. I was ready for a run back to the top. Checking now, maybe I should have checked out the 5 min, lol. Wow, I'm a dope.

ANF: Beauty. Short around 12:30 and double up every little pop.

CNQ: I'd take it again no problem. Probabilities working themselves out.

CTSH: I thought she was ready to roll back over. The first exit is because I took on too much share size. Maybe looking back, there was no definite direction. In the morning, I'm going up, then I'm going down, now i consolidating.

INFY: Another beauty.

PLCE: Another beauty.

Q: choppy mess.

SPY: I'm surprised you can see the stair stepping better on SPY.

Overall, an okay day. Just missed opportunities. Traded pretty well. No regrets. Opportunity is there everyday. I just hope I don't lose my edge while I'm away. For sure, I'm going to have to check the markets everyday to find the good charts and put 'em up. That should keep me convinced that my edge is working.

2010-09-30T19:54:00.001-07:00

WLL: I was looking for some shorts at this point.

APOL: bought because dv was expolding.

APOL VS. DV

CVD: Number 1 stock on my list. Went after it, doubled up, stopped out of first half, stopped out of second. I would trade it again that way.

DGIT: Scary inverted hammers but enough time passed that I wasn't too worried. Stopped out but I think I would take it again.

ECA: Crack jack stock. Nutso. I tried. Nice 10 min doji.

FDX: I saw this around 2:15. I didn't trust the new low and wanted to wait for a pullback. I never put it on the my big screen though.

MAN: Nice chart, just late.

PAY: from dtf, gorgeous.

QLD: Rookie trading here. Just getting caught up and excited by all the action.

Overall, I got my butt handed to me. But it was because I was just trading an insane amount of shares. Honestly, looking over the charts I don't think it was that bad. I was just upset from giving back $50 here and there like on MAN and maybe CVD. I was just late to the party. Chasing my tail just like a dog all day. Just need to work on being consistent and slowly uping my share size. I guess the problem is, I get tired of just making a $100/day. I can't figure out how to push it. I was thinking about just going DTF style of 200 shares per trade max .25 risk per share. Anything over that I would like to trade 100 shares of, but maybe it isn't even worth it. I will give it a try tomorrow, if i remember, and see what happens. Thats what were here for. to hone the skills.

SINA: I can't remember if I was looking for shorts at this point to balance out my longs.

2010-09-29T20:50:00.001-07:00

URBN: a DTF spot. what a beauty.

BHI: dare is say it, another DTF spot. not the ideal situation i have in my head when i am looking at consolidation. for me, i would have rather it consolidated after the 10:15 candle run up. but it worked, none the less.

NFLX: pretty pretty. like dtf pointed out, i would have never rode that baby for that long. i would have bailed after .50 maybe .75 cents max.

Q: who in their right mind would want to trade today? look at that crap. its amazing you can still find good charts today. it made me very nervous to trade. in fact, i tried hard not to.

RDWR: never saw this one

SNDK: I have the 1min chart on top here. Below this chart, there is the 5 min on top. I shorted using the 5 min inverted hammer but the 1min setup long was looking so pretty i didn't know what to do. i stuck to my guns, thinking the 5 would have precedent over the 1min, but i guess i was wrong. maybe i should have gone long and just used the bottom of the new candle as the stop.

SNDK: i went long after some minimum consolidation on the 15. didn't work, no biggee.

SPY: I was very surprised to see this chart end of day. Much cleaner than the q chart. in fact, very tradeable. i don't know what was happening with the q's today. maybe some strange action in AAPL was pulling it down.

Today: Rough, ugly day if you folllow the q's like I do. But there were some great winners on the day if you had the patience and vision to pull it off. I had neither today. No big deal. Some days you got it some days you don't. Again the probablities work themselves out. Just find the nicest charts and go for it.

THO: to show it doesn't always work and that is okay. just probabilties.

2010-09-28T20:52:00.000-07:00

FCX: Just had this one trade today. I shorted FCX and at the time, I thought I was crazy because my H/L ticker was solid green. But, it looked so nice I thought maybe the market will turn over here. Well it did, and I think I did a pretty good job of riding it down. Unfortunately I only had 100 shares because the stop was very far away. I think I scaled out of 50, and then the other 50. It is a lot of work emotionally holding onto stocks. As the q's bounced down into a support area, it seemed like the market may turn back up. FCX doij'd and I went long. Then the market started to run and FCX was just hanging. I doubled up and that scared me out of the position. I was risking about .16 a share ( 400 shares) or $64 and that scared the crap out of me. I closed the position for a loss. Real shame...

2010-09-27T17:19:00.001-07:00

Nice setup. closed because AIG was not taking place in the rally that started.

