JQ | The Realized Trader

Neurologic OT for eight years, then a trader. Same work, different room. I write about orientation: the map, the mirror, and what happens between them.

[JQ | The Realized Trader @RealizedTrader]

@XAUtism_fx haha and it never feels like that trade while you’re taking it

[JQ | The Realized Trader @RealizedTrader]

Up on the week. Friday. one more trade.

that one gets people more than the red days imo

the setup can be totally fine. what changes is the job you're giving it... it stops being "this is there" and turns into "lets finish the week strong"

and you dont notice the switch, it just feels like trading

what am I trying to make this next trade do for me?

[JQ | The Realized Trader @RealizedTrader]

@PaulSmc_ yeah and often it doesn’t get counted as that kind of mistake after. it just goes down as a losing trade like any other, so there’s nothing to go back and look at

[JQ | The Realized Trader @RealizedTrader]

@JD_Futures appreciate it 🙏 the options show me where the size is, NQ just lets me take the move

[JQ | The Realized Trader @RealizedTrader]

After a day like today, the trade isn't what I watch. It's me.

The levels were on the board since Wednesday. 690 to 695 turned price back twice and the King sat at 685. Under it, the exposure kept growing and the board was in AMPLIFY, so there was nothing underneath to slow it down. That's why it kept going.

A day like this feels great, and I let it. I just don't let it take me too high, the same way a red day doesn't get to take me too low. Monday is a new board either way.

And since I get asked a lot... why do I watch $QQQ when I trade $NQ_F?

I still trade options, $SPX at times. But lately the opportunities have been in futures for me.

QQQ is where the options are, so that's where I can see where the size sits and how much room a move has. NQ is just the vehicle. I don't convert the levels or pull up a futures chart. I read QQQ and take the move on NQ.

Same with $SPY and $ES_F.

Beautiful play with the community today!

[TRT Compass @TRTCompass]

$QQQ to the king on Friday the 13th!

690 to 695 turned price back Wednesday and Thursday. Friday PPI hit the same levels and then opened at 688.64, under it, with 685 as the King from the bell.

685 traded at 9:37 ET. The board stayed negative every minute, the kind where moves travel, and price kept rotating down: 680 at 10:02, 675 at 10:13, 672.33 at 10:26.

$VIX went from 18.10 to 20.92.

[JQ | The Realized Trader @RealizedTrader]

Haha yess me too. Used to watch them all the time. What gets me about those shows is nobody on them is short on skill. they all know how to cook. the ones who come apart are the ones still prepping when the clock starts

pressure doesn't create the problem, it just shows you what wasn't ready

[JQ | The Realized Trader @RealizedTrader]

No good chef starts cooking until everything's prepped. They call it mise en place. Everything in its place before the heat goes on.

Because once the line is moving, there's no time to chop an onion.

The open is the line moving.

Compass is the prep. Before 6:30 the King is named, the room the day has is measured, the levels with real size are marked, and the setups are already counting what's there.

When the bell rings, all that's left is the cooking.

https://t.co/I7if6JiMCM

[JQ | The Realized Trader @RealizedTrader]

The left side of the chart is full. The right side is empty.

That empty side is where you actually trade... and your mind won't leave it blank. It draws the next few candles so fast it feels like something you saw.

"It's going to bounce." You wrote that yourself.

New Trading Therapy track. A practice for not knowing, 6 minutes.

https://t.co/DG6OGNneYZ

[JQ | The Realized Trader @RealizedTrader]

Yeah man the load part is the piece nobody can really warn you about. early on you're small and the stakes are low, so you don't find out what your trading looks like with weight on it until the weight's already there

and yeah I'm sure a lot can learn from this. writing it while you're still in it can be useful. most people wait until it's resolved and tidy and that one does a lot less for whoever needs to read it. Glad you're sharing. Best of luck with the rest of the week!

[JQ | The Realized Trader @RealizedTrader]

i was long only intraday for ages and it had nothing to do with the market. i’m an investor as well and that bias just bled across into the day trading without me noticing lol

doesn’t come up anymore now because i’m not picking a direction at all. i’m looking at where the size sits and how far price is from it, and the side or direction falls out of that

so both, yeah. just not from deciding to be bearish sometimes

[JQ | The Realized Trader @RealizedTrader]

@JAYD3NFORRESTER "anxious but confident" is such a real combo. the read was fine, it was the anxious part doing the re-entries. that's the one worth catching tomorrow, not the chart. good luck man!

[JQ | The Realized Trader @RealizedTrader]

@TQtradesNQ You got this. Always pulling for ya bro 👊

[JQ | The Realized Trader @RealizedTrader]

@valentinocarver respect that man. and the identity shift is real, a lot of it is just getting the money pressure out of the seat while you trade. that's what makes "no rush" actually possible

[JQ | The Realized Trader @RealizedTrader]

that’s it bro! i’d put it somewhere you can see it though, not just feel it. the calendar already pays you a green number for closing, so the hold needs a mark next to it or it won’t compete

and the day you follow it and price reverses and takes you out is the one that’ll feel worst but count most. the ones where it works don’t teach you anything about trusting it

[JQ | The Realized Trader @RealizedTrader]

@greenbirdtrader self control after a 300 pt ripper is the harder trade honestly lol. enjoy the fishing man

[JQ | The Realized Trader @RealizedTrader]

same call from a completely different angle. and i’d have been with you right up to 10:38

what changed it was size building above, which is also the thing that told me sitting out had stopped being right. that’s what i could never get from reading candles. they’ll tell you to stay out, they won’t tell you when to stop

[JQ | The Realized Trader @RealizedTrader]

$SPX this morning.

At 10:18 I told the room there was nothing above to support it, so we’d just chop. The old me would have been IN right there. Today I was grateful to sit out.

Then size started building above. 7635 took the crown at 10:38 and doubled from there. I had 7630 marked as where that stack begins. It traded at 10:59.

And sitting out wasn’t discipline. There was nothing to resist, because I could see there was nothing there.

Willpower is what you reach for when you can’t see.

[JQ | The Realized Trader @RealizedTrader]

@TraderAryan Clear mind after close is the easier half imo... the red day tends to show up again in the first trade tomorrow, when that one quietly wants to be the trade that makes it back.

Sometimes a good question to ask if is... "what am I trying to make this trade do for me?"

[JQ | The Realized Trader @RealizedTrader]

Hmm maybe part of it but i don’t think it’s only about the calendar looking good. holding is the only thing nobody sees. the entry gets posted, the exit gets posted, the numbers, red or green gets posted. the 40 minutes of sitting there doing nothing is invisible (except in the reflection only a few of us read...) and it’s the hardest thing you do all day

the log did exactly what you built it for though. it just only counts results, so that’s what’s been getting trained. 254 days of rewarding the close and nothing for staying in it

[JQ | The Realized Trader @RealizedTrader]

@carlomagno_1of1 being right premarket but not gettig in makes it tough for sure. every entry after that is partly trying to get paid for the call