Better Prep, Patience & Discipline

P/L: £+19.50     R +0.8

Just trying to do the Prep, have the Patience to wait for the correct trade and then trade it with Discipline.
Had a meeting so had to finish 30 mins early...

A HL - HH makes my initial bias long.
1.  Minor TLB prepares me for possible reversal at a test of trend extreme , but bias remains long.
2. Major TLB and LL changes my bias almost entirely short , but must stay with long until an unsuccessful BO of trend extreme (LH).
3. LH Short,  felt a bit early to me but following the PA which did look good. Good Entry, Good Discipline.  R 1.5
4. LH Short,  again felt a bit early, wanted a RL to 1.37694. "correct entry", "correct execution",  but would like to improve it.  My thought of waiting for a RL to 1.37694 was correct and also could have exited on tick above signal bar's high not waiting for ISL to be hit.  R-0.7
5. Major TLB and HH , but bias remains short  until an unsuccessful BD of trend extreme.
6. BW (pink elipse) WTF?! waiting this out.
7. there was another V messy LH short but it would have got stopped out.

Preparation Remains the Problem

P/L £-17.70     R -1

SUMMARY

Bit of a rush this AM.  Woke with conjunctivitis (Latin for puss in the eye) and needed to pop to the walk-in-centre first thing before the queue was enormous, so started earlier than usual (0700GMT) instead of 0730GMT... 

Due to rush but mainly due to messing with my preparation method yesterday (and mentally with it over the WE) I managed to fuck something  that was unfuckable, which is quite a feat really! I now realize what a tisswoss my head is in...So I now just need concentrate on unfucking my prep method (both on paper and and in my head) before I do anything else.   

The funny thing is I know it isn't the market, if anything the market is "trying" to help me.  It's just me being a dick.  Maybe I should have gone to the doctor about that instead? (probably wouldn't have liked the cure though).

For future reference reading this back it sounds like I'm in a fowl mood, but I'm actually quite jolly today! 

Here's the trade.  It makes no sense because I was reading the TLBs wrong. 

There were a series of HLs so market was trending up and my initial bias was long (and should have stayed so).

1. TLB  bias short = wrong because price hadn't then made a LL and LH

2. TLB bias short = wrong because price hadn't then made a LL and LH

3. should have got long here...

4. Instead got short here because my bias wrong (short) so wanted to short next RL (a HH! WTFWIT?!) bad entry,  good management R -1

OUT TO DOCTOR missed the following...

5 ,6,7.  TLB , LL+LH =  Bias truly short now!

8. short next RL, correct but wasn't around for it...

Frustration With Adapted Prep Method, Reverting to Old One! ;)

PL:  £-20.16         R -1

SUMMARY
Tried a simpler method of price action preparation today... it was seriously frustrating because it was too slow, so I was always 2 steps behind market action. I was basically waiting for a close below a Higher Low to confirm a down trend, a close above a lower high to confirm an uptrend and thinking of entering on a PB (long) or RL (short).

Series of HLs =  looking for longs
1.  H1 long, had to hold through PB (5 mins of pain), going smooth then Bam ISL hit.  Poor Trade because Price preparation was too slow.  R-1

Had I used my unadjusted Price action preparation method of TLs, TLBs with HLs and LHs I would have had a far happier day....

Series of HLs = bias long
1. TLB =  bias turns short,  sell on next RL...
2. short on L1 after TL break, good trade. R 2
3. TLB =  bias turns long,  buy on next PB
4. long on H1 after TL break. R 2

Week Summary 141213 (100th Post!)

Just before I start I would like to mention that this is my 100th post. I have never kept a blog for longer than about 30 posts before and the thought of 100 posts in those days seemed like a real achievement.  In reality as I sit here writing it I realize that it is no more important than the 1st, 2nd, 50th or 99th (they are all equally important as each one quite literally marks a step in the right direction). It feels like this blog has a little life of it's own and is currently such a part of my own life I would not feel complete without it. It obviously would not exist without me but it's questionable if it would have lasted this long or made as much progress without the comments, communication, help and encouragement from other traders who have nurtured it (and me for that matter). It sounds quite wet but I feel an overwhelming feeling of gratitude towards the blog, my blogging friends and even a little bit to myself for starting and maintaining it.

