End of Day Journal (5-14-2010)

Summary:

No account performance today because I forgot to re-set NT's DB. The account is +$88.25.

I traded today without looking at the PnL - until about 10 minute before market close (silly me - and it affected the next 10 minutes... really, it did). What a difference a little change in approach makes - I was able to concentrate on the trade much more, and each trade felt new. Also, I was able to judge each trade on it's merit - very very soon after entry. Sometimes I was wrong, and I knew it right away - but I let the stops play out most of the time. I had no idea if I was making or losing money.

I had some great entries today, especially this morning,  and some down right pathetic ones, especially this afternoon. A lot of these got stopped out with some major slip - the spreads had a lot of variance today. Looking at the cumulative profit over the day,  it appears the PnL had some wild swings - but I don't have a lot of confidence in NT's reports without a DB reset. Tomorrow I will re-set for a better snapshot.

I traded fewer stocks today, but a lot of trades. It will be very difficult to tell what is going on in some of the charts, and my lack of experience will be evident. Basically, I assumed/concluded the stocks were moving; if I picked a side and was wrong, I traded sides. I traded the 3 minute HA.

Today was also a stress-free trading day. I found myself completely focused on the bid/ask ticker during the trade, which is a new experience, and some thing that I think will turn into one of the primary momentum gauges. Despite some very poor trades, in terms of experience, I think this is probably the best day that I have had. I feel like I have learned a lot.

Details:

Some of these are downright embarrassing, but hey - they are what they are. I gotta start somewhere - and this was the first day I have traded like this - fully focused on the charts and the price and bid/ask action. I can only get better.

TNA. Good first entry and stop. Good second entry, but exit was too quick. I tried to reverse. This happened a lot. I think I thought I could try to be Scott or something... go figure. Some good capture in the morning, but some very poor reverses as well. Did all right on the last reverse of the morning, but didn't let it play out enough. The afternoon saw the first entry stopped with another reverse. Then a lot of stops and reversals. I need to be a little slower on the reverse (+$560.78):

ANR. Good first entry - with a discretionary exit as I spooked. Later went long (?) - poor entry, with a stop, reversed and went short with some profit. Then a lot of in and out, a little too eager. Didn't let these play out (-$187.91):

ANF. Shorted and stopped, the wicks were plenty long to be taking a position. Later shorted was it looked like it was headed down. Stopped on the same candle (-$102.15):

COCO came up on the TDA alert. This was very poorly traded. I happened to be experiencing a problem with NT and I couldn't bring the chart up. I jumped in on the retirement account using SD and caught some of the up move, but it was difficult changing platforms like that, it took me a bit to remember how to trade in SD lol. I was in another position on the income account (JOYG) and the switching hurt the other trade as well. After I got things straightened out this is what I managed - very sloppy (+$0.38):

 Pretty self explanatory, and probably the only trades I held long enough today (the last one was too long, but I was busy on COCO (+$70.03):

I didn't watch QLD very long (not a lot of movement). It was showing a 15 minute doji and things looked ripe (+$65.03):

Some new low action on V, stopped out several times. I could be better about buying on the bounce - entry is critical... Missed the big new as I was holding other positions by then (-$194.32):

Attempted a short on VECO. Stopped and came in with a late long, which also got stopped (-$123.59):

Entry is so critical. Either that - or I need to be willing to set the stops out further. It is easy to see the lack of experience when it comes to reading market momentum. I can only get better. At least no wild emotional swings today. Well - it made a difference when I looked at the PnL a few minutes early (10 mins till closing). I was at ~+$320. I should not have done that - it immediately affected my trading, and I finished the day $240 poorer - oh well.

I would say that I need to be more patient - but I think that is the wrong approach. I am guessing that good trading is not a matter of discipline - it is more a matter of experience, of immersing one's self in the market and what is happening. I believe I need to get better at reading the ticker, honing my instincts to respond to the ticker. This can't happen without testing my instinct out - whatever kind of shape it is in. I need to knock the rough edges off, and it might turn into patience. Today was probably the closest that I have come to non-emotional trading, I got a foretaste and it is exciting.