Kyle's Journal Mk2

[immy]

Hi Kyle, there is a divergence before your trade signal? Can you spot it? most people don't pay attention to this...
Moreover there is another point worth noting, i'll leave it to you if you can find it...

[Kyle]

Thanks for the input there Immy. always good to learn something else, however, not sure about the other thing that is seen there. maybe I am looking too hard with it? Apart fromt he fact that a valid entry is break from channel and retrace for a seed/cherry. The second DS=0 trade did not break from the channel and did not really come back to it after the first entry. I took it more as a continuation which quite possibly could be incorrect, or lower probability.

Now, Tues 26th was not available to trade LO as Ryan was home, but from the charts, it looked rather a poor session anyway. I was, however, able to look at NEO. I firstly saw a valid setup just prior to NEO with a break from channel and retrace to cherry, then seed - both invalidated and then another cherry came up. Took that and PO was taken. Unfortunately, just after SL moved to BE, it was taken out at the BE level and then fropped, but it was a nice valid signal.
A little later on, we had an identical scenario -the pull away from channel and retrace into a seed. The PO was taken at the next candle and within two minutes, I had 2R's stored away nicely.

Two trades for the session, 2R result and DS=1 on each trade. Good session.

2016-04-26_NEO.png

[Kyle]

Not a very good day today discipline wise. I seemed to know what i had done wrong, but still didn't heed those learnings. Think I might not have been in the right head space. Shows the importance of a little meditation beforehand to get in the right mindset. I seemed a bit too eager to take a trade, rather than make sure of it. yesterdays trades showed how it should be done, with channel on an angle, price pulling away and retracing back a good amount towards the channel. today, I took three entries too quick, and retraces were not enough, channel was not angling meaning trend wasn't confirmed at all. Just a bad day at the office as such.

I will learn from it though.

Firstly LO

2016-04-27_LO.png

Trade 1 was OK, with the channel angled, BO away from it and pulled back - possibly not quite enough, but enough for me to give it a DS1 score. the trade was a BE trade.
Trade 2 was in a much better spot and would trade it any day. also a BE trade though.
Trade 3 seemed OK to me, however,W5 had not quite printed but I should have recognised it. TZ1 had been passed and as such should not have been a trade, so DS=0 for that one to end LO session.

Then NEO

2016-04-27_NEO.png

Let's just say I did not learn, and the -3R for the day will make sure I think about it properly. Could/Should have easily been a 0R day and DS intact, but will have to work real hard not to lose any more DS to close out this T20. End of the day, it is on 13/17, so it must reach 16/20 which will be two in a row at that level. Next T20 needs to increase by two more.
Anyway, on to the disappointing session.
Trade 1 clearly did not have a good break out from channel and it is almost horizontal. Should not ahve been a trade, but i was too keen to enter. Deserved the DS0 there.
Trade 2 was considered a DS0 for me again, this time as the retracement was hardly a retracement at all. Shoudl be looking at much closer to the channel from there, kind of where the end of those bullish bars ended up. that would have been a good spot.

So in all, not a good day, but I recognise that and will learn from it. I will be much more patient tomorrow and into the future. Let's get the DS back on track.

[Kyle]

Didn't take a trade today, but thought I'd mention a few things - my own thoughts and a hesitation, as well as an overview of today's sessions chart.

I came into the session much more relaxed than yesterday, which was a great start. I was a bit late though, due to work, but already resolved I'd get home relaxed and not worry about things out of my control there. Looked at the chart and there was already some action. One seed that I might have been interested in at 1005, but looking at the chart, it may have been hard to get in to. Who knows, and I wasn't there, so not to care.
I was in though with the 1047 seed. Some were interested in the Skype room, but I wasn't as it had not really broke out of the channel, and the channel was almost horizontal, so no real trend there, which invalidated it for me.
Move to No.2 on the chart and I was very interested. There was a prior break from the channel and retrace back towards it - actually hitting it and rejection. Unfortunately, it took off too quick for me, so I didn't enter, but one of the guys in the trading room did manage to get in and it rode to a sweet 2R. Remembering, angle on channel, break from channel, retrace and signal.
No.3 and 4 on the chart had the break away, but not really retraced back towards channel enough. The angle was much better, but too far from channel.
An important thing was mentioned in the chat, which really explains it for me. "When there is a rubber band effect, i won't take hunt". So, if it pulls right away from channel, the likelyhood of continuation is less until it comes back a bit and reduces stretch on that rubber band. A good analogy for me anyway.
Now, trades 5 and 6 had the same angle on channel, much better retrace from the breakout and cherry appeared. I hesitated on this - possibly from yesterdays trades - but it was an ideal setup and should have been taken. MZ took this one as well, and took a second 2R from the session. Great work from him.

