I'm going to be posting my day trades not only to analyze them and see what I'm doing right and wrong, but mainly to get feedback and advice from this trading community. Please inform me if you see something that I haven't noted in terms of what I can improve! Thanks! About my setup: 9 and 20 EMAs 50 and 200 SMAs VWAP ECI indicator (yellow dots - indicates price contraction, usually followed by a breakout but doesn't indicate direction) Top indicator (indicates possible breakout with target levels) Trend pivots CSA indicator (multi-indicator with trend painting function) I am experimenting with various strategies, mainly momentum plays, including: ORB Bull Flag ABCD Ascending Wedge MA/VWAP retracement/bounce MA/VWAP trend Reversals At the open I'm looking at stocks that have gapped up with high volume for ORB or momentum pullback trades. Then I'm watching scanners for HOD moves to enter with the momentum, on pullbacks or when steadily following trend. I'm also looking for oversold LODs for potential reversal trades. I look for key support and resistance levels and half and whole dollars to inform my decisions. I'm only paper trading for now so I'm not worrying about values and share size- I'm entering with 100 shares of each stock regardless of value. My stop loss is right below key levels depending on the setup. I'm selling half at 1R (a key level, ATR or the value of the stop loss) and raising the stop loss to breakeven, then selling the rest at 2R or letting it ride if there's no resistance. Right now I'm trying to formulate and solidify a winning strategy. When I get more comfortable executing trades I'm going to limit the paper account size to the capital of my real account (quite small) and work with more realistic values and share sizes.
October 20 - 4/1/3 +$265/-$104.25=$160.75 BABA (+$103) / CRSR (+66.50) / CBLI (+$18) / WEI (+$77.50) / BBBY ($0) / DKNG (-$96) / RUHN (-$8.25) Takeaway points for the day: Enter closer to key level Don't buy on red 1 min candle to enter Wait for pullback (if entering during trend) Don't buy on red 5 min candle, even if 1 min candle is green. Don't sell at breakeven if uptrending. Don't chase the trend. Confirm pullback breaks previous high. Take profit at 1R Don't chase the breakout. BABA (+$103) Entered after 1st bullish candle from ECI breakout / overall uptrend / rising from dip / held VWAP / broke premarket high. Exited near VWAP upper band / break of previous swing high. Enter closer to key level CRSR (+66.50) Entered at VWAP (false) breakout / ECI indicator / Top indicator. Sold half at first Top target / premarket high. Bought more at dip / VWAP bounce. Bought again at premarket high break. Exited at today's high. Wait for green 1 min candle to enter CBLI (+$18) Entered at ECI break / Top. Entered again at dip. Sold half at VWAP break. Exited at breakeven. WEI (+$77.50) Entered with steady 9EMA trend. Took profit at new highs of day. Wait for pullback (entering during trend) BBBY ($0) Entered at dip / green / ECI / Top. Sold half at breakeven. Bought again during uptrend. Exited at breakeven. Don't buy on red 5 min candle. Don't sell at breakeven if uptrending. Don't chase the trend. DKNG (-$96) Entered at pullback, after VWAP break (false) (saw the chart too late). Ideal entry - Break of first Top line. Confirm pullback breaks previous high. Entered at break of VWAP top band / prev. day close, target premarket high. Take profit at 1R RUHN (-$8.25) Entered during breakout uptrend. Stopped out. Don't chase the breakout.
October 21, 2020 - 2/1/8 +$140.70/-$177.50= -$36.80 MRIN (+$81.70) PYPL (+59) ASTC (-$60) TQQQ (-$48.50) MRIN (-$27) DKNG (-$21) NKLA (-$9) PLIN (-$6) GAB (-$5) BRN (-$1) Today my timing was off and I struggled to find good setups. I've also been letting some losing trades run since I'm only using a paper account so I've been losing more than I would in a real account. I think I'm going to stop this and abide by my stops. I've been using Trade Ideas scans on youtube live streams because I'm afraid Thinkorswim's scans are subpar. However, there's a slight lag in the youtube streams so it seems I'm always a bit behind. Maybe I'll try Thinkorswim's scanners tomorrow. Today's takeaways: Don't enter with overhead resistance very close Enter closer to VWAP/9 EMA. Enter closer to 5 min Top Don't chase the trend without entrance signal Don't enter overextended from 9 EMA Don't enter after bullish candle Don't enter without setup on 1 and 5 min charts I'm not sure about the following ideas. If anyone can share some insight it would be appreciated! Don't enter at the top of a large candle? Wait for 1 min pullback? Don't enter over VWAP top band? For more context, see the attached file. It's a bit time consuming to upload the images of the trades to a website and then link each of them here in this post, so I'm simply attaching the document with the charts if you're interested to see the trades. Link to pdf document of trades: https://smallpdf.com/shared#st=a32d9915-7273-41ae-a32d-3004788ac111&fn=PaperTrad...l=share-document&rf=link
October 22, 2020 3 winners, 6 losers Takeaways: Enter closer to key levels Take some profit at 1R Pay attention to buy/sell buttons It seems a bunch of the trades simply didn't go my way. I can't identify anything that I did wrong so if anyone sees something that I could have done better, please let me know!
