Another minnow that I should have left alone, especially as I was already in another trade when I took this one. I was lured in by the impulsive move to create the daily High.
I lost more than I should have with trade after moving the stop. Both trades where I have moved the stop have been minnows and have lost the most, something I seriously need to cut out.
When I said that I would take the trade again at 07:58, I quite literally had the chance to take it again, with an entry and stop loss in almost the same place, but this time with a much more clear impulsive move leading up to it.
(09:47am) Update:
I ended up losing -0.98R on this trade due to greed and bad management of an active trade. Anticipating a move up to the Daily EQZ at 11693.8, I moved my profit target up to 3R, hoping to cover the previous losses and make some profit in the process. I had two chances to cash in at almost 2R, and then as price fell down through Yes. High I could have taken myself out for break even or a small profit.
Instead, I held on with hope that price would turn around, even though the H1 Bull Channel was proving resistive, followed by a clearly bearish impulsive move where I hesistated and sat on my hands, when I should have been cutting my losses.
1hour MAB, Lo-Hi GZ, a no-brainer, in my eyes. I couldve held the trade and been more patient, but I wasn’t sure if the previous SUPCON would now act as RESCON and push price back down, so took the +1.48R.
A couple of losing trades to start the day. The first one (pictured below 07:52) was a minnow that I shouldnt have taken. The presence of Yes. High lured me into taking the trade but there wasn’t much of an impulsive move beforehand, and not much other structure in confluence. I moved the stop behind the Daily Bull Channel as support, which resulted in a -1.41R loss.
The second trade (above, 07:58) was much better in terms of trading off the structure. The 4hour, 15min and 5min emas were in play, confluent with the Hourly EQZ border, 5min EQZ and Daily Bull Channel. Although I should have paid some more attention to the H1 MAB that was forming, the SUPCON was convincng enough that I would take this trade again.
Hi Joel,
As I read your blog I can SO identify with your emotional challenges!! They are universal to all traders…
Just a quick comment on taking trades around 8am, price can spike alot at times and in the past I’ve been stopped out when in a trade only to see price then move in the right direction. As a rule of thumb after 7:45am I’ll very rarely enter a trade unless I’m already in one.
I then wait until price has settled down after 8am…..
At the end of the day our results will tell us how well we’re reading the price action.
As you note, greed and poor trade management can be real profit killers. We must focus on taking quality setups and let them play out, that’s such a challenge and one I’m working through myself…
Keep going 🙂
Thanks Phill, with a more consistent daily trading routine I should be able to iron out those creases.
I was actually expecting a spike in price at the 8am open, but was hoping it would spike in my favour.
Is there rhyme or reason to the direction of the spike, or just what the market is feeling like on the day? A look at the daily chart suggested we were in for a bullish day, so I thought perhaps bulls would be getting in there from the off.