My losing trades - 23 Jan 2025

Today's results below are all from losing trades. Details of all entries are below. Note that I did also have a good winning trade on the NASDAQ, check out the post for more details.

I entered 2 separate trades on Apple. Both are disappointing because none of these trades were within my trading strategy arsenal and therefore shouldn't have been taken.

For trade 1 after a pull back I entered a long when the bullish candle engulfed the preceding candle. This was not a good trade because subsequent to the gap up opening candle the bears pretty much took out this candle suggesting that the bears were gathering momentum. Not long after entering the trade I received my just punishment and was stopped out.

In trade 2 I entered for what reason? I have no justifiable reason other than my mind was thinking that now the price was going to resume going to the upside. However, there was no evidence on the chart that a strong move back to the upside was about to happen. It did actually trade into profit at approximately 1 times my risk but then I just watched the trade get stopped out later on in the trading session.

Given that I was committing to myself to improve the percentage of trades that are entered that are based on my rules, this is disappointing.

This was not just an explosive bullish candle from a narrow state but a surge off the 200 moving average after a gradual decline of the price into the 200 SMA. I entered the trade not on the solid candle but on the candles after.

I wanted to take this trade because after the initial surge off the 200 the very next candle printed a large hammer candle. This meant that after the bears had taken the price right back to the opening of that bullish candle the bulls stepped in and completely took over. This was a very bullish sign.

A few candles later, price collapsed and stopped me out. Unlike the Apple trade I was happy with this trade as I was right to enter the trade based on the information available.

Trade Clearly!