Hi Vince, I think, it's difficult to give you an improvement suggestion as no one is familiar with your techniques, your system and your personal experience. Maybe, you should explain your system to other day traders? But it's cool that you're publishing your results.
October 23, 2020 3 winners, 1 loser Today's notes: Wait for bounce off 9 EMA to enter Pay attention to Buy and Sell buttons Don't enter after large bullish 5 min candle Wait for pullback / consolidation
October 26, 2020 5 winners, 10 losers Today's notes: Wait for break over previous high / HOD for flag pattern? Don't enter overextended from 9 EMA (1 min and 5 min) Take profit. Don't exited position too early- let stop loss hit. Stop loss should be below 9 EMA if trading 9 EMA plays. Wait for valid pattern to appear before entering. Don't enter with resistance close overhead (premarket high). Don't enter if higher time frame chart (15 min) signaling reversal Don't enter on 2nd 1 min red candle.
October 27, 2020 11 winners, 4 losers Today was my best day yet. Found a couple stocks that uptrended the whole day. I realized that rather than making many scalp trades on the 1 minute chart, it would be better for me to be more patient and play the longer trend on the 5 minute chart. Today's notes: Don't exit full position too early Pay attention to buy/sell buttons Focus more on 5 min chart for long term trend Enter closer to 9 EMA (1 min) Don't enter after large bearish candle (1 min) Get better risk reward ratio Adhere to stop loss Make sure chart is at current price
October 28, 2020 6 winners, 4 losers Today's notes: Pay attention to buy/sell buttons. Be careful entering on 5 min bearish candle Be careful increasing position without confirmation Don't exit full position without exit signal.
November 2, 2020 7 winners, 7 losers Today's notes: Pay attention to buy/sell buttons. Don't enter when 50 MA is merging with 9/20 EMA? Wait for pullback to 9 EMA (1 min) Don't exit trade early Take profit at highs Don't enter when 1 min very choppy
November 3, 2020 6 winners, 2 losers I believe I'm starting to notice some improvement. I seem to be sticking to my rules better (waiting for the right setups and not chasing) and having less execution mistakes. Today's notes: Don't enter too early, wait for pullback
November 4, 2020 6 winners, 2 losers Today's notes: Don't enter with strong resistance overhead (50 & 200 MA) Don't enter overextended from 9 EMA (1 min) Don't enter early, wait for pullback to 9 EMA
November 5, 2020 3 winners, 2 losers Today's notes: Wait for pullback to 9 EMA (1 min) Watch for overhead resistance Take profit
November 6, 2020 4 winners, 5 losers Don't enter after large red candle? Don't make stop loss too tight. Be careful entering after large bearish candle with high volume.
November 9, 2020 4 winners, 9 losers Today's notes: Take profit Don't enter with strong overhead resistance Wait for pullback to enter
November 10, 2020 4 winners, 2 losers I've realized there are two scenarios that would benefit me if I were to use a scale-in approach rather than entering with a full position: 1. Breakout pullbacks - I don't know how far the pullback will go. Sometimes it makes it to the 9 EMA and bounces, but sometimes it just pulls back slightly and continues to rip without coming close to the EMA. The idea is to buy in partially on an initial pullback and then add to full position with confirmation- either it doesn't pullback much further and I add on the fast second breakout, or it continues to pull back to an EMA and I add on the bounce. 2. When price action shows a tendency to break slighly below the EMAs but come back to continue the trend. In this case I'll buy in partially with a bigger stop loss and add in for a pull position with confirmation. Feedback on these two ideas would be appreciated! Today's notes: With pullback entries, enter partial position, increase position with confirmation Don't ORB on daily gap down Be careful with chop. If tendency to dip below EMAs, enter w/small position, give more wiggle room, add to position with confirmation. Take profit
November 11, 2020 3 winners, 5 losers It seems I gave in to FOMO on a couple trades today. I have a question about moving average crossovers if anyone would be so kind as to help me. It's regarding my first trade with CGC. The 200 MA was rising up to meet the 9/20/50 MAs and I took that as a bullish sign that could potentially result in an upward trend continuation due to the strong upward-moving 200 MA support. Please take a look at the behavior of the MAs on the various time frames and let me know how you would interpret them. Today's notes: Don't enter overextended. Wait for pullback. Be careful entering after large bullish candle. Be careful with overhead resistance. Be careful with chop. Set stop loss below lower trend line rather than MAs. Don't chase. Enter partial before confirmation of trend continuation. Put stop loss below consolidation range low.
November 12, 2020 4 winners, 2 losers Today's notes: Improve profit-taking strategy. Avoid choppy price action.
