Trading Log: On the path to getting funded

[BackInTheGame78]

Decided to create a log here, mainly to track my progress for getting funded as a trader. I think I am ready and can take the next step.

Went with Apex Trader Funding as they have a pretty great deal on Eval accounts at 80% off, meaning it will cost me $45/mo until I pass the eval. Much better than any other place I found.

I chose the 100K account and the rules are pretty simple:

1) target is 6K profit before a 3K trailing drawdown is hit. This makes it much harder since the trail is from the highest equity point. So for instance if you start a trade and it goes up to +500 then falls back to -100 and you get stopped out, your drawdown goes down by 600 not 100.

2) Trading Futures Contracts and they are day trading only as you must close them by the end of business each day. Kinda weird since there is an hour they are down and then you can start trading again. Except for agriculture which have some weird hours like 8pm-8:45 am and 9:45am to 2:20pm. And livestock which is like 9:30am to 2pm.

3) Must trade on a minimum of 7 days.

4) Your biggest win cannot be more than 30% of profit goal. Basically they want to see consistency versus one big trade. And of course make it more difficult.

I don't like the index futures and leave those alone.

Started 4 days ago, will post my trading logs and P/L each day with rationale for why I took the trade and the result.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Trading Day 1:

I was doing a bunch of charting and setup for the early part of the day and missed some moves.

Got in around 10:30am on my first trade and caught a nice Corn Futures breakout from a
daily trend line and made a quick $1000 profit from it. Well, $964 after commissions on 10 contracts(think like $2.25 each or something). Keeping in mind the trailing drawdown, I sold as it row just to be safe...probably should have let it run a little more. But whatever, first trade in the books.

Saw a few other moves with soybeans and wheat but didn't pull the trigger.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Trading Day 2:

Didn't get in during the day although I had a at least 3 setups marked up, I didn't pull the trigger when it was time and I was pissed because all of them would have worked out.

One thing I need to improve on is to do my charting setups and then take the trade like a robot. Put the stop where it should be, the take profit where it should be and then let it play out.

Too often I outsmart myself with these and cost myself money. Just gotta trust what I see because I am definitely right far more often than wrong.

At night, I caught a nice little rebound on Henry Hill Natural Gas futures after it had tanked for the day(one of my setups and a no brainer short). Took a long from the demand zone and from the value area of the Anchored Volume profile and closed it out for $200 profit. Did not take into account the very low volume at night so it was moving slower than molasses. Wasn't going to hold overnight so took a small profit.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Trading Day 3:

Again, I actually outsmarted myself, this time really badly. I chatted platinum on a breakout of a falling wedge, it did it, I waited for the retest at the wedge trend line, bought it at a perfect time, but then had to leave for an appointment and didn't want to leave it open although it was stupid since I had a stop loss set right below a clear support candle. I closed out for $65 profit. My initial order I put in was for 10, I cut it down to 2 as a starter buy. That 15 minute candle after I left went straight up from 916 to like 929. I had my take profit at 930.6 and it hit that like e candles later. On my initial position I would have made $4800 or so, even on the small position I had I would have made like $900+.

I saw a clear short opportunity for copper after it exhausted itself on the 1H and 15M timeframe. I aggressively tried to short 50 micro contracts. It repeatedly rejected it. I watched as I would have made another $4K in like 30 minutes to down the drain due to a system error. Apparently after I did some playing around I found that Copper works but not micro copper for some reason even tho it's listed.

I was pissed.

I was sick to my stomach. But no matter.

Can't do anything about it now, block it out and go back to the charts and now trust what you see.

Saw another short opportunity for wheat on a rejection from the H1 bearish order block. Took it near the top of the order block and got ur to +$600 before it starts stalling out. I don't like stalled moves like that on shorts near highs as they are usually short lived and quick movements. Decided to get out with $300 profit, lost $300 to the trailing stop.

Saw another potential short of Copper but I think I saw what I wanted to see this time due to the previous issue. In hindsight this was likely a revenge trade of sorts and I shouldn't have taken it. Initially got up $25 but then it reversed and I lost $70 on the trade. It was only a small position and I had to close by end of day. Then copper kept climbing after way above where I shorted it...would have taken out the stop anyway but whatever.

