Michael's (zlabis) Journal [The Magician]

[kiravon]

Michael
Just read your entire journal from start to finish -
What really comes over is discipline and attention to detail

The results weren't immediately forthcoming but they are
definitely forthcoming now!

What I like is you still get rents, lots of them, if you didn't
get them your journal wouldn't be so inspirational

but your rents tell me you are still mortal, you are still
one of us! you teach us what rents really are, a very small
price to pay, nothing to be feared, and they just pale into
insignificance compared to the rewards that AIMS makes
available to each and every one of us.

You are an absolute inspiration!

and you know something? you are only a little bit more
disciplined than the rest of us but a whole lot more profitable!

and whist your results seem 'magical' and 'Magician' seems
a fitting title for you, actually I don't see anything out of the
ordinary in your trades. You're trading is in fact just pure
'textbook' AIMS.

If anyone ( me definitely! ) wants to make 1200 pips per month
then he needs to 'model success'

You are proof positive that all any one of us needs to be
phenomenally successful, is to to have the same disciplined
mindset that you clearly seem to have developed.

Its not theoretical, you are walking the talk and I am just
left with the feeling -

'We can all do this!'

So many thanks for demonstrating in real time what Immy
has been trying to hammer home from the start!

[zlabis]

Thanks alot guys for your kind words. March was truely an exceptional month.

As you probably know, I use my AIMS-journal as THE main trading-documentation tool for me which helped me alot for the last 8 months finding my personal trading approach. But a second reason to keep the journal up to date has emerged in the last three or four months. It was and is the feeling that my journal can help other AIMSters a little bit on their journey of becoming successful, discilpined and consistant traders. It makes me proud and honored if other fellow AIMSters can take out some useful bites out of it or feel encouraged or inspired of it.

As I'm not that far to support others in an educational, advising or mentoring manner yet, my journal is my chance to contribute as much as possible and to give back a bit of what I have received from Immy, the senior AIMSters and the whole group.

Btw: due to bank-holidays on Friday (Austria, Germany,...) and Monday (UK) I've treated myself with a long weekend and a free day today with a nice, unscheduled hike with my dog. I'll join you again tomorrow at Frankfurt open.

Cheers,
Michael :-bd :-bd :-bd

[zlabis]

Tue. May 05, 2015

Screen time LO-session 8:00 - 10:00 (GMT+2) M1 DAX only - LIVE

New month after a long and relaxing, joyful weekend started with a slow, choppy down-move which offered some nice setups which didn't work out very well and LO session wasn't very much better.

Trade 13/20-7:
A good S2 classic breakout which broke out fastly but returned right after 2 candles. Exited at AIMS-level

Trade 14/20-7:
Another decent S2 which broke out nicely and went a bit further down but didn't work out either and I exited with small rent by trailing AIMS-levels (=> SAR into addon of Trade 15/20-7).

Trade 15/20-7:
A nice, little counter Fruit about 30 minutes to London open. Addon at next AIMS-level (SAR of Trade 14/20-7). I exited add on at AIMS-level and init Trade at init SL. Were small rents with fully accepted risk so I didn't care.

Trade 16/20-7:
Next pretty, little up-fruit some minutes to LO which I hoped to get it through LO breakout. Addon at next AIMS-level before LO as well. It went up until LO and reversed there immediately so init SLs of both positions got hit with accaptable small rent again.

Trade 17/20-7:
While Trade 16/20-7 was still running I placed short PO below small fruit only 2 minutes before LO. I was glad to have a good PO with small risk in the opposit direction as open Trade 16/20-7 to be well prepared for LO breakout.
I placed an addon short-PO below next AIMS-level before init PO got hit. At the LO-candle POs of Trade 17 got filled (while init SLs of Trade 16/20-7 got hit. It spiked down and formed a strong up fruit which I used as exit for bot positions and SAR into Trade 18/20-7.

Trade 18/20-7:
Very strong counter-fruit with big angle, perfect rubber band principle and often experienced position for reversal after LO. But it didn't work out because it spiked down just to hit my SL (=> SAR into Trade 19/20-7) before it went up strongly.

Trade 19/20-7:
Breakout (SAR of failed fruit Trade 18/20-7) which failed either because PO got touched and price immediately reversed and formed another up-fruit which I used as exit signal. SAR there was an option but fruit bar was even bigger and angulation was not present anymore. Only reason to take it would have been the possible reversal point. At LO DAX often breaks out in one direction and reverses into the other.

