I experimented today trading without looking at the overall market (SPY, $INDU, $TRIX, etc.), as well as only having price bars with no moving averages or volume on my chart. While I want to have the simplest system possible, I think I will likely incorporate these things into my trading in my final approach but may will go “naked” a couple more days just to get the feel of it. You can see a lot just watching candles at certain price levels. My results weren’t that great:

# % Wins Gross Net
11 27% -$0.27 -$0.435

ATVI -.10 LONG ~ Thought this was going to be a bounce off $10.50 but was stopped out; was a ORL Breakdown that was best entered right after 9:45am to capitalize.

CCK -.15 LONG ~ Went against me instantly, thought it was a pullback on an ORH Breakout but ranged over just above $24, and then broke down into the PM with an EOD spike.

HOG .13 LONG X3 ~ Didn’t let my initial long run, tried to long a couple times more for a bounce off $19, but it failed the rest of the day; I ate up profits here by my additional trades. I looked at news on this one post-facto and looks like there was a dividend this morning with either an earnings or other investor conference call right when it exploded to the upside.

NOK -.19 SHORT/LONG X 3 ~ Kept flipping here – a clear sign I wasn’t sure where it was going. Shorted > Longed > Shorted. It rose into close

OSIS -.03 SHORT ~ Ordering mistake, should of been OSIP. Exited once I realized the mistake. With OSIP, I probably would of been stopped out by a top wick but it made an almost $1 move from my intended entry point.

PLCM +.07 LONG/SHORT X 2 ~ Again, didn’t let my winners run on this ORL Bounce. Then tried to fade ORH and was stopped out as rose in the PM with the rest of the market, giving up a bunch of my earlier profits.

My lessons from today, some of them the same as yesterday:

1) React to price action rather than anticipate moves (I do not have a crystal ball!).

2) NEVER look at a 1-minute chart. I always miss the big picture and get sucked into micro moves.

3) Flipping is allowable in my strategy, but I can only do it once with same stock – otherwise, move on to another set-up. If I stuck with my flip of NOK, I would be a happy camper right now.

4) When I go back to real trading – I will be making only ONE trade per day at least for the first month. This is for both risk management as well as to keep me from OVER-TRADING (I have discipline problems).

5) I also think initially my real trading will focus on variations of one type of set-up (longing a bounce or break through at the opening range low or high or whole price $ threshold, e.g $19)

As I mentioned in the comments, I’ve been up since 3am because of the day job. It’s much better than staying up all night. I’m still struggling with dealing with my work responsibilities while making time to continue my trading practice. In any case, I will have a hard and fast rule of never trading with hard cold cash when I don’t have sleep or am really sick – I can paper trade during those periods but until I become consistent in my results, I can only risk real money when I’m at 100% of my game.

Since the new baby in late February, my regular schedule and quiet home office have been massively disheveled. Things will be going back to normal April 27th, and this will help to make trading go a little smoother as most of the disruption has been in the mornings.