My Trading Quest

Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Challenge Countdown – 29 Days …

I struggled mentally today …

Actions I took today:

• Traded my Leeloo Evaluation Account …
• Reviewed the market to identify trades I thought were valid trades on ES

Leeloo Trading Evaluation

Today I struggled mentally!

I still have a headache from yesterday’s migraine. This stress intensified my underlying fears of missing out and losing. This was reflected predominantly in my emotions while I was trading.

I managed this extra stress by:

• identifying what it was and that I why I was feeling this way
• reviewing the setup to ensure that it was valid as per my rules
• reviewing the active trade to see if the reasons for entry were still valid
• after the trade, reviewing the trade again to support that my process was valid

Todays Trading

I have been looking at markets to see which is the best to trade at present.

When I say best, I mean:

• a tradable speed of the market
• liquidity in the market
• sufficient number of trades
• setups being respected

So I have been watching ES, NQ, YM and 30 year Bonds

Todays Trades taken in Leeloo Account
ES – 3 trades – see description below – Total Loss -$187.50
YM – 1 winner, 1 loser = Net $0
ZB – 2 winning trades Total win $52.50

Total Loss running in Leeloo for 2 days = $-31.90

ES Trades

Trade 1 – 5:11 am

The entry was a valid Enhanced TX against the trend.

The bar before the entry was at 5:00.01, setup bar was 5:11:03, Entry bar was 5:35:22 and the next bar was at 5:53:31.

So you can see how slow the bars were closing. After entry, the price moved up and down that bar a number of times giving no feeling for direction and was sitting in between the two white (MM) lines.

My decision to move the stop to just above entry was based on the length of time in the trade, that price movement was ranging between the top and bottom of the bar and that price action was sandwiched between 2 lines (MM).







Trade 2 – 9:22

I entered a valid NXT Trend trade at the close of the 9:22 bar and as the bar had not hit the target and it was getting close to the market open, I closed the trade for a 1 tick profit.







Trade 3 – 10:02

This trade was a valid NTX trade with the trend that just failed!!

Looking at the chart, there was a possibility for the price to want to move down to the blue line (settlement). I will watch this type of occurrence to see the validity of my observation.










Resources:

Watch this space for more resources that I find useful.

I will include books, articles, podcasts, interviews, videos, hypnosis/meditation audios, mental exercises, and more …

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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.

Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Challenge Countdown – 28 Days …

Friday and I made a massive mistake …

Actions I took today:

• Tried to trade with Leeloo and had a major technical problem! …
• Reviewed the market to identify trades I thought were valid trades on ES

Leeloo Trading Evaluation

Today I had a major technical problem which caused me to lose approximately -$741 !!!

I entered a trade on my computer and nothing happened … I waited and then not seeing my trade entered on the chart … It would appear that I pressed the enter button a couple of times!!!!

The result was that the chart then started moving except now it is -$500, then it showed -$741 and I exited.

So how did this happen?

Apparently, my computer had become frozen at about the time I entered. I assumed that I had not hit the button correctly so hit it again after waiting for a few seconds. It would appear in my haste I hit it a couple of times. The data then started rolling and the rest is history.

This has happened before and my solution was not to enter again if my first click did not enter the trade.

It happened so quickly, I didn’t even think the chart was frozen.

I now need to develop a better process so this will not happen again. I will also review and see if I can do something to prevent the freezing from occurring.

Potential ES Trades for today

Naturally, I did not trade for the rest of the day.

You can see below that I have split the potential trades into two sections. The top is my normal section showing Potential trades.

I was looking for a better way to reduce mistakes – how to record and review the trades that are Potential Trades but have some reason not to take the trade.

Knowing when NOT to enter a trade is probably more important (or at least as important) then the trades I enter. It will help me change my focus when reviewing the market.

I will try this format to see if it will help me review when NOT to enter trades.

If anyone has any ideas on the best way to approach this then please let me know.



Resources:

I enjoy a number of podcasts. One I regularly check out is the Chat with Traders Podcast.

Check out Aaron’s latest “Best of Trading Psychology”


199: Best of Trading Psychology, Pt. 1


Watch this space for more resources that I find useful.

I will include books, articles, podcasts, interviews, videos, hypnosis/meditation audios, mental exercises, and more …



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

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.

Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Challenge Countdown – 29 Days …

Sunday/ Monday Trading with limited opportunities …

Actions I took today:

• Traded my Leeloo Evaluation Account …
• Reviewed the market to identify trades I thought were valid trades on ES

Leeloo Trading Evaluation

I find it hard when the markets are not giving good signals so I need to work on my patience and go back to trading other markets on these type of days.

