Tues Jun 30 Trade Summary

20150630
Long 1 NQ 4396.0, -2.0
Short 1 TF 1251.0, +1.5
Long 1 TF 1247.5, 1247.0, +1.2, +1.5
Long 1 TF 1246.3, -0.4
Long 2 TF 1246.0, 1246.0, +1.0, +1.5
Long 1 TF 1245.4, +2.0
Total NQ -2.0
Total TF +8.3

Mon Jun 29 Trade Summary

20150629
Long 1 NQ 4423.0, +8.0
Long 1 TF 1266.3, +2.0
Short 1 NQ 4440.25, -2.0
Short 1 TF 1271.5, +1.0
Long 1 TF 1266.0, +2.0
Total NQ +6.0
Total TF +5.0

Fri Jun 26 Trade Summary

20150626
Long 1 YM 17834, +20
Short 2 TF 1282.4, 1282.3, -1.5, +0.7
Short 2 TF 1284.0, 1284.1, +2.0, +0.7
Long 2 TF 1279.4, 1279.5, +0.7, -0.7
Long 2 TF 1278.1, 1277.8, +1.5, +1.0
Long 1 TF 1276.6, -0.3
Long 1 TF 1275.6, +2.0
Total YM +20
Total TF +6.1

Thurs Jun 25 Trade Summary

20150625
Long 1 NQ 4523.25, -2.0
Long 2 TF 1279.6, 1279.6, -0.0, -0.0
Long 2 TF 1279.1, 1279.2, +0.7, +1.0
Short 2 NQ 4528.0, 4528.5, +3.0, +2.0
Long 1 TF 1279.2, -0.7
Short 1 NQ 4532.25, +2.0
Short 1 NQ 4532.25, -2.0
Short 2 YM 18914, 18914, +7, +20
Short 1 TF 1279.5, -0.7
Short 2 TF 1281.6, 1281.5, -0.4, -0.5
Short 3 TF 1282.9, 1282.7, 1283.6, +0.7, -0.0, +1.6
Total YM +27
Total NQ +3.0
Total TF +1.7

Wed Jun 24 Trade Summary

20150624
Long 3 TF 1288.9, 1287.5, 1287.4, -1.4, -0.1, +1.0
Long 1 NQ 4538.50, -2.0
Short 1 TF 1288.1, +1.5
Long 1 TF 1286.2, +1.8
Short 1 TF 1285.8, -0.2
Total NQ -2.0
Total TF +2.6

Tues Jun 23 Trade Summary

20150623
Long 1 TF 1288.1, -0.1
Short 1 TF 1287.5, -0.6
Long 1 TF 1287.5, -0.6
Long 1 NQ 4533.5, +6.0
Long 1 YM 18068, 18067, 18057, +2, +3, +7
Long 2 NQ 4527.25, 4527.0, -1.5, +2.0
Short 1 TF 1284.9, -0.2
Short 1 NQ 4525.5, +1.5
Long 2 YM 18052, 18047, +10, +7,
Long 2 YM 18052, 18047, -8, +7
Total YM +28
Total NQ +8.0
Total TF -1.5

Mon Jun 22 Trade Summary

20150622
Short 1 NQ 4538.76, -3.0
Short 3 TF 1285.9, 1286.9, 1287.3, -1.4, -0.7, -0.4
Short 1 NQ 4540.5, -3.0
Short 2 TF 1287.6, 1287.6, +0.7, -0.7
Long 1 TF 1287.9, +0.7
Long 1 TF 1286.4, -0.7
Short 1 YM 18074, -7
Short 2 NQ 4543.75, 4543.75, +2.0, +7.0
Long 1 TF 1285.7, -0.6
Long 1 TF 1284.4, +1.5
Total YM -7
Total NQ +3.0
Total TF -1.6

Fri Jun 19 Trade Summary

20150619
Short 2 NQ 4518.5, 4518.5, +2.0, +4.0
Short 2 TF 1280.0, 1280.0, +0.5, -0.2
Short 1 TF 1281.4, -0.2
Short 2 TF 1282.1, 1282.0, +0.7, +0.4
Total NQ +6.0
Total TF +1.2

