Michael's (zlabis) Journal [The Magician]

[zlabis]

Tue. Apr 14, 2015

Screen time LO-session 8:30 - 10:30 (GMT+1) M1 DAX only - LIVE

Trade 3 and 4/20-4:
In the 30 minutes to LO there was a good down fruit (Trade 3/20-4) with one add on one minute before LO at break of low AIMS level and a classic S1 entry (Trade 4/20-4) one minute after LO. Both trades got whipsawed out.

Trade 5/20-4:
I missed the following down-fruit due to up and down jumps - my mind was a bit too slow to adopt to that ;-)
Instead of taking that fruit I took breakout (Trade 5/20-4). I was confident because volatility and dynamic was high. Exited with small rent at break of upper AIMS-level.

Trade 6/20-4:
AA-Fruit at bottom of a PC, add on at next upper AIMS-level. Both entries were clear and straight foreward. As I had the impression that we are in a range-bound period, I exited below following down-fruit which was actually the perfect level => SAR into Trade 7/20-4.

Trade 7/20-4:
Was fruit-SAR of Trade 6/20 with big angle. Price went through gator with pace but unfortunatly it didn't proceed into stage 3, so I exited at upper AIMS-level with +/- 0.

Trade 8/20-4:
Classic S1 entry with possible beginning of w5 which it really was. I added on at next AIMS-level but, although I exited according to my rules at close below green gator/lower AIMS-level, in hindsight there was clear indication that trailing candles would have been best decission. Not Pip-wise but price-action-wise (rubberband effect without forming fruit).

Trade 9/20-4:
DAX moved in a tight range and offered the possibility of bracketing. Trade 9/20 + add on got triggered first and got exited as breakout to the down-side happened => sort of SAR into Trade 10/20. "Sort of" because SL was a bit lower (init SL-level) as entry level of Trade 10/20-4.

Trade 10/20-4:
Classic break-out as SAR of Trade 9/20-4 with 2 add ons. For comfortability reason, I exited 1st add on at good AA-up-fruit and let init trade run. Entry of second add-on was break of former fruit/next AIMS-level. I exited campaign at third down-thrust at trailing candles. Partly closing would have done the trick to stay in further but exiting here was ok and according to my rules.

Trade 03/20-4: DS=1, SL = 7.3 + 12.8; Result = - 7.1 - 12.8 = - 19.9
Trade 04/20-4: DS=1, SL = 12.4; Result = - 12.4
Trade 05/20-4: DS=1, SL = 17.0; Result = - 6.4
Trade 06/20-4: DS=1, SL = 13.6 + 16.0, Result = + 14.2 + 9.9 = + 24.1
Trade 07/20-4: DS=1, SL = 10; Result = - 0.6
Trade 08/20-4: DS=1, SL = 16.0 + 12.3; Result = + 3.3 - 9.9 = - 6.6
Trade 09/20-4: DS=1, SL = 12.2 + 14.8; Result = - 13.3.- 16.0 = - 29.3
Trade 10/20-4: DS=1, SL = 16.4 + 10.8 + 14.4; Result = + 36.8 + 32.2 + 6.6 = + 75.6
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Today's result = 25.4 Pips, DS = 8 / 8

It's very good for confidence and trust into system that, even on days with no clear breakout at London Open, sticking to the rules with discipline and patiance helps us staying on the track.

[zlabis]

Wed. Apr 15, 2015

Screen time LO-session 8:30 - 10:30 (GMT+1) M1 DAX only - LIVE

I came to charts a few minutes late (9:33am chart-time = 8:33am lokal time = 7:33am UK time) therefore I missed that good long breakout from thight saddle point with with tiny risk of 6.6 Pips but anyway, there were further good pre-LO entries.

Trade 11/20-4:
As I was in kitchen to make some tea, I missed that nice down-fruit as it showed up at 9:38 chart-time. When I came back, signal was still valid so I took entry into open signal with only 1.5 Pips bigger SL than original entry level - was worth it to me. Took 2 add ons at break of next AIMS-levels, while add on 2 was SAR of Trade 12/20-4. I exited whole campaign at first period after LO above green gator as price shot up.

Trade 12/20-4:
While Trade 11/20-4 was still running I took this counter fruit with good angle which failed only 3 period after it had been triggered => SAR into add on #2 of Trade 11/20.

