Trading Strategies Onenote Document

[Vince Field]

I'm going to be posting my day trades not only to analyze them and see what I'm doing right and wrong, but mainly to get feedback and advice from this trading community. Please inform me if you see something that I haven't noted in terms of what I can improve! Thanks!


About my setup:

9 and 20 EMAs
50 and 200 SMAs
VWAP
ECI indicator (yellow dots - indicates price contraction, usually followed by a breakout but doesn't indicate direction)
Top indicator (indicates possible breakout with target levels)
Trend pivots
CSA indicator (multi-indicator with trend painting function)

I am experimenting with various strategies, mainly momentum plays, including:
ORB
Bull Flag
ABCD
Ascending Wedge
MA/VWAP retracement/bounce
MA/VWAP trend
Reversals

At the open I'm looking at stocks that have gapped up with high volume for ORB or momentum pullback trades. Then I'm watching scanners for HOD moves to enter with the momentum, on pullbacks or when steadily following trend. I'm also looking for oversold LODs for potential reversal trades. I look for key support and resistance levels and half and whole dollars to inform my decisions.

I'm only paper trading for now so I'm not worrying about values and share size- I'm entering with 100 shares of each stock regardless of value. My stop loss is right below key levels depending on the setup. I'm selling half at 1R (a key level, ATR or the value of the stop loss) and raising the stop loss to breakeven, then selling the rest at 2R or letting it ride if there's no resistance.

Right now I'm trying to formulate and solidify a winning strategy. When I get more comfortable executing trades I'm going to limit the paper account size to the capital of my real account (quite small) and work with more realistic values and share sizes.

 

[Vince Field]

October 20 - 4/1/3 +$265/-$104.25=$160.75

BABA (+$103) / CRSR (+66.50) / CBLI (+$18) / WEI (+$77.50) / BBBY ($0) / DKNG (-$96) / RUHN (-$8.25)

Takeaway points for the day:

Enter closer to key level
Don't buy on red 1 min candle to enter
Wait for pullback (if entering during trend)
Don't buy on red 5 min candle, even if 1 min candle is green. Don't sell at breakeven if uptrending. Don't chase the trend.
Confirm pullback breaks previous high.
Take profit at 1R
Don't chase the breakout.


BABA (+$103)

Entered after 1st bullish candle from ECI breakout / overall uptrend / rising from dip / held VWAP / broke premarket high. Exited near VWAP upper band / break of previous swing high.

Enter closer to key level

CRSR (+66.50)

Entered at VWAP (false) breakout / ECI indicator / Top indicator. Sold half at first Top target / premarket high. Bought more at dip / VWAP bounce. Bought again at premarket high break. Exited at today's high.

Wait for green 1 min candle to enter

CBLI (+$18)

Entered at ECI break / Top. Entered again at dip. Sold half at VWAP break. Exited at breakeven.

WEI (+$77.50)

Entered with steady 9EMA trend. Took profit at new highs of day.

Wait for pullback (entering during trend)

BBBY ($0)

Entered at dip / green / ECI / Top. Sold half at breakeven. Bought again during uptrend. Exited at breakeven.

Don't buy on red 5 min candle. Don't sell at breakeven if uptrending. Don't chase the trend.

DKNG (-$96)

Entered at pullback, after VWAP break (false) (saw the chart too late). Ideal entry - Break of first Top line.

Confirm pullback breaks previous high.

Entered at break of VWAP top band / prev. day close, target premarket high.

Take profit at 1R

RUHN (-$8.25)

Entered during breakout uptrend. Stopped out.

Don't chase the breakout.

 

[Vince Field]

October 21, 2020 - 2/1/8 +$140.70/-$177.50= -$36.80

MRIN (+$81.70) PYPL (+59) ASTC (-$60) TQQQ (-$48.50) MRIN (-$27) DKNG (-$21) NKLA (-$9) PLIN (-$6) GAB (-$5) BRN (-$1)

Today my timing was off and I struggled to find good setups. I've also been letting some losing trades run since I'm only using a paper account so I've been losing more than I would in a real account. I think I'm going to stop this and abide by my stops.

I've been using Trade Ideas scans on youtube live streams because I'm afraid Thinkorswim's scans are subpar. However, there's a slight lag in the youtube streams so it seems I'm always a bit behind. Maybe I'll try Thinkorswim's scanners tomorrow.

Today's takeaways:

Don't enter with overhead resistance very close
Enter closer to VWAP/9 EMA.
Enter closer to 5 min Top
Don't chase the trend without entrance signal
Don't enter overextended from 9 EMA
Don't enter after bullish candle
Don't enter without setup on 1 and 5 min charts

I'm not sure about the following ideas. If anyone can share some insight it would be appreciated!

Don't enter at the top of a large candle?
Wait for 1 min pullback?
Don't enter over VWAP top band?

For more context, see the attached file.


It's a bit time consuming to upload the images of the trades to a website and then link each of them here in this post, so I'm simply attaching the document with the charts if you're interested to see the trades.

Link to pdf document of trades: Oct 21 Trades

 

[Timeless]

Do you post your setup anywhere? Looks neat.

 

[Vince Field]

October 22, 2020
3 winners, 6 losers

Takeaways:

Enter closer to key levels
Take some profit at 1R
Pay attention to buy/sell buttons

It seems a bunch of the trades simply didn't go my way. I can't identify anything that I did wrong so if anyone sees something that I could have done better, please let me know!