Have gotten better going with the trend but still look for shorting opportunities. Should probably wait til they are cleared and obvious.

All on all, ended up +210 ish or so after commissions.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Trading Day 4:

Just got my biggest trade today on Platinum as it was holding on the trend line after a retest and broke out of a falling wedge on the H1 charts, it rocketed up really fast to +1950 just beneath my take profit. Then it started acting crazy and going wildly back an forth. Waited til it got back up to +1450 and got out. Took a drawdown hit of $500. Luckily I did because it went way lower.

Then made a truly idiotic decision impulsively and rebought it as it got back to the trend line only this time it crashed thru and I quickly went down 400 on the trade. It wasa big candle so I figured I would get a retrace back up which I did and managed to get out with a $75 gain at the top. I was literally yelling at myself. Luckily I got out when I did because it proceeded to plunge lower and I would have been out like $700 or $800. I pressed the button without setting a stop loss...just a stupid, stupid trade on my part.

Was probably feeling it from the one right before it and got caught up. But I gotta center myself. There is no place for that.

Current P/L:
Gross Profit: $2978.96
Gross Loss: $-128.74
Net Profit: $2850.22
Commissions: $169.78
Net Profits - Com: $2,765 or 46.1% to goal
Trailing Drawdown(from highest equity): $137 or 4.5% of max.

Profit Factor: 23.14
Max Drawdown: -$110
Sharpe Ratio: 2.56

Total Trades: 15
Percent Profitable: 80%
Winning Trades: 12
Losing Trades: 3

Avg Trade: $190.01
Avg Winning Trade: $248.25
Avg Losing Trade: -$42.91
Avg Win/Avg Loss Ratio: 5.78


Well above the pace of profit to drawdown ratio. Got a few more setups, I am watching, will update this post of I make any other moves today.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Also looking at Bright Funded which has far easier eval to pass with no trailing drawdown down only a 5% daily loss and 10% max loss with only needing to hit 8% profit in the first challenge and then 5% in the 2nd.

Costs $495 tho but it's fully refunded once you pass. Also can trade a wider variety of crypto.

Definitely going to be going to that one as well once I complete Apex and start making money.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Your avg winner to avg loser ratio is excellent. Don't worry about "batting average," ie percent of times you win versus lose. The worst trader I ever knew made money on over 90% of his trades, but the other 10% wiped him out.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Your avg winner to avg loser ratio is excellent. Don't worry about "batting average," ie percent of times you win versus lose. The worst trader I ever knew made money on over 90% of his trades, but the other 10% wiped him out.

Yup, I am really starting to drill this into my head. That you can make a TON of money even being 50% accurate by making sure your losses are small but winners are big. Obviously I would prefer to be up where I am now but I am trading with a stick up my ass currently and being too tight...once I loosen up a bit over time I will be more willing to take small L's.

Most of my positions are after what I call "foot in the ground" candles after long drops where I put the stop right below it and then buy so the stop loss is pretty tight but they very rarely get stopped out because it's an obvious buy signal along with it usually confirming being in a bullish OB and the value area of the anchored Volume profile.

Patterns I typically trade are hammer, dragonfly doji, mornign star and morning star doji for longs and shooting star/bearish hammer, gravestone doji, evening star and evening star doji for shorts.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Yup, I am really starting to drill this into my head. That you can make a TON of money even being 50% accurate by making sure your losses are small but winners are big. Obviously I would prefer to be up where I am now but I am trading with a stick up my ass currently and being too tight...once I loosen up a bit over time I will be more willing to take small L's.

Most of my positions are after what I call "foot in the ground" candles after long drops where I put the stop right below it and then buy so the stop loss is pretty tight but they very rarely get stopped out because it's an obvious but signal along with it usually confirming being in a bullish OB and the value area of the anchored Volume profile.

Patterns I typically trade are hammer, dragonfly doji, mornign star and morning star doji for longs and shooting star/bearish hammer, gravestone doji, evening star and evening star doji for shorts.

