Sept 10th

Struggled at first with my paper-trading... I just wasn't sharp and up to the job. Slow to react on the two big stop losses I took, $210 and $214 respectively. But I was allowing extra room for a stock that moves as much as AIG. Those were my only losses of note... the third loss was $10; essentially a breakeven.

I got rolling as the day progressed; I really tried to focus on those familiar signals. I wasn't staying in trend though; I still find myself over-trading and not playing for the longer trends of the day. I'm trying too hard to "Read the Tape" and play each of the successive moves. This not only is WAY above my skill level but is also poor trading policy in general. Scalping is not what I aspire to. Gotta work on that.

Went 5 for 5 to finish the day, which pulled me "back to black" from the three losses.

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I threw in some of the What's Familiar... the yellow lines on the chart area for dojis, etc. The short thick horiz lines for the trend extremes with thin vertical lines dropping to the volume spike below. Yellow lines in the volume area which correspond to very low-volume candles which precede a decent move. It's so easy to see these things when the day is over. Harder to trade them as they happen. I guess if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.

What's Familiar- SPY Sept 9th

I'm off to a day-job project but thought I'd put this up for my future reference.

Yellow lines for dojis or candles with tight open/close price in relation to their high/low range. Each was a precursor to a significant event.

Short white horizontal lines at the price extreme for the move coupled with vertical lines to the volume spike, as indicators of reversal.

Note that the volume spike indicator of reversal is sometimes tied to the candles marked by my yellow lines.

Close examination will also show that not all of these candle types produce a reversal. Therein lies the danger... and a reason for a stop.