Thurs Jun 18 Trade Summary

0150618
Long 2 NQ 4488.75, 4488.75, +2.0, +10.0
Short 2 TF 1273.5, 1273.7, -1.1, -1.0
Short 2 TF 1275.2, 1275.2, +0.7, -0.3
Short 2 YM 18014, 18015, +11, +7
Short 1 TF 1275.8, +1.0
Short 1 TF 1276.4, +1.4
Short 2 NQ 4522.5, 4523.25, -1.0, -1.5
Short 2 YM 18052, 18052, -6, -6
Short 1 TF 1278.2, -0.7
Short 3 TF 1280.2, 1280.1, 1280.2, +0.5, , -0.3, +0.4
Short 2 TF 1281.0, 1280.9, -0.4, -0.0
Short 1 TF 1281.1, -0.4
Total YM +6
Total NQ +10.5
Total TF -0.2

Wed Jun 17 Trade Summary

20150617
Long 2 TF 1269.1, 1269.2, +0.7, -0.7
Long 3 TF 1268.7, 1269.2, 1268.7, -0.0, +0.7, -0.0
Long 2 TF 1267.4, 1267.7, +0.7, -0.7
Long 1 TF 1267.1, -0.3
Long 3 TF 1267.3, 1266.7, 1266.5 -0.0, -0.5, +0.7
Long 2 TF 1266.3, 1266.3, +1.0, +1.4
Total TF +3.0

Tues Jun 16 Trade Summary

20150616
Long 2 YM 17710, 17710, +7, +20
Long 1 TF 1258.1, +1.0
Long 1 TF 1256.8, -0.7
Short 1 TF 1259.8, +1.7
Long 1 YM 17740, -7
Long 2 YM 17723, 17723, -10, -10
Long 3 YM 17712, 17712, 17712, +20, +20, +20
Total YM +60
Total TF +2.0

Mon Trade Summary

20150615
Short 1 TF 1241.9, +2.5
Short 2 TF 1244.2, 1244.9, -0.0, -0.5
Short 1 TF 1245.5, -0.6
Short 1 TF 1248.4, +1.2
Short 1 TF 1252.2, +0.7
Short 1 TF 1256.7, +0.5
Total TF +3.8

Thurs Jun 11 Trades & Journal

20150611
Long 1 NQ 4499.0, +10.0
Short 1 TF 1269.7, -0.4
Long 4 TF 1267.3, 1267.5, 1267.0, 1266.9, -1.4, -0.0, -1.4, -1.4
Long 3 TF 1265.3, 1265.3, 1265.3, +2.2, +2.2, +2.2
Long 2 TF 1266.4, 1265.8, -0.0, -0.2
Long 1 TF 1265.7, +1.3
Total NQ +10.0
Total TF +3.0

Two Persistent Trend Days in the same direction seldom follow each other back to back. But if even a correction / consolidation is likely, that doesn't mean the turns will necessarily be clear. And today, although better prepared that the previous 2 days to take breakouts, the one clean breakdown action was not accompanied by the Trade Plan aspects that were called for. Don't go to sleep on your models just because they don't appear everyday... especially those of your more selective breakout set. They'll reappear....and probably on a day you're least expecting them ....on a day when you've forgotten to keep them fresh. Nature loves to hide.

