9/11 Weekly Review

T 

Went in expecting slow and chop. Price needed to consolidate a while and wasnt expecting much to do. And was right only traded 2 names on the day. 

Sized up huge on a favorite trade and 10 star. Didnt go for me took a hit but was good I did. Got right back in as I needed to. Same big size as it allowed me to. Exited early as we broke big level, no volume, then when found vol, was all absorbed, took it all off and was good, it reset lower. Did not get size back on on retest lower. Settled smaller size breakout. Should have gotten back in on good tape action on TL test.

SPAQ killed me. Got to max size on taking break from triangle. Failed a break so ended up breakeven as it really came back down hard. But reset and I didnt look to get back in. Again with good tape action. And even worse I didnt get back in on the clear level break as it held higher up. Missed at least a $1000 trade. Easy. 

W

Rough day of more unclean action. Nothing really exploding for me like it used to. Took what I could get really, bunch of less than pleasing singles. Though they do add up. Internet also died so scalped a SPOT trade from phone. Was a big win I missed there too. Scalp city just taking small wins on momentum trades that never got too far.  

R

Really tough day. Took great trades that looked perfect, did not get any of the action I wanted. This must be what days look like when bulls are unable to drive price higher, no surprise after all those longs failed breaks, we sold off hard the rest of the day unable to recover. Was important levels for stocks to reclaim and they didnt. 

At one point down $400 and I was fine with that. Took trades I needed to, took size I needed to, and took losses I was supposed to. What hurt my in the end was trying to force a few more trades when circumstances werent that clear. 

Had to hang in there and change bias with market, a lot of shorts were there once they finally appeared. Being down so much though I had used up mental capital and flat out didnt feel like trading anymore.

Biggest issue on the day was not cutting losses faster. I had several that I gave that extra tick and it hurt me everytime a lot more than it should have. 

F

Found myself chasing just about everything. I told myself at the beginning of the day that on these potential sell off days, more often than not, you have to take the breaks, or else youll be stuck looking for a pullback youll never get. And thats exactly what happened, and thats exactly what I didnt do.

The market was back and forth all the first 3 hours of the day, directionless. By the time the sell came we were too uncertain for me to decide 'now here comes the shorts' and go for it. GOOG the only miss I could have taken on the break. And no surprise, no pullbacks came. Didnt catch anything on the downside. 

It was a hard week. Not easy by any means. I did what I could, caught some nice wins. Potential to make a killing everyday is not here. Not for me anyways. I need to relax and remember how I trade best. When things come to me, not when I go chase it. Breakout entries are fine, but they are not my best trading style therefore should not be sized up. 

Also reminding me sometimes im supposed to take a beating. Sometimes you are not going to get the best of the situation and youre going to have to deal with getting wrecked. It just happens. This week to me more that usual. 

My BIGGEST problems still revolve around not being in my idea and missing the trade. Management was fine.

NUMBERS

-$103

35/83 42% WR

92% Compliance

+7R

6 b/e, 17 Full -1R,  12 more than -1R 

Avg W +$50

Avg L -$38

Avg R on W $45

Avg R on L $49

Nothing terrible here. Main reason im negative on the week is from sized up plays in MGM and PLAY. Huge miss in SPAQ.  Leaking pennies on exits causing me to be more than -1R. Late exits. Little things and big things. 

PREVIOUS GOALS

-Begin marking 'not adding enough risk' as a compliance tag.

    -Did, and did not mess that up once.

-Make separate workspace in TS for tape on FANG

    -Did and used a few times for market snapshot, will still use.

-Work on Holding Longer blog

    -https://justadaytrader.blogspot.com/2020/09/holding-longer.html

-SIZE UP. On 10star + fav + acting right + winning trade. Risk should be around $200 That means 200 shares on 1$ of risk, or 2000 shares on 10 cents of risk.

     -Did and paid for it everytime. Took big Ls no big Ws. Is fine. 

-If the trade is my setup. I must take it. Never know where the next $1000 trade is coming from.

     -Always a work in progress. Not perfect this week.

-NO trades less than -1R

     -Had several. Majority unpreventable. Got wrecked. Just how it is. 

-Follow re entry rules.

     -Did very good with this. Took losses as I needed. Took wins as I needed. Win some lose some. Winners bigger than losers is what matters.

PROBLEMS

Lack of re entry/Missing trades

Too slow to exit

-Getting too antsy thinking I can hold and it turns to a winner. Have to remember a while back I was very good at cutting my losses faster. I know this week could have been better. Several times I was down -.5R without any upside and remember thinking I should get out if it doesnt get better right now, and then not get out when it turns against me, holding for the whole -1R. I have to be faster and willing to accept the L quicker.  

Unable to adapt to short side

-Been long the market so many times this past couple months, im finding it really hard to want to put a short on, or see the short setup. Other times I see it and willingly skip it, simply because I dont want to short anything. 

SOLUTIONS

I have rules in place for trade management. Cutting losses faster is part of my rules and I have plans if I see problems in my trade, to get out of the trade. The solution is to follow my rules.

Short side trading is like long side, except faster and on the opposite end. I always trade best when I let the market come to me so theres no reason to force in my head that I need to take any and all breakdowns and leave it at that. There is a time and place for that, but its not every single breakdown situation. 

A failed long is a great indication it may be time to short. Plot my levels, wait for action to unfold around it, short the weakness. 

Something is going on with me and not re entering or missing trades entirely. I keep repeating myself every week about it and its not a thing that can be 100% fixed, but there at least needs to be improvement, and im feeling like im not having any improvement. What im going to do this weekend is go over missed trade screenshots, and trades I should have gotten back in at but didnt, and look at what they have in common.

Im going to do a separate blog post on this. Ill work on it throughout next week. 

GOALS

-Dont hold onto losers to hope itll come back and turn into a win. As soon as its not acting right, get out while I can with a small loss

-Find a way to be better with missing trades and re entering. 

-Be adaptable and ready for short side trades with market weakness.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Gonna be an odd week or two. Might start getting choppy again as we search for value. Letting the market come to me and staying extra patient has to be main focus. Last few weeks of trading have been very clean and clear with easy looking setups. If it changes, I should be trading much less.