BIDU: The beast that kinda got away. I scaled out the first half around .65 because for me, that is "crazy not to". Second half, I was very tense and nervous and looking for the elusive $1 trade. The best part, I hit out when it showed it was up 1.03 and it closed the position +.98 so technically, no $1 trade for me yet. LOL. on of a gun went on a trip afterwards.

DNDN: I think I need the one minute chart up but I forgot to get it. I'll try to post it tomorrow. I remember it had some neat patterns on the 1 min. Nice doji on the 5 though.

EDU: DTF's nugget of gold today. That is one for the memory book. If that isn't stair stepping down, I don't know what is.

MON: I had a few longs on at this point but the chart of the q's was so horrible I was looking for a stock to short to hedge my longs. I don't know why I missed EDU but I did pick up on MON. Excellent looking chart. I closed because market starting running up. I never though this would continue down.

QQQQ: I don't know what planet I was on but I didn't see any of this down move. Maybe I was bringing the dog to the groomer at this point. I hope so.

SGEN: I would say a decent chart. Something seems a bit off to me with this chart as I review it but I can't pinpoint it. I am proud of the fact that I went after a $14 stock, because usually I pass those up only to see them move a dollar or two.

I would have to say another good day. But, ideally I would like more profit. I am trying to figure out how I am going to get there. Since I have such a hard time trading after a move (like my mind thinks there is one move a day. setup for it, trade it and get out) I was thinking I need to be adding to my winners or start off with bigger size. The other option is to put on a lot more trades a la DTF, but I don't think I have the brain power to do that. Also, I may not see as many "pretty" trades as DTF sees/finds. If I had 500 shares of each stock, and went 2/3 I think I would be set. But in order to do that, I would have to be 100% that my winning % was up on that level, which right now it isn't. So I may have to go the DTF route. We will see. It's all an experiment.

good luck tomorrow. maybe i switch that to GLT for now on.

2010-09-24T17:57:00.001-07:00

SVNT shown up to with the 1min chart. I traded the 5min, which is below, but it is neat to see the great setup on the fastest time frame. I think we stocks are going bonkers, it is okay to drill down time levels. The above is an excellent example. Doji'd then formed a rounded bottom and right back to the top again.

On this chart I can really see where I would have gotten in on the 5 and been stopped out. It looks like the 11:30 green baby hammer. The 15 though, keeps me out and it seems to keep me if the trend (if i would have traded it).

DTF pointed this one out to me. I think he may have even pointed out AGU. Both great patterns to remember. One a calm one, and one a crazy one.

Reflections of my old trades. This is one of those trades where I ask myself "What were you thinking?". The stock gaps up, is in a pure uptrend, doesn't really move violently up in order for me to make use of a doji and yet somehow, I thought a short would be good here. I don't think I have a chart of the q's up here tonight, but I sure hope they were turning over at this point. Otherwise, this is straight up an amateur trade. I think it is also jumping the gun. What has worked so well for me over the past few weeks is being patient. Waiting for the setup to present itself. Anticipating direction but waiting for confirmation before I pull the trigger. I think it actually helped coming in later as well. With the 15, at 11am there are only 6 candles. Not much to really base a trade on.

Same vein as APOL.

I shorted, doubled up and then covered on the 15 min doji. I believe I was thinking the market was strong. That the move I was playing was just a counter trend. And that it would return to highs. Now, it looks like a classic double top. I always miss those.

I was way late on NFLX. This stock is one I shouldn't even be touching unless there is an A++ setup. Not the case here. Glad to survive. As much dough as this stock rings out, I don't feel it's worth the risk.

I just realized in reviewing the FCX trade, this "trade" summary isn't very useful. I want to see the time of each trade. I may have to post executions instead.

I love this chart. I mean, I know it's strange, but when I see this chart I get tingly. It's crazy I know. But only you other stock nuts like me probably understand this feeling. It comes from the fact that the chart is so pretty, and works so nice. It's like, here is my edge. That's all I need. My edge is my ability to visualize, read and trade chart patterns that have a higher probability of going in my direction then not. It's as simple as that. My ability to be patient and wait for A+ setups is what sets me apart from other traders. This is the type of chart I look for and the only type of chart I should trade. I would like to add more weapons in my trading arsenal which is why I still like to experiment, but the above should be my main focus.

Not as violent as a move as I would like to see into a consolidation area, but it worked none the less.

I was trying to play the counter trend move here. I believe I may have been thinking the market would roll as well. Two things I need to remember: Try to trade with the trend. E.G. Instead of shorting SI, I should have been waiting through the pullback, and went long instead. (2) If I feel the market is going to roll over, don't be trading the strongest stocks short, trade the weakest stocks short.

This was SVNT move on the 5 min:

Looking back I think Friday was a good learning day. I have worked out some good ideas and some things I need to write down and remember. It still is amazing to me that for the past week and half the same patterns are occurring day in and day out. I wonder at what point I will stop being amazed and just accept the fact that these charts were always there I just couldn't see them. It's like the damn Matrix, lol.

