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My Trading Quest

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DAY 17- Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Daily Review …

Not the best day for ES!

Actions I took:

  • Good learning in the live trading room at US Open – Lori shared some great lessons
  • Continued using Market Replay to improve my live market decision making for the live market
  • Reviewed the potential trades for Thursday
Live Trade Room and Commentary

ES gave a lot of opportunities to lose money.

NQ is trading well during the US trading session. Some people are starting to trade more NQ then ES. I will continue with ES and from Monday, I will start recording the Potential Trades for NQ as well as ES.

Market Replay Lessons

Have your trading plan in front of you when you trade. This may sound common sense but I see a lot of people who are taking trades that are not valid trades. Just because it wins doesn’t mean it was a valid trade and can create bad habits.

After, listening in the live trade room it is easy to want to take other trades that I have not tested and fully trust.

This was a problem for me today when I started my Market Replay! I stopped and clarified the trade setups I was using and took ownership of that. After that, it was easier to focus on my trading and I stopped making silly mistakes if, in doubt, I referred to my setup notes for confirmation.

Thursday ES Potential Trades

This is one of the lowest ES profitable trade day lists that I have tracked.

The following is the legend for the trades sheet:















I will report back tomorrow on my progress and any lessons I learn

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.
 

You've posted something that is very important.
There's a lot of noise in a trading room and plenty of distractions. Very few trading rooms stick to their main core trading strategy. All off plan trades indicate a lack of focus, patience and discipline. It's basically gambling.

Traders don't need to be in a trading room to be distracted by all the noise. If you see the news headlines, read the market media you're going to be distracted from your job. If you do too many scans you're going to be distracted by too many chart choices. Sometimes even one scan will show too many results.

The best way to stay focused on our trading plan is to have our TP cheat sheets right there in front of us. If you use multiple strategies then focus on one at a time.
 
DAY 18- Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Daily Review …

An interesting day for ES and NQ still giving good signals.

Actions I took:

  • Listened to the trading room for the first 90 mins of the US Open
  • Continued using Market Replay to improve my live market decision making for the live market
  • Reviewed the potential trades for Friday
Live Trade Room and Commentary

I believe the live trading room with commentary and calling trades good for some people but distracting for others. Some of the knowledge shared in the room is very useful and would help me to learn quicker.

I fall into the bracket of being distracted and I don’t want trades called for me. So the question is, how do I get the knowledge that is shared in the room?

I have tried recording the session and because the talking is not continuous can be over 2 or more hours, it isn’t practical to review it every day.

So I believe the best way is if I record it and then convert it to text. I could skim the text in 10 mins and see what is useful and what is not. There are some free and paid programs. The paid ones can work out expensive so I am looking for one that is free or low price to achieve this. So far I have not found a program that does a good job.

If anyone can suggest a program that will convert either audio or video/audio to text, I would appreciate it.

Market Replay Lessons

Again, the Market Reply reinforced some items I need to focus on.

Friday ES Potential Trades

Two losses in a row!!

Remember, the tracking sheet is of all trades that I identified for the day. The plan is to have 3 Profitable Net Trades or 3 Losing Net Trades then quit for the day.

I also showed my tracking of MFE (Maximum Favorable Excursion) for each trade. This is an important statistic that I use to allow me to make an informed decision to vary my profit target.

In simple terms, MFE is how far the trade moves in a profitable direction.

You will also notice a comment “stopped must have been placed in the correct place”. In this trade, the long entry bar was sitting on a paw (line) that was 1 tick below the low of the bar. The normal stop would be placed 1 tick below the setup bar. Unless the order print (in this case the paw) was below the low. Then you would place the stop 1 tick below the paw (correct placement).

In the case price came back to the paw and if you had your stop in the correct place (1 tick below the paw) you would not have been taken out.

The following is the legend for the trades sheet:





I will report back tomorrow on my progress and any lessons I learn

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.
 
DAY 19 – Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Weekly Review …

Time to review the last 19 days.

Actions I took:

  • Review of the last 19 days
  • Review of the stats for the last 13 days
  • Continued using Market Replay
  • Reviewed my plan for the week
Review of the Last 19 Days

It has been interesting to learn a new approach which on the surface is using simple strategies but is based on order Flow and adapted to help the trader identify the setups easier.

I always wanted to learn Order Flow but every time I started looking at it I found it was complicated and often contradicted itself. Maybe it was the courses I looked at?

As I have said before, to be successful with this course you must understand when NOT to trade. This is a continuing learning process. Apex Investing recognizes this and discusses the reasons during the trading room sessions and with many videos to help.

The problem in the trading room is that you cannot assume that others know the rules and have learned the reasons, not to enter. This is not unusual for trading rooms where everyone is open to give advice. My view is appreciated every ones help, trust what they say but check to make sure it is correct. Keep plenty of notes. The two moderators are always willing to answer your questions. If they are not in the room at the time, you can just Skype them and they will get back to you with the answer when they can.