Trade 13/20-4:
Fruit at bottom of following up-move. Fruit signal had not too much angle but there was divergency with AO it had formed a sort Principle C. It was not a too strong signal to me espacially as SL would have been rather big with 20 pips. Two periods later there was a small pullback, where that fruit was still valid, so I decided to enter long into the open signal but now with much smaller risk of only 10p. I added on twice at next AIMS-levels where second add on was SAR of T14/20 (counter fruit) as well. Exited 1st add on at good down-fruit and the other 2 positions at lower AIMS-level, so I managed it to stay in the move rather long.

Trade 14/20-4:
Counter fruit with good angle which failed => SAR into add on #2 of Trade 13/20.

Trade 15/20-4:
Very promissing fruit signal with one add on at next AIMS-level - but it failed. Exited add on above AIMS box and init trade at original SL. Exit of init trade was SAR into add on of Trade 16/20-4.

Trade 16/20-4:
Beautiful classic S2 breakout with add on above failed down-fruit. I exited campaign as price closed below gator. In hindsight it can be resumed that the up-move was old and price had already move quite far, I it would probably had been appropriate to exit after final up-thrust, but anyway, exit was ok and according to my plan.

T11/20-4: DS=1, SL = 12.3 + 16.6 + 17.0; Result = + 16.8 + 12.4 - 7.7 = + 21.5
T12720-4: DS=1, SL = 8.0; Result = - 8.0
T13/20-4: DS=1, SL = 10.2 + 16.3 + 4.2; Result = + 45.5 + 16.3 + 4.2 = + 66.0
T14/20-4: DS=1, SL = 14.0; Result = -14.0
T15/20-4: DS=1, SL = 13.5 + 14.6; Result = - 13.9 - 14.6 = - 28.5
T16/20-4: DS=1, SL = 17.5 + 22.7; Result = + 17.0 + 11.7 = + 28.7
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Today's result = 65.7 Pips, DS = 6/6 - as long as market is moving we can take Pips out of it ;-)

[Tomi]

Excellent trade 13/20-4. You got in with low risk and get into nice long. My mind is not ready yet for these. My mind is still in "if fruit is not suitable, just forget it and wait for next one" mode. But mind will get an aha moment someday and then I'm ready also. Nice!

[zlabis]

Excellent trade 13/20-4. You got in with low risk and get into nice long. My mind is not ready yet for these. My mind is still in "if fruit is not suitable, just forget it and wait for next one" mode. But mind will get an aha moment someday and then I'm ready also. Nice!

Thank you, Tomi, for your kind words. This T13/20 worked out pretty well. One big aha moment for me was when I really and deeply accepted the risk of each and every trade. That was my biggest hurdle. I think, I kind of skipped over it some time ago which brought me a step closer of being a consistent and disciplined trader.

I really love to browse your journal - it's very inspiring ;-)

Cheers
Michael

[zlabis]

Thu. Apr 16, 2015

Screen time LO-session 8:30 - 10:00 (GMT+1) M1 DAX only - LIVE

LO started today with a lovely break out to the down side followed by an tight period that lasted until I was done 1 hour past LO.

Here in details:

Trade 17 and 18/20-4;
breakouts from a saddle-point with small risk. First up which was fake out (Trade 17/20-4) and then SAR into short which turned out to be a lovely down-move (Trade 18/20-4). Handling of trade was alright, even in hindsight. Only one small thing: Could have taken add on at break of lower M5 AIMS level but missed it as I was too concentrated on the current running candle.

Trade 19/20-4:
Classic breakout trade after PC into possible wave 5 of wave 3. As I was distracted at original trigger candle by phone call, I took it 2 perios later at same level. Was ok discipline-wise as it's part of my trading plan to enter into open signals.
Exited it at close above green gator.

Trade 20/20-4:
Fruit with good angle. Add on at break of next AIMS-level. I left init SL of fruit entry unchanged so it kept open until last breakout attempt to downside. At that last step-up of AIMS box I moved SL below it where it got exited => SAR into add on #2 of Trade 1/20-5.

Trade 1/20-5:
Classic break out after tightening of AIMS box. 2 Add ons at next AIMS-levels. Stayed in the trade as I've left SL untouched and squeezed out a few Pips. Exited campaign at up-fruit.


Trade 17/20-4: DS=1, SL = 10.8; Result = - 10.8
Trade 18/20-4: DS=1, SL = 10.8; Result = + 63.4
Trade 19/20-4: DS=1, SL = 18.8; Result = - 13.0
Trade 20/20-4: DS=1, SL = 13.0 + 18.6; Result = - 5.5 - 18.6 = - 24.1
Trade 01/20-5: DS=1, SL = 16.2 + 20.4 + 15.0; Result = + 12.1 + 7.6 + 7.0 = + 26.7
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's result = + 42.2 Pips; DS = 5/5

Here are the stats of set 3 and 4 of 20 Trades Principle:

[zlabis]

Fri. Apr 17, 2015

Screen time LO-session 8:30 - 10:00 (GMT+1) M1 DAX only - LIVE

DAX started today a bit unusual as it moved strongly with high volatility from Frankfurt open on. That didn't gave me opportunities to take these small-risk entries prior London Open, which I'm usually looking for at that time. So it was a LO break-out which started my series of today's trades.