Good luck tomorrow!

2010-09-23T18:23:00.001-07:00

crazy break from consolidation. very impressive. i had walked away by this point.

AKAM:

here i felt the stall coming. market was turning over. i think i was short APOL at this time and i didn't think this stock could push up any further. it is different from when i use to just hit out for nervousness. i really feel it's becoming more instinctual. i know i hit out early of NFG yesterday, but it did roll over right where i got out, only to go back up.

APOL:
i shorted on the rollover on the 5 and the inverted hammer on the 10. with a stock that is moving so fast, i am comfortable zooming in and using the smaller time frames. waiting for the 15 on a fast moving stock is not going to work. here i went after it again as it rolled over. i then doubled up, scaled out, and got out of the rest on the candle change. gorgeous short a few bars later as well.

COG:
dtf showed me this one. earlier today i thought it was an easy short on the 15min doji around 2pm. now, i am having some doubts as to what i would have done. Good chart for memory though.

Q:

Very impressive consolidation. For sure I am thinking here, long, long long. Impressive breakdown. I was happily napping away on the couch as this occurred.

I am at a strange point in trading now. I get some profits and I lock 'em up, afraid of giving back. I don't want to trade again. Thinking about it now, my main goal for my first year of trading was $100. I could never get there. Now, I am able to get there and my brain shuts down. I have to re-train the brain to think $300 is the goal. In reality, I should probably raise that to $500, because what happens a year from now, when I am succesfully making $300/day and I can't push past that point. Better to just push for $500 now than have to re-train the brain one year from now.

Overall, a good day. My first trade was a loser and it did upset me. I started having doubts that I can read the market. That these siganls are ever present. I was convincing myself that the market is just "trading my style" the past few weeks. Another hurdle I need to get past. These signals are here everyday because it is human emotion driving the markets. That emotion will never change. Traders will see the stocks run up and want to start taking profits. Those profit taker's will inevitable trade the candle into a doji, and that's where I jump on. Human emotions won't change and that is why these signals will always be there. I must believe this fact.

Good luck tomorrow.

2010-09-22T17:06:00.000-07:00

nice breakdown after a long consolidation period. i got decently short. and then it just seemed to stall at .28 or so. i was thinking, this ticker is going down, the q's may be rolling over, but this APOL is holding strong what is the deal. after it hammered on the 5 i believed i had to close it. obviously the move would have been to go long at that point but my gut wasn't saying that, it was only saying "get out"

just for memory. i like the 12:45 doji after the decent up move.

this is for memory. it is from 9/21. i forgot to put it up. i like the 10:30'ish doji. nice down move, pop up, doji, boom lets get it on mister market.

long morning consolidation. put my position on. exited as it felt like it was done. apparently, it was done for then, but came back later. i don't believe the market was pushing up at this point, and the spread was getting a little wacky, so i exited. although, i have noticed the spreads get wackier as the stocks start to move.

oops. exited NFG at the same time as KMX. it felt like it popped to hard at that moment. i would say i did read short term momo correctly on both of these stocks because i exited pretty well looking at the 5 but, i missed a major major major move. exited from lack of confidence in the set up. i will be running this through my head again and again. same setup as BIDU, and i think BIDU went 2 points or so.

another good day. i don't count yesterday's fed meeting, lol. i can't seem to get past this hurdle of 100/200 dollars. i was talking with DTF about it, and like he says, you have to get over it now, then in the future. to me, it's incredible he can swing 1000 in winners, and 1000 in losers. I would love to be able to do that. my brain just shuts down. i don't want to give back any of that money. but i know in order to make a living, i need to be getting 300-500 a day in profits consistenly. i don't know why this is such a hurdle but it is. i will have to visualize my PnL moving up over 100, to 200, 300 and then up and up. i really think visualizing these charts at night is helping so we will see if it helps with the PnL.

2010-09-21T13:42:00.001-07:00

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.

2010-09-20T13:11:00.001-07:00

seems like an odd spot to but it. i think what happened was, the stop was close enough, so even though i was late, it was still worth the risk. later on, i moved my stop up as the stock didn't seem to be going anywhere. but, i remembered RIMM from last week, so i wanted to keep the trade on.

again, i would say i was late but the risk was tolerable. the one thing i gain from having a closer stop is more shares. here i took on less shares. ended up getting stopped out. i almost went after it again as it setup again but the risk reward didn't make sense. i was thinking the stock would go near highs. so on the upside it was about .20 and the downside was about .15 not worth it to me.

no trade. gorgeous doji 2:15

this chart brings tears to my eyes,lol. gorgeous! too bad i slept in.

i choose not to set an alert on this stock. i don't really know why. maybe because it wasn't the chart formation that i love. but, i believe i need to have a few different plays, so i should have just set the alert.

