Fri Oct 30 Trade Summary

20151030
Short 1 TF 1162.1, +3.0
Long 1 TF 1159.6, +1.0
Short 1 TF 1161.0, -0.3
Total TF +3.7

Thur Oct 29 Trade Summary

20151029
Short 1 TF 1174.3, +1.0
Long 1 TF 1169.4, +1.5
Long 1 TF 1169.9, +1.4
Long 1 TF 1167.4, +1.5
Total TF +5.4

Wed Oct 29 Trade Summary

20151028
Long 2 NQ 4622.25, 4622.25, +2.0, +5.0
Short 1 NQ 4632.0, -2.0
Short 2 TF 1153.3, 1153.3, +0.7, -0.8
Short 4 TF 1159.1, 1158.6, 1158.5, 1158.5, +1.8, +0.7, +1.0, +1.2
Short 1 NQ 4625.75, -2.0
Short 1 TF 1159.1, +1.4
Short 1 TF 1159.0, -0.7
Short 1 NQ 4634.25, +2.0
Short 1 TF 1162.3, -0.3
Total NQ +5.0
Total TF +5.0

Tues Oct 27 Trades and Journal

20151027
Short 1 TF 1149.1, -0.6
Short 1 TF 1151.4, 1151.3, +1.5, +0.7
Long 2 NQ 4623.0, 4622.75, -2.0, +2.0
Long 1 NQ 4622.5, -2.0
Long 2 NQ 4620.25, 4620.75, -2.0, -2.0
Long 1 TF 1150.0, -1.4
Long 2 TF 1142.9, 1142.1, +1.0, +2.2
Short 1 TF 1147.8, +1.1
Total NQ -6.0
Total TF +4.5

Divergences can be an important tool. That is to day, a little divergence is a good thing and a handy tool. It can help ID an intraday swing, and help contribute a loan from one contract's signals to another contract's entry model. But deep disparity, like we're seeing in intraday action between the midcaps of the Russell 2k contract and the larger cap ES and YM, or the glamour techs of the NQ can be far more challenging than helpful. Today, the TF was so disparate it was like trading an oil contract against the stock indices, while expecting a correlation that seemed uncharacteristically unwarranted. We trade what's in front of us. The market is never supports to be anything other than what it is and what it does. The Trader must be open to all conditions, but also able to shut it down and limit further risks when the methods of the Analyst fail and the Accountant deems the losses too great.

Mon Oct 26 Trade Summary

20151026
Short 1 YM 17557, -10
Short 1 TF 1160.2, +1.1
Long 2 TF 1157.6, 1157.6, +0.7, -0.8
Long 1 ES 2061.25, -1.0
Long 1 TF 1155.7, -1.4
Long 2 TF 1153.7, 1153.8, +0.7, +2.2
Short 1 TF 1157.7, +1.0
Total ES -1.0
Total YM -10
Total TF +3.5

Fri Oct 23 Trade Summary

Trade Summary
20151023
Short 1 TF 1155.7, -0.2
Short 4 TF 1158.1, 1158.7, 1158.7, 1159.4, -0.0, +0.7, -0.7, -1.4
Short 2 TF 1160.1, 1159.8, -1.4, -1.4
Short 2 NQ 4616.5, 4616.5, +2.0, -2.0
Long 2 YM 17530, 17531, +7, -7
Short 1 TF 1163.5, +2.0
Long 2 TF 1161.0, 1160.7, -1.0, -0.4
Long 2 TF 1160.5, 1160.5, -1.4, -1.4
Long 3 TF 1158.9, 1158.9, 1159.2, +2.0, +2.0, +1.5
Long 2 YM 17509, 17509, +7, -7
Long 1 TF 1158.5, +1.5
Total YM, -0
Total NQ -0.0
Total TF +0.4

