The Day Trading Experiment: Range Bars

Showing posts with label Range Bars. Show all posts

Friday, October 22, 2010

End of Day Journal (10-22-2010)

Summary:

Paper trading 200 share lots:

I started trading this morning but ran into some technical glitches so ended up spending all morning on getting things straightened out again. I went for a quick walk then over lunch and came back for the afternoon session.

I plan on taking the weekend to make sure I have everything nailed down, but it is difficult in a non-live data environment. I am trying to develop something so I can see the chart trend info on a worksheet (NT's MA), which lets me ignore charts that are not trending (fast EMA is not over slow). I find that using the range bars forces me to pay more attention to a stock if I want to trade it, when a stock is in play, I have to watch it closely or I lose the opportunity - on the entry and exit. So I want to spend less time flipping thru charts and more time watching charts that are of interest. Creating the worksheet allows me to quickly weed out blah-blah charts with a glance.

Pretty much have it done, but still getting the occasional weird reading.

So many opportunities today.

It seems I still have a problem with winners becoming losers with this approach, especially on volatile stocks - but this approach helps keep me in big trends and I think it is worth the occasional +$0.80 gain coming back to a stop (I just need to believe - CMG was good for another $1). I also tend to anticipate moves - which had me placing an early long on AAPL. These are the same kinds of problems I have using the 5 minute charts, however now I am only trying to trade trend, which kept me out of reversing and probably doubling my losses. Funky. The real variable is always me. Gotta believe.

Trade well.

Details:

I am posting snapshots from both ranges today for my own records. I forgot to turn off the test signal I was using to create the worksheet on the 15's so there is some extra noise.

AAPL

AMZN

CMG

FSLR

Thursday, October 21, 2010

End of Day Journal (10-21-2010)

Summary:

Paper traded 200 share lots today:

The charts and summary only reflect the afternoon trading. I traded the morning but forgot to switch the chart over to the 20 range bar. I ended up bouncing around some between the 15 and 30 range bars. By the end of the morning I was up about $100 on 20 something trades (per NT) and had decided to go with 2 charts: one 15 range for the smaller moving stocks and a 25 for larger moving stocks. I re-set the account for the afternoon trading to put it to the test.

I ended up watching NFLX ($8.36 using high of the day minus low of the day) and AAPL ($7.94) on the 25 and V ($2.3) and GS ($3.4) on the 15. For AMZN ($4.84) I actually referred to both charts, probably because I was in it so long - entering and exiting on the 25.

This seems like a good compromise so I plan on sticking with this setup for the next week and a half. I am trying to get some alert columns setup on the MA (general 'stock in play') which might be awhile.

Not much to say about the trades, I am still getting a feel for the range bar price action, but I really like looking at the data this way. Had some 'Do I believe?' moments while in position, but other than that, a stress free day of trading.

Trade well.

Details:

AMZN:

GS:

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

End of Day Journal (10-20-2010)

Summary:

Paper traded 200 share lots today:

I traded using the new setup today. I have a few things to get used to yet, but I liked the way that I traded on it.

Largest stops:

DRN for $0.32/share.

Largest wins:

GS for $1.62/share.

For the new setup I am using range bars, a few MA's, and some dynamic S/R. For those who don't know (I had to look it up), range bars eliminate the time variable by forming bars based on the change in price. I am using $0.15 per bar after trying it out over the last couple of days. Subsequently, all the MA's and S/R are based on price as well. Pretty powerful, and personally, I think it is a better way to describe what is happening with the stock - everything I see is price.

Here is the big GS trade on the new setup:

What are all the lines??? Heh.

All the curved lines are MA's with different periods. The ones in the main part of the chart are very long period, and the ones on the bottom portion are shorter. The straight lines and shading are dynamic S/R - something that saves me from drawing lines on the chart for breakouts and breakdowns. The purple lines are a Donchian channel.

The trade on the confirmed trend (MA's) and either support or breakout. I ran across the basic setup on BMT.

Part of the setup included finding an appropriate range - if a stock moves a lot the bars can race by. AAPL bounced around over $13 yesterday, today it was a little over $7. The 2:00 to 2:09 took up the entire chart width:

While DRN's entire afternoon fits on one chart:

$0.15 seems to a good compromise. AAPL could of been bumped up to $0.20 or maybe even $0.25 or $0.30; it is trade-able on all of them. After looking at a lot of the trades, I think I will try the $0.20 on everything tomorrow.

I am still becoming familiar with the setup and made two bad entries today, but other than that pretty much did what I was supposed to. I have a good feeling about this setup - as long as I keep doing what I am supposed to be doing, I think it will work.