So, overall I am happy with the course and the support. I still believe this course can help me be profitable in 90 days.

Review of the Stats for the last 13 days

I am fully aware that 13 days of tracking the profitable trades is really not long enough for any deep analysis. I still think it is worth a quick look at some of the stats that have come out of the 13 days.

13 Days of tracking Potential Trades using ES. These are trades I identified as being valid.

  • 180 Trades
  • 161 Winners (7 Ticks per win)
  • 19 Losers (17 ticks per loss)
The following chart shows the Time of Day(TOD) that the trades occurred. Below zero are the losers. The interesting observation is the TOD where the Losers occurred. As I said above, it is too early to draw conclusions but it still flags things to watch. This should over time help me choose the best TOD to trade this method.





With minimum stats, 9 am – 11 am is one time period that looks good. I would not have picked that period as being so good! Maybe I was influenced by the live trade room.

The other stat that is starting to look promising, is the Maximum Favorable Excursion (MFE). It will help in identifying larger profit targets. If I combine the MFE with TOD it could identify times to possibly go for larger targets.

This Week’s Plan

It is time to start Live Sim trading. Sometime this week I will begin.

For transparency and self-accountability, I would like to post the trade immediately after I enter. My problem is that the trades I take are usually quick so I need to focus on the trade. So, I just need to test and see how I can make it work.


I will report back tomorrow on my progress and any lessons I learn

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.
 
DAY 20 + 21 – Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Daily Review …

How quick did the 21 days go!

Actions I took:
  • Listened to the trading room for the first 90 mins of the US Open
  • Continued using Market Replay to improve my live market decision making for the live market
  • Reviewed the potential trades for Sunday and Monday
Live Trade Room and Commentary

The first 60 mins of the US Open was slow. In the room, Darrell took the opportunity to walk through trades and educate the group. I am sure we all learned something or had something reinforced.

Market Replay Lessons

Sometimes the best lessons occur when you are not in sync with the market. Many lessons were had!

Sunday and Monday ES and NQ Potential Trades

NQ was exceptionally sparse on trades, but the trades that were valid won. 5 wins for 5 trades. The trade setups are only setting up during the US Market trading day.

From today’s NQ market I would not be trading it yet. I will keep tracking it.

ES had 12 wins with 1 loss. The market was going into a lot of choppy areas and I do not take trades into, out or during chop, so the number of trades was reduced today.

The following is the legend for the trades sheet:






I will report back tomorrow on my progress and any lessons I learn

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.
 
DAY 22 – Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Daily Review …

Terrible trades in ES!

Actions I took:

  • Listened to the trading room for the first 90 mins of the US Open
  • Continued using Market Replay to improve my live market decision making for the live market
  • Reviewed the potential trades for Tuesday
Live Trade Room and Commentary

Often in trade rooms, the moderators don’t admit or make excuses for a loss. Darrell lost 3 trades today and didn’t make any excuses. Instead, he stayed longer (all day) in the room to help identify trades for the students.

Market Replay Lessons

Only a quick Market Replay session but great practice.

Tuesday ES and NQ Potential Trades

Interesting day. I only identified 4 valid trades in ES and 3 were losers. These were finished by 10:20.

It then became obvious that NQ was giving the signals.

I identified 14 trades for NQ with 13 winners.

This shows the value of trading 2 markets. If one is quite then hopefully the market is moving.

The following is the legend for the trades sheet:






I will report back tomorrow on my progress and any lessons I learn

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.
 
DAY 23 – Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Daily Review …

What a difference a day makes!

Actions I took:

  • Listened to the trading room for the first 90 mins of the US Open
  • Watched this week’s videos
  • Reviewed the potential trades for Tuesday
Live Trade Room and Commentary

I find the trading room good but I don’t like that you have to be in the room to hear some of the information. Most of the time it is not recorded, so you miss some golden nuggets that would help you clarify the setups.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe you can be successful (yet to be proven) if you are not regular in the room. It is just that the information from the room will help.

I am still recording the room when the moderators are in the room but need a way to convert it to text for rapid review.

This week’s videos

I missed a couple of the live webinars this week so caught up with the videos. They get posted quickly after the events.

Comments about Yesterday

Yesterday was not the best day for trading the ES. It is good to see the NQ starting to give signals.

I was asked how I would handle yesterday with the 3 net wins: 3 net loss rule.

I modified this rule due to my backtesting. Apex has the 3 net wins or 6 net losses to stop trading. At some point, you have to STOP and Review the day. You cannot keep on losing.

The Stats I provide daily are for the whole day. If you are only trading between 10 am and 11 am then you would only look at the results for that period. So everyone’s day may be different.