Trade 2/20-5:
Breakout right after LO into possible w3 after a w1-2 pattern, but I have to admit that I didn't take notice of the w1-2 as I was only focused on the running candle and it's breakout. Add on at SAR of Fruit-Trade 3/20-5 (= next AIMS level). Both SLs below AIMS-box were rather big with about 25p, what is close but still below my upper limit, so I let the trades run inside the boundries of SLs. Exit was triggered by trailing candles at the second push. I trailed candles for both positions because the up-bars were rather small while it moved away from gator more and more whitout forming a fruit.

Trade 3/20-5:
AA-fruit with big angle and Principle C as well which simply didn't work out => SAR into add on of Trade 2/20-5.

Trade 4/20-5:
Breakout in direction of the trend after stronger pullback. Add on #1 at next AIMS-level. Add on #2 at AIMS-break after a period of consolidation with AO at zero-line so it was possibility that it would go into w5 (what actually didn't happen, in hindsight). I stayed filled in that choppy period because I moved both SLs only once and didn't pay further attention to price-action or gator. That saved me from exiting and reentering trades permanently which always costs much rent. Campaign got exited at that mentioned SL => SAR into add on of Trade 5/20-5:

Trade 5/20-5:
Strong fruit signal with big angle and diverging AO while Trade 4/20-5 was still running. Add on at break of that lower level of nearly rectangle-like range. SL of both positions remained above fruit bar. Price moved down with pace and created a counter-fruit with good angle which I took as exit for both positions.

The challange of the trades in the choppy period was to stay in the trades without trying to cut risk too soon by tightening SLs.


Trade 2/20-5: DS=1, SL = 25.1 + 24.9; Result = + 23.6 + 21.4 = + 45.0
Trade 3/20-5: DS=1, SL = 10.0; Result = -10.0
Trade 4/20-5: DS=1, SL = 20.0 + 24.7 + 15.1; Result = 0.0 - 11.7 - 14.9 = - 26.6
Trade 5/20-5: DS=1, SL = 13.1 + 20.7; Result = + 41.1
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's result = + 49.5 Pips; DS = 4/4


Result of week 16 - 13.4.-17.4.2015 - M1 live:
Mon. 13.04. + 49.4 Pips, 1.50 hrs, M1
Tue. 14.04. + 25.4 Pips, 2.00 hrs, M1
Wed. 15.04. + 65.7 Pips, 2.00 hrs, M1
Thu. 16.04. + 42.2 Pips, 1.50 hrs, M1
Fri . 17.04. + 49.5 Pips, 1.50 hrs, M1
-------------------------------------------
Result ...... + 232.2 Pips, 8.50 hrs

[zlabis]

Mon. Apr 20, 2015

Screen time LO-session 8:00 - 10:00 (GMT+1) M1 DAX only - LIVE

Last few weeks I started my 2 hrs session at 8:30 Vienna local-time (= 7:30 UK-time). It worked out rather well but last Friday, Immy came up with the idea to start right at FO (8:00 local-time) because it could be from advantege to trade 2 openings (FO + LO). I decided to give it a try.
To be honest it didn't feel as familiar as LO but it was ok.

Trade 6/20-5:
2 minutes after FO I took that good down-fruit with one add on at next AIMS-level. I exited add on at AIMS-level and init trade at failure of fruit-signal-bar.

Trade 7/20-5:
As Trade 6 was still running, I entered a very strong S1 (after PC - BDB) at break of stepping down AIMS-level and added on at next AIMS-level. Exit was below next opposite AIMS.

Trade 8/20-5:
A beautiful AA-fruit after a w1-2 brought me into this great long-campaign. 2 add-ons at next AIMS-levels with 25 pips SL each, below gator because below AIMS would be too far (more than 30p each). Market made decission easy as no bar reached below the low of previous bar. After a strong push, I decided to trail candles and got stopped out at a very good level.

After that last campaign with a pip-count of +161 I decided to close charts and was chatting in skype room instead. I thought again about concern of missing another big winner if I'm not there. I think that I know my edge now and I don't depend on every winner that could be available at times I'm not at the charts - even if I quit earlier (e.g. after a great campaign like today). Although I theoretically "knew" from beginning of AIMS-trading that there is an edge but I needed to experience it over some period of time to really integrate it into my believe-system.