Trade 20/20-7:
To catch this possible strong reversal move, I decided to take the breakout of top of AIMS-box but I was not very eager to put too much risk into that weak setup so I trailed candles one candle behind where it got exited.

Trade 1/20-8:
A very strong AA-Fruit entry with reasonable SL of 20p while Trade 20/20-7 was still running. I turned out to be a profitable single entry trade which I exited at an also very strong counter fruit, which I should have taken as SAR, btw.

I should have used this exit fruit to SAR again but I got mentally stuck into short direction and was waiting for another short setup. Another, maybe even more important reason not taking SAR at up-fruit was because I had only one short position and it's a bit hard for me to SAR with a single position. With multiple positions it's rather clear most of the times, to scale out an addon, take counter fruit and let init trade run until green gator or trailing AIMS.

Trade 2/20-8:
Not having taken that SAR up fruit and with a bias to the down-side, I took that good Bearish Divergency Bar (BDB) which formed a good Principle C (PC). It seemed to go down further but unfortunately it reversed at the first bar after entry and failed at init SL (SAR into Trade 3/20-8).

Trade 3/20-8:
As written before, I had missed that very good fruit at bottom of that up move but I took the second possible entry after a fruit which is breakout above red gator which was SAR of Trade 2/20-8 as well. It seemed to work out quite well, went into correction at purple, formed a new lower lower AIMS level, which I trailed - and failed. Handling that trade live was a bit tricky with some contradictory information. Trade was already in stage 3, so my exit rule is primary green gator or trailing AIMS-levels. On the other hand, it seemed to me a bit like a w1-2 forming which means that w2 retraces between 50% and 61.8% fib ret in most cases but DAX has not even touched 38.2% level. As my exit rules count stronger than Elliott wave-analysis, I decided to stick to my rules and trailed AIMS-levels which is the least protective one in most cases.

Trade 4/20-8:
Classic S1 breakout setup after an obvious w1-2. Although box was a bit big I had no doubt to place PO above upper AIMS-level. I placed my init SL below gator with about 22p because I would have exited the trade I it would have gone through gator completely, so no need for me to place it below lower AIMS-level with more than 30p risk.
It went up well with a minor pullback inbetween and at the second up-push I trailed candles and got stopped out at a good level with nice profit.

In hindsight I would say it was a bit choppy today and not very easy for me, espacially between FO and LO. But I sticked to my entry- and exit-rules and had to pay only a small rent.

Trade 13/20-7: DS = 1, SL = 12.9; Result = - 5.0 Pips
Trade 14/20-7: DS = 1, SL = 11.3; Result = + 2.4 Pips
Trade 15/20-7: DS = 1, SL = 8.9 + 12.8; Result = - 8.1 - 8.8 = - 16.9 Pips
Trade 16/20-7: DS = 1, SL = 6.8 + 15.4; Result = - 6.8 - 11.3 = - 18.1 Pips
Trade 17/20-7: DS = 1, SL = 10.6 + 15.5; Result = + 16.1 + 10.8 = + 26.9 Pips
Trade 18/20-7: DS = 1, SL = 19.0; Result = - 19.0 Pips
Trade 19/20-7: DS = 1, SL = 29.8; Result = - 24.9 Pips
Trade 20/20-7: DS = 1, SL = 18.5; Result = - 18.9 Pips
Trade 01/20-8: DS = 1, SL = 20.3; Result = + 44.9 Pips
Trade 02/20-8: DS = 1, SL = 20.7; Result = - 22.0 Pips
Trade 03/20-8: DS = 1, SL = 16.7; Result = + 0.8 Pips
Trade 04/20-8: DS = 1, SL = 22.7; Result = + 28.9 Pips
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's result: - 20.9 Pips, DS = 12 / 12

[zlabis]

Wed. May 06, 2015

Screen time LO-session 8:00 - 9:30 (GMT+2) M1 DAX only - LIVE

Today has been a long and busy day and I'm already quite tired, so just a short journal entry.
I think all trades are rather self-explaining, only Trade 11/20-5 probably needs some clearification. There appeared a strong down-fruit at the top of that up-move. I exited my longs there but, as SL was rather big, I didn't SAR immediately. The price got stuck in a bigger range and there I entered short into open signal. As addon I used original fruit entry level. 2nd addon was below next AIMS-level. Unfortunately it retraced right at the next bar to show a PC what brought me to decission to exit my shorts right there. It was a protective, fear-driven decission because I was afraid of giving back the bit I've already made. It would have been reasonable to close one or both add ons but closing that small-risk initial trade was simply stupid and it costed me at least 100 Pips. Not because of missed Pips but for stupid, fear-based and protective decission I give myself DS = 0 for that campaign.

