Michael's (zlabis) Journal [The Magician]

[immy]

Thanks for explaining your thought process. Its really good to read. For me, its simple now.

Is there a new peak! I keep my eyes on eWave. Cross of ZL and Peak then dark bar. and yes volatility has to be there. but its subjective and comes with experience so for new traders simply taking trades near fresh cross will do them good!

I have been questioning Grants multiple entry signal but it works for him so who am I to say why or stop. But I trade for me so I decide what I want to do right?
Hence i trade only seeds and cherries. rarely an apple. Apples are a different strategy for me its not the same as seed and cherry. I don't take Setup 1, don't look for it but i will take some box break using the Classic Setup. Only some. Focus is on Seed and cherry.

IMHO

thanks for the beautiful posts guys Mickey and Michael

[zlabis]

Thanks for explaining your thought process. Its really good to read. For me, its simple now.

Is there a new peak! I keep my eyes on eWave. Cross of ZL and Peak then dark bar. and yes volatility has to be there. but its subjective and comes with experience so for new traders simply taking trades near fresh cross will do them good!

I have been questioning Grants multiple entry signal but it works for him so who am I to say why or stop. But I trade for me so I decide what I want to do right?
Hence i trade only seeds and cherries. rarely an apple. Apples are a different strategy for me its not the same as seed and cherry. I don't take Setup 1, don't look for it but i will take some box break using the Classic Setup. Only some. Focus is on Seed and cherry.

IMHO

thanks for the beautiful posts guys Mickey and Michael

As usual, you're able to extract basic meaning of things in two sentences what takes me 20 sentences \m/

[zlabis]

Mon. Oct.5, 2015

Screen time:
LO-session 09:00 - 11:00 (GMT+2) M1/M5 DAX only - LIVE

I've spent a joy- and pleasantful weekend with a beautiful hike up an awesome vista mountain near Vienna, with a great party with friends watching rugby match England:Australia (I'm honestly sorry for the English) and with some relaxing. During hiking and relaxing I had some time and muse to reflect about my decreasing discipline of last two trading weaks. Although it is very tempting to excuse that lack of discipline with big profit I've made, I came to conclusion that I need to stick strictly to my trading plan for consistant results even if market conditions are less obvious. With that thoughts in mind, I was confident to trade today's session with patience and discipline (P&D). P&D is the inevitable foundation of any trader's proper mindset whereas, to me, movement and structure is foundation of applying our AIMS system successfully.

Trade 1:
Adam's Apple Fruit right after LO with a nice Principle 5 (P5). I placed TP slightly some points below macro TZ1 and it actually went into my favor for 3 candles but then it sharply reversed after 1:1 level got hit so SL at BE got hit with -0.1% due to some slippage.

Trade 2:
The following down move offered two good Cherry signals in a row in confluence with AO Monarch pattern. First Cherry got invalidated by second one, so only PO of second one got triggered. TP was placed at 1:3 level, some points above micro TZ1. SL to BE as price broke 1:1 level. As it reversed sharply close to TP without hitting it, I quickly moved SL to 1:2 where trade was exited with +2.0%.

Trade 3:
Today DAX made good movement and presented structure which made it rather easy to spot valid signals. Not much discretion was necessary. PO before Trade 3 was another good and clear example for that and Trade 3 itself as well.
Trade 3 was a simple and easy to validate signal: impulsive up move after cross of purple -> pullback with newly peaking AO -> Seed with possible TP in good distance (at about 1:4 level).
Took signal with confidence and without hasitation and trade developed nearly as predicted. Unfortunately it missed hitting TP at 1:3 R:R level so I trailed candles after that (1:2 level had already been hit). Trade was exited at +1.0%.

Trade 4:
What a beauty!!! An Adam's Apple pinbar at 38.2% pullback in combination with a perfect Principle C after AO crossed ZL to downside and presented a w3-w4. Was thinking about placing hard TP or not but decided to do so at 1:3 R:R level because there were two strong resistance levels (high of today and last Thursday's high) between entry level and TZ1 of wave 5.
After PO was triggered it retraced deeply and kicked trade nearly out but then it went up strongly and hit hard TP easily with +3.1%.