Trade 6/20-5: DS=1, SL = 10.3 + 21.4; Result = - 11.2 - 21.4 = - 32.6 Pips
Trade 7/20-5: DS=1, SL = 13.4 + 14.0; Result = +21.3 + 14.0 = + 35.3 Pips
Trade 8/20-5: DS=1, SL = 7.1 + 25 + 25; Result = + 73.3 + 45.8 + 42.3 = + 161.4
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Today's result = + 164.1 Pips, DS = 3/3

[zlabis]

brilliant trading michael Z. Keep it up. ^:)^ ^:)^

Thank you very much Sam, and you're knowledge and sharing of thoughts is big part of it. :-bd

Cheers

[zlabis]

Tue. Apr 21, 2015

Screen time LO-session 8:00 - 10:00 (GMT+1) M1 DAX only - LIVE

Due to time-shortage these days, I can't comment my trades broadly here. But I think the screenshots are rather explainational.

Trade 09/20-5: DS=0, SL = 11.8 + 18.8; Result = + 16.5 + 6.3 = + 22.8 Pips
Trade 10/20-5: DS=1, SL = 11.2 + 21.1 + (25); Result = + 72.9 + 18.0 (- 0.1) = + 90.8 Pips
Trade 11/20-5: DS=1, SL = 19.8; Result = - 19.8 Pips
Trade 12/20-5: DS=1, SL = 17.4; Result = - 17.4 Pips
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's result: + 76.4 ; DS = 3 / 4

[zlabis]

Wed. Apr 22, 2015

Screen time LO-session 8:00 - 10:00 (GMT+1) M1 DAX only - LIVE

Today I started at Frankfurt open again but today I was not very focused from the beginning. There were several very good, low-risk entry opportunities which I did not take or didn't even realize. Esapcially this down-fruit 5 bars after FO (+ 2 add ons) and even more annoying this, only 6 Pips small, up-fruit on bottom of the beautiful up-move which was running through London open.
A bit later (after Trade 15/20-5) I realized that I did not keep on task completely because I was in talkative mood a bit - so I tried to pull myself together. And it worked. I reduced chatting and was more focused to chart again.

Trade 13/20-5 and Trade 14/20-5:
A few periods after FO and the initial up-move, AIMS box stepped down and tightened (formed the duck-shape). Trade 13/20-5 was good S2 entry in direction of the trend but init SL got hit.
Second attempt, Trade 14/20-5, was a classic S2 again and this time in combination with a Principle C but it failed as well.

Trade 15/20-5:
Although I didn't catch this lovely low-risk fruit 16 minutes to LO + 2 add ons, I was able to enter at LO by taking the next AIMS-break. As add on level I took M5 AIMS-break. I exited add on at a strong down-fruit and trailed AIMS-levels with init trade.

I have to point it out here that scaling-out multiple position is NOT recommended by Immy. I noticed that finding the "best" exit stressed me alot and it's useless anyway because we can not know for sure how far each move goes. There are some higher probabilities exits but for every individual trade we can not know for granted. So, scaling-out is just a way for me to stay comfortable at handling my exits and staying in trades longer.

Trade 16/20-5:
As previous trade got stopped out at lower AIMS-level, I did not take it as entry into that short-campaign because there were no strong reversal signals at that time. Entry was at next AIMS-break after a possible w1-2. Add on was at following AIMS-level as SAR of Fruit trade 17/20-5.
I wanted to exit at green gator or AIMS but then I placed stop-level above that very strong up-fruit because my session was ending after 2 hour anyway and I had to leave but exiting at green or AIMS would not have made a big difference here.

Trade 17/20-5:
Counter-fruit entry after a small push and at locally peaking AO but with small angle. Exit at failing of fruit => SAR into add on of Trade 16/20-5.

Trade 13/20-5: DS = 1, SL = 9.7; Result = - 9.7 Pips
Trade 14/20-5: DS = 1, SL = 11.0; Result = - 11.0 Pips
Trade 15/20-5: DS = 1, SL = 11.5 + 25; Result = + 42.3 + 13.9 = + 56.2 Pips
Trade 16/20-5: DS = 1, SL = 20.1 + 18.6; Result = + 81.8 + 55.6 = + 137.4 Pips
Trade 17/20-5: DS = 1, SL = 13.0; Result = - 13.0 Pips
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Today's result: + 159,9 ; DS = 5 / 5
Thank you market for offering opportunities ;-)