July 6, 2023 (5 trades) (-$19.00)
Overall Grade: D+
Day Summary: Man just really bad trading by me today. I've been waiting for a strong selling pressure day and wanted to get aggressive short and what did I do today? I watched and then started going long once the selling slowed. How many times do I need to do that to realize I always lose money when I trade like that on days like this was. The only thing I did decent today was manage risk. That's it.
DAILY - SPY
5 MIN - EOD
TRADES
Trade 1 - Long 1 Call at "Intraday Support" (no setup) (Trend Reversal)
Grade: D
- fighting the trend - why go long on a day like this (I know this)
- Buying at support but not on a day like this
- Look at 5min and 15min - why go long !!
- Cut this trade very quickly because I knew it was dumb and I could have actually scalped this for profit but it felt smarter to just get out for a tiny loss
- risk management was the only good thing about this trade
FIX: AVOID THIS TRADE
Trade 2 - Long 1 Put (no setup) (trend continuation)
Grade: D+
- no set up but at least following the trend
- exited when I saw no selling at previous low
- Essentially shorting at LOD - Puts at resistance
FIX: Don't trade no setup
Trades 3 and 4 (no setups)
Grade: D
- Fighting the trend on both of these trades
- Trades 3 and 4 were just dumb - stabbing at longs on a downtrending day
- I would have actually been green on both of these trades (Trade 3 if i held at my exit and Trade 4 if I scalped the profits right away)
- Either way just no reason to be buying calls down here - if i want to buy calls I need to see proven strength aka the uptrend once we finally bottomed (5MIN - EOD)
FIX: Don't Trade No Setups. Don't Fight The Trend. Don't Trade Single-Factor Trades
Trade 5 - Long 1 Call (no setup)
Grade: C-
- Again trading no set up
- This was the LOD but I tried 4 times to get this before it worked
- Now i wish i had just held this 1 contract and I probably would have if this was my first trade but nope, trading from the red
FIX: Don't Trade No Setup. Don't Fight The Trend.
TAKEAWAYS: I know i struggle on days like this and it's always for the same reason. Fighting the trend and trying to pick a bottom instead of just going with the trend. These days will chop longs to death and if you don't manage risk well, you can take big losses. I either need to not trade at all on days when I see us trending like this, or get aggressive and go with the trend.