The rest was alright and according to my rules.

Trade 5/20-8: DS = 1, SL = 11.6 + 16.0; Result = + 24.9 + 8.8 = + 33.7 Pips
Trade 6/20-8: DS = 1, SL = 9.9; Result = - 9.9 Pips
Trade 7/20-8: DS = 1, SL = 8.8; Result = - 8.8 Pips
Trade 8/20-8: DS = 1, SL = 17.0; Result = + 2.1 Pips
Trade 9/20-8: DS = 1, SL = 10.7 + 25.0 + 26.0; Result = + 43.4 + 7.3 + 6.4 = + 57.1 Pips
Trade 10/20-8: DS = 1, SL = 18.6; Result = - 18.6 Pips
Trade 11/20-8: DS = 0, SL = 14.0 + 21.5 + 25.0; Result = + 15.9 + 8.5 - 1.0 = + 23.4 Pips
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's result: + 79.0 ; DS = 6 / 7

[zlabis]

Thu. May 07, 2015

Screen time LO-session 8:00 - 9:30 (GMT+2) M1 DAX only - LIVE

Today was extremely mixed according to my performence. Frankfurt open ran very well. I was able to ride the move all way down but the trades after London Open were a disaster.

Trade 12/20-8:
The FO candle was strong down fruit with big angle. Although SL was a bit big for my taste, I took it because counter fruit at ar short after FO often work out. I took 2 addons at the next AIMS levels which I exited at a strong up fruit (=> SAR into Trade 13/20-8). As that counter trade failed, I SARed into 3rd addon. Exit wasby trailing AIMS-levels (=> SAR into Trade 14/20-8). This trade was big fun and took about one hour right before LO.

Trade 13/20-8:
Counter Fruit attemt (SAR of 1st and 2nd addon of previous trade) which simply failed and got exited at initial SL (=> SAR into 3rd addon of Trade 12/20-8).

Trade 14/20-8:
Counter breakout (SAR of Trade 12/20-8) with small SL right before LO. As DAX went in opposite direction, init SL got hit (=> SAR into 1st addon of Trade 15/20-8).

Trade 15/20-8:
This was part one of the disaster. I have to say, entries were nearly perfect at AA down fruit, next AIMS-level and M5 AIMS-level. After trigger candle price bounced up and down before it went down sharply. As it retraced at H1 lower AIMS-level, I was confident (= wanted to belief) that it tested it before breaking further down. Usually I exit with at least one or two positions at such important levels but today I was probably too over-confident so I let all 3 positions run. Unfortunately it didn't break H1-level and reversed up sharply. So instead of at least + 100 I've closed with - 13.2 Pips.

Trade 16/20-8:
Disaster, Part 2: I took that counter breakout with a hugh SL of 38.2. Here again, entry was ok but, against the way I usually place SL below gator (would have been around 20p) in occasions like here with big box, I placed SL below box with nearly 40p - and it got hit. Too big risk for me to feel comfortable. Should not do that. 2 options here: 1. SL below gator or 2. not tsking the trade at all.

Trade 17/20-8:
Disaster, final Part 3: I took that small, lovely fruit and added on at next AIMS-level, so entries were good again. The rest is the same as with trade 15/20-8. Again I didn't exit at same H1 lower AIMS-level where price bounced off again and made me exit with reasonable rent instead of nice profit. Although exits were according to my rules (red gator, initial Seed-SL), I have to give me DS=0 because I somehow wanted to force DAX wit my trade to break that H1 level.

After that last trade I felt that my anger about myself was rising and my ability to act with a carefree and fearfree state of mind dimished so I decided to quit immediately. To interrupt the stress-hormones-cascade, I took a long, relaxing hike into the woods together with my dog Chester.

So as mentioned before, it was a great Frankfurt session and a bad London session. I have to take care of belance between confidence and over-confidence or recklessness. Taking profit where market offers it is most often better than hoping for the homerun espacially if there are strong indicators against it.

N E X T!

