Bob Volman Price Action Scalping

[Matt Chao]

Today's Trading

Today was OK except for a couple of mental errors. I took one good trade in the EU session and missed one good trade in the US session. I made one bad decision, my first trade, because of a bias on the market's direction. I had been evaluating a potential long for 30 minutes or so and neglected to keep "zooming out" mentally and take an objective look at the chart. It was pretty easy to see that it was a bad decision in hindsight.

TODAY'S GOAL: Stay alert when a trade is potentially setting up. Did well on this one.

THIS WEEK'S FOCUS: Choosing good stops and sticking to them. I entered the first trade without a good level to place the stop, and lost 8 pips (a big loss for me). Stuck to my target on the second trade.

 

[cha-ching]

Today was OK except for a couple of mental errors. I took one good trade in the EU session and missed one good trade in the US session. I made one bad decision, my first trade, because of a bias on the market's direction. I had been evaluating a potential long for 30 minutes or so and neglected to keep "zooming out" mentally and take an objective look at the chart. It was pretty easy to see that it was a bad decision in hindsight.

TODAY'S GOAL: Stay alert when a trade is potentially setting up. Did well on this one.

THIS WEEK'S FOCUS: Choosing good stops and sticking to them. I entered the first trade without a good level to place the stop, and lost 8 pips (a big loss for me). Stuck to my target on the second trade.

I missed your last setup as an IRB but did trade the RB minutes later. Did plan to exit at 50 (there was some stalling right after the news) but the moved was so fast that it filled my target in a few seconds at that bar (the one that crossed 50).

 

[Matt Chao]

I missed your last setup as an IRB but did trade the RB minutes later. Did plan to exit at 50 (there was some stalling right after the news) but the moved was so fast that it filled my target in a few seconds at that bar (the one that crossed 50).

Thanks, Cha-ching. Good trade. I noticed the RB, also, after the fact. For some reason the top barrier's being right on the 40 distracted me from seeing the range correctly. I also disengaged a bit after the IRB broke assuming the boat had sailed, whoops!

 

[JRS]

Greetings Volmanites! I've been taking some time off for cobweb cleaning and a little R&R. During this time, I'm also rereading FPAS and thought I'd share this inspirational gem:

...successful traders do share at least one common trait: they take their trading very seriously. We could say they have acquired the mindset of a regular business entrepreneur. It means they have invested in education, know their field well and do not indulge in unrealistic expectations. Since they understand the long-term aspect of their enterprise, they seldom get caught up in the heat of the moment. They are confident in what they are doing and as a result have no trouble putting capital at risk. They fully understand the cost of doing business and accept the losses that come with the job. They will not walk around with a checklist of dos and don'ts in their pockets, nor will they be constantly anxious about their capital at work or feel the need to check their bank accounts to see if they are up or down on the day. Even through times of adversity, they will remain calm and focused and always have the bigger scheme of things in mind. They operate from a structured frame. They are businessmen.

Now get out there and trade like a champion today!!

 

[Matt Chao]

Today's Trading

Nice quote JRS. That's one of my favorite sections as well.

Price was pretty choppy for much of the day. I think I missed one trade in the EU morning session. It was a great scenario but I wasn't sure about the entry. I found one trade in the Pre-US session. I took an aggressive trade at the start of the US lunch and paid the price for it.

Goal Today: Reading the market objectively. I did pretty well here. Tried to zoom-out and take a fresh look often. I'm going to keep this same goal tomorrow.

Focus this week: Exit strategy, tipping point, etc. I respected the tipping point on my second trade and made a good early exit due to stalling prices on the first. In the past I'd have held on against logic hoping to reach 10 pips.

 

[cha-ching]

One losing trade today. Need to improve my reading of the market pressure. Probably anything that looks like a flag should give me a second thought.

 

[fxstrategist]

Very good quote from JRS, trading should be taken as a real business, not a hobby.

 

[Matt Chao]

Friday's Trading

One losing trade today. Need to improve my reading of the market pressure. Probably anything that looks like a flag should give me a second thought.

Cha-ching, I agree with your comment on the chart about the previous bull swing. Sometimes in hindsight things are so clear. I marked the location of your trade on the 5 min chart in my snapshot with a bold "X" so you can see what it looks like when zoomed out a little. The 5M chart often keeps me out of trouble when reading the 70T.

Between feeling under the weather and needing extra sleep and having an appointment during the US session, I was only able to trade the US open on Friday. Found one trade (below).

Did a short review of the week's trades and journal. I'm trying to do this on the weekends. I walked away with some thoughts for next week:

Next Week's Focus: Rehearsal and study time. I've been struggling to get in some good rehearsal time. This is where I scroll through an historical chart one bar at a time and pretend to take live trades. I then compare my performance to Bob's old charts. This is a hugely beneficial habit for me. My commitment this week is to rehearse at lease one day's worth of charts every day.