stair stepping. i was up over a $1 (the elusive $1 trade!) and i put an exit order to sell at the ask. next thing, the stock drops .40. i hit out immediately, on that low tick you see on the 5 minute chart. i was thinking it was going to collapse like it did end of day. but, as you an see, end of day had an inverted hammer on the 15 and a reason to get out. here is was nothing but a purely emotional reaction to seeing the stock drop so hard so fast. man,i guess another day until i get that $1.

no trade. most likely would have gotten stopped once but just needed to keep going after it.

i was firing up the computer right around that 12:30 low. i was staring at it, thinking this is perfect. i didn't pull the trigger. i just didn't believe that i could fire up the computer and see something that soon.

kinda sloppy. jut for reference.

i have to say, i think today was another successful day. just spent my time hunting for the best charts. then i walked away a few times to clear my head and let the trades work. as long as i am trading nice charts, win or lose i am happy. whats more amazing, is i have been able to keep the losers smaller than the winners, yah!

hope everyone had a good day today. i'm sure a bunch of money was left on the table but, in due time, we will capture all of it.

mas blogs

2010-09-18T21:25:00.000-07:00

this dude puts up some of the sickest photos. it makes me want to pack my bags and move to the swiss alps. unreal.

-273

edit: actually, these photos are from austria. it's so sad, in college i took a class called "geography of europe". 5 years later, i can't recall a thing and right now had to look up the border of switzerland/austria and where the different cities are located.

2010-09-17T13:58:00.000-07:00

i was buying SINA thinking it would double bottom. checking now, it seems it had doubled bottomed but turned back around. I was buying against the low of the day thinking I could get better price. I would take this trade again. The 5 min for sure shows the stock rolling back over but you never know, it could have also popped back up at that point. After I got stopped, i went short but then said, no, this is a b.s. move, i'm not trusting it. so i closed it out. i don't know if this is my gut having a correct reading or a lack of confidence in my decision to short. alot of these moves lately i am just not trusting. hopefully, it is my gut telling me something and not from lack of confidence in what i am seeing.

going back to fixing the car. i will review any charts i missed later. i had a decent morning so i decided to go take care of other things. i think i traded from 10:30 to 11:30 area, and it felt like forever.

later entry that i would have liked but still a tight stop. stock didn't move very much. closed it when them market appeared to want to pop.

nice short call. very difficult holding on as stock came pennies from my stop. i remember getting upset and thinking how can i be so wrong. it is really silly this frame of mind but i can't get past it yet. i'm working on it. covered after it felt like it was done going down.

now this is very interesting to me. i was covering all the other stocks because the market was ticking up and the other stocks felt like they wanted to go higher. but, MON felt like it still wanted to go down. i remember thinking twice about closing this trade but i did it anyway. maybe i am starting to learn something after all this screen time. for sure you can see on the 5 min charts of the other stocks, they all seem to be consolidating or turning back up. but MON, looks like it is stuck in the down trend. also, i am seeing now, had i entered short on that prior 15min doji i would have been stopped out. all in the timing.

ooooeeeee. this would have been a sick hold.

one thing to note, i think i had some great reads on friday. but i don't know if i was in the flow and good trades came out of it, or if having 4/5 trades go my way relaxed me and put me in the flow. for sure, i remember being upset when FCX was going up after my short. but why? no reason. the other thing, the market went my way. that's the only reason these trades worked out. if the market continued to climb higher, none of these trades would have worked. it is all in the timing. and in this instance, i started shorting as the tickers were green and the q's seem to be pushing up.but the stocks were saying to me,"short me please"

2010-09-16T19:17:00.000-07:00

chart up just for memory. i woke up way late today, didn't trade. but i know that i am going to start being very picky with my trades. there is no reason to just trade okay setups. yes sometimes they work, but maybe i harp on them and ask myself why. i really need to start taking A+ trades and that is it. SINA above has what i would call and A+ setup. pop up, consolidation, and back to highs. just need to find these everyday. and everyday they are there, just need to dig for 'em.

mark douglas video

2010-09-15T23:21:00.000-07:00

i didn't realize there was a link where you didn't have to download but could just watch it online.

mark douglas video

man, i can listen to this over and over and over again. so may nuggets of info. maybe time for a cocktail and watch it one more time.