Trade 12/20-8: DS = 1, SL = 23.9 + 25.0 +25.0 + 21.5; Result = + 49.3 + 9.1 + 3.1 + 6.2 = + 67.7 Pips
Trade 13/20-8: DS = 1, SL = 16.5; Result = - 16.5 Pips
Trade 14/20-8: DS = 1, SL = 12.3; Result = - 12.3 Pips
Trade 15/20-8: DS = 1, SL = 12.5 + 26.9 + 32.4; Result = + 6.3 - 8.7 - 10.8 = - 13.2 Pips
Trade 16/20-8: DS = 1, SL = 38.2; Result = - 38.2 Pips
Trade 17/20-8: DS = 0, SL = 15.8 + 27.0; Result = - 11.4 - 17.3 = - 28.7 Pips
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's result: - 41.2 Pips , DS = 5 / 6

[immy]

Thu. May 07, 2015

After that last trade I felt that my anger about myself was rising and my ability to act with a carefree and fearfree state of mind dimished so I decided to quit immediately. To interrupt the stress-hormones-cascade, I took a long, relaxing hike into the woods together with my dog Chester.

Guys, this is what we call Mental Analysis. While we all focus on Technical analysis success depends on Mental Analysis.

Michael found out he was not in the zone anymore. He was not trading from "the right mindset". Which means that as a result of his Mental analysis he concluded that it was best he stopped trading because he lost his "mental edge" due to the emotion of anger taking over his Neutral, joyful, and care free state of mind. This IS EPIC!

All good signs of a good trader. We all will face such times from time to time. what separates a losing trader and a consistently successful winning trader is the ability to understand their inner structure (the mental analysis) and take actions accordingly.

God (if there is one) Bless Ya Michael!
(pssst: there is a God that I believe exits in my universe and beyond, hope there is one in your universe too and hope its the same dude)

[zlabis]

Fri. May 08, 2015

Screen time LO-session 8:00 - 9:30 (GMT+2) M1 DAX only - LIVE

Mixed session again. Here are the trades:

Trade 18/20-8:
A very good fruit according to Grant's rules with one addon at next AIMS-level. Market went up sharply and I closed addon by trailing candles because price went too far too fast away from gator without forming a fruit - so trailing was appropriate. I exited init trade below green gator and was glad to follow my plan with success.

Trade 19/20-8:
S2 at a stepping down AIMS box. As up-movement stalled after a few candles, I decided to exit at a down-fruit with a strongly diverging AO (=> SAR into Trade 20/20-8).

Trade 20/20-8:
Counter Fruit (SAR of Trade 19/20-8) as described above. Addon at next AIMS-level. As it was possible that down-fruit was end of w5 of w3, I speculated to catch w4-zigzag all way down, but it went differently, so I exited both positions at red gator.

Trade 1/20-9:
That was the LO breakout entry. I added on at next AIMS level but it retraced immediately after addon. Because opposite AIMS-level of init breakout trade was too far away with more than 30 Pips, I exited both positions above gator.

Trade 2/20-9:
S1 trade after gator was interweaving and AIMS-box was tightening which didn't work out either - it simply hasn't ound direction yet. I closed it above the bar which closed above gator.

Trade 3/20-9:
M5 and H1 gator was clearly open to the up side, so I took this AA-fruit in direction of the open gator of higher TFs (while Trade 2/20-9 ws still running). Furthermore it was a possible and probable end of a w1-2.
Unfortunately the choppy price action continued and init SL got hit right at the next bar as that fruit failed after it got triggered.

Today was similar to last days where FO session offered some good tradeable setups with relatively small SLs, LO session stood out mainly for volatile but very choppy movement with very big SLs which made it rather difficult to find good entries. In many cases some "tricks" with SLs were neccessary to get tolerable SL-sizes. I will do some simulation and testing to find out if setups with "tricked" SLs are appropriate to take or not.

Trade 18/20-8: DS = 1, SL = 10.3.+ 25.0; Result = + 23.9 + 24.2 = + 48.1 Pips
Trade 19/20-8: DS = 1, SL = 16.1; Result = + 1.5 Pips
Trade 20/20-8: DS = 1, SL = 15.7 + 21.1; Result = + 6.5 - 11.7 = - 5.2 Pips
Trade 1/20-9: DS = 1, SL = 25.0 + 31.6; Result = - 15.9 - 31.6 = - 46.5 Pips
Trade 2/20-9: DS = 1, SL = 25.0; Result = - 15.7 Pips
Trade 3/20-9: DS = 1, SL = 15.1; Result = - 15.1 Pips
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's result: - 32.9 Pips , DS = 6 / 6