Todays Trading

As you can see from my spreadsheet of potential ES trades, there were only two trades that I considered valid. The problem with these days is if you have a loss it makes it very hard to recover.

My first trade was a trade on review was obviously Not Valid.

As I could not see any setups on ES, I took some trades on NQ and YM.

Todays Trades taken in Leeloo Account
ES – 1 Loser -$212.50 and commission
YM – 1 winner, = Net $50 – commission
NQ – 1 winner = $50 – commission

Total Loss Leeloo for today = $-112.50 – commission

ES Trade

Trade 1 – 5:50 am

The entry was NOT a Valid Enhanced TX against the trend.

The reason I chose to take the trade and not follow my rules is that I keep hearing Lori in the trading room say that when you have the white line (MM) sandwiching the setup bar then they are more powerful trades.

My lesson is that I am to test any modifications to my trading playbook. This is already in my playbook and I lost because I didn’t follow my own rules.







Trade 1 YM – 9:51

I entered a valid NXT Trend trade that went to profit. +$50 – commission







Trade 1 NQ – 10:15

This trade was a valid ODD trade that went to profit. +$50 – commission











Resources:

Watch this space for more resources that I find useful.

I will include books, articles, podcasts, interviews, videos, hypnosis/meditation audios, mental exercises, and more …



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

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.

Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Challenge Countdown – 26 Days …

Tuesday Trading with limited opportunities again …

Actions I took today:

• Watched the market …
• Reviewed the market to identify trades I thought were valid trades on ES

Leeloo Trading Evaluation

Again, there were limited valid trades. I did not take any trades today.

I decided to spend the time when I watching the market to determine which market would be the best.

ES – Trades recently have been mostly before the US Market. The speed was good to very slow. The problem with slow markets is it is easy to get impatient and take trades that are not valid. It is also important to watch NQ along with the ES market as the ES market often will react when NQ is going into strong zones.

YM – The speed is normally faster than ES but slower than NQ. It acts differently from the ES and NQ and needs a few days to see which trade setups work best.

NQ – This market can be too quick to enter and lately has had periods of liquidity. This greats slippage both entering and exiting.

Lately, the NQ appears to be respecting the setups and giving a larger number of opportunities.

From tomorrow I will be more focussed on trading the NQ.

Potential ES Trades and Rejected Potential Trades

Rejected Potential Trades are trades that are the basics of a valid trade but have a reason not to enter.



Resources:

Watch this space for more resources that I find useful.

I will include books, articles, podcasts, interviews, videos, hypnosis/meditation audios, mental exercises, and more …



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

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.

Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Challenge Countdown – 25 Days …

Wednesday Trading …

Actions I took today:

• Watched the market, my focus was on the NQ market …
• Reviewed the market to identify trades I thought were valid trades on NQ

Todays Trading

After reviewing the NQ market over the last week, I didn’t feel comfortable to just jump in today and start trading. I decided just to watch just the NQ market. Setups are the same across different markets but each market has some small nuances that I need to get in tune with. Over the last week, I have been watching NQ along with other markets, but with the speed, it moves you then miss trades, which in turn plays with my psychology.

Potential NQ Trades







Resources:

I have been looking for a good way to be able to have one app/software to hold all my notes and plans together and be easy to access.

I have tried Evernote, Word, Maple, and a heap of other apps.

In the past, I looked at Onenote and didn’t really like it.

The other day I had a look at someone’s notes they made using Onenote … it was perfect for what I wanted to do.

I am now in the process of transferring my Trading plan / Playbook from word to the Onenote for Windows 10 App, I will now use Onenote for all my notes when I am taking notes from the trading lesson videos.

Be aware that there are two different Onenote programs. They have lightly different looks (one better) and they also allow different customization.

Check out the app and let me know what you think … do you know of a better program?

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Watch this space for more resources that I find useful.

I will include books, articles, podcasts, interviews, videos, hypnosis/meditation audios, mental exercises, and more …


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

Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Challenge Review …

I have not posted or traded in the last 9 trading days due to some personal reasons but am now back on Monday to finish this first challenge. I have 10 days to become profitable!

Challenge Review

I have reviewed the last 9 trading days to see what I missed and found that I didn’t miss much.

My normal process is to review every 24 hours for the instrument but generally do not trade after Midday.

The market has been very hard to trade most mornings from open until at least 11 am.

It would appear that before open a couple of good trades usually occur. If you do lose one trade then it is very hard to make it back to profit due to the risk:reward and the lack of trades.

