My Trading Quest - Profitability in 90 days!

Hi Everyone,

I am new to this forum and would like to journal my journey for a new trading quest I have been thinking about for a long time.

I have been trading on and off for over 20 years and I have many scars to prove it. Recently, I became a funded trader with Topstep Trader using my own scalping system on US 30 Year Bonds. In the past I have traded Futures and Forex manually and with my own coded systems.

I have completed many trading courses and seminars. Most of the time I could not replicate their results! They often promise the world but most do not deliver.

Like most of us, I have been burned by these trading companies.

It is time to test these trading companies and see who can deliver.

My journal will track my progression:

• I will explain why I chose the courses on the short list and why I chose the first one to test.

• Right through to setup, back-testing, live trading and hopefully to profitability

• I will explain what works and what doesn't

• I will not be sharing anything that is proprietary to the company

My goal is to see if I can become profitable in 90 days.

If I fail, then I will start again with another 90-day challenge ... until I find a profitable course.

I would love it if people have questions or can suggest things along the way.

If anyone would like to suggest a trading course to add to my list, I would appreciate it.

I am NOT associated with any Trading Company.

I am excited to share my journey and my results with you.

Come along with me on My Trading Quest!

Cheers
Garry

Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Challenge Countdown – 33 Days …

Not many trades …

Actions I took today:

• Traded 1 in Sim … to profit … on review it was not valid!!

• Reviewed the market to identify trades I thought were valid trades on ES

• Lost data (Internet issue) early so didn’t watch much of the US market session

Potential ES Trades

ES provided 2 valid setups for entry. 1 Winner

The day was interesting in that the market moved from one area of clustered movement to another area of clustered movement.

My rules with ES, prevent me from trading during, in or out of Coil Chop.

The Coil Chop, in this case, is described as a series of 3 bars where the bars are either up-down-up or down-up-down. I highlight this Coil Chop movement with an indicator at the bottom of my chart. In the chart below you can see the three red thick bars at the bottom left of my chart.

Sim Trade Taken but not valid

The one trade I took in sim was at 10:00 am.

The trade was a Short entry NTX-T and also a DTX-T.

Why Was this trade not valid?

If you look from the left side of the start:

• price action is sitting in between 2 white lines (MM) and at the bottom of the page, you will see the red blocks for Coil Chop.

• price then moved up out of the coil chop area and then back down to the bottom of the clustered area

• again price moved up out of that zone to create a double top and a sell signal.

• price then moved back into the zone.

The question is … would this trade be a possibility trade or a probability trade?

Question on why I track the trades during the 24 hours

I have a number of reason for tracking the 24 hours:

• to see if the system works at all times during the day

• work out which is the best TOD (time of day) to trade

• I can review using TOD and explore different stops and target levels

• it gives me more practice at identifying the setups

Potential trades – ES




Resources:

Watch this space for more resources that I find useful.

I will include books, articles, podcasts, interviews, videos, hypnosis/meditation audios, mental exercises, and more …


I will report back tomorrow on my progress and any lessons I learn

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.

Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Challenge Countdown – 32 Days …

Sunday and Monday Markets …

Actions I took today:

• Computer issues so I did not trade!!

• Reviewed the market to identify trades I thought were valid trades on ES

• Reviewed videos on the setups

Potential ES Trades

ES provided 7 valid trades and potentially profitable for the day.

Most of the trades appeared between 3am and 10am.

Potential trades – ES



Resources:

I always enjoy resources from Dr. Van K Tharp.

Take his free test to see what type of trader you are.

It has been based on the research of over 5000 traders.

It only takes 4 minutes …

https://tharptrading.com/trader-test


I will report back tomorrow on my progress and any lessons I learn

Disclaimer:

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.

Hi Garry... Any updates?

About myself... Started trading about 2011... Very green back then... Got very busy at work and let trading go. Due to being at home, thinking about trading again. Would love to follow your journal and start mine again soon. Plus, a friend of mine in now trading ESas well as MES(ES micro). Thank you for sharing your plans.

Not use to this site anymore... I see the original post, but do not see updates until I post a reply. It makes my reply's look dumb... again thank you for sharing your updates.

Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Challenge Countdown – 31 Days …

Not many trades again … NQ was fast!

Actions I took today:

• Traded 1 in Sim … to profit

• Reviewed the market to identify trades I thought were valid trades on ES

• Had data issues (stopping) around the open!!

• Listened to the Trading Room where Darrell called a number of trades from the Simplicity Chart

Leeloo Trading Evaluation – ceteris paribus

If all other things are equal (ceteris paribus), then I will be back trading the Leeloo Evaluation Account tomorrow.

Potential ES Trades

ES provided 5 valid setups for entry. 4 Winners.

Four of the five trades occurred between 543am and 1042am.

Sim Trade Taken to profit

The one trade I took in sim was at 5:43 am.

The trade was a Long entry EL (Elevator) trade.

You can identify the elevator trade clearly in the chart below in the third indicator box from the bottom. The white indicator on the red box. The white is the elevator and the red is the coil chop indicator.

In previous posts, I have said I do not trade in, out, or back into coil chop. This is the one exception were the price breaks out from the coil chop.




Potential trades – ES




Resources:

I hope you tried the Van Tharp Trader Test that I posted yesterday.

Here is the link again … just in case you missed it.

https://tharptrading.com/trader-test

Watch this space for more resources that I find useful.

I will include books, articles, podcasts, interviews, videos, hypnosis/meditation audios, mental exercises, and more …


I will report back tomorrow on my progress and any lessons I learn

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.

Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Challenge Countdown – 30 Days …

More migraines, trading my Leeloo evaluation account, fast NQ, Slow ES, and 30-year bonds …

Actions I took today:

• Traded my Leeloo Evaluation Account …

• Reviewed the market to identify trades I thought were valid trades on ES

• Listened to the Trading Room where Darrell called a number of trades from the Simplicity Chart

Leeloo Trading Evaluation

I started my trading day with another migraine!@#.

When I started I noticed I missed a couple of ES trades (5:08 and 6:06).

As ES wasn’t giving trades, I watched ES, YM, NQ, and 30 year Bonds to see how they were trading.

30 Year Bonds presented 2 trades that I just scalped to see how it responded (Profit +$62.50)

Then I notice a trade in NQ setting up and quickly entered it … (Profit +$75.00)

I then noticed that the NQ chart was still in Sim!!!

Ok, good practice 🙂

ES did not give me any entries during the time I was watching.

Total Profit in Leeloo = $62.50 – commission

Leeloo Goals

With 30 days left in this challenge, my goals in the 30 days are:

• Be profitable. That means to average $200 per day in the last week of the challenge

• Pass the evaluation and become funded

Potential ES Trades

ES provided 6 valid setups for the day . 6 Winners.

Potential trades – ES



Resources:

Watch this space for more resources that I find useful.

I will include books, articles, podcasts, interviews, videos, hypnosis/meditation audios, mental exercises, and more …

I will report back tomorrow on my progress and any lessons I learn

Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Challenge Countdown – 29 Days …

I struggled mentally today …

Actions I took today:

• Traded my Leeloo Evaluation Account

…

• Reviewed the market to identify trades I thought were valid trades on ES

Leeloo Trading Evaluation

Today I struggled mentally!

I still have a headache from yesterday’s migraine. This stress intensified my underlying fears of missing out and losing. This was reflected predominantly in my emotions while I was trading.

I managed this extra stress by:

• identifying what it was and that I why I was feeling this way

• reviewing the setup to ensure that it was valid as per my rules

• reviewing the active trade to see if the reasons for entry were still valid

• after the trade, reviewing the trade again to support that my process was valid

Todays Trading

I have been looking at markets to see which is the best to trade at present.

When I say best, I mean:

• a tradable speed of the market

• liquidity in the market

• sufficient number of trades

• setups being respected

So I have been watching ES, NQ, YM and 30 year Bonds

Todays Trades taken in Leeloo Account
ES – 3 trades – see description below – Total Loss -$187.50
YM – 1 winner, 1 loser = Net $0
ZB – 2 winning trades Total win $52.50

Total Loss running in Leeloo for 2 days = $-31.90

ES Trades

Trade 1 – 5:11 am

The entry was a valid Enhanced TX against the trend.

