Pre Trade Notes:
1. Draw all small trends.
2. Look for the bigger trends. If one line doesn't fit at all then it is not the correct trend line. Keep drawing the trend lines until you find the right one.
3. Look for failed 2nd entries.
4. Look to take the 2nd entries when price has broken out of the small trend channel at least one time previously.
5. Do not take trades blindly. Make sure you have the trend line or S/R level in place.
6. If you are CONFUSED AT ALL or have that "unsure" feeling then DO NOT TAKE THE TRADE! You are not recognizing if it is a good setup and are guessing.
Post Trade Notes:
The obligatory one bad trade of the day wasn't a bad trade. I'm still looking at it seeing what I did wrong but I am unsure. Maybe not count those long traps as a 1st entry? That's the only way I could see at how it would have made this trade work and get me in way better than when I got in. I saw the correct setup.
Having the large view chart up helped b/c price was in a big multi-day trend channel and price was easier to spot where it was in relation to the smaller trend channels.
The 1's and 2's represent the 1st and 2nd entry for the trades I take.
I think I was looking too much for a down trend early in the day when I should have been looking for the continuation of the uptrend.
*****I may start not counting wicks as first entries. Something to look back at old charts and see about this.**** May need to email Mack and ask him b/c I think they may be false entries.
Mack's Notes:
None, on vacation.
My Trades:
1. 2nd entry short off of what I perceive at the moment to be the upper trend channel. Got in one tick better than entry. Was able to get a scalp.
2. 2nd entry long with a failed 2nd entry short off of the EMA and what I think is the lower trend line. I am not 100% sure b/c I am having a hard time finding the big trend line at the moment. I had my 2nd contract at the top of the perceived channel.
3. 2nd entry long. Wow...LOL. All I can do is laugh at this b/c it is so frustrating. Price comes down and takes out my stop by just brushing it and then turns up. Don't know what I could have done better the way the bars showed up. I called it perfectly off of the bottom trend line. Very frustrating.
4. 2nd entry long off of the EMA. Had 2nd lot at top of the trend channel.
Missed Trades:
1. @8:30 - 2nd entry long. Would have been a great trade. Wasn't looking for a long here though. Should have since the 2nd leg to the measured move had completed.
2. @9:10 - 2nd entry long. I wasn't looking to go long here b/c I thought it was too close to resistance and I thought we were still in a range. Would have been a great trade!
3. @11:35 - 2nd entry long off of the lower trend channel. I saw this and should have taken it. For some reason I kept thinking the ES was going to break lower today. Should have trusted Mack's rules.
4. @1:37 - 2nd entry long off of the EMA. I could have taken this but didn't want to b/c I thought it was too close to the upper trend channel and the 1st entry was a wick.
Hi Pats-Trader, I accidently found your blog and this is very interesting to me because I am doing near nearly the same thing. I am studying Macks charts since 1,5 years now and try to trade this way. My focus are the DAX in Germany and the ES. Your comments sounds familiar to me, because I struggle sometimes with the same issues. My main problem at this time is that I take the trades to early as in your trade 3 today. What Mack perhaps had said in this situation is: The signal bar you took is not a good looking reversal bar. It was a 2nd Entry, but the bar had a large tail on top. 2-3 bars later you had a good looking reversal bar near the Trendline. Yesterday I had a similar situation were I took a trade too early. It looked like a 2nd Entry but it was only one leg to the EMA. BTW: I use Snagit + Evernote to document the Signals. I have at this time over 8000 Chart snipets to learn from. I am really a big fan of Macks method and I belive that this is the right way to trade. So, I really appriciate what you are doing and I look foreward to see more of what you are doing. Please appologize my english, I am a german. Happy trading, Manfred. BTW: I have started also to publish my Signals in TUMBLR (#daytrading, #priceaction, #trading)
ReplyDeleteHello, thank you for the feedback. Best wishes in your trading as well. I will look into Evernote, that seems like a great idea. Thank you for the advice about how the bars are formed. I think I don't put as much consideration into the bar formation because every day when I compare Mack's charts to mine I notice that the feed from our provider gives us different bar formations so I never know if I'm seeing the same exact bar he is. In fact I know I am not from the comparison of our charts. That is a very good point though and maybe I should focus on what you described. How is trading the DAX? Can you still use a 2000 tick chart and the two point stop loss?
ReplyDeleteYour English is great! Trust me, your Enlgish is one thousand times better than my German...haha.
Trading the DAX is different because of the heavy influence with the S&P. Also the range is different. You have days with 100 Points up and down. My first target is 5 points. Because of the large signal bars I do use a much greater Stop. Therefor I trade the DAX as CFDs, which I can trade very small (1 Point = 1 Euro). I usually take the first trade with 5CFDs. I trade the DAX in the morning and then the ES in the afternoon (German time). The US Market opens at 15:30. BTW: I am looking forward to see Mack's charts again hopefully on 06/24... The comparisons helps me a lot getting better
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