So, today's session was a not trade for me, but 4R was available from crisp setups. Lesson again in hesitation, but I will get better from the realisation.

Chart attached

2016-04-28_LO.png

[immy]

and a solid 6 R for HUNT in NEO session... Pedro was off, for sure

[Kyle]

OK, NEO session is done and dusted for me. leaving it half an hour early, but picked up some good trades and feel much better about things, as far as my own consistency goes.

2016-04-28_NEO.png

I have labelled every signal that came up;
1. Channel was angulated so we were in an up trend, and price did break out from channel and came back for cherry then seed signal. the decision to trade was a DS=1, but the result is mixed. I went long on the cherry, but when the seed printed, I cancelled the PO and placed a fresh one which had a smaller SL and TP level. unfortunately, it hit the SL to the pip (those crazy, zany brokers again moving the price just to stop me out). IF I kept the original cherry trade, the SL would not have been hit and TP achieved. Even in hindsight though, I am happy that I did the correct thing, and it simply didn't work this time. DS=1
2. Obvious breakout and channel angle. I hesitated as I wondered if it retraced enough - that part is the objective part and not quite so clear cut. "Feel" is important there and I am still developing that. Anyway, if the trade was taken, it was a nice 2R
3, 4, 5, 6. I had no interest in any of these trades, and stated so in the Skype room. We had angulation of channel and was still "broken out" as such, but felt the rubber band principle was in effect here, and it had stretched enough away from channel to need to retrace more - left alone which in hindsight was a good move. -1R and DS=0 was on offer, but I chose not to take it.
7. Now, it had retraced enough, almost to the channel and I entered the PO. taken almost straight away and lingered for ages. Volatility had slowed. Soon got the SL to BE making it risk free and before long, momentum came back and pushed to 2R for a nice DS=1 again. Good to return to multiple DS=1's. many more in a row to come.
8, 9. were both filtered on the basis that they were some way away from the channel (rubber band) and chose not to take them. It could have been another 2R, but I think the probability was much lower, so not worth taking. Still happy with that choice.

A side note. I want to trade S1's and S2's as well, but had that window open in the background. I will now ahve both open and available to see at the same time. today was massive for the S1/S2 trades as per the following chart.

2016-04-28_NEO2.png

Almost a 10R gain on the one set of trades

[Kyle]

London done, and not too much with it to be honest. A few filtered trades and two taken, one a -1R and the other a BE. Good thing is that if I were to have this session again, I would repeat what I traded.
I have marked all signals
1. Filtered as it hadn't returned to channel enough. Rubber band effect not over in my opinion.
2. We had the breakout from channel, and a good retrace almost back to channel. Took the entry, but got stopped out. High probability but simply didn't work out this time.
3. Almost filtered as TZ1 was fairly close. Made the choice to take it as moving SL to BE was inside TZ1. As it happened, it bounced right off TZ1 and back to BE. DS=1 on this one too.
4. No real breakout from channel and the channel not showing much of a trend. Filtered

So, the day finished -1R and two DS=1's

2016-04-29_LO.png

I have finished another batch of T20's, and now have two 16/20 in a row. Aim obviously to lift that by at least two more in the coming T20's

[Kyle]

OK, week and month completed now. Finished on a nice note.
First NEO Hunt trades.
There were no valid trades for me. There was one signal, numbered 2, that I filtered. W5 was identified, and TZ1 was right below it. The rest looked fine. The breakout was fine and pullback OK as well. If I took it, it would have hit BE after going to 1:1. Note how it bounced off TZ1 to the pip.

