May 13 Recap

From when I started writing the morning plan to when I finally published, we ripped 20 points. It was necessary for me to wait, wait, wait for a pullback. Which I did! But, then hesitated on entry. Sized in a way to take profit early, but left my runner long enough to exit at my ideal entry. On runners I fulfilled my desired trade plan. I hesitated despite my logo showing up in the price action.

A dip to the 10m8e and a key level (call trigger). And, on the 3m a clear reversal structure right at the 21e. Just perfect confluence.

Trade 1

10m8e + Call Trigger + 3m21e; Then confirmation with the Three Inside Up

The contracts I was looking at dipped to $13.5 when I tried to enter unconfidently. On the second candle we ripped to $16 and so I didn't chase. We dipped back down to $13.5 and I again hesitated. I need to accept the loss. Size small to handle the loss. And, trust my analysis and entry.

Instead we ripped and I eventually pulled the trigger at $16. We never materially breached my entry point, but we spent 35 minutes oscillating between $16 and $18. Every minute that went by it was harder and harder to hold, despite being in profit. This is something I desperately need to improve on: anchoring to unrealized gain. Despite my target nor my technical stop hitting, I exited most my position. Now, if I had entered where I wanted to, at $14. It would've been much easier to stomach the 30+ minutes of consolidation before the ultimate move.

The solution: enter late and truly accept the loss or enter small without hesitation.

My final exit was at $21 a 31% return, contributing almost 40% of the overall profit on the trade. Meaning, if I had sized significantly smaller and held all cons to the target, I'd have profited the same on a dollar standpoint, while significantly reducing the risk I took on the trade from a position size standpoint.

SIZE SMALL. Enter fearlessly. Build confidence.

Trade 2

Basically the same setup and same executional error, but with appropriate size!

This time a dip to the 10m21e, a previous support and 3+ candles of support. I hesitated and it ripped. I waited for a pullback, but by then, I'd again have to wait for significant consolidation before the continued move up. Yet again the longer it took the less confidence I had in it. Also, because I sized appropriately this time, I waited potentially more than I should letting a +20% exit go back to break even.

There's a clear balance between sizing mall enough so losers don't hurt and big enough that you take profit judiciously.

This trade did help me see how important it is to assume previous supports will hold in a bull trend. I was watching price hold the 10m21e and only later realized we were holding the previous support as well. Once I finally did enter, we retraced 4x to my entry level before making a new high. This is crucially important to remember. Every dip back to my entry triggers an emotional fear, when in reality they were opportunities to add more!

The net of the trade was barely positive and could've been a 10% returner, but I'm still okay given the green.

EOD Trade

My bias got the best of me. The whole 2nd trade I was playing for a material break of the previous HOD. We breached it, I didn't exit my position, and so when we dipped back to the ribbon, I figured it was an okay entry to take EOD calls. However, it was a clear double top. We just barely created a new HOD before creating a tweezer top, and tanking. The setup was puts. Luckily my EOD trades are sized small and with profit only, so still green on the day. You can see this with the minimal impact to the portfolio relative to the winning trade.

Basically the same day as yesterday from a price action perspective. But, because of yesterday's recap and plan to focus on what not to do, this time I was able to capitalize on my analysis.