January 27th

One lonely paper-trade today.
In between day-job appointments, I had about 15 minutes to stop at the office, eat a late lunch, and catch a glimpse of ERX while I ate a warmed up cheeseburger.
The 2:15 & 2:20 pm volume rush and the corresponding candles with their large wicks but relatively tight open to close ratios spoke of an impending burst of price. I was a shade early but correct in my idea when I took my long. I exited with a gain far too early but I was running late for my second appointment of the day as it was...
The close of the next large candle after the one in which I exited (2:40pm) was an ideal exit point; the big volume spike suggesting a change of direction might be approaching. Alas, I am still a prisoner to my day-job and don't have the skills sharpened enough to merit trading with real-money. However, with every practice trade I approach my goal.

January 26th

Wow... AAPL was a beast today! I picked up a tiny fraction of it as it fell off its HOD. My paper-trade was a two-position short and my exits were between 2:19 and 2:20 pm for quick scalps. ok... no guts, no glory. It was more fun to watch and learn on such a big mover than to actually try to trade it. The point of all this is to learn, after all. What a ride it would have been to have 1000 shares up then 1000 shares down... a possible gain of about $20,380 from four trade executions: bottom to top and top back down to bottom.

It was a big mover but from the chart you'll see my "What's Familiar" marks on the chart are still relevant; those little lines pointing to likely reversals which are so familiar to me are still relevant!

So, for experienced traders, today was a real nice payday because those clues to stock movement were there even though it was moving unusually for multiple dollars over the 6.5 hours of the trading day.

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Days like today in AAPL are why I continue to study and learn, to pursue trading for a living.

January 25th

Just before 3:00, I had a chance to sign in on the markets to paper-trade and focused on TNA since it was the one that popped up on my screen. I started marking the "What's Familiar" on the chart in little white lines... those candlesticks that have importance to me as likely indicators of direction change. While I did not take the short, I pegged the one at 2:55 pm and then watched it drop... I continued to watch and absorb what was printing in front of me... then, I felt that a surge was about to occur at 3:25pm so I went long and was rewarded with a gain. I sold too soon but am happy for the winner. The next candle was a near-doji and one of my personal indicators of reversal. I waited for confirmation that the 3:40 candle was going to clear the low of the 3:25 candle then went short. I exited too soon again with a scalp gain. The 5-minute time frame ended at the bottom of the candle so I jumped in long for the expected reversal... Sure enough, there it was and I picked up another scalp gain. Practice trading is fun when you feel like you are "zoning in" on market movement.