2010-09-15T17:20:00.000-07:00

Add caption

asdf

it just felt like it wasn't going to work. i wasn't trusting this move. i told myself wait for the pullback. what good that did.

no trade

same thing like the V trade. i didn't trust the move, i wanted to wait for a pullback but i said, i have to get in it.

decent set up on the 15. sick trend all day.

looked ready to go back to highs. whoops.

i wanted to short this all day long but i didn't have the patience to watch it.

that 12:15 doji would have gotten me if i trade it.

strange entry. i thought the market would crack to lows. clearly it was in an uptrend all day so i should have been looking to get long. but how do you know?

i don't know why i get frustrated so quickly when a trade doesn't go my way. obviously, i am not believing in the probabilities yet. because i know, there is a random outcome to the trades. there is no need to get upset. it is okay to be "wrong". it throws me off some mornings so fast i just give up.

i think i am going to spend my time finding the best acting stocks. then whittle it down to a list of 10. have each chart up NT style or maybe i will just click through 'em. i need to take this back to basics. i get lost when i am constantly looking for the next setup. while all the while, the stocks i saw earlier are setting up now. it's like i miss the current setup while i am looking for the next setup.

i will have to re-arrange my screens and see how much memory this takes through NT.

2010-09-14T15:51:00.000-07:00

i think it was a great entry. iffy exit. i was just done for the day. i didn't want to keep fighting. looked like the whole market was trying to turn over.

no trade. i was watching this one. made a nice move but i don't know if i would have been stopped on that 2:45 area.

again, i love the entry. the exit was a wimpy one but in reality, i thought the market was turning with the gold stocks.

little devil. i can't tell if my entry bar short broke the real body of the doji. anway, i loaded up 400 shares, tight stop at .09. well, so much for the tight stop. i got stopped out at .20 on each lot. double the loss i was expecting.

this is when i started exiting all positions. i thought gold was the tell today since it was such a champ all morning.

boy oh boy oh boy

nothing got going here

nice looking

i think i was frustrated today because i couldn't make much happen. it doesn't help waking up late. i was looking for the market to break highs in the afternoon. i positioned myself for it but it never came. looking back on the day, it seems i had some excellent entries and great looking charts. so no reason to get upset. try to get some solid sleep tonight and kill it tomorrow. the money is there. the signals are there. it is my job to be patient and what for it. don't force it. only trade the "prettiest" charts and let the rest do their thing. once in a while catch a popper dropper and let the good times roll.

easy read on the 12:15'ish short but had to keep in mind trend was up. so it would just be a retracement play.

2010-09-13T17:55:00.001-07:00

shorted into the whoosh down. wanted to see what would happen. i have noticed starting a position into the whoosh is the sucker's game. you need to have a position on when its quiet and exit into the whoosh. or at least wait for a pullback. i didn't realize it at the time, but the whoosh also coincided with the 9:55 low on the q's.

i set an alert on this one. bought into it as quickly as i could. had a real nice profit on it. i was trying for more though. i wanted to ride a wave of $1 at least. the 15min tells the story though. there is a fine line between exiting and waiting for the trend to return.

bought it anticipating return to highs. let the probabilities play themselves out. got stopped. on the whoosh, i shorted it. got stopped. the 15 had some real nice signals later on. since i knew the real trend was up, i should have gone long that point as well.

i knew this trade was going to be playing the retracement trade meaning i was just playing the counter move to the major trend, which to me was up. hence the reason for the exit.


here you can see the market hanging around the 9:55 lows.

another trading day were i was tired. i need to get to bed early to wake up fresh and ready to attack. i put on positions and let them work which is nice. entries were decent, exits were so so. i think i was down 190 on the day. but right now i am just experimenting with ideas so not overly concerned with the PnL.

lightspeed makes it slightly easier to track positions than NT. with Ninja Trader, it feels like i put on a trade and just fly blind. i don't see it again, because i don't have the control center window open. with lightspeed, i can see my positions changing and have a real time PnL that you see moving up and down. this usally helps me to see what is working and what isn't.

i think i need to find the trenders early and also, the market always helps. that is the major conclusion i always come to. most of the trades that worked for me since the beginning, worked because the market went my way. it was eye opening. which is why i follow the q's much closer nowadays.

good luck tomorrow.

dtf pointed out to me that the spy's actually broke lows. that is amazing to me. i didn't even realize. i am always trying to figure out which leads which, q's lead spy or spy leads q's. today i guess the q's showed the way.

9/11

2010-09-11T00:43:00.000-07:00

I'm from New York, 15 miles outside the city. I used to work above Century 21 which is/was directly across the street from the Twin Towers. I ate there, shopped there, drank there, took the Path train from Hoboken there, etc....Luckily, at that point, I had transferred locations and was working in the burbs. My father was painting the Manhattan Bridge the day of 9/11. He had a crystal clear view of the towers and when the first plane hit, he thought it was an accident. After the second plane hit, he knew we were being attacked and his first thought was they were going to try to take out the infrastrucutre of the city, e.g. bridges and roads. He rushed to get all his men down including his nephew, my cousin. They all made it safely down.

It was scary for many hours because there was no cell service. You could not get a hold of anyone. My cousin, who is a tough kid that I always looked up to, finally called our house. He was crying. I remember thinking what a scene it must have been to make him so scared. Somehow, everyone I knew made it out of the building safely except for one. He was a friend's father, Captain Fred Ill. He ran into the burning building to try to save people. His son, also a firefighter, was on the way to the scene from another ladder company. I couldn't imagine the pain he went through knowing his father was in there as the buildings were coming down and there was nothing he could do.