Result of week 19 - 4.5.-8.5.2015 - M1 live:
Mon. 4.5. no trading due to UK bank holiday
Tue. 5.5. - 2.90 Pips, DS 12/12, 2.00 hrs, M1
Wed. 6.5. + 79.0 Pips, DS 6/7, 1.50 hrs, M1
Thu. 7.5. - 41.2 Pips, DS 5/6, 1.50 hrs, M1
Fri. 8.5. - 32.9 Pips, DS 6/6, 1.50 hrs, M1
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Result ..... - 16.0 Pips, DS 29/31, 6.25 hrs

Let's see what next week will bring ;-)

[Tomi]

London open was like it was but for Frankfurt you got a nice long using the seed. I watched whole Frankfurt session and could get in only in the near London open. Nice trading Michael. Elections, NFP and bank holidays for this week are over now. Let's keep going and next week will be a blast

[zlabis]

Mon. May 11, 2015

Screen time LO-session 8:00 - 9:30 (GMT+2) M1 DAX only - LIVE

Mixed session again. Nice FO session with good setups (although I missed some), and choppy, big AIMS-boxed 30 minutes after LO. There is nothing more to say than the screenshot describes except that I'm glad that I stayed focused and disciplined because consistantcy and success are products of them.

Trade 4/20-9: DS = 1, SL = 12.2; Result = - 3.1 Pips
Trade 5/20-9: DS = 1, SL = 10.1; REsult = + 14.6 Pips
Trade 6/20-9: DS = 1, SL = 21.0; Result = - 15.5 Pips
Trade 7/20-9: DS = 1, SL = 11.6 + 26.4; Result = - 13.0 - 10.7 = - 23.7 Pips
Trade 8/20-9: DS = 1, SL = 26.3 + 19.5; Result = - 6.0 - 10.4 = - 16.4 Pips
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's result: - 44.1 Pips , DS = 5 / 5, 1.50 hrs

[zlabis]

Tue. May 12, 2015

Screen time LO-session 8:00 - 9:30 (GMT+2) M1 DAX only - LIVE

Today was a bit easier for me. FO-session was good as usual and LO was ok today as well by finding its direction right after opening. Beside that DAX showed nice response to Elliott wave count and Fibonacchi levels as well - so rather straight foreward.

Trade 9/20-9:
Good counter fruit signal after an initial down-move. It failed one period after it had been triggered so exit was at init SL.

Trade 10/20-9:
A very nice classic S2 with small SL. Actually it would have been an even better addon but I didn't take the first breakout as SL was too big for FO session but best init entry would have been that good fruit at 09:01 chart time.
I added on at next AIMS-level. Exit of addon was by trailing candles where price and AO diverged, exit of init trade was by trailing AIMS levels.

Trade 11/20-9:
While Trade 10-20/9 was still running, I took that counter Fruit which failed -> exit at init SL.

Trade 12/20-9:
Right before LO there that good AA-Fruit with very small SL, which unfortunately failed -> exit at init SL.

Trade 13/20-9:
2nd attempt to catch w5 down with an AA-Fruit which worked out this time. First addon was taken at next AIMS-level. Both Positions were exited at strong up-Fruit (SAR into Trade 14/20-9) because it rebounced at TZ1 and breakout after LO tends to reverse rather often. As it didn't reverse I reentered at break of AIMS with a lovely S2 in direction of the trand. Exit of that final entry was after rejection at TZ2, so w5 seemed to finished, which turned out to be true in hindsight.

Trade 14/20-9:
Counter Fruit at possible reversal after initial breakout move of LO (SAR of Trade 13/20-9). Reversal failed so trade was exited at initial SL.


Trade 9/20-9: DS = 1, SL = 10.6; Result = - 10.6 Pips
Trade 10/20-9: DS = 1, SL = 12.9 + 13.7; Result = + 45.1 + 15.8 = + 60.9 Pips
Trade 11/20-9: DS = 1, SL = 14.3; Result = - 14.3 Pips
Trade 12/20-9: DS = 1, SL = 8.3; Result = - 8.3 Pips
Trade 13/20-9: DS = 1, SL = 16.8 + 24.7 + 23.5; Result = + 27.5 + 19.1 + 11.7 = + 58.4 Pips
Trade 14/20-9: DS = 1, SL = 19.8; Result = - 19.9 Pips
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's result: + 66.2 Pips, DS = 6 / 6 , 1.50 hrs
Trading was big fun and was straight foreward to me today.