Anyway I'll dry tears,  reattach my penis and do this summary :-)

Intraday Weekly PL:£-37.67      R   -1.77

POSITIVES
1. Good Prep,  Patience and Discipline in the first half of the session

NEGATIVES
1. Started week with 20EMA bias
2. Started week with too much bias on TLs rather than LHs, HLs and horizontal lines!
3. Not having enough faith in or identifying W bottoms and M tops
4. discretionary exit (poor TSL method)
5.  using a hi wave candle as a trigger!
6. getting lazy with prep(chart annotations) later in session BIGGEST ISSUE!
7.  poor Patience  later in session (to wait out the BW).  

FIXES
1. removed 20EMA, don't need it!
2. Just got to focus on HLs, LHs and mark them with Horizontal TLs as a guide. In an uptrend if price is making HLs and a PB can't close below the prior HL  stay long.
3. I have added W/M to my Intraday method. in an up trend if price makes a LH after a PB = M top.
4. Poor TSL method. need 2 solid closes with trade then track each subsequent close with trade.
5. Clearly add to guide no trading on hi wave candles
6&7. Laziness is a psychology issue. I get a bit bored start tweeting, or writing up my blog post and volia miss the trade. My motivation should be on getting a good trade.  That self help line "whatever you are thinking about is in the process of becoming" comes to mind.  But I think a more accurate way of saying this is "Good or Bad, whatever you are thinking about is in the process of becoming".  My mind slips and I start thinking I'm bored and want entertainment (ie twitter / blog) and that's precisely what I get.  Entertainment but no trades because I'm too busy doing something else (the thing that I'm thinking about most, entertainment).

ADDITIONS
Forgot to Grade all my trades! (pain in the ass when trying to do a summary!)

SWING TRADES despite mentioning these last week they hadn't actually hit their PTs.  They have now so R+4 hurrah!

SUMMARY
My prep and discipline / laziness were the real issues this week....
I spotted 8 good trade entries (all honestly spotted in realtime). But were not all taken due to wrong focus, or taken and badly managed. I also spotted and traded 2 bad trade entries. But even so if I'm risking 1% on all trades I should still technically be up for the week.  Although the PL doesn't show it, this week feels like a victory because I can honestly say hand on heart that I am seeing more correct trades than incorrect ones.  I also understand where the problems lie. Admittedly these won't be the easiest things in the world to fix but they're certainly not impossible. Might be nice to aim for a BE week next week.

Focus on HLs and LHs and S&R (not TLs)

P/L £-8.40      R-0.4

1. TLB of UWTL  =  looking for Shorts,  this was incorrect  as price PB to the prior HL but did not break it.  The fact is broken/unbroken HLs in uptrends and LHs in downtrends are the best trend indicator.  Just like yesterdays action.
2. Had I concentrated solely on the strong prior HL I would have got long at 2 a PB to it. Price entered BW so just needed to sit this out until some clearer action came along. good trade
3. Not actually BW as none were doji, it was the 3 overlapping hi wave bars that made me fearful...  however none of them were doji so not actually BW.
4.  real BW so waited out...
5.  LL bias changes to Short,  looking for a RL entry
6. L1 short. stopped out on TSL ,  good trade Trailed SL too quick (fuck!) R-0.4

SUMMARY
Positive:  eventually got on track watching HLs / LHs and most recent horizontal S&R  (from the HLs/LHs).  Did see and could honestly have traded 2 had I not been TL obsessed.
Negatives:  had a real bias for trendlines at the beginning of the day that threw me off.  I could have traded 2 long! Also Trailed SL too quick on 6!

Stopped Prepping Action. Mistakes Took Over!

P/L: £-14.70   R -0.67

DWTL TLB + HH =  looking for a long entry on a PB

1. H1 long, into 1.38 but worth a scalp, got slipped nasty on Entry. Exit TSL. Good trade. R-0.23
2. Saw the M top at 1.38,  guess this was the best trade, but didn't have a TL break to confirm it. Need to consider that a trend change has occurred on Ms (HH-LH) and Ws LL-HL). Good Trade
TLB =  bias turns short,  waiting for RL entry.
3. Was thinking of getting short here when price took out the long SLs at bar 0.
4. L1,  not a great trade as signal bar was a massive doji,  exit on TLB bad trade. R -0.44
Price had entered BarbWire with 3 + large bars overlapping. BUT HAD FAILED TO LABEL THIS. HAD I DONE SO I WOULD HAVE WAITED FOR MORE ACTION TO UNFOLD. USING THE LHs AS MY GUIDE TO STAY SHORT.
DWTLs ? were difficult to draw after BW, I must look to the LHs / HLs for direction when this occurs. They would have kept me on track.