The bar before the entry was at 5:00.01, setup bar was 5:11:03, Entry bar was 5:35:22 and the next bar was at 5:53:31.

So you can see how slow the bars were closing. After entry, the price moved up and down that bar a number of times giving no feeling for direction and was sitting in between the two white (MM) lines.

My decision to move the stop to just above entry was based on the length of time in the trade, that price movement was ranging between the top and bottom of the bar and that price action was sandwiched between 2 lines (MM).



Trade 2 – 9:22

I entered a valid NXT Trend trade at the close of the 9:22 bar and as the bar had not hit the target and it was getting close to the market open, I closed the trade for a 1 tick profit.



Trade 3 – 10:02

This trade was a valid NTX trade with the trend that just failed!!

Looking at the chart, there was a possibility for the price to want to move down to the blue line (settlement). I will watch this type of occurrence to see the validity of my observation.




Resources:

Watch this space for more resources that I find useful.

I will include books, articles, podcasts, interviews, videos, hypnosis/meditation audios, mental exercises, and more …



I will report back tomorrow on my progress and any lessons I learn

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.

Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Challenge Countdown – 28 Days …

Friday and I made a massive mistake …

Actions I took today:

• Tried to trade with Leeloo and had a major technical problem! …

• Reviewed the market to identify trades I thought were valid trades on ES

Leeloo Trading Evaluation

Today I had a major technical problem which caused me to lose approximately -$741 !!!

I entered a trade on my computer and nothing happened … I waited and then not seeing my trade entered on the chart … It would appear that I pressed the enter button a couple of times!!!!

The result was that the chart then started moving except now it is -$500, then it showed -$741 and I exited.

So how did this happen?

Apparently, my computer had become frozen at about the time I entered. I assumed that I had not hit the button correctly so hit it again after waiting for a few seconds. It would appear in my haste I hit it a couple of times. The data then started rolling and the rest is history.

This has happened before and my solution was not to enter again if my first click did not enter the trade.

It happened so quickly, I didn’t even think the chart was frozen.

I now need to develop a better process so this will not happen again. I will also review and see if I can do something to prevent the freezing from occurring.

Potential ES Trades for today

Naturally, I did not trade for the rest of the day.

You can see below that I have split the potential trades into two sections. The top is my normal section showing Potential trades.

I was looking for a better way to reduce mistakes – how to record and review the trades that are Potential Trades but have some reason not to take the trade.

Knowing when NOT to enter a trade is probably more important (or at least as important) then the trades I enter. It will help me change my focus when reviewing the market.

I will try this format to see if it will help me review when NOT to enter trades.

If anyone has any ideas on the best way to approach this then please let me know.



Resources:

I enjoy a number of podcasts. One I regularly check out is the Chat with Traders Podcast.

Check out Aaron’s latest “Best of Trading Psychology”


https://chatwithtraders.com/ep-199-best-of-trading-psychology-pt-1/


Watch this space for more resources that I find useful. ​

I will include books, articles, podcasts, interviews, videos, hypnosis/meditation audios, mental exercises, and more …



I will report back tomorrow on my progress and any lessons I learn

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.

Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Challenge Countdown – 29 Days …

Sunday/ Monday Trading with limited opportunities …

Actions I took today:

• Traded my Leeloo Evaluation Account …

• Reviewed the market to identify trades I thought were valid trades on ES

Leeloo Trading Evaluation

I find it hard when the markets are not giving good signals so I need to work on my patience and go back to trading other markets on these type of days.

Todays Trading

As you can see from my spreadsheet of potential ES trades, there were only two trades that I considered valid. The problem with these days is if you have a loss it makes it very hard to recover.

My first trade was a trade on review was obviously Not Valid.

As I could not see any setups on ES, I took some trades on NQ and YM.

Todays Trades taken in Leeloo Account
ES – 1 Loser -$212.50 and commission
YM – 1 winner, = Net $50 – commission
NQ – 1 winner = $50 – commission

Total Loss Leeloo for today = $-112.50 – commission

ES Trade

Trade 1 – 5:50 am

The entry was NOT a Valid Enhanced TX against the trend.

