11/22 Trade Review → +3pts/+$150 Total Gain on 3 Trades:
Here’s a screenshot of the day’s action. I marked up three different spots on the chart that I want to discuss. Keep in mind that the white horizontal lines indicate the initial balance high and low (which are the actionable entry levels for my strategy).
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1. TRADE #1: Short at Initial Balance High → -3pts/-$150
Entered right after 10:30am and got a nice initial impulse down. No continuation down, however, reversing right back to the IB high to test it again. Got stopped out around 10:45am for a small 3 point loss.
2. TRADE #2: Short at Initial Balance High → -3pts/-$150
Tried another short around 10:55am on a false break of the IB high. Didn’t get much in terms of an initial impulse and the market started trading sideways back-and-forth through the level (which isn’t ideal). Got stopped out again for a 3 point loss.
3. TRADE #3: Long at Initial Balance High → +9pts/+$450
After 2 failed short trades and considering the way the daily profile was developing, it was clear that the market was building value higher. So I started looking for a long entry. I entered around 12:10pm right at the IB high.
The action was extremely choppy and slow-moving on this trade – and I tried to give it time and space to go hit my full 20 point target. But I got a little too impatient with it as it tried to break above 4000 – moving my stop up to 3995.
Overall – 2 Small Losses, 1 Decent Win, and 1 Major Takeaway:
I ended the day with a modest $150 gain. But I’m disappointed in myself for the way that I managed trade #3.
Yes, I ended up locking in a decent gain. But it should’ve been +20pts (my full target) instead of +9pts if I managed my exit as I typically would. I let the previous 5 trades (all losses) and the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday get to my head.
Since I probably won’t be doing any trading for the rest of this week due to the holiday – coupled with my recent string of losses – I wanted to make sure I ended the day in the black. So I let all these external factors cloud my management of this individual trade.
Moving forward, I need to make sure that I give trades the time and space they need to work – especially since I’m attempting to pass Step 1 of the Combine using only 1 contract per trade. I can’t be cutting my most profitable trades off at the knees.
Additional contracts (like 2 or 3, for example) would help provide more flexibility in terms of profit-taking. But I need to be completely comfortable holding for larger moves. These are the trades that “pay”, so I need to be careful not to compromise them.
The week after Thanksgiving, patience in regard to stop movements/waiting for profit targets will be my primary focus.
Written by Matt Thomas (@MattThomasTP)
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