Joel's Journal

[immy]

I don't think you need to do this extra effort of

ABBC3_OFFTOPIC

"Flowchart Checklist

Dot – Green
Alligator – Open
Dot inside AIMS – No
New AIMS level - No
Purple Line correct – Yes
AO close to ZL – Yes
Exit close enough – Yes
Is HTF AIMS too close – Yes"

Though you can carry a little print out next to you and see if all are checked.
The fact that you're taking THE SETUP should indicate that all the boxes were ticked.
Usually people tend to go this way , when recording journals but that's not really what helps.

The main thing you want to record is the trade itself with the picture , comments before and after trade and the all important Discipline Score.

Hope this makes sense .

[immy]

Trade: B1-T3
Date: 8/29/2018
Pair / TF: USDJPY H1
Signal Type: S2 LONG

felt these considerations were appropriate for this S2 situation, although not exactly ideal.

DS: 1
Total DS: 3/3 (100%)
R:R – 1:1 with no BE
Trade Outcome: +1R

Its a good trade with great explanation and reasoning but as per Stage 1. DS0. but that's my opinion. You have taken a simple breakout into wave 5 using good justification but not following the Strict Rules of Stage 1. The Trick of this is not actually "being a very clever and beating the market type of trader" instead The TRICK is DID YOU follow the PLAN? Hope you understand this little nuance ... ITS about "did you follow the plan"... smashing trade or not, don't matter. But that probably means that you already have experience in trading and you probably find it easy to recognise the main "concept" of this method. Yet the tricky part is, "did I follow my plan"?

[raklian]

Trade: B1-T4
Date: 9/4/2018
Pair / TF: EURUSD H1
Signal Type: S1 SHORT


Thoughts and Feelings: A nice setup pattern with a clear Wave 3-4 structure, and Wave 4 sufficiently went halfway to the purple line. The Alligator has crossed and is flattening very nicely. This time I did not check the flowchart as I feel pretty confident I have internalized the rules. AIMS box where the red dot appeared was extremely tight so it was the kind of setup others said was an ideal one. Got in the trade and and it tapped the TP just over an hour later. A very quick trade for the H1 if you ask me. I felt I did everything according to the Setup 1 rules.


DS: 1
Total DS: 2/4 (50%)
R:R – 1:1 with no BE
Trade Outcome: +1R

[raklian]

Trade: B1-T5
Date: 9/4/2018
Pair / TF: EURJPY H1
Signal Type: S1 SHORT


Thoughts and Feelings: Very similar to the EURUSD H1 S1 trade just before. A nice setup pattern with a clear Wave 3-4 structure, and Wave 4 sufficiently went halfway to the purple line. The Alligator has crossed and is flattening very nicely. This time I did not check the flowchart as I feel pretty confident I have internalized the rules. AIMS box where the red dot appeared was extremely tight so it was the kind of setup others said was an ideal one. Got in the trade and and it tapped the TP within the hour. A very quick trade for the H1 if you ask me. I felt I did everything according to the Setup 1 rules.

I wonder if I should take very similar trades at the same time since that would mean I'm actually doubling the risk. I know sensible traders don't trade two highly correlated instruments.


DS: 1
Total DS: 3/5 (60%)
R:R – 1:1 with no BE
Trade Outcome: +1R

[raklian]

Trade: B1-T6
Date: 9/17/2018
Pair / TF: CADJPY H1
Signal Type: S1 LONG

I'm back! My area had a limited impact from Hurricane Florence. Schools were closed and power was intermittent, so I felt it wasn't a conductive environment for trading. At the end, things turned out fine for us. Anyway, back to my first trade in a while.

Thoughts and Feelings: In hindsight, the Wave 3 was too long, but when I took the trade I was thinking a long Wave 3 meant the trend is strong so a slight pullback into Wave 4 would yield another push to the upside. I don't know if that's the best way to think as a trader but I'd like to keep making those kinds of trades to see if they are trades worthy enough to keep in my arsenal of experience for future reference.

Aside from that, I thought I did ok following the basic rules for a Setup 1 scenario. Wave 4 was small enough and the AIMS box was small enough a trade would reach 1R before the Wave 3 peak. I read Immy's comment to Gert's journal about the importance of ensuring that the Wave 3 peak is far enough away to give us breathing room.

