July 25, 2023 (2 Trades) (+$10.00)
Overall Grade: B-
Day Summary: Today I started out fighting the trend on Trade 1 and thankfully was able to get out for a tiny loss because I at least had a good entry (puts at resistance) but I was able to flip my bias and go long with the overall intraday trend today to get a win on Trade 2. The only problem was ... you guessed it ... I didn't hold my winner.
DAILY - SPY
5 MIN - SPY
TRADES
Trade 1 - Long 2 Puts @ 5min PM Channel (no key level)
Grade: C-
- fighting the intraday trend - bad
- single-factor trade - bad
- decent entry (didn't buy puts into the bottom) which at least allowed me to get out of this trade for a small loss
- stop was a candle close above my entry candle so i did not follow the plan
- didn't have a clear target in mind here so overall I should not take this trade
FIX: Don't take trades where you don't have a plan for a stop and a TP
Trade 2 - Long 2 Calls @ PM line / Previous Support
Grade: B
- going with intraday trend - good
- multi-factor trade - good
- this was sketchy because I was trying to pick a bottom through assumption
- actually planned entry was VWAP but I got a bit of FOMO (I actually tried to enter on the bid and then hit the ask before cancelling my first order because i wanted to get in)
- luckily I cancelled the bid order because we flushed through VWAP (my ideal entry) and then i would have been oversized into this trade
- ideal entry would have been pullback to PM line after VWAP flush because then I would have had a proper low to risk
- did not hold winners well, although I did hold contract #2 through the pullback to PM line (had stop 1c above breakeven) but then i took it on the next candle even though it held - dumb
- target was yesterdays high and we got it without me in the trade -_-
FIX: Hold winners. Don't stab at bottoms assuming a level will hold. Control FOMO on entries.
TAKEAWAYS: Trading a bias is never good and I'm glad I was able to recognize after Trade 1 that I was fighting the trend and it would just be easier to go with it.