Thurs Oct 22 Trades & Journal

20151022
Short 2 YM 17210, 17210, -7, -7
Short 1 TF 1148.3, -0.1
Short 1 YM 17228, -0
Short 1 NQ 4460.25, -2.0
Short 2 NQ 4461.25, 4461.25, -2.0, +2.0
Short 2 YM 17250, 17250, +7, -7
Short 2 TF 1153.9, 1153.9, +0.7, +2.0
Long 2 TF 1150.9, 1150.2, -1.4, -0.7
Long 2 TF 1149.6, 1149.6, +2.0, +3.6
Long 1 TF 1149.5, +2.0
Total YM -14
Total NQ -2.0
Total TF +8.1

At one point today, in a rather nasty pullback, my initial position got blown out. The structure was right for the model, as was the momentum of the True Trend Indicator™. As I usually use buy-stops in a falling market as an entry technique as price completes a model, a false start back up today engaged the position, only to thrust back down sharply a minute or so later. One argument might be to just use bigger protective stops in the ATM strategy and try to survive such volatility. And that's a fair argument. But I find that I think more clearly when on the sidelines. And although a bit painful, that moment of being NOT in a position that against me offers better clarity. So I don't mind getting stp'd out. It gives enough time to assess if the elements of the model are still in place, although now at a different level of the Pivot Exhaustion Grid. If so, I get right back on the saddle. And if you are getting use to watching a tick bar chart tied to your price ladder at those moments of entry instead, say your 3 or 5 min bar charts, you can see the thrusts downward a little more clearly, along with the holes they can leave at the thinner points of liquidity. That kind of action, the kind that blew me out today for instance, tends to do two things simultaneously. First, it scares you into thinking the current trend is not over and adds to the appraisal emotionally that there's far more yet to come; and secondly, it tends to exhaust the move and bring finality, just at the level mysteriously designed to cause stop-outs to most of the current players--who, like me today, got in too early thinking they knew which way the market was ready to go. In other words, the action and consequence to your position causes a 'feeling' exactly opposite to what that final thrust really is. As in life in general, including politics and ethics, "Fade your feelings, Luke" is what Yoda should have been teaching the young Skywalker.

Wed Oct 21 Trade Summary

20151021
Long 2 TF 1155.3, 1155.2, -1.0, -0.7
Long 2 TF 1155.0, 1155.0, +0.7, -0.7
Long 2 TF 1150.2, 1149.8, +2.0, +2.0
Short 2 TF 1155.1, 1155.1, +0.5, +2.0
Short 1 TF 1156.3, +1.0
Total TF +5.8

Tues Oct 20 Trades & Journal

20151020
Short 1 NQ 4447.5, +13.00
Long 2 TF 1158.3, 1157.7, -0.0, +1.8
Short 1 TF 1163.9, +0.7
Long 2 TF 1163.8, 1163.8, +0.5, +1.2
Total NQ +13.00
Total TF +4.7

Holding the position for the better piece of the excursion is often the more challenging thing about trading. Getting in is easy, on the other hand. In fact, getting in is often too easy and facilitated for no other reason than an eagerness often just to pull the trigger, or an anxiety that the profits are passing you by like numbers on filling station meter. "Where's mine?", you might be say to yourself. And nothing can be more endemic to bad trading than the anxiety that ensues when--after you have exited a position too soon and can do nothing but watch the profits in that dollar meter roll on to someone else--you feel compelled to fade the trend as if to capture the profits you are missing in the remainder of the excursion while revenging your stupidity. Don't try to get even with the failure from your stupidity. Instead, take a moment and examine where you were mentally when you let the better position go too soon. What can be learned about this for next time? What were the technical event minutia that arrived simultaneously to lend this particular swing reversal such and extended excursion...? ...and, how do I translate that into a better trade management plan next time? "When this....then that." Those are your action triggers to either take a larger position, or hold on to something as a runner as the trade from these more complete event criteria unfolds.

