3-19-2013

My Notes:

I had big trouble finding the trend line today and it cost me.  I could not figure out how to draw it off the swings.  I did have "a" trend line drawn but during my whole trading session I knew it wasn't correct.  I just couldn't find it, very frustrating b/c that should be the easiest part.  I notice that when I take a losing trade this frustration builds up inside of me and I get pissed so that indicates I am very very very far away from going live.  I have to get to the point where a win doesn't excite me and a loss doesn't frustrate me.  It's good to come back to reality in the fact that I am no where near ready to go live b/c days like yesterday build a false sense of confidence.  Today shattered all of that and I am really frustrated right now.  I think I did an okay job of following my rules but I definitely made up some trades or fudged the rules to fit a made up trade.  AT LEAST 95% OF MY LOSING TRADES IS BECAUSE OF CRAP I MAKE UP!  Since I have been doing these reviews I have only seen one trade that fit Mack's rules and was a losing trade.  Every other time it has been me not reading the price action and applying his trades correctly.  

I still have so far to go.  At this rate I'll be lucky to go live by the end of the year.  I better start thinking realistically of not going live until at least July 2014.  Otherwise if I'm anywhere near this level of trading when I go live I'll bust the account within a month.

Mack's Notes:

He mentioned that there were not too many trades to day and that other people had problems finding the trend.  Mack's correctly drawn trend lines are in the dotted black.

When you see a pattern once in a day it will probably repeat itself later in the day.  

He said if you are having trouble finding shorts in a down trending market then draw a line going up when price starts to retrace up.  Price will sometimes follow it up then come down through it, make a new high and then when it turns down again that is your signal to go short.  I drew a couple of them in green on the chart as an example.

If your entry bar after the signal bar ends in a doji then get out of the trade at BE or for a 1 or 2 tick profit if you can.

My Trades:

1.  2nd entry short off of resistance level.  Good trade.

2.  2nd entry short off of resistance level.  Great trade.  I was thinking that price would eventually test the over night lows since it seemed like we were in a range and that's exactly what happened.  I had my stop 2 ticks above the over night lows.  Good planning and thought process!  Good job on recognizing that price was in a range.

3.  2nd entry long off of support from the overnight low.  It had a good short trap previously and the bars were starting to close on the highs but unfortunately I got hit bad by this trade.  Good thought process and I followed my rules but horrible result.  Since I thought we were in a range we would bounce up at least for a scalp.  WE did from the lows but I entered in too high for a scalp.  I need to work on this b/c the 2nd entry had me in too high.  After looking at Mack's video this was a HORRENDOUS trade.  He said to go short where I went long.  Just a horrible trade.  It was a 2nd entry short and a 2 legged pullback.  Geez, I misread this horribly.  Almost every loss I have is b/c of my mistake.  Not Mack's rules and reading price action correctly.

4.   2nd entry short off of the trend channel and support turned resistance.  If I was paying attention I would not have taken the trade b/c there were 2 dojis previously to the left.  Horrible trade due to not paying attention to the dojis on the left.

5.  2nd entry short.  When price breaks out of the channel for the first time look for price to retest it's lows or make a new low at least once.  I also liked the double top for the 2nd entry.  Good trade.  I had not drawn the purple line yet.  I was going off the blue line.  

Missed Trades:

1.  Look at trade #3.  This was a 2nd entry pullback 2 legged short to the EMA.  I went long here.  Horrible trade on my part.  I got totally confused (obviously).  

2.  2nd entry short and 2 legged pullback to the EMA.  I called it but didn't take it b/c it wasn't on the trend channel.  Mack said when  you have a 2 legged pullback with a 2nd entry short to the EMA then you have to take it b/c it rarely fails and has a very high success rate.

3.  2nd entry short off of upper trend channel.  This is Mack's trend channel that I drew after I was done trading.  This is a trade I would take if I had drawn the trend line correctly.