2-28-2013

(After reviewing Mack's video I am not getting the same feed as Mack so many of my bars are different than his which affects some of my trades)

The theme of today for me is do not try to create channels.  If there isn't a clear channel then the market is probably in a range.  I took many losing trades due to trying to force price into a channel when one wasn't there since most of today was a range day.  Days like today are the reason why I am nowhere near ready to go live.  I got destroyed.  I feel the frustration inside of me but I did not make any trades based purely off of the negative emotions from a previous losing trades.  All of my trades were reasoned out and I followed the trades I take except for one at the end which I still felt was okay but maybe after watching Mack's video it isn't.  We'll see.  I could not spot the trend or where the high and low of the range were.  I did recognize that it was a range day at about 10:00am but it was a little late but at least I recognized it so that is a start. After watching Mack's recap I added in the blue range arrows b/c I had forgotten about that when price breaks out of a range it usually goes as high/low as the previous range which is did.  I may come back and redo this day at a later date in the future to see how much I have improved since then.

The best entries are at the far edges of the range.  After a strong trending day the next day can be a range day of consolidation.  That is what today was.

Trade 1:  2nd entry short off of the overnight high with a good signal bar.  I'm good with this trade.  It seemed to have all of the makings of a good trade but made one last push up before turning down.

Trade 2:  2nd entry long off of lower trend channel.  Not sure about this trade.  It may not have been in a trend channel and I was trying to force one.  I was able to get the scalp but looking back I think I was trying to find a channel too hard.

Trade 3:  2 legged pullback long.  Not sure about this trade either.  It worked out for a scalp but I don't think it was a good trade b/c it wasn't off S/R or in a channel.

Trade 3:  2nd entry pullback long.  Again I was looking to hard to make a channel and it was just a short trap off of the EMA that got me good.

Trade 4:  Failed 2nd entry long off of the EMA.  After my long failed it looked like we were in a channel going towards the low of the day.

Trade 5:  2nd entry short.  Again I was looking too hard to make a channel.  There is not a signal bar and price had closed 3 bars above my "fake" channel.  Bad trade.

Trade 6:  Failed 2nd entry long.  I thought price was heading back down to the lows of the day but I forgot the key concept in failed 2nd entries.  Price cannot be closing above the EMA when I am looking for 2nd entry shorts.  Price has to be hitting off of the top of the EMA and only closing below it.  This was another losing trade due to me looking for a trade out of nothing.  If I had remembered about the EMA and where price was closing then I would not have taken the trade.

Trade 7:  Naked support trade.  I thought price would bounce off of the resistance turned support.  It wasn't a 2nd entry long or anything.  Just took it blindly.  Should just have marked this as a trade I considered to take since these types of trades are not in my rules.

Missed Trades:

1.  Mack has it as a 2nd entry long but my charts say a 3rd entry long with a signal bar.

2.  Mack has it as a 2nd entry long with a good signal bar off of support.

3.  Matching highs off of the resistance level.  I missed this b/c I had just entered too early b/c I thought price was in a channel and it was a losing trade.  I didn't recognize that price was in a range and not in a channel.

4.  Price was closing above the EMA and creating higher lows.

5.  Price broke out of the range and closed a couple bars above it.  The resistance had turned into support.

6.  Price had reached the top of the range and created a great signal bar at the top of the channel.