Weekly Review: 3/27/23 to 3/31/23

 

My Weekly Review Process

OVERVIEW

The past week was the most frustrating I have had in a long time. I adhered to daily goals and rules from the beginning until the last day of the week. I did not necessarily break my rules intentionally, but I was testing/questioning my rules in a unique circumstance. This week was different but absolutely necessary for growth. 

I started off the week not trading on Monday since I was out of town traveling, and instead of stressing my system and playing catch up, I decided to finish my review and be ready to trade on Tuesday this week. 

This day was undoubtedly the most frustrating. It started with my first trade of the day, which ended up a loss. This loss was unfortunate, but the pattern did not work, so it was acceptable but frustrating. Then I tried to force a trade I should not have taken, which added to the frustration. 

I managed to keep myself in the positive trigger cycle, which fortunately helped me to recompose myself and make back the losses on solid trades where I sold too soon but was 100% dead on with my plans.  Unfortunately, several factors were at play with the variability from just returning from the long weekend, excited to trade, culminating in a convoluted trading performance.

As the week progressed, I got more of the same circumstances, such as very non-ideal price action, frustration, and being dead on with my plans but not capturing most of the moves. However, I could modulate my emotional state better by adhering to my technique of emotional flow and grabbing what I could. As mentioned on Wednesday and Thursday.

Then comes Friday. I am grateful for this day, even though it was a significant loss. Why it was a big loss day and how it unfolded will set me up for what comes next week. 

Letting go and adapting to price action will set me up for more opportunities. It is all about determining when to change course and switch sides. All the modulation and emotional flow techniques will only do so much, but to truly grow, I must be willing to change. The only way to have captured the opportunity of Friday was to be ready to let go of my plans, adapt to the price action, and generate a new mindset and goals.

My strategy has allowed for this at the beginning, but now I am realizing the importance of adaptability with this strategy. On days where it seems like there is a large amount of frustration, how much is that due to the dissonance of an unwillingness to change/adapt?

It is clear that on Friday, I was unwilling to change and stayed my course and picked my fight. I was breaking/testing my predefined rules. If I adhered to my rules, my losses would have been minimal. But I started to challenge my rules which led to more considerable losses. But by creating a more significant loss for myself, I made a scenario that clearly revealed a problem. As I analyzed and realized that the only way to have captured the opportunity this day was to prioritize ALWAYS adapting to price action.

In a discipline with only two variables/factors: the markets and you. The markets will do what they do, but you have all the control over how successful you will be. By setting limitations, yes, you can be successful by adhering to rules, but what if your rules include a dynamic aspect? Then, you are open to flexibility and more opportunity/success.

My daily goals and rules could be a limitation. But, on the other hand, adaptability is also freeing in terms of offense and defense. All the rules and how I've traded thus far are highly fixated on defense. I have yet to indeed have an effective offense, and once I can fully grasp how to incorporate a better adaptation strategy, this can fill in for offense.

I am grateful to have the opportunity to grow in this way. Having so much training in science, I am fueling my desire to discover more about myself and how to be successful. I do not fear failure because it is through failure that actual knowledge can arise, but the more we think we know, the more questions arise. 

CHART REVIEW

I am evolving my weekly analysis to include the post charts of the week's trades. This will examine the patterns aligning with my execution and see how well I adapted to price action. However, as I am compiling them and including the analysis in the weekly review, I suspect that moving forward, they may be better suited in the daily post-review.

SPY:

Tuesday, 3/28/23: Choppy day, but clear that the KL bounce was the play this day. If I had a better handle on adaptation, I could have played the RZ opportunities better.



Wednesday, 3/29/23: Another choppy day, but clear RZ cross-over with a re-test followed by a KL reject. There may have also been an opportunity for an Intra-day RZ bounce. I might have fully capitalized on this day if I had been fully aware of how to adapt.



Thursday, 3/30/23: Another choppy chart, but the KL reject zone was in play multiple times with finally a gradual fade. It was a very tough day in terms of figuring out a direction. However, some RZ breaks offered decent opportunities intra-day.



Friday, 3/31/23: Very one-sided direction today. Chose the wrong day to be adamant with my plans, but in retrospect forced me to be better in my process, which is unraveling and becoming more focused in this current weekly review! I would have fully capitalized this day if I had a more distinctive and higher priority for adaption in my process. I failed to partake in the RZ bounce initially, then failed continuously not to adapt as a clear RZ break repeatedly occurred, followed by subsequent RZ re-test bounces. We had a decent KL reject, which I played but failed to take profits. Then we had a KL breakout with a re-test which I failed to see. It would have been an ideal entry for a re-test bounce leading to more upside. This day showed me the power of adaptation and how it can be used in my favor.

TSLA:

Tuesday, 3/28/23: An obvious chart. I tried the initial RZ bounce at the open, but it didn't work. If I had been more aware, better at adaption, and not let the choppy action of SPY influence the clearness of this chart, I would have better played the RZ reject, RZ break, and the KL bounce.



Wednesday, 3/29/23: Price action did not quite hit my indicated KL, but it hit one of the previously marked levels and had a solid rejection. Followed by a nice RZ bounce but fleeting. The following RZ break was aggressive but led to a successful KL bounce at the predetermined level.



Thursday, 3/30/23: I didn't trade TSLA this day, but today was very choppy. It could have had decent KL rejects and bounces but not ideal.



Friday, 3/31/23: Very one-sided direction too. Chose the wrong day to be adamant with my plans, but in retrospect forced me to be better in my process, which is unraveling and becoming more focused in this current weekly review! It is evident in this chart that if I had a more distinctive and higher priority for adaption in my process, I would have fully capitalized this day. Again a KL reject, but the play to have been involved in was the KL break and re-test for additional upside. I clearly had my plans but needed to consider adaption and variable change.

NEW GOALS FOR NEXT WEEK

My process this week was mostly successful, but I challenged it on Friday, which was somewhat unintentional, to reveal some gaps in the strategy. However, I need to make adapting to price action a core quality within my system to better navigate the direction of the trades. In addition, I must adjust and consistently account for the variable change, as highly stressed in math and probability theory.

I am looking forward to next week!

• Focus on Intraday System Pattern A-C. 
• Pattern A: reaction zone crossovers for an RZ reject or bounce. Or a spike into RZ for an RZ reject/Panic into RZ for an RZ bounce.
• Pattern B: key levels for a KL reject or KL bounce.
• Pattern C: RZ breaks (only on clear long-time duration formations)
• Do not trade anything else.
• Keep position size small. DO NOT AVERAGE DOWN ON ENTRIES!
• Plan for the clear setups ONLY!
• Patience is the key to solid entries and to maintaining low-stress levels.
• Fewer trades with more confidence.
• Focus on SPY and TSLA options ONLY!
• Time to simplify the process and improve/reach the next level.
• Actively challenge my regression pattern to ONLY trade my plan.
• Do not give in to negative triggers.
• Do not give losers more time!
• FOCUS ON POSITIVE TRIGGERS
• FOCUS ON ADAPTING TO PRICE ACTION