SUMMARY
Positive: Good Prep,  Patience and Discipline in the early up move. Unlucky with first trade.  Slow to react off M top but as this wasn't in my rules I traded it correctly (although I will make a change)
Negative: Got lazy in the down move with poor Prep (not labelling LHs and BW!) Patience (to wait out the BW).  But the problem started with PREP! had I ID'd the BW and continued to label the LHs I would have known the that 4 was untradeable , had known the trend remained down due to the LHs and had the patience to wait for a good setup.

Good Read, Lesson Learnt

Series of HLs = looking for Longs

1. Although price didn't close below the UWTL,  it opened below it which was not the strength I wanted to see to encourage a long. I'm not sure if an open below a TL is near enough to a TLB to take the otherside or whether a definitive close is required, I guess time will tell (YES IT WAS). Also the prior candles had tall upper shadows and one was near a RB shape which show weakness.
2. MTOP Saw this Failed H1 (or L2) but Due to confusion from 1 I did not take it (shame). good trade
3. Real body breaks TL =  bias turns to long, waiting for a PB entry.
4. Real body breaks TL =  bias turns to short., waiting for a RL entry.

SUMMARY
Another good read.  I felt I kept up to speed with price action well and recognized most opportunities and threats. It was just the uncertainty of 1 that made me sit out 2.  It's not that I didn't recognize the trade, it's that I was not sure whether it was yet an opportunity due to the indecisive TLB.  I now know I can use any part of the real-body on the other side of the TL as a break signal. 

Swing Trade 251113 Update

R +4

Both my long EU and short UC swings hit their PTs last night.

Problems Started with a Discretionary Exit

P/L: £-14.57    R -0.7    

Initially a series of LHs gave me a bias to the short side...

1. TLB /HH =  bias turns to long,  waiting for a PB entry.
2. Failed L1 long. R + 0.1 ( should have held what's the difference between +0.1% gain and -0.1% TSL loss really?!) Good trade
3. PB Long,  terrible entry because signal bar was a massive doji/Hi wave showing indecision, poor trade.  R - 0.8
4. TLB = bias turn to short
5. RL Short, missed, had lost concentration and having breakfast good trade.

OBSERVATION
their will likely be 2 legs of any move, ( 2 with trend,  one counter). When the 2nd w trend TL breaks this is the higher and earliest probablity CTT.

SUMMARY
Another good read.
Fault1.  should have held first trade,  with TSL, discretionary exit!
Fault2. Entering at bar 3 , despite direction being correct you can't use a hi wave candle as an entry because it is essentially a wide range =  indecision. using a hi wave candle as a trigger!
Fault3. Failed to take Bar 5 trade but this was because I stopped labeling the chart with my read notes. which meant i lost my way. Failed to continue writing read notes on chart!

Incorrect Focus

Price had made a series of LHs so I was initially looking for shorts, this was until price broke the LT DWTL (1). This indicated trend weakness and my bias changed to longs from this point but I had to wait (patiently) for the correct action to unfold (it was either going to range or reverse). Price put in a W bottom I was thinking of buying around 1.37 (2 above a tall bull /failed L1), but felt it was a little early (this was probably the correct entry but I was being too careful).  Once price made the HH (at 3) the trend had definitely reversed and I was waiting for a PB entry. I then missed the perfect entry (4) because I was too caught up with waiting for a PB to the 20EMA (just like JMF3 said to avoid EMA bias in http://eurusdtradejournal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/informed-observation-correct.html comment, duh?!) and I was preoccupied sorting out a new tenancy agreement for a flat I rent out.

1. DWTL BO =  trend weakness
2. W bottomMissed Long entry =  thinking of getting long above it's highs where a lot of bear stops would likely be placed  from the i bar short from the following bar. good trade
3. initial HH =  trend reversal
4. PB H1 entry long good trade

SUMMARY
This was actually a very good read but...
Not entering on the failed H1 (2) was stupid.  But at least I recognized this as an entry (this is an improvement!) The other two issues (20EMA bias and focus on flat rather than trading) are entirely my fault. 1. I should have removed the 20EMA days ago and 2. I could have got the flat sorted over the weekend,  despit being ill this is pretty easy work!

Week Summary 071213

POSITIVES
1. Actually made a small profit for the week in my intraday trades. 1% 
2. Swing trades nearly hit PTs so up near 4%. Trades can be seen here http://eurusdtradejournal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/swing-trade-reversal.html.
3. Expanding Triangle identification.  
4. Trading BO/BD instead of PB/RL when PB/RL offer poor RRR to trend extreme (due to stops adding momentum).

