Dave from Sydney's Journal [Awarded Title: the Box-Trader]

[immy]

Dave!

All the best for 2013. I wish you all the pips in the universe. Remember Patience and Discipline, Slow and Steady, wins the race!

Cheers

[Dave]

Mon 7 Jan (first day back )

1. Did you perform your pre-trading routine?

Yes

2. Did you trade today? If yes, detail your entries including reasons for entry and exit and trade results.

Started watching the charts at Frankfurt Open but had to duck out about 0820 UK. During the short time I was at the charts I took one long setup on EURUSD that ended in BE, showed 5 or so pips and hesitated so I moved my stop up close and I’m glad I did as it came back from there. Stop at BE was trailing red line anyway so seemed like a good spot.

EU buy for BE

Screen Shot 2013-01-07 at 6.47.09 PM.jpg

Got back to the charts about 1030 UK and took this sell on the DAX. The markets were moving soooooo slowly! Took an add on below the 60min low and there was a quick little spike that showed a total for the two positions >1% so I grabbed it. Glad I did as it reversed from there…. albeit very slowly! Again I trailed my stop very aggressively on the first position and moved to BE at +5, which it came back from and almost closed me out, showed +0.2 before going on again.

DAX sell for 8.2 pips with an add on of 2.5 pips for a total of 10.7 pips

Screen Shot 2013-01-07 at 10.40.28 PM.jpg

3. Were your entries in line with your trading plan? Discuss.

Yes. Met AIMS criteria.

4. Was your trade management in line with your trading plan? Discuss.

Yes, happy to have trailed my stop at BE on both trades.

5. Were your exits in line with your trading plan? Discuss.

Sort of. EURUSD stop at BE yes, prevented a loser, taking the quick spike on the DAX was a good move in hindsight, but at the time if price had taken a tumble I would have been a little annoyed I’d jumped to grab the 1% so quickly.

6. Was your money management in line with your trading plan? Discuss.

Yes. Position sizes calculated in line with account balance and desired risk %.

7. If you had a losing trade were you patient in waiting for the next setup? NEVER SEEK REVENGE.

No loser.

8. If you had a winning trade were you patient in waiting for the next setup? NEVER GET CARRIED AWAY.

Felt patient. The markets weren’t really playing ball during the time I was watching and I don’t feel like I missed any clear cut setups.

9. Other points for discussion and general feeling of days trading (include results summary).

Little bit of a disjointed comeback but an acceptable result for the first day back trading. I realise upon reflection of my journal that I don’t show many losers so my new years pledge is to maintain my journal and show ALL entries – the good, the bad and the ugly!

After something I read from Immy I’m focusing much more on cross of ZL and action around the purple (i.e. the first break of the fractal out of the alligator’s mouth on the HTF), and this is where I want to take most of my trades.

Results summary:

1. BE
2. 10.7 (8.2 + 2.5)

[Dave]

Tue 8 Jan

1. Did you perform your pre-trading routine?

Yes

2. Did you trade today? If yes, detail your entries including reasons for entry and exit and trade results.

Started at Frankfurt Open. Decent setup immediately on EURUSD but it didn’t pick up a whole lot of steam, worth a try though. Added on below the M5 low and when that position showed +4ish pips, and price had gone through another lower fractal (which I didn’t add on at as eWave was showing W5 and M60 and BRB 1.31 were close by and were my trade target) I said I’d close if it showed me <1 on the add on. Closed manually when it came back.

EURUSD sell for 4.1 pips with an add on of 0.4 pips for a total of 4.5 pips

Screen Shot 2013-01-08 at 6.35.18 PM.jpg

Took a quick break for dinner and came back and thought this was a decent long setup on EURUSD going into M1 W5, M5 eWave was fresh, just wasn’t to be. Happy that I closed it out in line with my trading plan, under new AIMS low. I did take the inside level and that kept my loss to a minimum in this case, a M5 buy would have triggered too.

EURUSD buy for -2.3 pips

Screen Shot 2013-01-08 at 8.39.36 PM.jpg

Grrrr, and then a bit of a silly trade on EURJPY and it wasn’t managed ideally, but I promised I’d show the good, the bad and the ugly – even though this one ended up slightly in profit it’s still an ugly one. Entry wasn’t perfect, should have waited for the new fractal on the correct side of the purple which corresponds with a fractal outside the HTF alligator’s mouth. And then when it came back down I added on hoping it was now the correct break of AIMS. Had a couple exit signals but my initial stop was above the M5 high, and I just left it there hoping price would go down. And then as soon as it showed some profit I got out to minimise damage. Ugly all round! :ymsick:

EURJPY sell for 2.4 pips and an add on of 1.2 pips for 3.6 pips.