Trade 5:
Same w5 as Trade 4. As it didn't reverse sharply at previously mentioned resitance area at 9765-9770 I was confident at that time that, after all, it will go up to TZ1. So I took that nice Cherry with TP slightly below macro TZ1 (TZ1 which is drawn by Steve's eWave histogram indy). Unfortunately it went into B-trap and didn't even hit 1:1 level, so it SL at initial level got hit with -1.0%.

Today's result: +47.8p = +5.1% , DS = 5 / 5 , 2.00hrs

I'm very happy with my patience and discipline today but I have to admit that DAX showed itself from its very "friendly" and nicely tradeable side, so sticking to trading plan was rather easy today. But nice to have DS = 100% anyway ;-)
Tomorrow is another day to prove patience and discipline again!

[zlabis]

Tue. Oct.6, 2015

Screen time:
LO-session 09:00 - 11:00 (GMT+2) M1/M5 DAX only - LIVE
After a big gap at FO it wasn't clear to me which direction had higher probability at LO breakout, so I stayed out.

Trade 1:
After LO, it broke out to downside. Unfortunately first pullback didn't form signal so I had to wait for next pullback. I placed my PO below a reasonable Monarch Cherry which I canceled quickly as signal got invalidated.
A few bars later, at top of retracement there showed up a Cherry which I filtered due to position at blue gator.
My entry into Trade 1 was an AA-like Fruit into micro w1-2. I placed hard TP between 2R and micro TZ1 levels slightly above day's low where it got hit with +2.2%.
Wasn't a trade according to my trading plan (although according to my core principle of current trading) so DS=0 for it.

Trade 2:
Seed signal according to flow chart so it was ok to take. Pullback should have been bigger but anyway. Entry candle reversed immediately and hit init SL with -1.0%.

Trade 3:
After the LO breakout to down side, there followed a very impulsive up move. I waited for price to cross purple, M5 to open to upside and a pullback. First signal was nice Monarch Seed which I canceled and second one, a Cherry got triggered. It didn't work out and stayed in corrective phase. As it didn't even hit 1R level, SL remained at initial position where it got hit with -1.0%.

Trade 4:
Still in same pullback as Trade 3 there appeared a very good PC in combination with a Bullish/Bearish Divergency Candle (BDC). Structure was still obvious and according to Grant's Seed/Cherry flow chart with a nicely drawable micro TZ1. Hard TP placed slightly below TZ1 at 2R level where it was hit with +2.0%.

Trade 5:
Tiny Cherry at next pullback. Pullback was a zig zag and end of it didn't hit init SL to 0.2p - so I was a bit lucky here. Hard TP again below very obvious micro TZ1. TP hit with +3.0%.

DAX offered some very good and profitable signals due to its strong movement and good structure with long moves and nice pullbacks with signals. So it was possible to make some good profit by following the rules. As discussed in Skype room regularly recently, it seams to be a very good exit strategy to have hard TP at 2R level. Sometimes, I think, it's a good idea to place TP at 3R, if TZ1 is obvious.

Today's Result: +47.6p = +5.2% , DS = 4 / 5 , 2.00 hrs

[zlabis]

Wed. Oct. 7., 2015

Screen time:
LO-session 09:00 - 11:00 (GMT+2) M1/M5 DAX only - LIVE
NEO-session 15:30 - 17:00 (GMT+2) M1/M5 DAX only - LIVE

Morning session offered good movement and structure and plenty of tradeable signals. Unfortunately they didn't play out very well but left small overall profit .

Trade 1:
Good LO entry with a PC Cherry. It went up nicely and broke R2 level with ease. I didn't place hard TP at 2R level because it was LO breakout trade and chances are usually good that it goes further. Not that time as it reversed after first push candle. Exited by trailing green gator with +0.4%.

Trade 2:
Adam's Apple at good pull back level. Didn't simply work out and hit init SL with -1.0%.

Trade 3:
Nice promising Monarch Seed touching red gator. Went up but reversed at top of recent swing. As 1R had already been hit, SL at BE was hit with +/-0.0%.

Trade 4:
This was a discretional one: although there was already divergency between price and AO, I took it because it broke the strong range above 10.000p level, retested it and formed Cherry (canceled PO) and Seed touching green gator. It went up quickly and hit hard TP at +1.9% (miscalculated 2R ;-) ).