Wed Jun 10 Trades & Journal

20150610
Short 1 TF 1255.4, -0.7
Long 2 YM 17841, 17841, +20, +20
Short 1 NQ 4447.5, -1.5
Short 2 TF 1260.3, 1260.4, -0.9, +0.7
Short 1 NQ 4453.5, -0.0
Long 2 TF 1260.5, 1260.4, +1.7, +0.5
Short 1 TF 1261.1, -0.6
Short 1 YM 17938, -7
Short 1 TF 1267.0, -0.2
Short 1 TF 1266.9, -0.4
Short 1 TF 1267.2, -0.4
Long 2 TF 1166.7, 1166.6, +1.5, +0.7
Total YM +33
Total NQ -1.5
Total TF +1.9

The Persistent Trend Model is often the most difficult to trade of all. On those days, breakout players look like they knew what they were doing, and fade traders are full of stp-outs in their port. What often hurts worse than the stp-outs, however, are the breakouts that you missed when filters aligned, as I did in at least one key place, or in early pullback and/or ORB breakout trades that you succeeded in identifying and entering, but failed to hold for the full excursion the Persistent Trend offers to those of greater patience. I suffer more personal annoyance at the breakout trades I missed than the early trades I failed to make into runners, since most days are not of the Persistent Trend model and those runners turn out to be break-even stp-outs and wasteful of nice paper profits. It's the breakout opportunities that I miss that get me most, and peak my resolve to do better. Today, I resolve to keep the filter checklist in front of me, and review it not only before the day begins, but when faced with those fork-in-the-road opportunities we call Inflection levels that should be played first as fades, but with the added stp-n-reverse provision to get back into trend should they fail to reverse.

Jun 9 Trades & Journal

20150609
Long 2 YM 17754, 17757, -7, -7
Long 2 YM 1737, 1737, -7, -7
Long 2 TF 1245.5, 1245.3, +1.5, +1.0
Short 1 TF 1244.6, -0.8
short 1 TF 1244.0, -0.7
Short 2 TF 1243.1, 1243.1, +0.7, -0.7
Long 1 TF 1241.1, -0.7,
Long 1 TF 1241.4, +2.2
Short 1 TF 1245.1, -0.7
Short 1 TF 1246.0, -0.5
Short 2 TF 1249.6, 1249.6, +0.7, -0.7
Short 2 TF 1249.7, 1249.9, -0.7, +0.5
Total YM -28
Total TF +1.1

Market action can influence and prejudice your appraisal of trend. But the market often appears as one thing, only to become the other. Today, I let myself suffer from that and although I acted on longs at the lows, did too little commitment to capture the fuller excursion and insufficient size to overcome smaller losses. After the lows were in, I allowed that same prejudice to block me from an important bull inflection breakout opportunity, also which would have put me into profits on the day....

In order to learn from the days mistakes, consider the 'swing thoughts' that occupied your motives at the time the errors were made...both immediately after the day's trading is done, and then again a bit later when emotions have subsided. What were the entry models that would have put you into action at the right places? Why did you ignore them, and what internal conflicts can next time serve as helpful 'tells' to get your rally cap around the other way next time this occurs...? ...and it will occur again, of this you can be sure. The question is, will you be a different trader when it does?

Mon Jun 8 Trades and Journal

20150608
Long 1 TF 1257.8, -0.5
Long 1 TF 1257.8, +4.0
Long 2 TF 1256.4, 1256.6, +1.0, -1.1
Long 1 NQ 4456.5, +2.0
Long 2 TF 1255.0, 1255.3, +0.7, +2.0
Total NQ +2.0
Total TF +6.1

Even if you don't get back all of a previous day's losses, it's more important to finish the day after a losing day with a winning day. Get back in sync. Find your consistency. You'll recover your losses in the consistency of executing your trade plan. Do not let the previous day's losses hang over you like a pall. When your entry models appear, take them. If you've lost faith in some of your trade entry models, it's an indication those should not be included in your trade plan in the first place.