Screen Shot 2013-01-08 at 9.10.09 PM.jpg

3. Were your entries in line with your trading plan? Discuss.

Partial credit. No problem with the two EURUSD trades but the EURJPY was yucky. Should have waited until the new fractal formed on the correct side of the purple and checked then if other criteria were met.

4. Was your trade management in line with your trading plan? Discuss.

First two trades were ok, shouldn’t have taken the EURJPY in the first place and then should have closed it out at the right time with a small rent.

5. Were your exits in line with your trading plan? Discuss.

EURUSD sell yes, EURUSD buy yes, EURJPY no (still ugly)

6. Was your money management in line with your trading plan? Discuss.

Yes. Position sizes calculated in line with account balance and desired risk %.

7. If you had a losing trade were you patient in waiting for the next setup? NEVER SEEK REVENGE.

I put the EURJPY trade down to trying to recoup the EURUSD pips, so my patience wasn’t ideal (probably partly contributed to by the 41 degree heat here and my want for a swim!)

8. If you had a winning trade were you patient in waiting for the next setup? NEVER GET CARRIED AWAY.

Didn’t feel like I rushed after the win, my bigger problem is rushing after a loss.

9. Other points for discussion and general feeling of days trading (include results summary).

Still feel as though I’m overtrading. I look at the best journals and they only take the best setups. I know the rules and know the entries but I find myself thinking “ah I’ll give it a shot”. Need to trade less, only take perfect setups. This isn’t just in response to the one silly trade here, it’s an attitude I need to shake in general. Otherwise though the market has still been pretty flat today and I don’t feel I missed any clear cut setups. Need a bit more work on avoiding the range bound trades as even the first EURUSD winner came back almost immediately after my entry, but happy with the way that was managed. Maybe some wise old heads can suggest how they avoid the initial range bound entries? I suspect it'll refer to the M5 alligator's behaviour.

That's it for today, early start for work tomorrow.

Results summary:

1. +4.5 (4.1 + 0.4)
2. -2.3
3. +3.6 (2.4 + 1.2)

[immy]

Nice Trades, yet strange exits!

I took a couple of them exactly where you took them, not EJ, paid a rent 11.32, 15.42 just now was a 10 pipper, sadly i missed. Not my day i guess.

[Dave]

Wed 9 Jan

1. Did you perform your pre-trading routine?

Yes

2. Did you trade today? If yes, detail your entries including reasons for entry and exit and trade results.

Sat around from LO but wasn’t ever really in tune. Then I got in a bit of trouble and strife for not preparing dinner so it was game over for the night – it is tough trading from 6 or 7 pm, have to keep the peace sometimes (until it’s my fulltime job then I can justify my hours at the computer :-B )

So that's it for today - no trades. See you all tomorrow.

Dave

[wiseambitions]

Wed 9 Jan

1. Did you perform your pre-trading routine?

Yes

2. Did you trade today? If yes, detail your entries including reasons for entry and exit and trade results.

Sat around from LO but wasn’t ever really in tune. Then I got in a bit of trouble and strife for not preparing dinner so it was game over for the night – it is tough trading from 6 or 7 pm, have to keep the peace sometimes (until it’s my fulltime job then I can justify my hours at the computer :-B )

So that's it for today - no trades. See you all tomorrow.

Dave

Hi Dave
You're the guy who has the action plan and I applaud you for this. Sometimes if we act on impulse rather than the plan we are apt to get it wrong!

So you're thinking about a day when this is your fulltime job? I wonder how many on here are in that situation?
It's your sleep time now of course.....
Ray

[Dave]

Correction Ray, it's supposed to be my sleep time! But that's Tomorrow Dave's problem.... once I get an idea in my head I just lie there picturing candles and fractals anyway so I may as well get the idea out then go to sleep peacefully.

So we're hopping between journals a bit but essentially this is a pic of what I mean for the break of the first fractal outside the HTF alligator's mouth (as first mentioned in Ray's journal). Sure these are great examples, but there's no point highlighting the point with pictures of rent trades. These were trades I took in August....

Screen Shot 2012-08-01 at 5.25.58 PM.jpg

Screen Shot 2012-08-10 at 5.22.09 PM.jpg

And here's one from September that doesn't correspond with a cross of ZL on the HTF....