I still have confidence in the Apex Sniper Setups but the change in the market has changed the frequency of these trades.

Over the last couple of weeks, Apex Investing appears to be more focused on a relatively new setup using the Simplicity Chart. It has a higher risk with a higher potential reward opportunity. It also suits the current market.

So Where to now?

• I will start daily posting from next Monday with 10 days to go to the end of this Challenge.
• Before Monday I will review the Simplicity Trade and determine if I should trade it.
• I will start reviewing other courses (just in case) for the next 90-day challenge

Resources:

Watch this space for more resources that I find useful.

I will include books, articles, podcasts, interviews, videos, hypnosis/meditation audios, mental exercises, and more …



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

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.

Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Challenge Countdown – 15 Days to go …

Only 15 days to go with this current 90-day challenge …

Actions I took since the last post:

• Reviewed the Simplicity Chart training
• Reviewed the market to identify trades I thought were valid trades on ES and NQ

Simplicity Chart

Apex Investing introduced the Simplicity Chart a couple of months ago and it was promoted as a way of trailing once you entered using Sniper Bootcamp Setups.

A few people jumped on board with the concept and made some good money. Other accounts were blown up. From my observation, it occurred because of how they implemented the system.

Recently, heaps of people are trading using Simplicity with great results. Darrell has been training people on how to enter just using the simplicity chart. The Trading Room has been more focussed on the Simplicity trades.

What does the Simplicity Chart look like?

It is a basic 30-second bar chart with two lines that are based on VIX type data. The result is if the two lines are pointing in a direction and the lines are the same color as the direction then you have a setup bar if the bar closes in the same direction. If that bar is broken on the next bar then you enter. The trail is based on one of the lines which can be either conservative or aggressive.

From all observations, it would appear that you can hop on some very good trails with this.

The biggest disadvantage is that the stop can be much larger than normal and that large pullbacks after entry can occur.

Another potential disadvantage is that you need a separate data feed for this data. As a member, you can see the Simplicity Chart for ES and NQ, in the room 24×7. The room charts are great and you can trade based on them but you cannot backtest to see if the system works overtime.

Like all trades, the secret is knowing when NOT to enter.

What am I going to do with the Simplicity Chart?

I will continue to watch and track the room posted Simplicity chart, to learn more and see if the system is worth paying for the extra feed. I particularly like the entry with the Sniper setup and then trail with the Simplicity chart.

Todays Trading (Sunday and Monday)

I traded in Sim, 3 trades (2 ES and 1 NQ).

ES Trades

Trade 1 ES – 3:11 am

The Short Entry was a Valid Enhanced TX against the trend and a DTX setup. It also was 1 tick from being a very good ODD (divergence) trade.

This trade was successful for full profit.15



Trade 2 ES – 3:39 am

On first appearance, this trade is a valid DTX trade, and it is …

Normal risk (stop) is about 21 ticks ($105). This trade needed the stop to be placed above the two orange lines (paws). This would add another 5 ticks to the risk. The risk would be $130 with a reward of $45. Then adjust for commission. My rule would be not to take the trade due to the risk.

I placed the stop 1 tick above the bar. Then moved it to BE +2 ticks. I was stopped out.

You can see below, if my stop would have been in the correct place then the trade would have gone to full profit.



Trade 1 NQ – 9:46

This trade was a valid DTX trade that went to profit. +$50 – commission







Resources:

I have tried a number of hypnosis audios and videos looking for an edge with my trading. If you make them part of your regular routine, then I believe they do help.

I have been testing the free hypnosis videos from Trading Composure. They have heaps of different topics all posted on their Youtube page.

https://www.youtube.com/c/TradingComposure/videos

I am sure you will find one to suit your needs.

Choose one and listen to it for 30 days and see if it helps

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Watch this space for more resources that I find useful.

I will include books, articles, podcasts, interviews, videos, hypnosis/meditation audios, mental exercises, and more …


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

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.

Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Challenge Countdown – 14 Days to go …

Tuesday, and 14 days to go…

Actions I took since the last post:

• Watched for potential Simplicity Chart trades
• Reviewed the market to identify trades I thought were valid trades on ES and NQ

Simplicity Trades

A number of the trades would have worked out. Reading on the forum, it appears that several people are successful with this method and others are not so much.

Like all new systems, it is often hard to learn when NOT to enter a trade. Watching the chart on the forum seems to work well but again takes time to get familiar with it.

I will continue watching to learn the nuances.

Todays Trading (Tuesday)

I traded in Sim, 1 trade (1 NQ).

Trade 1 NQ – 6:22 am

The Short Entry was a Valid Elevator trade.