I will be remembering them all today.

Relating to the above, tonight I had the time to sit down and play the guitar. Playing music is so realaxing and it got me out of my depressive funk from all the B.S. that has been happening around here. About 10 years ago, I had the opportunity to teach music at a sleep away camp. I would teach these little kids songs. The drum parts, guitar, bass and piano parts (Once I figure out trading, or have some more time on my hands, I plan on doing this again for under priveledged kids in community). Then we would form a band with them. Every three weeks there would be a talent show where the kids would play. It was a blast. There was one kid, maybe 13, at the time, who was just phenomenal with the guitar. He was probably one of the best guitarists I had heard in my life up to that point. There happened to be an excellent bass player as well, a decent singer, and an okay drummer. Together, these kids were so good, that we decided to take them on a trip to another camp. It was like bringing The Beatles around. These little camp girls went wild for them. It was a great time. Low and behold, young Jack has grown up and formed a few bands. Here is a song that relates to 9/11 that he wrote for an album about three years ago. Hope you enjoy:

I choose the live version because the kid is just damn good:

2010-09-11T00:14:00.000-07:00

or reference

anyway, another tough learning day. i think i am going to have to take dtf's advice and tried to make this fun again. positive to $45 or something.

i would take this trade again.

boom. i could have held longer i guess. i switched to a 1 min chart to find a stop. it took it out. so at least i didn't get out just to get out. shorted it a little later on.

for reference

got to be careful of those double bottoms. the 5 showed it well. but that candle got me.

<>i wish i knew how i got this chart so big. <>

<><>

nothin' happen here.

2010-09-09T13:40:00.000-07:00

i didn't believe the pop. i went after it. and went after it. and went after it. this is pure expecation. i was expecting it to do something, and when it didn't, i didn't belive it. i could have easily flipped the position on the doji after the big green bar. but i didn't. purely because i expected something that didn't happen.

just for reference

okay, so i have come to two conclusions. one, i don't work hard enough at this because if i fail i can say, "we'll i didn't try my hardest". also, when i try hard, and am wrong, it drives me nuts. it's easier for me to not care. that way if i am wrong, its no big deal. i really have to come to terms with giving this my fullest effort.

another reason is because trading is not as fun or glamourous as i thought it was from the outside looking in. most of the time it's boring. you are sitting around, scrolling through charts all day. just waiting to make the move. when i can become consistent at this, i have a feeling these feelings will change. i will enjoy getting the best of the market, market maker, or mr. silver spoon. right now, they are getting the best of me.

since i am primarily trading 15 min charts, i am going to try to set up a system where i scroll through charts the last 10 mins of the candle. and the first 5 minutes, walk away, do pushups, step outside. that way i am not glued to the up and down every second.

another problem may be information overload. i have the scanners pulling up stocks all day that are breaking highs/lows, or running currently. i also have watchlist windows for stocks up over $1, gap up stocks, gap down, and momo stocks. i think i hardly scroll through them all because the scanner pulls up so many. and i am afraid of erasing the "ugly" charts because i don't know if they will turn nicer in the end of the day. i need to work out a system where i am not on overload and just ignore everything. in "trading from the gut" he talks about how when you are at a party you can tune out the ambient noise and listen in on your conversation. but at some point, there is too much noise and you can't here anything anymore. he relates this to watching CNBC where they have to make small things into large things because they really don't have crap to talk about. I agree. That is why I never have it on. But i need to filter the system, so i see less as well. i don't want ignore the great signals that come my way.

today i think i was down $165. i gave up after the RIG trade. i was upset with myself for not playing the opposite way. not being open to what the market is saying.

i need to learn to take full responsiblity and put in full focus. i want this to work.

just for reference. showing myself there are stocks everyday that move, just need to make it happen.

2010-09-08T17:48:00.000-07:00

reason for the ROVI trade below. i passed on shorting that run up

Add caption

decent entry. not the best movement into a doji but i thought since the major trend was up, i decided to let the probabiltites play themselves out. the exit is fine, but i don't know if there was a way to make an exit sooner and take it short. that would have been the real trade. then you would have covmered into the red hammer 4 bars later, and if you had the risk tolerance, tried one more long.

okay day. +100. but i don't like that the money came from trading one of those crazy stocks. i have to get used to this. i feel i earned the money when i find a trending stock and execute properly. it feels like gambling when you are playing the crazy ones. but in reality, it is my belief that fading those moves is the high probability trade. therefore, it shouldn't equate to gambling.

shorted early trying to jump the gun. sweet doji and break higher. no thought required take it long but of course i didn't. after it made a few more doijs up top i shorted it, and then added. don't know if adding to it was the right call, i don't think i felt comforatble taking that risk. the exit was purely emotional. the stock was so jumpy i wanted to get out.