The reason I chose to take the trade and not follow my rules is that I keep hearing Lori in the trading room say that when you have the white line (MM) sandwiching the setup bar then they are more powerful trades.

My lesson is that I am to test any modifications to my trading playbook. This is already in my playbook and I lost because I didn’t follow my own rules.



Trade 1 YM – 9:51

I entered a valid NXT Trend trade that went to profit. +$50 – commission



Trade 1 NQ – 10:15

This trade was a valid ODD trade that went to profit. +$50 – commission






Resources:

Watch this space for more resources that I find useful.

I will include books, articles, podcasts, interviews, videos, hypnosis/meditation audios, mental exercises, and more …

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I will report back tomorrow on my progress and any lessons I learn

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.

Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Challenge Countdown – 26 Days …

Tuesday Trading with limited opportunities again …

Actions I took today:

• Watched the market …

• Reviewed the market to identify trades I thought were valid trades on ES

Leeloo Trading Evaluation

Again, there were limited valid trades. I did not take any trades today.

I decided to spend the time when I watching the market to determine which market would be the best.

ES – Trades recently have been mostly before the US Market. The speed was good to very slow. The problem with slow markets is it is easy to get impatient and take trades that are not valid. It is also important to watch NQ along with the ES market as the ES market often will react when NQ is going into strong zones.

YM – The speed is normally faster than ES but slower than NQ. It acts differently from the ES and NQ and needs a few days to see which trade setups work best.

NQ – This market can be too quick to enter and lately has had periods of liquidity. This greats slippage both entering and exiting.

Lately, the NQ appears to be respecting the setups and giving a larger number of opportunities.

From tomorrow I will be more focussed on trading the NQ.

Potential ES Trades and Rejected Potential Trades

Rejected Potential Trades are trades that are the basics of a valid trade but have a reason not to enter.



Resources:

Watch this space for more resources that I find useful.

I will include books, articles, podcasts, interviews, videos, hypnosis/meditation audios, mental exercises, and more …

I will report back tomorrow on my progress and any lessons I learn

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of these companies.

Apex Sniper Trading Bootcamp – Challenge Countdown – 25 Days …

Wednesday Trading …

Actions I took today:

• Watched the market, my focus was on the NQ market …

• Reviewed the market to identify trades I thought were valid trades on NQ

Todays Trading

After reviewing the NQ market over the last week, I didn’t feel comfortable to just jump in today and start trading. I decided just to watch just the NQ market. Setups are the same across different markets but each market has some small nuances that I need to get in tune with. Over the last week, I have been watching NQ along with other markets, but with the speed, it moves you then miss trades, which in turn plays with my psychology.

Potential NQ Trades



Resources:

I have been looking for a good way to be able to have one app/software to hold all my notes and plans together and be easy to access.

I have tried Evernote, Word, Maple, and a heap of other apps.

In the past, I looked at Onenote and didn’t really like it.

The other day I had a look at someone’s notes they made using Onenote … it was perfect for what I wanted to do.

I am now in the process of transferring my Trading plan / Playbook from word to the Onenote for Windows 10 App, I will now use Onenote for all my notes when I am taking notes from the trading lesson videos.

Be aware that there are two different Onenote programs. They have lightly different looks (one better) and they also allow different customization.

Check out the app and let me know what you think … do you know of a better program?



*****

Watch this space for more resources that I find useful.

I will include books, articles, podcasts, interviews, videos, hypnosis/meditation audios, mental exercises, and more …


I will report back tomorrow on my progress and any lessons I learn

Bro you did a great job! I'm honestly amazed at your efforts and patience. I analyzed your screenshots, it's really cool. I have been trading since the beginning of autumn ( somewhere in the middle of September ) And so far, I only fill the cones and do not trade. Of course, I can sometimes go into the plus, but I'm still new to big deals. People I met on the stock exchange showed me the macd histogram and I learned about it from them, as I learn a lot of new and useful things for myself . How did you learn to trade ? I don't understand how you can start trading yourself without any help ,I've seen a couple of such people, but I've always been amazed by them.