Monday Wrapup (12/14) - $75 gain

9:45AM
Not much happening so far this morning.  Took my first trade on a short pullback setup at 7AM.  After moving maybe 1 tick in my favor I stook a 1.5 pt drawdown.  Decided at that point that I would exit the trade on the first pullback and got out for a $137 loss after being down as much as $375.  Turns out this was a good decision too as I would've been easily stopped out 30 mins or so later.

What I realized with this trade was that it's ok to adjust my line of thinking after entry if the trade doesn't move as expected.  In other words, it's ok to revise my targets in line with the drawdown, or exit the trade altogether.  Small losses are much easier to overcome then large ones and there will always be another trade.  Nice thinking on a Monday morning.  It's going to be good week!

10:15AM
Feeling a bit too conservative so far.  Passed on a decent countertrend scalp opportunity a few mins ago that would've been nicely profitable.  And just now I waited too long to enter a pullback trade off the 3 min chart.   Guess this morning's early entry is messing with my mind more than I thought.

12:45PM
A couple of trades since my last entry, but things are very slow.  How many more days like this of watching paint dry?

Took a short pullback at 10:30 that I closed early when things stalled for a $212 gain on 6 lots.  An hour later took a countertrend trade that went against me from the start.  Did a solid job of exiting on first pullback for a $225 loss and not barfing into the TICK surge. 

And lastly near 12PM, I took a long pullback (my first long in like 2 trading days LOL).  Started position with 3 lots because I didn't have a good feel for where to place my stop, and later added 3 more lots at same price once support seemed to build below.  Took a while for this trade to develop, but over 45 mins I scaled out 1 lot at a time for a nice $300 gain.  Almost closed the trade once on a slight pullback, but felt like the market makers were just trying to shake out the longs and turns out I was spot on.

Up $150 right now and hoping for more action and gains to follow this afternoon.

2:45PM
Just one trade since my last update.  A $75 loss on a short pullback taken at 2PM after a little move lower.  Volume collapsed after entry and I just exited with a manageable loss.  Not interested in setups where there's no edge. Up $75 currently.

4PM
Wow the last few weeks have been slow but today took the cake.  Where is everyone at?  For the day I finished up $75.  Was tempted there in that final 15 mins to take a trade that isn't part of my setups, but convinced myself otherwise.  Sometimes, I think there's a trading devil on my left shoulder telling me to enter trades that I have no business in.  Today I didn't listen to him.

While there's not much monetary gain to show for today's efforts, at least I didn't lose money.  Plus I managed risk very well today and executed about as well I could have.  Exited failed trades early and didn't rely on hope to see them through. 

Let's hope tomorrow brings more action.