A Bearish Bias Kicked My &ss, feat. Becky
In this episode, Becky details her recent management of a trading session that was very challenging for her. The day that she talks about here really encompassed SO much of her struggle days for the past few years as well as some solid examples of her growth. Side note: when we get into some of our technical systems regarding our day trading in a Market Mamas episode like this one, we want to be very clear that we are not offering trading advice or technical support for traders at this time. Rather, we are just sharing lessons that we are currently growing through. So, on the day of the topic, as soon as Becky sobered up from her morning trading session and started to reflect on her day, she knew she should write about it. That’s what we will get into today, Becky talking us through her day, the lessons she took and the growth in how she managed this day compared to some less than ideal outcomes that she’s engaged in previously.
Kendra and Becky have mentioned before a few times now that Kendra tends to see the bulls more clearly and really enjoys climbing the stairs with them on a trending bullish continuation day. And, conversely, Becky really loves building a short position as the bears trap buyers in the upper standard deviation bands and then enjoys a quick ride down in the elevator when she breaks. If we each could have an ideal day on the charts, this is what they would look like. And from all the traders we have met, it seems that most people do have a certain type of market condition that they generally tend to see more clearly and are able to capitalize on instinctively and more fully. Now, Becky could daydream happily about those sick elevator opportunities all day. But what is honestly more valuable as she is growing into a consistently profitable day trader is seeing her shortcomings, studying their lessons, replaying the sessions with improved technique in hindsight, journaling how she intends to perform when these conditions present themselves again, and then moving forward. Today will be Becky’s journal of a very bullish morning that she did not live trade as well as she would have liked and yet again extracted important reminders from that.
Ok, so let’s break down this day! Miss Market had been consolidating for 6 days around the ATH (all time high) in the futures instrument for the Dow Jones Industrial Average: known as YM. The Dow is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States, similar to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. All three indexes were actually also dancing around their ATHs this week and were similarly quite choppy and decoupled, making for generally tricky trading conditions. There is strategy to this phase and Becky doesn’t really mind a rotational tight day, as she is a scalper and doesn’t need a huge trending day to make a nice profit. But as we had been consolidating for so many days, this makes each day moving forward a bit less predictable. Essentially we have to keep trading the range until a breakout happens, catch the breakout in real time, and trade in that direction. But the market can also fake you out - poke above a high, then fail and fall back into the range. This had been happening for days as well - furthermore tempting that a true breakout and up was building.
On this Friday, we again were opening at the ATH. But it was a Friday, so these days can often be rotational. And we opened with a small gap up, so some bears at open were logical to fill that small gap. However, the market was inarguably angled upwards. Becky’s primary trading plan after evaluating all her data was bullish in general for the morning session, but likely would pull back to gap fill before really taking off. Let New York traders get a good entry for the push. And then the market would top out at some point and then close lower than her high on the day, creating the wick on the weekly candle. Becky really liked this plan. When her trading session opened, the market did initially push up, but then started to come down. Perfect. She would scalp the pullback to gap fill and some ON levels and then get out. Then consider a long to some upper targets that she had marched out. Twice Becky tried for these shorts... She was hooked on the first move. But not today was the energy. The market proceeded to march up very steadily without a red candle in sight on the 15 minute chart until over an hour into the morning. Twice Becky saw some rejection on her 5 minute entry chart and twice got in to grab that counter trend move. Now there’s the key words - she wanted the COUNTER TREND move. What The F? If her plan was a pullback for a larger move up, which it was, then the better move is the long!!
Twice Becky saw some rejection on her 5 minute entry chart and twice got in to grab that counter trend move. Now there’s the key words - she wanted the COUNTER TREND move. What The F?
If her plan was a pullback for a larger move up, which it was, then the better move is the long!!