Mon Oct 19 Trade Summary

Trade Summary
20151019
Short 2 TF 1160.6, 1161.1, +1.3, +2.2
Short 1 NQ 4434.0, -2.0
Short 1 TF 1163.2, +1.4
Long 1 TF 1159.5, -0.1
Total NQ -2.0
Total TF +4.8

Fri Oct 16 Trade Summary

20151016
Short 2 NQ 4412.0, 4411.25, +6.0, +2.0
Long 1 TF 1157.0, -0.1
Short 1 YM 17066, -7
Short 1 NQ 4415.5, +7.0
Long 1 TF 1155.4, +1.0
Short 1 TF 1157.1, -0.7
Short 1 TF 1157.7, -0.5
Short 1 TF 1157.1, -0.7
Short 1 TF 1158.4, -0.2
Short 1 TF 1159.5, +1.0
Total YM -7
Total NQ +15
Total TF -0.2

Thurs Oct 15 Trade Summary

20151015
Short 1 NQ 4366.0, -2.0
Short 2 TF 1139.7, 1139.5, +3.0, +0.7
Short 1 TF 1139.6, -0.5
Short 1 TF 1139.5, +2.0
Long 1 TF 1139.0, -0.5
Long 1 TF 1137.6, +1.3
Short 1 TF 1141.8, +1.3
Total NQ -2.0
Total TF +7.3

Wed Oct 14 Trades & Journal

20151014
Short 1 TF 1148.4, -1.4,
Short 2 TF 1151.1, 1151.1, +1.4, +1.0
Short 1 YM 17004, -7
Short 2 TF 1150.7, +0.2, -0.4
Short 1 TF 1150.6, +1.2
Long 1 NQ 4341.5, -2.0
long 1 NQ 4336.75, -2.0
Long 2 TF 1142.4, 1142.5, +1.0, -1.1
Long 5 TF 1141.8, 1141.1, 1140.4, 1140.3, 1140.4, -1.4, -1.4, +1.0, -0.5, -0.5
Long 2 TF 1138.5, 1138.5, -0.0, -0.0
Long 2 TF 1139.1, 1139.1, -0.8, -0.8
Long 3 TF 1138.0, 1138.0, 1138.2, -0.5, -0.5 -0.5
Long 2 TF 1136.8, 1136.8, -0.0, -1.0
Total YM -7
Total NQ -4.0
Total TF -5.0

The weaker trader's mind is always looking to participate in the profits that are going by. Having only profited small at the initial highs-of-day--mostly because I mishandled the entry signals--I was left with the mental affectation of wanting to be apart of the short profits I reckoned I was owed. Unable to find an entry, I over-aggressively counter traded with longs, giving up all the small gains of the short positions I hadn't held and going into a hole for the day. I knew better. The 2nd trend tends to be truer than the 1st, and there I was fighting the 2nd trend for revenge profits against the excursion I had failed to remain short in. Don't fight the trend you failed to be in, especially when it's the 2nd trend of the frame. You can't recapture an excursion once spent any better than you can recapture profits once lost. Stay cool, for the the pullback that lends itself to being an identifiable entry model. It's the market you must be in sync with to succeed, not your need to recapture lost gains. Consistency is the key. ...and always quit when your losses have equaled the goal of your profits you didn't make.

Tues Oct 13 Trade Summary

Trade Summary
20151013
Short 2 TF 1158.2, 1158.0, +0.7, -0.9
Short 2 YM 16988, 16988, -7, -7
Short 2 TF 1161.8, 1161.7, +0.7, +2.2
Short 1 YM 17021, -7
Short 1 TF 1161.3, -0.8
Short 3 TF 1162.7, 1162.7, 1162.4, +0.7, -0.2, +1.0
Short 1 NQ 4378.25, -2.0
Short 2 TF 1164.5, 1164.5, +0.5, -0.7
Short 3 YM 17043, 17044, 17042, -3, +7, +7
Short 2 TF 1167.1, 1166.9, +0.7, +1.5
Total YM -10
Total NQ -2.0
Total TF +5.4

Mon Oct 12 Trade Summary

20151012
Short 2 YM 17070, 17010, +20, +7
Short 1 TF 1159.6, -0.3
Short 1 TF 1160.8, +3.5
Short 1 TF 1158.9, -0.5
Short 1 NQ 4366.75, -2.0
Short 1 TF 1161.1, +1.5
Short 1 NQ 4372.0, +5.0
Total YM +27
Total NQ +3.0
Total TF +4.2