NEGATIVES
1. Ill,  on antibiotics.
2. Being too greedy in an overextended trend. Should have been happy with a scalpers profit (Trade 1 041213)
3. Trading "with trend" when trend has probably turned! (Trade 2 051213)
4. Not always listening to the market.

FIXES
1. Cannot be helped, just got to get better.  Guess I could have looked after myself a little better (have been burning the candle at both ends).
2.&3. are really one and the same. They are both a case of being late to the party/ trend change. In both cases a major trendline (10 bars +) had been broken. When a major TL breaks you must only expect a test of the prior extreme (scalpers profit) and be getting ready to take the other direction.
4. As Al Brooks says the market operates in a gray zone where nothing is absolute. However I would say it acts in a cumulative way. in both 2&3 the market had made several topping signals.  2 legs up,  M/W,  TL break. Look for and be happy with a cumulation of signals of trend weakness rather than perfection.

ADDITIONS
TBH L/H 1s can be traded in a strong trend and it can get very frustrating waiting for an L2/H2 that never actually occur in this situation.

SUMMARY
Mixed week really. I am happy that I've ended in profit and feel I have made some progress in my observations / price action reading. Always room for improvement though, as can be seen above.

All the Things I Hate

Had to pop to doctors this AM (hate doing that)...

Was initially quite disappointed to have missed the session but seeing the action later was rather relieved. Although there was what looked like down trend in place, it was actually an expanding triangle (which I fucking hate). I know there are more correct ways to identify an expanding triangle but for it is simply when the preceding price action has made a HH then a LL (or vis versa), drawing trendlines to these from prior highs and lows and price is still within them. I would had to have waited for a BOPB or BDRL of this area before trading because to me I have no edge in these situations.

I was aware that NFPs (hate these too!) were out later and have never particularly liked trading around them, even in the London AM session. Perhaps with both these factors I might have avoided this mornings action. Or perhaps I would have thought I was being lazy and traded out of guilt ( probably more likely).

Trade Pullbacks in Early Trend, Breakouts in Late Trend?

P/L: £+32.67      R 1.5

Series of HLs so looking to get long. Despite "M" top, the UWTL hadn't broken. These are my rules but...

1. was considering getting short at bar 1 when price ticked below the middle of the "M" (taking out the bull stops).

2. EMA/TL PB long, didn't feel good after 2 legs up and a "M" top but trying to follow rules.   R -0.33
3. Trend REV to Short.  TLB - LL - LH. R 1.8
I'm a snotty congested mess = done for day.
4.  would have been a straight forward L1 but I wasn't around for it.

Notes:
Listen to the market.  2 large legs up and a perfect "M" top =  market is topping and look for shorts, did the UWTL really need to break in this circumstance before getting short?

Can't help feeling that PB/RL trades are only really that safe at the beginning of the trend. Once a trend develops its probably better to trade BO/BD as these will take out the Counter trend traders stops and so add momentum to the move as they are forced to cover. Had I done this trade 2 could have been avoided.

Why not go with Trend on Failed Counter Trend Setups?

P/L: £-10.40       R -0.5

Been pretty sick last couple of days. Big thank you for the comments and advice to my last post.  I have skimmed through them.  I'm just waiting for the fog to clear in my head before I get back to you/ pick your brains etc... have deleted 21EMA and put some horizontal S&R on for the time being as suggested. But need to re-read to get full benefits of your recommendations.

Spent the day looking for with trend setups,  most of these were either hard to spot, hard to trade or failed.

Series of LHs = trend down, so initially looking for shorts
1. L1 after a TLBO, thought I'd go against the rules and have a go. Duh! or could have taken a scalpers profit at prior low... R -0.5
2. confirmed a W maybe I should have bought at a tick above the prior bar. Or at least used it as my TSL for trade1.
3. knew I had to get long here but couldn't find an entry, guess it should have been a tick above the prior bar? I guess that was a failed L1 so would have taken out a load of stops.
4. Price in BW, leaving this alone.
5. EMA long. missed exhausted and back in bed. : -(

P/L:  £-10.40  R  -0.5

Notes and observations:
1. An L1 / H1 is very likely to test the prior low/high, however unless the trigger is far enough away from the extreme the RRR will be rubbish.  (good RRR L1/H1 might be worth a scalp).
2. As with trend L1 / H1 often have poor RRR.  I could trade Failed Counter trend L1 / H1 (basically trade BO/BD with trend) as this is where Counter trend traders will have placed there ISL, so there should be strong momentum on a break of these levels.

3. Maybe I should start earlier.  There were and have been on prior days nice move between 0630GMT and 0730GMT.