Friday Wrapup (1/29) - $238 loss

Started the day out with a gap fade off the open.  My first two targets were hit and I moved my stop to just above the then HOD before the 9:55 econ news.  Sure enough I was stopped out 1 tick from the temporary high, and I was frustrated as all get out.  Broke even on this trade.  And then of course the market moved lower immediately after stopping me out, but at least it did ultimately bounce back above my stop loss area.


From this point I hit on just 1 out of my next 5 trades (still using my filters).  In fact the only trade I made money on I nearly got stopped out of before the trade reversed to close with a decent profit. 


The trouble I realized today with my filters is that they get me into the action way too late.  On 99% of the trades I took this week I took a drawdown of at least 2-3 ticks right after entry.  So I originally said to myself, that I'd just enter on a limit order 2-3 ticks above where my filter would normally have me entering.  But then I'd miss 100% of the easy winners, the ones that don't move against you at all.


So near the end of the day, I felt like I had good read on the market action and I decided to re-try my old style.  Entering at the first instance of selling in a short pullback, or buying in a long setup.  This afternoon that meant looking for a NR bar, doji, etc.  Something to indicate a slowing of momentum in the current direction.


Any how with this in mind, I took my last 3 trades of the day after 3PM and went 2 for 3 with a $270 profit.  Still finished the day in the red, but thanks to this solid trading I cut my losses in half. 


Finished the day down $238 on 3 for 8 trading. 


Clearly trading with filters which are always one step behind price action are not the answer for me.  And why did I move away from what's worked for me in the past anyway?  Sure I've had a terrible couple of weeks here to start the year, but the market has changed.  I just haven't adopted to the new rhythm.  But that doesn't mean my methods themselves are flawed.


Next week I need to concentrate on wholesale entries.  Getting in before everyone else.  Because if I continue to follow a MA filter or something similar, I'm late to the party with the other 95% of traders that fail. I just need to watch price action and not get caught up in % retracements, fibonacci, etc.  While these are helpful visual tools, ultimately price pays.