The rule is NET Trades so if you lose 2 then win 1 followed by another loss. You had 3 losses but the net is not 3. So you would keep trading.

Wednesday ES and NQ Potential Trades

Today was a better day.

I identified:

ES – 8 Trades – 8 winners

NQ – 17 Trades – 16 winners

Have a look at the MFE and you will notice some very good upside to increase the target or trail a second contract. It is too early to make any decisions until a much large sample can be analyzed.





I will report back tomorrow on my progress and any lessons I learn

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.
 
DAY 24 – Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Daily Review …

NQ giving more trades.

Actions I took:

  • Listened to the trading room for the first 90 mins of the US Open
  • Reviewed the rules for the setups
  • Reviewed the potential trades for Thursday
Live Sim Trading

I have put back my live sim trading until next week.

The market is changing and giving more trades in NQ. I will still take trades in ES but need to transition to NQ trades as well.

There are some slight changes to the setups in NQ, so it is important to be up to date with these variations and have backtested them.

Thursday ES and NQ Potential Trades

Today was a slow day for ES.

I identified:

ES – 2 Trades – 2 winners

NQ – 15 Trades – 14 winners

The MFE info is still looking good.





I will report back tomorrow on my progress and any lessons I learn

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.
 
DAY 25 – Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Daily Review …

ES provided only a few trades and NQ, the best it has been. Is this the changing of the guard?

Actions I took:

  • Listened to the trading room for the first 90 mins of the US Open
  • Reviewed the setups for NQ
  • Reviewed the potential trades for Friday for ES and NQ
So why are the NQ setups different from ES?

I have had some questions about why they need to change the setups when trading the NQ market.

The changes are only minor but can make the difference between being profitable or not.

It comes down to the speed and momentum of the NQ compared to ES.

Friday ES and NQ Potential Trades

I identified:

ES – 4 Trades – 3 winners

NQ – 22 Trades – 20 winners

At this time, most signals on NQ occur after 630am.

Both markets having interesting MFE results.,





I will report back tomorrow on my progress and any lessons I learn

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.
 
Trading Psychology

I have been asked a question about what psychology books I recommend.

There are many books, courses, and articles on trading psychology, so it is important to find someone who resonates with you. Mark Douglas doesn't resonate with me but many people rave about him.

So, my suggestion is to go to youtube and listen to Mark Douglas as his books and seminars are there to listen to. See if he resonates with you.

I have highlighted my favorites

Other people on youtube to check out are:

Brett Steenbarger - he has a new youtube series https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4Xc9uwUmmqShzbxH8epZGVIUHmuKX7Ha

Rande Howell

Urban Forex

Axia Futures

Mandi Pour Rafsendjani

Clay Trader

Chris Capre

Van Tharp

Steve Ward

Gary Dayton

Norman Hallett

Books and Courses

All of the above plus

Market Mind Games - Denis Shull

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator - Edwin Lefevre

Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behaviour - Ori and Rom Brafman

Let the Trade Wins Flow - Dr Harry Stanton

Thinking, Fast and Slowly - Daniel Kahneman

The Mental Edge in Trading: Adapt Your Personality Traits and Control Your Emotions to Make Smarter Investments by Jason Williams

The Psychology of Trading: How to Create and Maintain Your Winning Edge - Jason Alan Jankovsky

The Power of Habit - Charles Duhigg

Trade With Passion and Purpose - Mark Whistler

The Hour between the Dog and Wolf - John Coates

Ruth Barron Roosevelt

Dr Alexander Elder

LR Thomas

Ari Kiev


Yes, I selected a lot! You can learn from everyone. Note that some are not "trading" books but they do relate to traders.

LR Thomas, Clay Trader, and Axia Futures have some very good beginners material on Youtube.

When you find someone you relate to then you can go down that rabbit hole but remember it has to be practical.

These are the ones off the top of my head and if I have missed anyone I think is important I will post it.

I hope this helps

Cheers
Garry
 
DAY 26 + 27 – Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Daily Review …

Today is the first day of Sim Trading …

Actions I took:

  • Listened to the trading room for the first 90 mins of the US Open
  • Start of the Sim Trading Phase
  • Reviewed the potential trades for Sunday and Monday for ES and NQ
Start of the Sim Trading Phase

Sim trading didn’t start great with my profit target wrong in the first trade and the second not being a valid trade.

If I had my profit target in the correct position then it would have been hit. So what did I do wrong? My NT7 platform had a problem so I rebooted it and didn’t check my settings!!!

The second trade was a simple mistake and still hit my profit target. As it wasn’t valid I did not count it in my numbers.

Overall my results were a good start even if I didn’t hit my daily target.

Below are my results of possible trades, sim trades, and images of the trades.










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I will report back tomorrow on my progress and any lessons I learn

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.
 
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