Day Trading Recap 09/30/11

Today is one of those days that I live for.  It doesn’t happen often but when you have 100% winners it really makes you feel good.  I still remember the day when I first started day trading that I decided to stop losing money and actually get on the ball.  It was a Sunday around 5.05pm to be exact.  I was back testing charts when I reviewed my logs and realized that I was making the same mistake over and over.  Sound familiar?

I decided, at that moment, that I would stop losing the student loan money that I took out that I honestly couldn’t afford to pay back.  I sat back in my chair and I said to myself, “You’re a pretty smart guy there is no reason you can’t do this”.  That week I had 96.7% winners.  I remember talking to myself while trading and it seemed like the market would just listen, I was on a completely different level.

That is really what happens when you get in the zone

While the 97% winners didn’t last, it was the turning point of my day trading career.  I now am able to travel around the world on just a weeks worth of work when I day trade.  I do day trade more than that but only because I like it, not because I have to.

Click on chart to enlarge

Tradestation Charts Sep 30th

All the trades today were honestly picture perfect trades.  The only difference is the management between the trades.  I was almost out with 2 pts on T1 because I wasn’t able to move my 2pt target fast enough.  Luckily as soon as I cancelled the target the market tanked and I just looked for a typical consolidation.  Looking back, I could have held to 1138 but why be greedy?  T2 was following the downward momentum and I always exit religiously at 2 pts or at the first area when I take these types of trades.

T3 & T4 were excellent trades as well.  There aren’t any reasons why you shouldn’t have taken those trades.  Market was moving very nice so I adjusted my targets to coincide with the major areas.  I split the targets on T4 anticipating a big run up, you can see that I decided to exit at exactly the right moment otherwise the 2nd target would have been a small win.

Okay I lied, T5 isn’t a picture perfect trade when it comes to my trading guidelines but it is a perfect trade if you consider the market environment that we had here.  With great runs and retracements, the market could have easily sky rocketed up.  Notice I was happy with my two points.  When you finish trading at 10.40am with just under 14 pts you have to walk away, not to mention I am in the beautiful city of Livingston, Zambia (click here to see my day trading office here).

Day-Trading Results Sep 30th

Day Trading Results: Sep 30th

• Total of 5 trades (total trades on chart is incorrect)
• All 7 are winners
• No mistakes today