2016-04-29_NEO_Hunt.png

I also watched "The Setup" on my other screen and when I first came in for NEO, it was nicely set up already, with gator sleeping and box under 15 pips. Entered the PO based on my 1% and it took it straight away, then almost came to within a pip of SL before going down. Thanks immy for leaving the chatroom so it would do that for me (I think I was the only one left). I didn't get the first addon in as I hadn't set up ATM to do the right size lots. The box was well over 15 pips, but by the time I sorted that out (looked in my history for the last 10 pip SL trade I took and transferred that lot size to ATM), the second box was ready, so I put in the add on. That was taken and it hit TZ1. Since it was a W5, I decided to trail the candles at that point, and the next candle gave 5 red ones in a row anyway, so management was as it should be from there. It soon got stopped out with a net return of 3.5R's. Very nice finish to the week.

2016-04-29_NEO_S1.png

That closes out both the week and the month. It was nice to look at myfxbook and see the trade periods window a sea of green ie profit for day, week, month and year
Anyway, below are my trades for the month and broken down stats on the side of it. I have covered up the $$ amounts as they have no affect on anything but my acct level, but the rest is there to look at if anyone wishes to see. Every trade is timestamped as per MT4 time, so can be referred to easily.

2016-04_Results.png

Looking forward to a much better May in regards to my DS trades, which will also make quite a difference to my end results.

[immy]

Kyle

Congratulations for finishing the month in a good manner. Great post and recording of your trades is smashing. This is where its good to be an engineer. Precision in record keeping could make difference.

cheers

ps: that s1 short and its management , 100% First Class

[Kyle]

Thanks Immy. I feel a few extra learnings have come of late - or some realisations and making it simpler really makes a difference, although I did niss some nice S1's and BO's today while watching the hunt. I will improve on that.

Anyway, first real trading day for me for the week. Monday was public holiday and Ryan was here yesterday, so kept off trading while distracted. Today was a pretty good day selection wise. There were quite an amount of setups, but careful selection of trades worked quite well in my opinion. Firstly LO Chart;

2016-05-04_LO.png

Long, boring, watching paint dry type of chart for over 3/4 of the session with not a single signal in that time, but in the last half an hour, there were 7 signals, of which two had PO's placed. I'd take those trades any day and in the end, the session closed out as a BE session, but more importantly, a DS of 2/2. Signals were as follows;
1. Good bearish cherry, and it had broken out of channel, but no retrace and rubber band effect likely still - filtered. Also only first dark bar (early)
2. Much smaller cherry, but filtered for same reason as no.1
3. Pulled away further, but waiting on a retracement
4. Filtered as too far from channel. Would like it to come back a bit.
5. Interested now, but PO was replaced by the next one.
6. Nice small seed. it had returned towards channel somewhat, and took the PO. Nice push through 1:1, but got stopped out at BE. DS=1
7. Good Cherry (prefer cherry's over seeds). Took PO but again was stopped out at BE.

New York Equities

2016-05-04_NEO.png

Starts out pretty flat, but soon does breakout and return near the channel with a cherry.
1. Cherry. Breaks out and returns twds channel. PO placed, almost hits 1:1, but falls back to SL. -1R but DS=1
2. Was inside channel so not interested - would ahve not activated PO anyway.
3. Broken out of channel, but not pulled back very much. Quite happy to filter.
4. Cherry filtered from strong bullish move.
5. To be honest, I was interested in this one, however, it took off pretty fast and I didn't manage to get a PO in. Would have been a -1R, so lucky miss.
6. Channel heading up, so shorts not valid.
7. Not too interested as channel was flat. It had broken out from channel but also no retracement
8, 9 and 10 all filtered as we had gone into a sideways range, lacked structure and momentum was simply drying up. Almost the end of the session, so enough for the day.

In hindsight, we saw that 8, 9, 10 would have hit 2R, but happy with leaving them alone. as I want CDLC setups, and not striking at every signal that comes up. Session in my opinion was a DS=1/1

A good thing from today was that I was looking at the trades before the signal an assessing them, so when the signal came, I had already decided whether to trade or not. Makes the selection of the trade so easy and effortless in the end.

Bank Holiday in Germany tomorrow, so possibly no active trading now until NFP and then NEO afterwards.