Monday, January 16, 2023 (PM Session) (1 Trade) ($33.75) - Tuesday, January 17, 2023 (6 trades) (-$42.50)

Overall Grade: C+

Day Summary: Monday was Martin Luther King day, but the futures market still traded abbreviated hours. I watched for about 2 hours in the morning, but didn't take any trades as the volume was very weak (as was expected). However, I did trade the PM session for the firest time, taking a trade around 7pm and closing about 10pm. The following morning session was just a choppy mess. I had a decent day but gave it all back on my last few days unfortunately, including the profits from the PM session.

DAILY - ES Futures (screenshot taken at 7pm)

5 Min - ES Futures

                                        Trades

Trade 1 (PM Trade) - Short 1 Contract 

Grade: B+

  • I was very happy with how I managed and held this trade (total hold time of just over 3 hours)
  • My entry was quite good in terms of timing because I was actually green about what I was green 2 hours in, after just 2mins in the trade
  • I did hold it however as it squeezed back up, and then held in the red for about an hour, risking the recent 15min high, since it was just 1 contract
  • I would have added into this trade at least once, maybe twice, if i had had the margin for it at this time, so it could have been a big trade
  • After hours price action can be random and manipulated, so I do not plan to be trading at this time very often, and probably better to keep it small size anyways

 

Trade 2 -  Short 2 Contracts @ VWAP retest (Trend Continuation)

Grade: B-

  • This could have been a great trade if I held ... *Sigh* ... As usual
  • I was never in the red on this trade so I could have easily held, but after such an aggresive sell of, I got scared out of this position and covered less than a minute after entry
  • Good job going with the trend at least, since the trend had not yet been broken

FIX: HOLD !!

 

Trade 3 - Short 1 Contract @ VWAP

Grade: B-

  • Another scalp that I should have held, and I was never in the red on
  • Basically betting on a trend reversal fail here, something that is common after aggresive sell offs. especially after consolidation
  • Tough to short into market open demand zone though

FIX: HOLD (although this trade would have been sketchier to hold)

 

Trade 4 - Long 2 Contracts (No Set Up)

Grade: D

  • Avoid this trade
  • Do not buy dips/short frontsides before 2min trend is broken **New Rule**
  • Took this same entry a bit later after it was showing signs of a bottom, plus a reversal (Trade 5)
  • Always better to allow ^^ to happen before buying dips / shorting frontside unless we're at clear supply zone/demand zone

FIX: Fucking avoid this garbage

 

Trade 5 - Long 2 Contracts @ Market Open Demand & 3min trendbreak Retest

Grade: B

  • This was probably the best trade of the day
  • I felt like there were a lot of people going short here as they were probably expecting it to continue selling off (don't speculate)
  • Did a good job holding final contract, but on a day like today where it was already ranging, prob better to take profits at VWAP, especially after failing the 2nd attempt
  • Overall good hold, especially on the pullback after first VWAP attempt (much easier bc I had already took off 1 contract at the top)

FIX: Take profits on fail of 2nd attempt of VWAP

 

Trade 6 - Short 2 Contracts Looking for Rollover after VWAP rejection (Again)

Grade: B-

  • This is where I started to overtrade a bit, but i wanted to push it since I was green (need to start doing that to get bigger green days - but on better setups)
  • Overall not a horrible trade, because I really expected this to roll over, after bouncing from where I exited Trade 5 and failing VWAP again
  • Added to a loser here, but it wasn't a terrible add because it was at a fairly logical spot (5min supply zone)
  • Not super unhappy with this trade, just didn't work out. Risk was managed well for potential reward (was thinking rollover to LOD as target)

FIX: Don't Trade Choppy Ranges

 

Trade 7 - Short 2 Contracts @ Push Up after Big Volume Sell Off

Grade: C-

  • I got a little aggresive on this trade here and shorted straight into market open demand zone
  • Entry 1 was extra aggressive, while entry 2 was more calculated, as I thought it was going to roll over at the pointof entry 2
  • I missed my 2 chances to hop on the trend early this morning, so i felt like I wanted to get aggresive on a trending trade here
  • Since I saw it fail hard from where it pushed to in my last trade, I finally thought the sell off was here
  • This is an example of trading with a bias
  • Eury took this entry as a buy, so I need to see what it was that he saw that prompted him to go long (got a call with him after I finish doing this review)
  • Probably held this trade too long, but "I was sure it would fail"
  • Didn't manage risk properly here and through away all my daily profits
  • One good take away, is I do want to get a bit more aggresive early in the trends, but that might be best done in the mornings

FIX: Know where you are in the range and avoid longing into supply, and shorting into demand

 

Takeaways: The market has been super choppy and will probably continue to be until we get more data about how the economy and inflation are doing, and what the rate hike will be on Feb 1. Take profits when you have them! Try to identify ranges and short tops, long bottoms.

 

Easy Money: Following trends early in the day