Fri Oct 9 Trade Summary

20151009
Long 1 TF 1161.5, -0.6
Short 1 YM 17010, -3
Short 3 TF 1162.5, 1162.3, 1163.2, -1.5, -0.0, +2.2
Short 1 YM 17070, +30
Long 3 TF 1160.2, 1159.3, 1159.0, 1158.8, -1.4, +0.3, +1.4, +2.0
Short 2 TF 1162.4, 1162.2, +1.0, +2.0
Short 1 TF 1163.3, +1.0
Total YM +27
Total TF +6.4

Thurs Oct 8 Trade Summary

20151008
Long 1 TF 1144.2, +1.4
Short 1 NQ 4298.0, -2.0
Short 1 NQ 4301.5, -2.0
Short 2 NQ 4307.5, 4307.5, +3.0, +3.0
Short 3 TF 1147.3, 1148.1, 1147.5, -1.4, +1.0, -1.4
Short 2 YM 16807, 16806, +7, -7
Short 1 TF 1149.1, +2.2
Short 1 NQ 4284.5, -2.0
Short 2 TF 1147.9, 1148.8, -0.0, -0.1
Total YM -0
Total NQ -0.0
Total TF +1.7

Wed Oct 7 Trade Summary

20151007
Short 2 TF 1135.2, 1135.2, +0.5, -0.7
Long 1 TF 1134.9, +2.5
Short 3 TF 1140.4, 1140.2, 1141.0, -1.1, +0.1, 1.0
Long 1 TF 1134.6, +1.0
Total TF +3.3

Tues Oct 6 Trade Summary

20151006
Short 2 TF 1134.5, 1134.5, -0.7, -0.7
Short 2 TF 1135.9, 1135.9, +3.0, +3.0
Short 1 TF 1136.8, -1.0
Short 1 TF 1137.9, -0.5
Long 2 TF 1136.8, 1136.8, +0.7, +2.0
Long 1 NQ 4296.0, -2.0
Long 1 NQ 4295.25, -2.0
Long 2 TF 1132.2, 1132.0, -1.0, -0.7
Total NQ -4.0
Total TF +4.1

Mon Oct 5 Trades & Journal

20151005
Short 3 TF 1122.1, 1121.9, 1122.4, +2.0, +0.7, -1.1
Short 1 NQ 4290.25, -2.0
Short 3 TF 1125.5, 1125.5, 1125.4, +1.0, -0.6, -0.7,
Short 1 TF 1127.2, -1.0
Short 1 NQ 4301.25, 4301.5, -2.0, -2.0
Short 3 TF 1128.5, 1128.5, 1129.5, -1.6, -1.6, -0.7
Short 1 TF 4304.0, -2.5
Total NQ -8.5
Total TF -3.6

Sometimes price simply stretches beyond your signals, or just stops you out with whipsaws. There is never any reason to fight it. Getting even is getting deeper in the hole. Take your losses and try to keep them on any day no bigger than your daily profit goal. If your entry models work far more often than they fail, you'll regroup soon to get back in sync. Consistency is more important than recapturing your losses. Your losses are gone for good. Reestablish your consistency, and if you kept your losses under control, your profits will overtake them soon enough.

Fri Oct 2 Trade Summary

20151002
Long 1 NQ 4122.25, -2.0
Short 1 TF 1078.8, -0.2
Long 3 TF 1175.9, 1175.8, 1176.3, +1.0, +3.0, +1.0
Total NQ -2.0
Total TF +4.8

Thur Oct 1 Trade Summary

20151001
Long 4 TF 1191.4, 1190.5, 1190.4, 1190.2, +0.1, +1.3, +2.0, +3.2,
Total TF +6.6

Wed Sep 30 Trade Summary

20150930
Long 2 TF 1187.5, 1187.5, +1.5, +1.6
Short 1 TF 1191.8, -0.3
Short 2 TF 1193.7, 1193.7, +0.7, -0.7
Short 1 NQ 4161.75, -2.0
Short 1 NQ 4163.75, +5.0
Total NQ +3.0
Total TF +2.8