This trade was successful for full profit.







Potential Trades

Valid trades on ES were very limited. I could only see one valid trade.

NQ had 9 valid trades. I did not include several setups between 10 and 11 am as the speed of the market would have prevented entry form occurring.









Resources:

If you enjoyed the Best of Trading Psychology Part 1 podcast, then check out Aaron's latest podcast.

“Best of Trading Psychology Part 2”.

https://chatwithtraders.com/ep-200-best-of-trading-psychology-pt-2/

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Watch this space for more resources that I find useful.

I will include books, articles, podcasts, interviews, videos, hypnosis/meditation audios, mental exercises, and more …


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

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.

Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Challenge Countdown – 13 Days to go …

Wednesday, and 13 days to go…

Actions I took since the last post:

• Watched for potential Simplicity Chart trades
• Reviewed the market to identify trades I thought were valid trades on ES and NQ

Simplicity Trades

I will continue watching to learn the nuances.

Todays Trading (Tuesday)

I did not see any valid trades in ES today.

I traded in Sim, 2 trades (2 NQ).

Trade 1 NQ – 4:34 am

The Short Entry was a DTX trade. It was also within 1 tick of being a valid ODD.

This trade was successful for full profit.



Trade 2 NQ – 8:20 am

The Long Entry was a DTX trade and ODD

This trade was successful for full profit.



Potential Trades

No Valid trades on ES.

NQ had 16 valid trades with only 1 loser. I did not include a few setups as the speed of the market would have prevented entry form occurring.





Resources:

Steve Ward has been helping trader’s improve their performance for more than 15 years. The last two books he has written are High Performance Trading and Trader Mind.

His latest book has been recently published, called Bulletproof Trader.

I have just started reading his latest book and it looks good.

The following link is a recent video where Steve explains his ideas on How to become a Bulletproof Trader.

“Steve Ward: How To Become A Bulletproof Trader”.


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Watch this space for more resources that I find useful.

I will include books, articles, podcasts, interviews, videos, hypnosis/meditation audios, mental exercises, and more …



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

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.

Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Challenge Countdown – 12 Days to go …

Thursday, and 12 days to go…

Actions I took since the last post:

• Continued watching for potential Simplicity Chart trades
• Reviewed the market to identify trades I thought were valid trades on ES and NQ

Simplicity Trades

People in the room continue to make good money with simplicity.

The problem I have is that the entry is so simple that I don’t yet have faith in the success rate. It is hard when you cannot backtest the chart. I will continue to live test the chart and decide after the challenge is over if I think it has sufficient potential to pay for the extra feed and then be able to backtest it.

Todays Trading (Thursday)

I found one valid trade in ES today.

I traded in Sim, 2 trades (2 NQ).

Trade 1 NQ – 6:08 am

The Long Entry was an ETX with the trend and an Elevator trade.

This trade was successful for full profit.



Trade 2 NQ – 9:11 am

The Short Entry was a DTX trade with Trend

This trade was successful for full profit.



Potential Trades

Only one Valid trade found on ES.

NQ had 11 valid trades with only 1 loser. I did not include a few setups as the speed of the market would have prevented entry from occurring.





Resources:

Another podcast that I regularly listen to is the Better System Trader Podcast.

Andrew Swanscott hosts the show and has some great guests including:

• Steve Ward
• Linda Raschke
• Kevin Davey
• Larry Conners
• David Bean
• John Ehlers
• and many more

Watch this space for more resources that I find useful.

I will include books, articles, podcasts, interviews, videos, hypnosis/meditation audios, mental exercises, and more …



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

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.

Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Challenge Countdown – 11 Days to go …

Friday, and 11 days to go…

Actions I took since the last post:

• Continued watching for potential Simplicity Chart trades
• Reviewed the market to identify trades I thought were valid trades on ES and NQ

Simplicity Trades

After watching all the Simplicity videos and the live application, I am still having trouble trusting the overall strategy. It feels like a good way to increase trade profit but has the potential of blowing up accounts. I think I will need to subscribe to the extra data feed so I can backtest it. Trust is so important when trading a setup.

Quick Review

The markets have changed in the last 60 days and trades are becoming less frequent and the markets are moving much quicker at times.

So far in this Challenge, I can see that the Apex setups work but other things need to be taken into account when choosing a trading system for my ongoing focus. Over the next 10 days I will be reviewing the validity of the Apex Investing systems to see if they can help me achieve my goals and if not, why not?

In the trading room, I can see that other people are taking trades that I don’t recognize as valid and they profit. I am trying to only trade valid trades as per the training and also the rules that I have backtested.