Exit Strategy: I'm pleased with how my adherence to my exit strategy is progressing, but I didn't have enough opportunity to practice this in the live market this week. I plan to make this a special focus during my rehearsals next week.

Reading the Chart Objectively: The past couple of days I have focused on frequently "zooming out" and taking a fresh look at the chart. This helps me stay out of bad trades and gives me confidence to pull the trigger on good trades that I'm second-guessing. I'll continue with this goal tomorrow.

 

[BLS]

Week 34 charts from Volman:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1amxmi9af0fk6ej/VA5_ZrjQF1

 

[JRS]

In light of today's carnage, remember the words of Mr. Miyagi: Daniel-san, the best defense is no be there!!

 

[Matt Chao]

Monday

In light of today's carnage, remember the words of Mr. Miyagi: Daniel-san, the best defense is no be there!!

JRS: Haha! Well said.

I chose to trade only the UK morning session today, but I watched some of the US session for my own education. Not the best performance for me, but not disastrous either.

THE BAD: Took 2 risky entries, but I knew they were bad before I took them. For both trades I wrote down my observations on the chart and decided not to trade but then talked myself into trading against my better judgement. No bueno. I've run into this problem in the past but not so much lately. I've got some ideas on how to combat these kinds of mental errors.

THE GOOD: I took one good entry. But more importantly I was disciplined with my exit strategy even on the bad trades which enabled me to walk away with a couple of pips despite the entry errors.

 

[Matt Chao]

Tuesday

3 trades today. 1 error on entry. Good exits. Snapshots below. Got lots of question marks on the charts today; looking forward to checking them against Volman's charts. Love to see how you guys handled today if you traded.

TODAY'S GOAL: Stay out of bad trades. (I've started choosing my daily goal based on a strength rather than a weakness... much more encouraging. The idea came from Brett Steenbarger)

SUSTAIN:
*Good attitude today. Enjoyed just watching the market while studying and listening to stuff.
*Good execution on exit strategy, both targets and stops.

IMPROVE:
*I missed a couple of good trades due to not being fully engaged as the trades were setting up. Mainly in the US session.
*One bad entry. I took it within minutes of waking up from a nap and sitting down at the desk. A closer look at the chart would have kept me out. This has happened occasionally when I first open the charts. Perhaps, I need to change my rules/habits for when I first sit down at the desk.

FYI - The last snapshot is of the AUD/USD

 

[Matt Chao]

Wednesday

Today was OK. Just can't seem to make it through a session without an entry error lately.

SUSTAIN:
*Good exits again. Finally gaining some momentum with this habit. It kept me from going in the red today.
*I was quite calm while in all my trades, even the bad ones. I didn't think about the P/L or anything like that but just watched the chart.

IMPROVE:
*1 silly mistake. Wasn't paying attention to the time of day and took a trade that was too aggressive anyway right in the US open.
*Missed a couple of trades again just from not paying attention.

 

[Matt Chao]

Thursday

So, this week I've been deliberately recording my thought process on the chart as I trade -- like a "mental flow chart" about how I came to take, opt out of, or miss a trade. This has been great! It turns out that I've just got a couple recurring mental habits that are responsible for like 90% of my missed or bad trades. 1) I don't habitually evaluate the potential for both a bull and bear move each time I look at the chart. I typically am only deciding about one or the other. 2) I loose track of the time of day... news break, open of US stock market, etc. 3) When I miss a trade, I don't look for a second chance entry or another setup shortly down the road.

Well, today I changed things up a bit. I realized that I haven't really been focusing on my strengths lately, so my goal was to stick to only two particular entry scenarios that I am most proven and confident with. I decided to pass on anything else no matter how valid it looked. It made trading really easy today. I missed about four trades today, but took one good one.

 

[BLS]

Week 35 charts from Volman:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1amxmi9af0fk6ej/VA5_ZrjQF1

 

[JRS]

Just getting back into the swing of things after taking some time off. 1 trade today.

 

[fxstrategist]

Scalping

Interesting opinions, always trying to keep an open mind.

 

[JRS]

No trades today but managed to avoid some sticky situations.

 

[Matt Chao]

Tuesday

Didn't find any trades yesterday. Only two trades today on the AUD/USD. The first was accidental actually--be careful where you leave the mouse pointer ;-) . I only found one potential trade on the EUR/USD but didn't take it. Things were just not setting up well today.

TODAY'S GOAL was to stick to the short list of scenarios I'm confident with... basically any pullack reversal or with-trend IRB-type setup or a bounce off support that is well built-up.

 

[JRS]

One trade today. At the time I thought it looked like a good BB/IRB from the 40 level but hindsight, I'm not so sure. Other's thoughts welcome