Screen Shot 2012-09-07 at 5.17.02 PM.jpg

Essentially this is the essence of trading the arrows. Immy does a great job of illustrating it in this video, definitely worth a look.
http://itradeaims.net/files/videos/How% ... rrows.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thank you Ray for prompting me to prepare these photos, this has been a great learning activity for me. Ok, now that I'm the theory master it's time to apply this in practice!!! (rofl)

P.s. It's no longer Tomorrow Dave's problem, it's now Today Dave's problem, so definitely time to hit the hay.

[wiseambitions]

Dave
Your article must be the most informative one on this journal from the general membership in the last couple weeks
Thanks for what you put together there
I will need to read it a few times before it makes complete sense but I know what you're getting at

[immy]

Dave!

You've pointed out something very powerful. This is the main concept. When we trade m1, we try to first get into 3, using "the first breakout of AIMS levels" on m5. So we want to tcatch an m1 trade in the direction of the m5 when its just about to start a new trend/wave. At that time m5 may be in fourth and looking for a fresh Wave 3 or it may have seen a 3 and gone through 4 and now we may be entering a 5th wave. Once that is done, we have m5 gators open, those setups are the Highest Probability setups since HTF trends are confirmed. Then comes the time when M5 wave starts peaking, AO bars are too big on m5, and whenever there is a setup on m1, u look a m5 and the wave is kind of too old. u may be going into 4th again. We stop. We look at m5 chart and see that we had a breakout and then there was a mid section of the wave of m5 and now its the end, the gator on m5 is closing, we don't take setups on m1. Thats the essense. And there is always a bit of confusion but you gotta trust the market, trust yourself, and most importantly trust the Setup! and go for it knowing that you've covered your arse by not taking too big a risk!


I hope it makes sense.

[Dave]

Thur 10 Jan

1. Did you perform your pre-trading routine?

No. When I turned on my charts there were computer issues so I spent half an hour sorting it out then didn’t stop to do the routine. Having said that, I felt focused after yesterday’s research and chart preparation and feel like I’m more in tune with what I’m looking for (thanks again to Ray for prompting the picture prep!)

2. Did you trade today? If yes, detail your entries including reasons for entry and exit and trade results.

Started just after London Open and am now keenly looking for the first break of the fractal outside the M5 alligator’s mouth, and if that fractal hasn’t reset/reformed then I don’t want to take it. Having said that, my first trade was brash, looking for M1 W5 short on EURJPY. I was also a bit slow to close this, should have done so immediately on the opposite dot, but I held for just a fraction longer and it cost me a couple pips. Not thrilled with this one.

EURJPY sell for – 6.7 pips

Screen Shot 2013-01-10 at 8.32.57 PM.jpg

But then the next setup was exactly what I want to trade, funnily enough was very shortly after and opposite to the loser. First pic is what it looked like before the break. I closed at the M15 high on a limit knowing that that would cover the previous loser, which I know isn’t the right attitude. Still no exit dot, currently would be +18 pips (not counting add on possibilities) unless trailing candle after 5 consecutive of same colour, which would have given about the same I got.

EURJPY buy for +8.7 pips

Screen Shot 2013-01-10 at 8.43.12 PM.jpg

Screen Shot 2013-01-10 at 8.48.09 PM.jpg

Turns out I could have taken EURUSD at the same time with similar signal but my focus was on EURJPY so I missed it. Potential for 30+ pips and add ons. Ah well. Hoping some you grabbed it.

3. Were your entries in line with your trading plan? Discuss.

First entry wasn’t horrible but it didn’t match my intention of outside M5 fractals. Second was spot on. Just wish I'd taken the blinkers off and shifted my focus from EURJPY for just a second.

4. Was your trade management in line with your trading plan? Discuss.

EURJPY has minimum stop of 10 pips so it’s tough to trail closely, more of a mental management.

5. Were your exits in line with your trading plan? Discuss.

Should have taken the earlier close on trade 1, happy with the exit at the target on trade 2 though I can’t help but think of the possibilities if I’d held on and added.

6. Was your money management in line with your trading plan? Discuss.

Yes. Position sizes calculated in line with account balance and desired risk %.

7. If you had a losing trade were you patient in waiting for the next setup? NEVER SEEK REVENGE.

Yes I was prepared to be patient, it just happend to set up immediately.

8. If you had a winning trade were you patient in waiting for the next setup? NEVER GET CARRIED AWAY.

Stopped after the winner with small daily profit, early start for work tomorrow (and today was tough after late night last night).

9. Other points for discussion and general feeling of days trading (include results summary).

Yesterday’s research has really focussed my mind, onward and upward!

Results summary:

1. -6.7
2. +8.7