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Overall goal is to pass the Top Step Trader combine.
Products to trade: Focus on one market only – E-mini S&P
Trade setups to take:
• Trade Trendline Breaks
• Piercing Points
• Independent R-zone
• The Ice Cream trade
• CTD Head and Shoulders
• CTD Double tops and bottoms
Position size will vary based on price action; Risk per trade will be based on % (.008) of account.
The Combine evaluation metrics and account characteristics:
Starting balance= $150,000
Max Position size= 15 Daily Loss limit= $3,000
Max Drawdown= $4,500
Overall winning day must be 55% or better
All positions must be closed each day by 2:10 Mountain
Personal goals / perspective
With this being the first attempt at the trading combine, I am looking to take setups correctly and focus on doing the correct steps for each trade. The P&L and metrics that will pass the combine will take a secondary position to fundamentally correct setups. It is my belief that by focusing on trading correctly the metrics will all fall into place.
I will make a daily post into this journal with results and thoughts on the trading day
The combine starts on Monday, Oct 21
John Kavanaugh
AKA "Trade Ninja" in the TST chatroom
I completed the first day of my combine, I woke up early and was all set to go, but was a little over excited and got myself into a trade that was less then 1:1 reward to risk, it was only off by one tick and somehow I convinced myself that was OK, its not! The trade then went against me. I was too emotional today, I strayed from my plan. It's easy enough to correct, the "stress" of the combine is way more then I would have expected.
Looking forward, all I need to do is stay on my plan and all will be OK
John Kavanaugh
AKA "Trade Ninja" in the TST chatroom
I did better today. I stayed on my trading plan. I didn't have as much nervous energy as yesterday, and stayed focused.
Some notes on today's trades, I took some aggressive entries. While those aggressive entries are in my plan, they were just not needed given the setups and resulted in worse entries then if I had entered more conservatively. I gotta relax a bit and get rid of my FOMO (fear of missing out).
I am copying the trade report each day for the combine, one small loss on the first day and a decent win today got me back into the positive. I still have every reason to believe that sticking to the plan will result in a passed combine.
John Kavanaugh
AKA "Trade Ninja" in the TST chatroom
The setups were correct but the results we very bad. The only thing I could have done differently is after the first trade went directly to stop out was to take a break(its not in the plan so maybe something to add for the next combine) I did follow the plan using the aggressive steps again and that could be a contributing factor however the market would have went against me either way. I took two trades that both went immediately to the stop out level. I was done trading for the day within two hours of the market open and frustrated. This is by far the biggest losing day I have had recently and came close to the daily loss limit for the account which would have ended the combine.
Going forward I will not trade any different. I still have faith in my plan and setups. Results do not indicate a bad plan or a good one. Processes attachment is good and I am attached. I started this combine with a plan, and I will stick to it until its over, there will be plenty of time to "figure it out" after the combine. The game is not over, I still have a lot of time and capital to work with.
The only thing that would prevent me from trading on Thursday will be if I am thinking about my P&L and the loss taken today. If my head is clear I will trade as any other day.
John Kavanaugh
AKA "Trade Ninja" in the TST chatroom
Today I had one good trade early in the day, and it went directly to target. I do not need the trade to go directly to target but it sure is nice. The second trade was a bit of a comedy of errors, I entered the trade long, price went directly against me, I thought oh no, here we go again, but just short of my stop level it settled down. I had not put the limit order in for the target yet. When I went to add the target to the DOM I accidentally bought a additional 6 contracts and ended up loosing a few hundred dumping those ( I was trying to get cute and not loose money, instead I lost double what I should have). Price hovered around my stop level for about 2 hours, then went to target. Whew!
All in all, I am heading in the right direction again and even with some foolish errors I made a profit. I have 16 more trading days, plenty of time to trade my plan and achieve all the goals (self imposed and combine related)
John Kavanaugh
AKA "Trade Ninja" in the TST chatroom
I spent Friday, Monday and Tuesday looking at the screen and not taking a trade. While it was very boring, it is important that I did not force a trade or see a setup that was not there.
John Kavanaugh
AKA "Trade Ninja" in the TST chatroom
I found a nice setup today, a simple trade trend line break short.
I worked out the setup, found good Reward to Risk, and entered the trade.
I had been in the trade for about 2 hours, then realized the FOMC was releasing a statement today. I knew this would be a big market mover and while I usually do not pay any attention to news, this could not be ignored. I felt like it was a mistake to have not thought about a major planned news release. I will add a step into my trading plans to check for the major news items that could impact my trade.
It was about 20min before the news release, I decided to exit the trade before the craziness, I exited with a good profit and watched the mayhem.
Price began to flutter violently for the next hour or so and I was glad I got out. I honestly think that news of that magnitude turns a good setup into a coin flip, this is not what I am looking for.
Just for the record, Price moved back towards my stop and was within 2 ticks had I stayed in, then went to target! This all happened in one five minute bar! While technically that would have been a positive experience had I been away from my computer, I still think it was the correct idea to leave the market while major news is being digested.
John Kavanaugh
AKA "Trade Ninja" in the TST chatroom