July 28 2010 Overlay and Trades

Very interesting prep overlay today.

My hold visualization and breakout down visualization were the exact length and volatility. The interesting part is that the price followed both closely. Resulting in both a short and long bias.

I had a long and short execution box at the same exact price. The only difference between the two was what the price action did in the extension area.

I am pleased to say my plan held up and produced the correct bias. If you look at the hold (long) bias, the visualization includes one thrust down and return back above the 1106.75 inside support area.

The short bias visualization includes an extension retest (double bottom) below the inside support area and move back above. This is what actually happened. It is amazing to me that my AM reflection and visualization focused on this area and actually produced a pattern in my mind in advance that I was able to draw.

This allowed me to subsequently act on what I saw. This is a powerful concept and demonstrates what constant focus and visualization can do.

However, I did not execute perfectly. This is the other part of trading and much more crucial to ones success in my opinion.

First off, I executed on the TF first since the ES was grinding. You can see that I initially took a long even though the trade was in the middle of the short scenario.

I think this was over aggression due to the action being relatively slow. I did not realize the short pattern was filling exactly until I was talking about it with another trader on Skype.

It was like my subconscious inadvertently stuck the thought out there as I was typing a message about what I thought about direction.

I immediately stopped out my long on the TF and shorted the ES, followed a few minutes later by a short on the TF.

I did not feel great about the long but there was a zone there. I had clarity about the short.

This is what me being a successful trader will come down to. Will I have the discipline to wait for the clarity and be able to separate clarity from deceiving patterns.

The game players know what we look for and will create traps that look good. My gut can filter most but my current battle is making my mind catch up.

There are some very sharp skills showing themselves lately but they are tough to reign in and organize.