June 21, 2023 (4 Trades) (-$45.00)
Overall Grade: D+
Day Summary: Today was overall a pretty choppy day, at least in the morning and unfortunately I did not trade well. My first 2 trades of the day were very sketch but ultimately would have both been nice winners had I held them. That is proving to consistently be my number 1 problem. Holding my winners is what is going to make the difference in my p/l and make it much easier to stay profitable. I am typically good at cutting my losers, but now its time to let those winners run. I then ended the day by taking 2 pretty shit trades. The first one was not awful but not good, and the last trade was just pure revenge trading. I need to keep my emotions in check and wait for setups in the market that I am familiar with.
DAILY - SPY
5 Min - SPY
TRADES
Trade 1 - Long 2 Calls @ bottom of intraday channel
Grade: D+
- The main reason I graded this trade a D+ was because of the risk involved. This could have easily flushed through this level
- This was a single-factor trade with no key level to base my trade/stop off of
- My stop was a candle close below the LOD which I did a good job adhiring too even though I was a bit nervous on the LOD break after I entered
- The problem was I did not hold the winner - target was yesterdays LOD (dashed red) - This move ended up making it all the way up to PM Low
- I took my profits bc I was uncomfortable in this trade (fighting intraday trend) but i could have at least put my stop at breakeven instead of selling for $10 when this ended up being worth $100+ minutes later
FIX: Don't take single-factor trades. Don't fight the intraday trend. Set stop to breakeven on a trade like this
Trade 2 - Long 1 Put @ Wedge Break Reclaim (need to playbook this as a setup)
Grade: C-
- Another sketchy trade here as it's always hard to trade in a wedge zone
- I was also fighting the trend direction of the move that brought us into the wedge, although I was going with the overall intraday and micro trend
- I waited for the wedge to break before trading - good
- I could have been slightly more patient on my entry and bought puts at resistance (435.6) but i was entering at the wedge trendline
- stop was a candle close above the wedge trendline so i didn't stick to that, although once the new candle printed I had my mouse on the Flatten button to stop out if that candle changed to green
- after failing a wedge break to the upside, I should have expected this to move to the downside, especially since the micro and intraday trends were down but since it was a choppy wedge i took my profits ($4 lol)
FIX: Don't trade wedges. Hold winners with stop at breakeven during an uncertain trade. Buy puts at resistance, not in the middle
Trade 3 - Long 2 Calls (FOMO) (no set up)
Grade: D
- first entry was horrible, 2nd entry was ok for buying the pullback
- Fomo on this trade trying to jump on the long move
- Overall I should avoid this trade. We made a LH on a downtrending day
- Don't fight the trend
FIX: Don't FOMO trade. Don't fight the intraday trend (LHs, LLs, LHs, LLs)
Trade 4 - Long 2 Puts @ key level (yesterdays low)
Grade: D-
- Revenge Trade - Avoid. I took this trade out of emotion
- I entered at a key level at least, but this was showing strength and I was just hoping it would go down
- We had also at this point put in a pretty strong bottom at 434.5 and that ended up being out low for the day
- Also do you see anything that would have screamed don't buy puts before I took this trade . . . . . how about that giant bullish green fucking candle 5mins earlier ??
- Also I'm just noticing now as I review this that most of the green 1min candles were higher volume than the red candles
FIX: Avoid revenge trading. Don't FOMO. Don't fight the trend. All of the usual. Noob shit right there
TAKEAWAYS: As usual don't fight the trend. Becareful trading wedges and always wait for wedge breaks (make a wedge playbook - playing the range, waiting for wedge break, etc). Don't let your emotions take over. I took both a FOMO trade and a revenge trade today which is not really like me to do both. I also took a sketchy first trade that could have been disasterous. All and all, I deserved a red day today, but if i had held my winners on Trade 1 and Trade 2, i would have still been nicely green today even with taking two stupid tardes on Trade 3 and Trade 4. That again shows the importance of holding winners, and from now on if I am small green ($4 on Trade 2) on a trade I am not comfortable in, I should put my stop at breakeven. i don't need the tiny winner, but if it turns into a big winner like the first two trades could have today, then they it would be worth it.