I was never God's gift to trading, but I was profitable, and I lost on about 2/3rds of my trades. I had company money to trade and was kept on a very short leash. I made sure to book a green number every day so I wouldn't get fired.

 

[Dr.Suave]

 

[BackInTheGame78]

OMG...I just realized I can use my NY Open Reversal strategy with currency futures....

This is going to be fire starting Monday

As an example if I would have done what I normally do using 100 micro contracts of 6M1! which is the Mexican Peso/USD, I would have put a buy in on the first green candle on the 15M chart after London took out the Asia Low and targeted Asia high...

That trade would have netted me 17K profit by itself and I would have likely let it run because London typically sets the high for the day in that scenario.

If I would have let it run, I would have gotten almost 25K. Then that sets up a perfect short later in the day from the bearish order block it creates where I can short it near the top and let it run down because NY almost always respects the London high in that situation. Stop would go right above London high. Virtually will never get stopped out.

Actually looking at the charts, these patterns appear over and over again on virtually all instruments and also usually start in the ICT killzones...using a sessions and killzone indicator and this is going to worth it's weight in gold.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Apparently my trailing drawdown is still 2863 somehow...not sure how that changed but that's even better for me...

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Was close to braking my no trading rule Sunday night because I had a strong feeling Platinum was about to make a run up after turning the corner on the Daily chart at the end of the week.

Watched at 923 as it bounced around and almost hit the buy button but didn't. Woke up this morning to it at 940.

Irritated but getting ready to buy any dips coming up, should have a few more days of good run left in it at least.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Had my first red trading day today and I am pretty pissed at myself for bad execution of what should have been all winning trades.

Saw a potential long developing on Soybeans, took the trade but got stopped out since I entered a little too early, then watched as it rocketed upwards for what would have been a 2K win. Stopped out for a loss of 500.

Then saw the short developing on Soybeans, instead of leaving my entry where I put it, I reached a little early and it went up slightly past my original entry, I stayed in the trade because I was confident it would reverse based on where it was in a bearish OB right above the London high, which it did but then I got out when I made $25....after being down $1050 at one point, that felt like a relief. But what wasn't a relief was when I saw it continue down another $7 which would have been another $1000 win for me up in smoke.

Caught a good trade on wheat as I saw a big green candle forming from a sweep of the Asia lows and made $400 but then gave $200 back on a bad entry on Platinum...the same one I missed a $35 move on last night, I was waiting all day for a decent pullback, got one but it pulled back a little further than I planned and I got stopped out...then proceeded to go up $5 before end of day where I would have made another $1000 on it...

Oh...and I also didn't pull the trigger on a short entry I had for ROBO gasoline that would have netted me in the vicinity of $4000 as I would have shorted it from the top of the retrace by the trend line and it dropped huge from there.

So basically my poor execution cost me about $8K in profits and turned them into $500 in losses.

Irritated. Going to go replay these trades and make notes in my journal.

Had the right ideas I just executed them abysmally today.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Missed early morning shorts on literally everything today... Then missed a rebound short on RB gasoline that would have hit big. Was expecting it to retrace farther back up to the .618 fib but it barely got back to the .50 fib.

Got in a few small longs for about $150 profits on the day, but got out too early as I could have seen 3x profits at least. Didn't want to hold as it was after a long drop and you never know how quickly those turn back around. Took the long from a H1 bullish order block so felt pretty confident we would see some type of bounce there.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Had a pretty good day today, up almost $1K, currently +3300 on the account out of 6K needed so over half way there.

Have only used $12 out of the $3000 allowed trailing drawdown so I am beyond golden there.

Although I had a good day with good entries, I once again got out of the trades too quickly as I would have netted about 4K, possibly more, if I stayed in them longer to the top of the move.

Also missed an easy short on RB gasoline that would have netted me big profits on its own.

Gotta work on having stronger hands when I am taking good trades and following my rules for entries. They are usually strong trades that end up working out. Unsure why I let the 15-20% that don't work out shake me out of the 80-85% of trades early that do work out and hit big.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

+400 today, and once again being "Edward Paperhands" came back to bite me. Charted yesterday afternoon for the weekly setups I was looking at and hit Silver right off the bat on a breakout this morning and of course got out after $200 when I could have made $1800 of I just waited.