There are a number of reasons for this variation, including rules being changed, people not knowing the rules, and people trading other setups then the ones I am.

Todays Trading (Friday)

Another quiet day for both markets. I only found 2 valid trades in ES and 5 with NQ.

It is interesting that the five NQ trades all happened before the open.

I traded in Sim, 1 trade

Trade 1 NQ – 8:46 am

The Short Entry was a ODD (Divergence) trade.

This trade was successful for full profit.



Potential Trades

Only two Valid trades found on ES.

NQ had 5 valid trades with only 1 loser. I did not include a few setups as the speed of the market would have prevented entry from occurring.




Resources:

Another podcast that I regularly listen to is the SMB Capital Podcast with Mike Bellafiore and Brett Steenbarger.

Mike had an interesting topic that I think we can all learn from:

How to Become a Consistently Profitable Trader (like you deserve to be)



Watch this space for more resources that I find useful.

I will include books, articles, podcasts, interviews, videos, hypnosis/meditation audios, mental exercises, and more …the



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

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.

Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Challenge Countdown – 10 Days to go …

I have missed a week of trading due to windows 10 update issues … I still haven’t solved all the issues yet!

So, I have decided to continue from my last post … today has 10 days to go.

Actions I took since the last post:

• Computer issues so no trading until today Monday 31st August.
• Reviewed the market to identify trades I thought were valid trades on ES and NQ
• Sim traded a setup that I have been backtesting which has good results

Update

Do we want to be a trader or a money manager?

This is a question that comes out in a book that I have been reading.

After reading the book it is obvious that we really need to be money managers.

I keep getting people suggesting that I should be trading live with my own money and other suggestions that come from a trader's perspective, not a money manager's perspective.

After reading this book, I suggest that every trader should read it. It doesn’t matter if you are just starting or an experienced trader. I will share tomorrow, the details on the book and where you can get it if you are interested.

So far in this Challenge, I can see that the Apex setups work but other things need to be taken into account when choosing a trading system for my ongoing focus. Over the next 10 days I will be reviewing the validity of the Apex Investing systems to see if they can help me achieve my goals and if not, why not?

In the trading room, I can see that other people are taking trades that I don’t recognize as valid and they profit. I am trying to only trade valid trades as per the training and also the rules that I have backtested.

There are a number of reasons for this variation, including rules being changed, people not knowing the rules, and people trading other setups then the ones I am.

Todays Trading (Monday)

I only found 1 valid trade in ES and 6 with NQ.

As I often say, I did not record a number of possible trades due to the speed of the market making it improbable for an entry to occur.

I traded in Sim and was finished before the US market opened.

Trade 1 NQ – 20:09 am (Sunday)

The Long Entry was an HD (Hidden Divergence) and an NTX trend trade.

This trade was successful for full profit.



Potential Trades

Only one Valid trade found on ES.

NQ had 6 valid trades with only 1 loser. I did not include a few setups as the speed of the market would have prevented entry from occurring.




All Sim Trades (+$463.75 Net Profit)

You can see below all my Sim trades. A total of 10 trades.

1 trade setup was with the normal Apex Setups and 9 were with the new (AR1) setup.

3 trades were taken on ZB (30-year bonds) and 7 trades on NQ.

Trade number 9 was the only losing trade. The trade actually went to target after I moved the stop! This mistake was purely a mental moment on my behalf. It was interesting watching myself getting mentally stressed due the price movement at the time.

The advantage of the new AR1 setup is that it occurs more frequently in the current market.



Resources:

Tomorrow I will give you the details of the book I am currently reading and why I recommend it to all traders. “The Truth about Trading” by Judy Van Niekerk.

*********************************

Watch this space for more resources that I find useful.

I will include books, articles, podcasts, interviews, videos, hypnosis/meditation audios, mental exercises, and more …



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

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.

Wow you started this thread in March, don't you think the 90 day Challenge is over?

Hi Willoneau,

Due to some issues including health and computer malfunction, I have not completed 90 days. It is more about the journey and learning then the specific time limitation.

Cheers
Garry

So what happens in 10 days?
20 years of trading and a fund trader and only one computer , really?

Go re - read your first page and what you set out to achieve, telling us about books wasn't it.

What is your problem with sharing resources that I have found useful with readers?

What is your real problem?

I was looking forward to what you were going to do, just not seen it.
Oh and by the way , if you are searching for more resources does than mean the system you are trying to follow it's quite working?

It doesn't sound like that is where you are coming from!

Were do you think I am coming from ?