NQ trades for 8/15/13

I was busy taking care of other matters this Monday and Tuesday. Today is the first day this week that I did any actual trading, as I didn't take any trades on Wednesday either. Even though I had 2 winners and only 1 loser, I still ended the day net negative. When I move up to trading >1 contract, then I think this problem would be mitigated, due to having runners.

Trade #1 - Went long at around 10:52 @3074.50 at what I initially thought was a double bottom. It wasn't. I came within 1 tick of being stopped out, before prices reversed. I manually exited at around 11:01 @3075.75, as I thought prices were beginning to stall. Having just barely escaped earlier, I didn't want a negative trade. Ended up with +1.25 pt.

Trade #2 - I saw a triple top had formed, so entered on a 2nd entry short at around 11:14 @3078.75. I got stopped out at around 11:23 @3082.50. As that saying goes, hindsight is 20/20. Looking back, I countertrend traded, as there was an uptrend. Also, there was support at the median support line. Took a -3.75 pt loss.

Trade #3 - Another long trade at around 11:40 @3088.00. Looking back, I can't seem to recall why I got into this trade. Reviewing the chart, I see no good reasons to have gone long. I nearly got stopped out again, as prices immediately backtracked. When it bounced momentarily, I just manually exited at around 11:49 @3089.25. Gained +1.25 pt.

8/15/13 NQ chart