2010-09-07T23:09:00.000-07:00


just for memory

luckily, i had to attend to some emails this morning. i didn't pay attention to the chop. i did see that highlighted candle form, and i though, that is a perfect spot to short. i decided to just watch the trade unfold. it is truly amazing how the markets acts around levels from earlier in the day. this was certainly a level, or an area to pay attention to. it is not precise, but i feel if i can sit through it, and wait for the candle to present itself, i can do well.

chopfest most of the morning. afternoon had some legs to it. just need to find the stocks in play and go with it. i think i can do this. sitting and just watching the market is beneficial for me. i know i can identify the areas where change will occur, its just having the patience to not jump the gun. when i jump the gun i get stopped. i need to wait for the candle to form. no need to focus on every tick. just let it unfold.

the real question is, can i get catch enough high probability trades, and catch enough of what they want to give, to overcome my losers. right now, my probability for being correct is low, and my capture of profits is low. i need to change one of those factors. it takes time and that is okay. when i get back in november though, it will have to be game on. though i guess it could be game on right now. but, currently, i am just trying to see what works. testing out different ideas. come nov/dec i need to have a solid plan and put it into action. i need to get this together by next fall otherwise i am going to have to change my blog's name to "daytrading master degree student". it could be worse, i could be the "daytrading PH.D student" lol! you know who you are.

much trickier chart. that doji on the fourth candle was an okay signal. i would have rather it been positioned higher help. it was helped by that inverted hammer on the 10 min. not a trade i saw real time. i like to add some charts for my memory.

2010-09-05T19:22:00.001-07:00

just random charts from friday for reference.

2010-09-02T14:17:00.001-07:00

i liked the 11:15 doji. i love the 1:15 doji if i wasn't asleep. doesn't look like i'll get much sleep tonight either. for some reason i thought tonight was thursday. i told my buddy i would meet him for pool no problem. around 8pm, i realized it was only thursday. whoops!

i would love to know how these traders knew so quickly that an oil rig blew up. maybe this is a when a news service would come in handy. possibly i could have hung on a few more minutes. first i went long, and then went short. it was a powerful move down.

just a nice chart.

nice chart as well. timed it wrong. that is why i need to keep the stop out stocks on the radar. its okay to miss it once or twice. just need to hit it hard when you get your second chance.

boom

i would say another succesful day. its probably been a good week. i don't keep stats so i don't know how much up or down. maybe i will start doing that, starting with today. i was up around 150-180, no quite sure how the day ended after the stop out in JWN. the only problem with paper trading is that you don't build up that true confidence inside yourself. the same confidence that comes from making "real" money. i may have been positive every day this week, but since its paper i don't recall. if it was on real money, i think i would know for sure.

catch you all in the morning, or afternoon. which ever it is by the time i arise.

2010-09-01T23:43:00.000-07:00

i'll take that trade anyday. play the probabilities. just need to find more of them so they work out.

nice turnaround. the 5 would have got you stopped and the 10 as well. to be honest, i would have gone after it after the 5 and 10 both hammered. 15 tells the true story and gets you in, keeps you in.,

tight trading range today, holy jeez. i was hoping to get a good nights sleep but as you can see from the timing of this post, i don't think it will happen tonight. not much to say about the day. one trade for a loser and then i zoned out. not for any reason but i didn't want to keep hunting.

nice signals here as well.

2010-08-31T13:40:00.001-07:00

went after WLT on that nice 15 min doji. after i placed it, i realized the stop was way too far away so i closed it swiftly. thinking now, i could have zoomed into the 5 min to give it a chance. comical because i was telling dtf the same thing today

inverted hammers on the 5/10, doji on the 15, thats signals firing on all cyclinders. looking now, i don't see any signals saying to exit.

comparing my chart to aynul's below

aynul's

i had set this alert after the doji.

i had saw this crack around 1130, didn't believe it, but i drew some alerts to see what would happen. looks like she cracked back down. that was the problem with todays trading. the chart of the q's i thought was saying long, the tickers were green, and then there were charts like MON and RIMM which were pointing down. all this lead me to be very confused today.

sweet entry, missed exit due to nap

this is where i was thinking the market was a long. looking now, i guess its not the prettiest. i tried going after it into the retrace of the 1045 doji. i got stopped out but went after it again. i knew it was a "level" i had to pay attention to but that i may not time it correctly so i would need to get back after it. glad i napped, s.o.b. just chopped back and forth.

another one i had set alerts on.

well, another decent learning day. i am starting to enjoy the process again. the challenge of finding the correct stocks and letting them work. i love knowing that i found some pretty good movers on the day. it just comes down to timing the correctly, surviving the first wave, and letting them to their thing. we'll see if i can get a good nights sleep in and be ready for tomorrow.


soo-ee, i would take that trade any day of the week. that is just the probabilities working them selves out.