Then hit Soybean Oil on a breakout and made $200 and of course did the same thing...

I don't really understand why I keep doing it. I need to stop it and just turn off the screen for 15 minutes or something.

Took a bad entry on RB Gasoline and sold at breakeven, if I would have held was an easy $750 as it shot up right after I dumped it.

Still learning.

A little over +4,100 in profit out of 6K needed.

Drawdown still only $39 out of 3,000 allowed.

Missed some other plays I had noted...3 White Soldier pattern on Soybeans on the Daily chart to long...

Soybean Meal was in a bullish breakout with the first daily demand zone at 386, and it reached that today already.

Corn in a double bottom on the Daily with big upside potential.

Palladium in the daily demand zone and just had a tweezer bottom on the daily...

All of them did what I thought and I missed the majority of those plays. Annoying.

 

[Divorced w 3]

You’re cutting early because you don’t know how patterns usually resolve or you don’t trade small enough to watch them resolve

 

[BackInTheGame78]

You’re cutting early because you don’t know how patterns usually resolve or you don’t trade small enough to watch them resolve

Actually I do know usually and that's the thing that pisses me off, because I still do it anyway. I mean I have the bullish and bearish order blocks sitting right in the chart in front of me, which would be my targets as I am not a swing trader or a position trader, but more of a scalper. I want to be in and out of positions within an hour. My issue is I am getting out in an average of 25 minutes whereas if I sat in them for just another 20 minutes I would 3-4x my profits

However, the thing I am most concerned about is limiting the trailing drawdown from the highest point of equity. So say I get in a trade and it goes up $1000 then comes back down and I get out at $300 because it starts breaking down.

I made $300 but I lost $700 off my trailing drawdown because it trails from the highest point of equity, not on whether I make money or not on the trade.

So I think it's because I am just weary of not wanting to take any chances on that, but I am being overly cautious on many of these because there is no reason for me to be getting out of a lot of these trades based on the candlesticks I am seeing.

Knowing how a pattern usually resolves and it actually resolving that way AND within the time constraints that I have to close all positions by the end of day(these aren't perps), makes me more cautious. Probably overly cautious, but it's limiting my drawdown to almost nothing which is the main thing you are battling in these evals. So a $200 trade with no drawdown is actually better than a $1000 trade that falls to $300 and I get hit with a $700 drawdown.

Irritated with myself. Will be better once I get the PA account and get over the trailing threshold of $100 more than the account size where it stops trailing and then I will not have to worry about that too much.

 

[Divorced w 3]

Actually I do know usually and that's the thing that pisses me off, because I still do it anyway. I mean I have the bullish and bearish order blocks sitting right in the chart in front of me, which would be my targets as I am not a swing trader or a position trader, but more of a scalper.

However, the thing I am most concerned about is limiting the trailing drawdown from the highest point of equity. So say I get in a trade and it goes up $1000 then comes back down and I get out at $300 because it starts breaking down.

I made $300 but I lost $700 off my trailing drawdown because it trails from the highest point of equity, not on whether I make money or not on the trade.

So I think it's because I am just weary of not wanting to take any chances on that, but I am being overly cautious on many of these because there is no reason for me to be getting out of a lot of these trades based on the candlesticks I am seeing.

Knowing how a pattern usually resolves and it actually resolving that way AND within the time constraints that I have to close all positions by the end of day(these aren't perps), makes me more cautious. Probably overly cautious, but it's limiting my drawdown to almost nothing which is the main thing you are battling in these evals. So a $200 trade with no drawdown is actually better than a $1000 trade that falls to $300 and I get hit with a $700 drawdown.

Irritated with myself. Will be better once I get the PA account and get over the trailing threshold of $100 more than the account size where it stops trailing and then I will not have to worry about that too much.

It’s emotional you need to trade smaller. Let the patterns play out. That may mean taking a small loss. You cannot win if you’re afraid to lose.