 

[Vince Field]

Do you post your setup anywhere? Looks neat

https://tos.mx/9ENepcf

 

[Timeless]

ALGN it looked like you entered a bit late on 5minutes you can see there was a 3 BAR PLAY, why didn't you enter earlier at the break of the inside bar? (Consolidation Bar). When it was broken on the upside, it could've given you a better entry and better RR

EVK looked good but only question is since it was breaking VWAP, why not wait a little longer to get a retest on VWAP, your entry looked good but I would've at least put SL on VWAP, assuming that price would retest that level or even if you kept it as your same SL, I would've re-entered the trade on the break of the high of the candle that first went through VWAP.

 

[Vince Field]

ALGN it looked like you entered a bit late on 5minutes you can see there was a 3 BAR PLAY, why didn't you enter earlier at the break of the inside bar? (Consolidation Bar). When it was broken on the upside, it could've given you a better entry and better RR

EVK looked good but only question is since it was breaking VWAP, why not wait a little longer to get a retest on VWAP, your entry looked good but I would've atleast put SL on VWAP, assuming that price would retest that level or even if you kept it as your same SL, I would've re-entered the trade on the break of the high of the candle that first went through VWAP.

On ALGN, my ideal place to enter would have been at the break of the high of the 5 min pullback candle after the breakout. My entries are late when I see the move late. If I were monitoring that stock during that first pullback candle I would have entered at a better price. Got there a bit late but not too late.

As for EVK, all of my trades happened above VWAP. I would have liked to entered closer to VWAP or the 9 EMA but I saw the move late.

 

[Vince Field]

I realized that I didn't provide any information regarding my trading style and strategies. I've edited my first post to include this.

 

[Vince Field]

October 23, 2020
3 winners, 1 loser

Today's notes:

Wait for bounce off 9 EMA to enter
Pay attention to Buy and Sell buttons
Don't enter after large bullish 5 min candle
Wait for pullback / consolidation

 

[Timeless]

I realized that I didn't provide any information regarding my trading style and strategies. I've edited my first post to include this.

whats the indicator that gives you the support/resistance zones?

 

[Vince Field]

whats the indicator that gives you the support/resistance zones?

It should be in the setup that I shared with you. It's an indicator that plots highs and lows (premarket, today, yesterday) and yesterday's close price.

 

[Timeless]

It should be in the setup that I shared with you. It's an indicator that plots highs and lows (premarket, today, yesterday) and yesterday's close price.

it wasn't, none of the indicators were. You have to right click the chart, then style and share style or you should see it somewhere.

Also have you tried options with it?

 

[Vince Field]

it wasn't, none of the indicators were. You have to right click the chart, then style and share style or you should see it somewhere.

Also have you tried options with it?

Right, I thought the styles would be included with the setup. Let me share my flex grid. The studies should be included. https://tos.mx/EN4e2K8

I've never traded options.

 

[MatthewA]

Hey @Vince Field since you mainly trade stocks have you thought about using mostly BuyTheDip and holding until you have a good profit? I'm not suggesting you hold for LongTerm or anything like that but you can cost average dips and take considerable profits by end of day...

I didn't read all of you journal but it looks like you identified your trouble areas!

 

[Vince Field]

Hey @Vince Field since you mainly trade stocks have you thought about using mostly BuyTheDip and holding until you have a good profit? I'm not suggesting you hold for LongTerm or anything like that but you can cost average dips and take considerable profits by end of day...

I didn't read all of you journal but it looks like you identified your trouble areas!

What's up Matt? Unfortunately I don't have access to the buy the dip indicator and I don't know too much about it.

 

[Vince Field]

October 26, 2020
5 winners, 10 losers

Today's notes:

Wait for break over previous high / HOD for flag pattern?
Don't enter overextended from 9 EMA (1 min and 5 min)
Take profit.
Don't exited position too early- let stop loss hit.
Stop loss should be below 9 EMA if trading 9 EMA plays.
Wait for valid pattern to appear before entering.
Don't enter with resistance close overhead (premarket high).
Don't enter if higher time frame chart (15 min) signaling reversal
Don't enter on 2nd 1 min red candle.

 

[Timeless]

October 26, 2020
5 winners, 10 losers

Today's notes:

Wait for break over previous high / HOD for flag pattern?
Don't enter overextended from 9 EMA (1 min and 5 min)
Take profit.
Don't exited position too early- let stop loss hit.
Stop loss should be below 9 EMA if trading 9 EMA plays.
Wait for valid pattern to appear before entering.
Don't enter with resistance close overhead (premarket high).
Don't enter if higher time frame chart (15 min) signaling reversal
Don't enter on 2nd 1 min red candle.

Good post, today was a rough day, did you take notes of your P/L for the day?

 

[Vince Field]

Good post, today was a rough day, did you take notes of your P/L for the day?

Yeah man, I thought I had some promising ORBs that went right down the tube!

I'm not worrying about P/L because I'm not accounting for price in my trades. I simply buy 100 shares of each stock I trade, so the P/L values don't mean much. I could have 10 wins of low priced stocks and one loss of an expensive stock and the P/L will say that I lost on the day. When I get more comfortable executing good trades, I'm going to start to factor in share size and risk relative to my real account size. For now I'm just focusing on identifying good trade opportunities and learning to enter and exit at the best times.

 

[Vince Field]

October 27, 2020
11 winners, 4 losers

Today was my best day yet. Found a couple stocks that uptrended the whole day. I realized that rather than making many scalp trades on the 1 minute chart, it would be better for me to be more patient and play the longer trend on the 5 minute chart.

Today's notes:

Don't exit full position too early
Pay attention to buy/sell buttons
Focus more on 5 min chart for long term trend
Enter closer to 9 EMA (1 min)
Don't enter after large bearish candle (1 min)
Get better risk reward ratio
Adhere to stop loss
Make sure chart is at current price