Fri Jun 5 Trades & Journal

20150605
Short 1 TF 1245.1, -1.4
Short 1 NQ 4463.5, -3.0
Short 3 TF 1246.5, 1247.1, 1247.7, -1.4, -1.4, -0.7
Short 3 TF 1250.2, 1250.0, 1250.4, -1.0, -1.3, -0.9
Total NQ -3.0
Total TF -8.1

There a number of filters that go into using the 2nd trend direction as breakout opportunities. On most days, breakouts fail, and although vendors will often reveal their methods by cherry picking those breakouts that, in fact, were successful as indicative of justification for a concentration of breakout utilization for trading efforts, such focus relies heavily on surviving a surplus of losses against letting the fewer winners run into a maximum of their excursion. As a whole, fading the market works more consistently, despite--or perhaps because--a fewer number of market participants employ fading the action. But that doesn't mean breakouts lack merit and even necessity as part of a Trade Plan. What it means is a more selective criteria should be employed before considering them. (cont'd)

Today teaches us an important filter that although I've been intimately familiar with these many years as an analyst, writer and educator of trade concepts, I still have not actually added to a list of filters I summarize as ingredients for breakout entry qualification: Day Model rotation. As painfully apparent as this may be to anyone who has read the book Pivots, Patterns and Intraday Swing Trades, my list of breakout minutia up to this point in time has only contained technical event criteria from within the day of action itself, from the ORB forward, without due consideration and weighting as to where in the Day Model rotation sits the short term cycle. So prescribed, one would accordingly add to today's breakout filtering what the day model yesterday displayed, and if a cycle turning point as has laid down its marker in the prior day's behavior, weight the following day's list of 'best models to succeed' appropriately. Otherwise, one might tend to fight the day's trend action, as I did today, oblivious to those important 'tells', stubbornly giving back some important profits in disregard of breakout opportunities from recent days where breakouts were not the models of choice. ...a good weekend and good trading next week to all...

Thur Jun 4 Trade Summary

20150604
Short 1 NQ 4501.25, -2.0
Long 1 NQ 4499.5, -3.0
Short 2 YM 18006, 18005, +7, -1
Long 2 TF 1257.3, 1257.5, +0.7, -0.7
Long 3 TF 1257.0, 1257.0, 1256.2, -0.2, +0.7, +3.0
Long 2 TF 1258.8, 1258.9, +0.7, -1.0
Long 2 ES 1208.75, 1208.75, -1.5, -1.5
Long 4 TF 1255.4, 1255.6, 1255.7, 1256.1, +0.7, +1.0, +2.0, +1.0
Total ES -3.0
Total YM +6
Total NQ -5.0
Total TF +7.9

Wed Jun 3 Trade Summary

20150603
Long 1 NQ 4515.5, +5.0
Short 1 YM 18026, -7
Short 2 TF 1253.3, 1253.6, -0.0, +0.7
Short 4 TF 1258.3, 1258.8, 1258.8, 1258.8, -0.0, +0.7, +0.7, -1.0
Short 1 TF 1261.6, -0.6
Short 4 TF 1262.3, 1262.4, 1263.3, 1263.4, -0.0, -0.0, -0.7, -0.8
Short 2 TF 1262.8, 1263.4, -1.0, -0.5
Total YM -7
Total NQ +5.0
Total TF -2.5

Tues Jun 2 Trade Summary

20150602
Long 1 TF 1243.7, -1.4
Long 2 TF 1240.1, 1240.1, +1.5, +2.7
Long 1 TF 1240.6, +1.3
Short 1 TF 1244.3, +1.3
Long 1 TF 1242.6, +3.0
Total TF +8.4

Mon Jun 1 Trade Summary

20150601
Long 1 TF 1246.4, -1.4
Long 1 TF 1245.0, -0.5
Long 3 TF 1242.5, 1242.5, 1251.5, -1.4, -1.4, -0.7
Long 3 TF 1241.2, 1241.2, 1241.2, -0.4, -0.4, -0.4
Long 3 TF 1241.2, 1241.2, 1241.2, +2.0, +2.0, +2.0
Short 1 TF 1244.8, +4.0
Long 1 TF 1241.0, -0.5
Short 1 TF 1239.9, +2.0
Short 1 TF 1240.5, -0.3
Short 1 TF 1242.4, -0.4
Short 2 TF 1242.8, 1242.8, +1.0, -0.3
Short 1 TF 1248.7, +1.4
Total TF +6.3