Captains log, uncensored.Today is a special day for me. I have started to work half time at the bank, so I´m now available to trade the morning session each day. March 5 will be full time.Preparation:
Listen to therapy talk while taking a little nap
Reading year plan
Reading Money Management Plan
Read SoleTrading Mantra
Look at my 9 year old daughters fantastic painting of think or swim
Going through preparation setup paper and fill in levels
Nasdaq calendar: 2 stars 08:30 this morning and Bernanke at 10:00Long term ( 30 min ): Sideways
Mid term ( 5 min ): Sideways
Month´s high / resistance at 12787
Trading time frame: 1 min and 20 tick chartMonthly Focus: Discipline, focus, mindfulness and survival trades
Todays Mantra selection: I do not trade when then there´s nothing to trade

Future trading will incorporate Crude oil, so I have a 5 min chart, tick chart, DOM and T&S and Cruse today. Just to get use to the numbers and patterns.

Been studying a lot lately and also been watching the market without taking any trades. This is great stuff, but I have to be extra cautious, because I tend to look after certain setups when I´ve been doing much of theory work. So, half position size today.

Today was a real divergence between $TICK and DOW. TICK was up there all the time but DOW struggeled to keep pace. This I will remember till next time. Wait a little longer.

Today I gave the trades a bit more room (15 points), and that´s ok, but my feel for the market was not so good. I seem to struggle with sideways market. I must learn to accept the market as it is, and when it´s not trending there are certain setups that is not possible.

The VPOC´s are very good magnets in sideways markets. I will see if I can do something with that in the future.

If I have decided to take a pullback and my bias is long, then I´m pretty good to get a good price, now when I´m using the tick chart on the keltner channels for shortest term execution desision. But I tend to trust the very short term instead of looking at the bigger picture and wait for a real trade.

Lessons learned today:

• Always plan and document your setup before hand.
• Only use tick chart for execution desision
• Don´t mix different stategies