Yes, Becky likes scalping. But that does not mean that she needs to pick the second best trade opportunity just because she doesn’t intend to hold her long term. No! That is not her strategy. Ideally, she wants to catch a piece out of the best move of the morning! And we were showing strength of buyers at the open. Her first entry took her full stop hit. So she only had one more chance at this thing. But she still had her eyes on the short because the candles were showing *some signs of rejection on the 5. Her second attempt to capture the pullback was in profit for more time, but then quite quickly resumed the bullish momentum. That’s when she snapped out of it. Saw these were shallow pullbacks and the volume of the morning was heavily bullish. Becky scratched this second short for a small loss and nearly immediately, FINALLY, joined the bulls and you know what - this trade was immediately in profit and did not hesitate or cause pain. It was a smooth ride and a direct hit to her target. And that’s the thing right? When your trade is correct, you can feel it. It is smoother, confluences hold consistent without faltering, price heads in your direction more steadily, the opposite side is weak and you can feel at ease in the trade. This is finally how Becky felt in that long. When her target hit and she had a good winning trade, she shut her down. Overall, her day ended red. But her trading mental capital was tapped as she gave too much energy to fighting the trend early to have anything left. Becky was thankful for getting in sync with Miss Market eventually and not losing every trade in the day, but goodness, it was a struggle day!
In recapping her choices and outcomes afterwards, Becky had total deja-vu. She has done this exact shit many times now. Scalping the counter trend trade, especially in a bullish setup, instead of trading with the money. Anyone else guilty of this? In fact, this has so consistently been her kryptonite that her mentor Jermaine actually messaged her to check in on her morning about 45 minutes after open, likely anticipating she might have been hunting for short scalps and seeing that they would not have been a profitable choice on this day. She admitted her damage of course but also that she had shut down her system and walked away. Now THIS is an example of some growth in Becky.
Becoming a profitable trader long term is not AT ALL an overnight process. Trading is not a get rich quick scheme. Nope. It is actually a screw up hundreds of times thing and the traders that eventually make money are the ones that can take the hits and learn the lessons without resentment. Becky has taken these hits, and obviously continues to take them, as she did on this day. But she absolutely talks them out with herself in her journal and in conversations with her partners in her locker room as needed. There is no shame in losing a trade. It can in fact be a key building block for growing you as a profitable trader. The critical secret sauce! Learning from our mistakes teaches us to be more versatile, dynamic, cautious, and intuitive traders. On this Friday, Becky did not deepen her stops, she took the hits that are within her risk tolerance. She stayed present with the market and what she was showing her and focused. This enabled her to see the bulls as the power this morning in time to recoup some of her losses.
And of course it was Friday - her only red day of the week. But instead of seeing it that way, she used a heck of a lot of self talk to remind herself that she is a CPT (consistently profitable trader). She honored her trade system and no trader has a 100% win rate. Becky accepted the lesson and left her office. She managed her kids and started a couple projects around the house that were on her never ending to do list. This pulled her out of the trading fixation and into the rest of her life. We hate the crappy, down, frustrated, icky feeling that we have previously entertained on hard red days. It has never served us. And we have grown to recognize that we can be disappointed in our outcomes but not hold that negativity. It is possible to use disappointment as a catalyst for growth. This is how we now choose to experience our red days. This one was very stereotypically Becky, and so she needs to again, as many times as it takes, reframe her approach by learning but also just shed any gross feelings. Her weekend and her family deserve to still honor the warrior that she is and so she doesn’t have space to harbor any carryover poor-me-itis.
It is possible to be a confident, self-respecting trader who’s trading journal has some red in it. Those failures prove we are trying at something freaking hard! Patience, resilience and dedication to the long game and ultimate goals are required. It’s the same as the prolifically referenced timeless adage that Thomas Edison once said, "I have not failed 10,000 times—I've successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work,” regarding his invention of the lightbulb. This is Becky and the damn bulls. Thankfully for all Americans and our retirement accounts, the US stock markets have traditionally been bullish since inception. So she has got to keep getting it together by trading nicely with them. Becky may never be besties with the bulls. But they can become respectful, cooperative acquaintances. She doubts she will ever fall out of love with taking the elevator down with her bears. But she can be friends with and appreciate what the bulls offer as well. This is a goal for Becky moving forward and how grateful she is to have a strong trading system with clearly defined areas of consistency to continue growing, as well as challenges to dig into for refinement. Trading in one hell of a beautiful, stimulating, demanding, and intricate world for sure!
Ok, we are so curious! If you also are more of a bearish biased trader, despite the fact that we trade a bullish market, send us a comment! Let Becky know she is not the only blood loving wacko! Thank you to everyone who is subscribing to our podcast, reading our blogs, and providing us feedback! We are here to talk openly about everything that may help us all level up within our lives, be it day trading or otherwise. We wish you all the very best for your lives!