Summary:
Finished the day at +$45 (paper trading 200 share lots of TNA):
Nothing exciting on the profit charts. PnL comes out to about $0.22 per share.
The day was somewhat boring - but profitable! I traded 100% within the plan - there is not a lot of room for discretion which makes it much simpler. Discretion does come into play with respect to when the 15 minute trend is changing (e.g., on the decision to go short on the 2:20) - but I think the 5 minute will show clues as to which direction things are headed (in the case of the 2:20 it was the 2:15 failing to pierce the high of the 2:10).
A lot of money was left on the table, especially in terms of maximum available profit, but I think that I would be wise to forget about that for the time being - I need a safe place to build confidence and a foundation for a new belief system. Speaking of which, I think I need several days like this to help reinforce the ideas Douglas talks about. In retrospect, I think the reason Mr. Douglas' book resonated so well after I had first read it was because I was coming off of 7 days of positive trades - this offered an open and positive mindset. Losing for the next two days took its toll, and losing for the rest of the week knocked me silly. It is extremely difficult to pay attention to what I want to believe when everything around me is screaming the exact opposite.
Hence Mr. Douglas' trading exercise - and the importance of using a simple and easily defined edge.
All that being said, I didn't have the best executions. I didn't bring the stop on the long 11:20 long position as I should have, I hesitated on the 2:20 short, and I wasn't paying attention on the 2:25 exit signal (longest 15 min red bar, decreasing volume on the 5 minute). This cost me about $0.30, which, with all else being equal, would of more than doubled the EOD return.
Trade well.
Details:
well done brother!
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