2010-08-30T16:49:00.000-07:00

zoomed out

zoomed in, very nice. cheap stock, big move, number 1 on my watchlist sorted by vol % change

nice 15 minute doji

pop and drop

amazing the action around the lines you can draw intraday. what i have discovered is that this area is an area to watch. it's not an end all be all. you need to pay close attention to the action here and see how it goes.

just demonstrating fibs. notice how the retracement turns around in the 50% retracement zone.

here as well. it is just amazing to me that the waves that i watch, which correspond to the lines i draw, also match up well with fib levels.

today i basically watched the market the whole day. i did not put on one trade. i just wanted to watch the action around the levels i was drawing. the exercise was freeing. i may not place one trade this week. just watch the market, draw my levels, and see the reaction. not having a position on, or thinking about a position, allows me to think clearly and freely. there is no being upset if i get stopped out, no being happy if i am making money.

having the market turn around at my pre-drawn levels and then myself saying the probability from this "area" is that it will go down. it builds confidence. it shows me i know what to watch for, know what to look for. it is strictly a timing issue. time the trade properly, you will not be threatened with being stopped out, survive the first pullback, and you can let the trade ride. obviously, this happens when there is a trend day, but make big money on those days more than enough to cover your losses on other days.

lets see how the week plays out.

i have more to say, but its hard to think anymore.

article

2010-08-29T21:06:00.000-07:00

pretty good article about mark douglas workshop:

http://www.powerswings.com/reference/Stone_2005.pdf

there is also a grea video on the net, if you google mark douglas wize trade. the interviewer wasn't exactly understading what douglas's points. but it sure helped me in understanding what douglas has been saying in his book "trading in the zone". i would be interested in ordering some of the cd's from douglas website but they are expensive. also, its pretty funny, douglas sells a recording of his path to consistency workshop for $800 and it is on 7 cassettes, walkman included, lol.

dtf, minute 34 or 35, he talks about not being right or wrong, just probability. i keep listening to it over and over again. random outcome, no reason for dissappointment. no reason to be upset or angry when you get stopped out.

2010-08-27T15:19:00.001-07:00

2010-08-26T21:12:00.000-07:00

i didn't trade it because i thought how far can a $12 stock move. i have made this mistake in the past. $2 move

i missed the hammer at the bottom as i was scanning other charts. shorted using the 5 min. added size as it went down. stopped out. went after it again later on. kept doubling up. for the amount of share size i had going, i don't think it paid off well. if i had traded off the 15min, i don't think i would have shorted until after 2pm.

felt like a flush out. big volume down move. i decided to take it for a little ride long. i exited as it was bumping into the doji from around 2:45

1:45 was nice short siganal.

good day. actually it was a great day money wise but i don't think i was paid for the amount of risk i had put on or the share size i was using. i need to work my way out of this funk. i should be stoked after some nice trading today, but instead i am blase.i need to get excited by trading again.

saw this light up the screen after it was almost up $6. i waited patiently to see if there was a point i could short from. i decided to take a trade short, with about a .50 stop. added one time. exited after 1.25 i think.

2010-08-25T13:16:00.000-07:00

can't really say why i took this trade. it may be because i had flipped on CNBC when i first woke up and they were saying SNDK had been the worst performing stock on the Q's for the past few days. i see a crappy inverted hammer on the 5, a crappy hammer on the 10 and 15. and it never broke the low of the real body doji on the 15. stupid trade. thats all i can say.

look how easy the 1:30 trade was. i just get so frustrated looking through stocks and then getting stopped out on the positions i put on. i need to remember, it is my job to take the best trades possible. if its boring, then its boring. not putting on a trade is also a trade. its like i want to be this fantastic momo trader, almost scalper, in and out all day so i'm not bored. but i get crazy when i am back and forth following a 5 min chart. i just need to accept that my job is to find the best charts possible and trade 'em.

not much to say. inverted hammer that i thought looked great. i see now the q's didn't make quite the same candle but i still would have shorted it. it was also at days highs. i got frustrated and got up after i got stopped out. when my first trade is stopped out, i get upset. on the surface i know this is a game of probability but inside it still effects my ego i guess. i know my probability of winning is 40%. i just need to stick to the game plan. excellent long signal around 1pm as well.

anyway, another frustrating day. i think i am just negative in my head from losing for the past year. it a difficult place to get past. i need to start putting on some winning trades, and stringing some winning days in a row and soon. i need to build of that confidence. i will be leaving for the month of october, and i would like to get better before i go. this game is mind boggling. i need to keep the positivity flowing. i am going to repeat outloud tomorrow my affirmations. i will read them (sight), write them (touch) and speak them (hearing). i 'm trying to hit as many senses as possible.

hope you all did well.