Trade 5:
Cherry/Seed after new peak of AO/eWave. Concideration was that pullback was very small and therefore didn't touch green or red gator. Anyway, signal was valid, 2R below micro TZ1, up momentum strong, so I took it. It touched 1R before it reversed and hit SL at BE with +/-0.0%.

Trade 6:
Good Adam's Apple near 38.2% pullback level and purple. Went up strongly and slipped entry by 4(!!!) points. Touched original 1R level of unslipped entry, so I placed SL to that original entry level. There it got hit with -0.5%.

Had arranged my appointments and office work to have time for afternoon session as well and was able to join Skype group right at NEO. Similar conditions as in the morning but this time better outcomes of trades.

Trade 7:
A lovely Cherry with good pullback and touch of red gator. It moved up strongly, hovered at 1R level (SL moved to BE) and then it shot up for two bars like it wanted to go through the roof but it rejected. This time, I was already in good profit with the trade, I luckily decided to trail candles and it got exited with +2.8%. Nice )

Trade 8:
AO has newly peaked again so I took next Seed signal as well. Although I was a bit cautious about strong resistance level at top of last high, it was still reasonably above 1R level and TP at 2R only 1 or 2p above recent high. Therefore I was very confident that it hits at least 1R to be a free trade. Analysis was correct and it even hit TP with +2.0% before it reversed.

Trade 9:
That one was a bit with stretched rules. AO hadn't peaked but there was a Principle C (PC) present which resets AO, at least in small scale, so I took that Cherry anyway. I hit 1R to the point and SL was brought to BE where it got hit with +/-0.0%.

Trade 10:
Picture book Cherry signal after fresh peak of AO with good pullback and touch of green gator. I placed TP at 2R level slightly above micro TZ1 level and above the support area of pre-NEO range. TP got nearly hit and I wanted to close it manually ("don't be a dick for a pip" © Grant) with about +1.8p but I was too slow and right-clicked too close to Gator so indy-context menue opened. Quickly pulled SL for trailing candles where it got hit with +1.0%.

Today was a day of massive trading - maybe a bit too much for my taste - but now I'm understanding a bit better Immy's approach of being very picky taking trades as long movement and structure isn't present and being agressive when movement and structure kicks in.

Today's result: +44.9p = +6.7p , DS = 9 / 10 , 3.50 hrs

[Silas]

Hi Michael,


good news. Instead of 4,6% profit you made 6,6%!

You should have added trade number 10 instead of substract it! :O)

Silas

[zlabis]

Thu. Oct. 8., 2015

Screen time:
LO-session 09:00 - 11:00 (GMT+2) M1/M5 DAX only - LIVE

Today was a very quiet day signal wise. Price action and market movement was good for taking profitable trades but unfortunately there were only very few valid signals, only two to be exact. Btw, I don't take DC entries as main entry method. I only take DCs occasionally if I had missed a promising Seed or Cherry at the same pullback.

Trade 1:
Nice Monarch Seed/Cherry at red gator. Correction was maybe a bit impulsive but took it anyway. Trigger candle hit init SL with -1.0%.

Today's result: -11.2p = -1.0% , DS = 1 / 1 , 2.00 hrs

Today's lesson was PATIENCE AND DISCIPLINE, the most importand ingredients for consistantly successfull trading, IMHO, and although day ended with -1.0% rent, I can tap on my shoulder and congratulate myself that I was patient and disciplined the whole session long and didn't take entries of boredom or for the sake of doing something. Result = -1.0%? I don't care! DS = 100%? I'm totally happy!

[immy]

Yes, Michael, that is some good disciplined trading, well played. Just as I said in Grants journal moments ago, you played well too and to come out with just -1% is a great vistory. well done... Grant and I finished with nearly the same score. Actually reading yours and Grants results makes me feel better about me now...

have a good weekend

[zlabis]

Patience and discipline, patience and discipline, patience and discipline,...
This is what we have to focus on, if we want to become professional traders and not always losing amateurs or gamblers who are only trading for the next adrenalin kick until they blow their accounts regularely.
:-bd :-bd :-bd

[immy]

I dedicate this to you. Thanks Rhonda! (I love the Aussies)