R-0.4: Failed EU Short

Intro: EU price action has been in a range so my plan this week has been to buy at demand and sell at supply.

Trade:  Price returned to an H4 and M30 supply level so I took a short just below the M30 supply level with a stop at the top, hoping there would be some left over sell order there and price would decline into H4 demand. Shortly after entry price retraced much of the bearish bar prior to my entry, this was not  the momentum I wanted to see so I exited at R-0.4.

Summary: Not unhappy with this trade, the plan was clear simple and logical which is all I can ask for.  Only thing I would say is that price had been in this range/congestion for sometime and that in terms of pips it was quite small. As such waiting for a fresher level might have been prudent but not essential.

EU trade:

R-0.5: 3 Failed Shorts

Intro:Can't help seeing that I got the direction wrong on the GU and EJ but still like my trade plans because they were logical and objective.  However the fact is I should have been long with the very strong trend today...Whats the answer? Honestly wrote the answer in a post last month ....Today I did the exact opposite to what it says, that being trading away from the last H4 level that has been hit. In both the GU and EJ the last H4 level that was touched was a demand level so I should have been looking for longs into H4 supply in both pairs.

GU Trade: GU price action had rallied to D1, H4 and M30 supply, I drilled down to the M5 and shorted on a Bearish engulfing pattern, after 3 bars of no downward progress I exited as momentum clearly wasn't showing up.

EJ Trade 1: Got impatient waiting for price to reach H4 supply and traded off a M30 supply level alone, once I realised I was wrong I closed out for a small loss.

here's a video about it...

EJ Trade 2: With the updated M30 supply level (from the pivot high this AM) just overlapping H4 supply I felt I'd have another go at shorting the EJ, again momentum didn't step in so got out on a time/momentum stop. 

R-0.1 GU no momentum

Really shouldn't have got into this trade 8 hours after it triggered and had shown no signs of momentum in the direction i wanted (short). glad i realized this and got out.

Poor prep: this was not a trade institutions were waiting all day for!

R-1.3 Some Failed Shorts

Plan: H4 trend was down on both the EJ and GU,  labeled overhead levels of H4 supply and initiated shorts when price reached these levels on the EJ and GU....

Thoughts: Small losses all round. EJ trade was off a fairly well used level of supply so in my opinion had less chance of working as there was likely not that greater a supply /demand imbalance there any longer.
The GU trades I were happier with as actually they originate from a previously untested supply level but we can see momentum never stepped in and price shot up to the next level.  c'est la vie...

Summary:  Not remotely bothered by any of these trades.  I objectively identified places where I thought there would be a supply/demand imbalance (edge) and waited for price to reach them before trading. Price moved against me which has only further heightened my interest in getting short tomorrow at higher levels where there will be an even greater supply/demand imbalance.

NB: quite wanted to move my stop to BE on all these trades, but resisted the urge.... kind of wish i hadn't but kind of know I shouldn't ha.

R-0.5 Missing M5 trades

Just want to get this down while it's fresh.

Issues
1. missed some good EU trades this AM because I got up at 0830 (late)
2. Honestly when I start day I find it difficult to get right down into the M5 action first thing. It moves faster than I can think! I prefer starting on the M30 chart it's slower and clearer to me.
3. Missed an easy EJ short as I gave up on an M30 supply level too soon.  There was a false break, I assumed the level had no potency left so drilled out to the M30 again to look for a fresher/higher level of supply.
4. Looking at 3 pairs EU, EJ and GU on the M5 is too much for my brain and objectivity to handle.

Solutions
1. get up earlier!
2. After prep spend most of day on M30 chart only drilling down to M5 (with M30 and H4) when a level alert is hit.
3. Have more patience around levels especially on breaks of them!
4. Going to cut out the GU M5 chart for the time being (it's super choppy anyway) and just trade it on the M30.

Charts: all details within...
EU Trades 

EJ Trades

R-0.5 Short GU M30

Plan: H4 trend is down so labelled H4 supply, waited for M30 price to return to it and shorted it there on a LOHP (no particular candle pattern). Planned on shorting into H4 demand but exited after a couple of bars as price action wasn't going my way for a R-0.5 loss which was the correct thing to do (the first loss is always your smallest).

Trade

R-0.8: EURJPY Shorts

H4 was in downtrend so labeled H4 supply. Price retraced to this level so took a short off it initially on the M30 and then on the H1. Both failed but did manage to keep losses small, -0.2R and -0.6R respectively due to trailing stop on trend bars (nearly a time stop on the H1 chart). 

Trade 1

Trade 2

Summary: Happy with first trade as this was in the plan,  unhappy with second trade as this is not what my plan dictates, I'm not even meant to be trading off the H1 chart! However today did highlight a flaw/hole in my plan = what action to take when a trade fails as in trade 1. Let's be honest trade failure is no rarity so this is quite an oversight, in the past I have SAR'd (stop and reversed) the position but this is a little harder to plan on longer timeframes and keep decent RRR's. 

NB: after 2.5 bars the H1 trade was still at break even,  despite it inherently being wrong I feel a time stop could really have started to have been entertained by that sort of time not the full 3 bars as usual. Something to add to rules. 

The fact is as I am trading off longerterm S&D, so when a trade fails it can be quite confusing as short term price action is floating on it, which looks a mess. It also stands to reason that when I am taking a long term (H4) trend the medium term trend (M30) will be counter to it, as it has had to retrace to a H4 S/D level.  So if i'm going to look  to take the other side of a long term trade (H4trend) I should be looking on the medium term chart (M30 trend) for entry levels. AND so the following rule I am now going to add to my trade plan: should a Long term trade fail (m30 price off H4 S/D) update M30 levels and drill down to M5 to perhaps get in on a SAR (stop and reverse) of the long term trend.

Example SAR

TO DO's

1.time stop can be introduced from around 2.5 - 3 bars of price action.

2. labeling M30 S&D a different colour than H4 is helpful.

3. Add SAR rule: should a Long term trade fail (m30 price off H4 S/D) update M30 levels and drill down to M5 to perhaps get in on a SAR (stop and reverse) of the long term trend.

R-0.8 Didn't Trail Stop When I Could Have

Very simple took this trade as M30 trend was down and price had returned to an M30 supply level. Drilled down to M5 and took a short off this level on a doji at this level using LOHP, with a standard stop.
Fault:  did have to go out but I was about and could have trailed stop at TS2 but "didn't like it". Blatant disregard for the rules!

EU trade.

R+0.1: One Loss , One Win

Both of these trades were taken on the M30 chart. However the major diffrence was that the loss(1) was based off a supply level originating on the same time frame (M30). While the win (2) was based from a supply level originating from a higher time frame (H4).
EU Trades