Lines

erased all auto lines in my charts as I would eyeballing for lines myself.
To newbies, don't do this at home :)

Taken Notes (setup adjustment)

Now I keep 3 charts (MTF):
A)  1 standard 5 min setup to see other traders screen ;). Have a standard volume indicator.
B) one  personalized chart  as my overall trading map that purely rely on candlestick pattern (without sma/ema as I found that ema/sma in that timeframe is not reliable). Have an improvised volume indicator
C ) one new chart setup that really focus on sma line & SR lines (without rely on candlestick pattern as the candlestick pattern on this chart is not that reliable). Without volume indicator

The objective is to find a balance feedback for my trading brain.

Observation of these combination as follows in SIM:
1st day = profitable but the paper profits decreased as I tend to overtrading in SIM
2nd day=antiCIPApation of move needed to done in big frame before the small frame, not vice versa then prove it...this is a CORE nature of trading. Tehnical alone is not enough. Usage of small frame like scalping, and usage of bigger frame is sniping the trend- and antiCIPation is easier in BIgger frame. The difficult thing is anticipation is not printed on chart- so I cant trust my eye, I need to trust my judgment. based on tehnical dan some funnymentals.

If you think pro traders are so smart....

then you have to watch this :)

http://www.livetradingchallenge.com/schedule.htm

Backward and forward

After several series of Live trading, I did some review of my trading to find out why I cant make some decision when the time come. And the key seems to be in volume-related issues : choppy, ranging as happened lately in CL. Will take some time before moving back to live trading. Need to check if I need to change that ema to sma which I found is better line

No setup - ready to rumble

No trade. Only 1 unproven experimental setup pop-up.
Cl prepareditself for a next strong move

Flat set up only for 9am

1st win, 2nd lose (flat setup)....as the liquidity is low before that.
2max trades before 9

my other chart in its full glory...
oh well, I dunno why I kept chosen the difficult path .
 may be i'm afraid of success ;(

Good training for candlestick newbie

http://chartgame.com/play.cgi?brmu8v

clik timelapse button to continue

Possible new oil field

Rolloverdays.
My 3 regular setups were no where. However, there 2 other potential patterns emerged that worth  to beobserve from now.
And that make it to 5.

The different sameness

No trade. The old men meetings FOMC made market difficult to trade.
But suddenly the setup appeared in OTHER frame. So I missed out
The right frame can be changeable as market behaviour differ.
but setup remain the same

Peanuts

Lack of Volume today - 1 P trade

No way through

1st trade won using mini Flat setup , 2nd trade using regular setup but market too weak.
Nett positive
In market like this, risk is higher

decided to stop after 2nd trade as per rule

Run away chart -

No trade coz no setup but I reminded of this Flat setup.

More peanuts

Missed 3 trades and the 4th real chance gave peanuts as above.

Sitting tight with small pocket proved to be difficult for me at this stage

Peanuts 2

1st win, 2nd trade lose. Net win peanuts

Lesson:
Confused on DSTime that affect volume and need to pay attention to HI HI LO LO level during 2nd trade.
Lines need to be drawn.

Scored point:
Exit when market didn't move as expected.

Max #trade so didn't take 3rd trade in chart ..Hmm...

Friday Extra

Spike    > Employemet situation - NonFarm Payrolls 8.30am 

Peanuts

See something familiar with previous post ?

EIA 10.30 Thu

Sandy - no trading

Be prepared.

Long ; +small plus

Exit: as price stalled at SR lines, exit position as market not moved fast as expected - then price move up again..close pc to avoid emotional decision. :) But you may called it 'no guts' :)
Entry: Put stop order at below market price as I thought market was not strong

I will miss this good session

My family will held a festive Hajj during Thursday session and again I will miss an opportunity. I need to pray to Allah to grant me more  time to meet opportunities

On the grind

Oil report and a group of old people had meeting - so the market was slow. However, in future,  I will sim trades at 10.30am to test my setup in fast environment

Hmm

CL moved early, as early as 6.30am !..I hated when that happen as I know it meant that today's opportunity is as good as gone already..and I hated it further when it prove me correct.....What left was tricky precision move that hard to be detected at 8am..then choppy session even though volume was high..One the reason was CL has dropped to an abyss that has no real support at the bottom - so I GUESSED it want to find firm footing first.

ps. OMG CL can read my mind...when I was typing the prev para I heard my audio alert but I ignored it...then I saw the chart show a perfect entry..

lesson: If you're a trader, don't give up your hope in the market,  you need to LOVE IT....and... if the market moved early ..I need to wait till 10.35am before close shop ;)

Monday blues

Traders decided based on last weekends SR, therefore the price action quite tricky. On my part, my job was looking for a perfect pattern and that pattern nearly completed when I realized one "average " requirement not matched, so I halted.

My decision was correct as the market suddenly switched down and trapped other big candle traders . I took my breath and closed the PC. Moving average need to be respected which nearly 90% traders use it.

Gred B pattern

Traders waited the report and rollover days produced Gred B pattern  that I will not take when my bullets only a few..But I may take these Gred B pattern when the account permit

Not my type

After a run yesterday, today market more suitable to "ping pong players". Traders volume shrunked and at 9.24  I decided to close the pc earlier.

My trigger is the ? mark

I saw  my set up...The question pop up..Is this the one ? No answer from my brain..
The market follow my plan.

Then I saw a nice line near 9am...Again that question pop up.Is this the one ? No answer from my brain.
The market drop according my plan.

Then no more question pop up...and no more signal...

Of course I knew that CL will run amok today as both my son AND wife besides me in front of the PC - as I were preparing my 8 y.o. son for his end of year exam. But this should not the excuse as I acknowledged it already. I have to accept the fact that I need to execute the plan when the moment come even though I could be distracted by anything....

I knew the ? mark came as my brain acted as a safety regulator for my best interest. I had a clear cut plan in my mind.. But when the moment came, the brain not giving a "go" nod, instead it give out a "? " mark.

From this experience I also printed a checklist to execute...May be my Visual brain need that assurance when it pop up a ? mark when moment of the lowest risk for entry come . A top-rated hospital staff once told me that they marked several checklist to ensure they do the right thing even though they knew it already, just to be on the safety side...i.e don't cut the wrong eye, or cut the wrong leg.

I realized that the highest risk is not to take action according to plan.On the other hand, to be fair, I will give chance myself some initial errors in executing the plan

Changed my mental set up

From
I pictured myself trading my best setup, using single lot bullet, maximum 2 times per day or I do nothing.


To :
I pictured myself trading my best setup, using single lot bullet, maximum 2 times per day .

Why:
Time to do it

Volume revisited

I done some homework on printed charts
I  learned from the gurus that price action only confirmed if the volume is higher...
But my printed charts show that 80% of the best  opportunities often came when the volume is low.
A sort of against the trend before follow the trend - tricky isn't it ?
Who say trading is easy ?

Trading Days & Time

For 6E trading...
I trade from 8.30am to 10.35am  EST,  5 days/week

My 60% part of success- part 2

The session was quite tricky, and my best setup was no where.
But I'm really glad that  I can sit in early to capture the potential move from now..
Sooner or later I will not miss that time and tick.

Missed entry within 2 seconds

Open the computer, activated DOM, then saw an entry.
I wanted to put a stop entry but the market moved up as predicted  and I missed the lowest risk entry 2 seconds for a gred C move that has value USD 250 +-
That was a close call..
Missed a tick before and then missed the time now.

post edit: that move valued usd 700