DS: 1
Total DS: 4/6 (67%)
R:R – 1:1 with no BE
Trade Outcome: SL -1R

[raklian]

Trade: B1-T7
Date: 9/18/2018
Pair / TF: EURUSD H1
Signal Type: S1 LONG

Thoughts and Feelings: In hindsight, I'm not too thrilled about this trade. Wave 4 AO was too deep, with the lines interacting with the purple line which was inside the massive box, and it was more of a Setup 2 where I made the entry because the gator didn't really sleep there. A deep Wave 4 increases the chances that it's a new Wave 3 in the opposite direction.

Looking at many examples of Setup 1 trades done by others, I realize the ideal trade is the one that has a shallow Wave 4 AO peak reaching relatively close to the purple line and the lines flattening and touching each other. I've got to tune myself to seek and trade those kinds of setups, and ignore setups like this one.

I'm giving myself a DS0 for this one.

DS: 0
Total DS: 4/7 (57%)
R:R – 1:1 with no BE
Trade Outcome: TP +1R

[raklian]

Trade: B1-T8
Date: 9/26/2018
Pair / TF: AUDUSD H4
Signal Type: S2 LONG

Thoughts and Feelings: Clear Wave 3 up, shallow Wave 4 AO peak, flattening and intertwining balance lines, tight box relative to TZ1 and on right side of purple line, and the entry level for the green dot candle is close to the AIMS level that was broken. More pros than cons on this one, so I'm taking this trade. This time, I'm not second-guessing myself.

I thought I was going to stop out when I checked the chart the next morning and the market was so close to the SL. Later in the afternoon, I was pleasantly surprised to see it made a reversal to the upside in the form of a big spike taking out the TP.

As you can probably see, this is my first H4 trade. I'm liking trading the H4 & D1 timeframe as I only have to check the charts 3 or 4 times daily which is a huge relief for me especially for the fact I lead a busy life.

I'm giving myself a DS1 for this one.

DS1
Total DS: 5/8 (62.5%)
R:R – 1:1 with no BE
Trade Outcome: TP +1R

P.S. - Do you see the blue dot after the spike? I've decided not to take the bait because I imagine the box as tall as that spike so it's too big.

[raklian]

Trade: B1-T9
Date: 9/26/2018
Pair / TF: AUDCAD H4
Signal Type: S1 LONG

Thoughts and Feelings: Wave 3 was ok but the Wave 4 AO peak was extraordinarily shallow so the possibility to the upside was good. Even with these facts, I know I am walking on a tightrope and playing with fire seeing that the consolidating line of boxes is straddling the purple line, if just barely so. The balance lines are flat and intertwining, never touching the purple line. I took this trade knowing it's not the most ideal but met the bare minimum. I am willing to take the higher than normal risk.

Like the AUDUSD H4 trade above, the market reversed after entry and came really close to taking out the SL. Again, the market was pleasant enough to show me that trading the H4 timeframe has its merits.

I'm giving myself a DS1 for this one.

DS1
Total DS: 6/9 (66.6%)
R:R – 1:1 with no BE
Trade Outcome: TP +1R

[raklian]

Trade: B1-T10
Date: 9/27/2018
Pair / TF: Gold Daily
Signal Type: S2 SHORT

Thoughts and Feelings: Messed up with this trade in two ways: 1) I didn't check the HTF chart to see that Wave 5 already went into TZ1 zone - only did that after I entered the trade, and 2) since the ATM was set to 1500 points for maximum stop loss, the slop loss was placed way inside the AIMS box (I didn't bother to check since it was way past my bedtime and me was bone tired) so I got stopped out very quickly when Gold reversed to the upside. I have changed the ATM setting so it doesn't happen again. Lesson learnt!


DS0
Total DS: 6/10 (60%)
R:R – 1:1 with no BE
Trade Outcome: SL -1R

[raklian]

Trade: B1-T11
Date: 10/1/2018
Pair / TF: US30 Index H4
Signal Type: S1 LONG

Thoughts and Feelings: I've started the practice of making sure both the CTF and HTF are geometrically synchronized, as Immy is fond of saying. HTF is showing a setup pattern, with Wave 5 underway, higher AO peak showing dark bars, and TZ1 quite ways away. The setup signal is a classic with a clear Wave 3, Wave 4 being close to the purple line, and the AIMS box small enough that the TP is within the TZ1 zone. It was a easy trade that took 2 days to reach TP.


DS1
Total DS: 7/11 (63.6%)
R:R – 1:1 with no BE
Trade Outcome: TP +1R