Morty

Developing futures trader documenting the road to full-time, one graded rep at a time. Link has my fav indicators/backtests/journal/etc - not selling anything.

[Morty @morty_trades]

Hey, I’m @morty_trades — an aspiring day trader focused on micro futures.

Only a couple months in, still very early in my journey. This account is my public trading journal.

Full transparency — every win, every loss, what I got right, and what I messed up. I’m here for accountability and real connections.

No signals, no courses, nothing for sale. Just sharing my messy journey while I learn. DMs are open.

Whether you’re a beginner like me or way more experienced, I’d love to connect, swap ideas, learn from you, and grow together.

Constructive criticism and new trading friends always welcome. Let’s build something real.

See you in the charts.

[Morty @morty_trades]

WEEKLY ROUNDUP — September 21 to 25

Down $88.80 on the week. 16 trades: three winners, seven losers, six close enough to flat to call scratches. Two green days out of five. Average grade B.

Paper account, started at $10,000, now $9,833.80.

SEVEN WEEKS, SAME ACCOUNT

Aug 10-14 . 49 trades . -$289.05 . avg win $38.59 . avg loss $48.61 . worst -$154.60
Aug 17-21 . 22 trades . +$54.00 . avg win $33.54 . avg loss $19.07 . worst -$40.70
Aug 24-28 . 36 trades . -$218.45 . avg win $36.56 . avg loss $40.17 . worst -$126.60
Aug 31-Sep 4 . 12 trades . +$458.70 . avg win $68.18 . avg loss $21.69 . worst -$35.70
Sep 8-11 . 14 trades . -$146.95 . avg win $29.94 . avg loss $26.67 . worst -$64.45
Sep 14-18 . 16 trades . +$64.35 . avg win $51.71 . avg loss $33.07 . worst -$62.60
Sep 21-25 . 16 trades . -$88.80 . avg win $55.11 . avg loss $52.73 . worst -$106.05

This was my first full week risking one percent of the account per trade, about $99. Before that I was risking $20 to $60. So the average loss this week is the biggest of the seven, and the average win is the second biggest. That's the sizing, not a change in how I trade. The number that compares across weeks is results measured in units of risk, and it barely moved: minus 0.10 this week, minus 0.12 last week.

WHERE THE MONEY WENT

My S&P trades netted minus $6.60 across fifteen trades. Basically flat. The week's loss is one Dow trade on Thursday, where I said "one contract" out loud twice and the order was for two. That one cost $82.20.

THE RULE I KEPT CHANGING

Monday I wrote a rule: two losing trades and I'm done for the day. Tuesday I followed it. Wednesday I broke it and admitted it two minutes later. Thursday I decided tiny losses count as half. Friday I took two more trades after my second loss, and said why before each one.

The rule isn't working as written, and I'm the reason. I've been saying why before I break it, every time. Saying why is not the same as stopping.

BEST AND WORST TRADE

Best: Monday, long the S&P, +$193.95. The best single trade of this paper account so far. Honest footnote: I chased the entry, and the market ran another 46 points after my target filled.

Worst: Tuesday, a short with everything planned before I clicked, stopped out by one fast candle. Down $106.05. That's what a clean loss looks like.

WHAT I SAID BEFORE THE OPEN

Monday I didn't call a direction. Tuesday and Wednesday I called up and was wrong. Thursday up, right, and the level I named printed. Friday up, right, but short of the level I named. On Thursday I also called a push to a trendline for Friday, and it got there. After I'd already stopped trading.

THE THING I'M PROUD OF

On Wednesday I said I needed to add to winning trades sooner, instead of waiting until they're at breakeven. On Friday I did exactly that and kept my total risk under the limit. Small, but a fix I named showed up in my trading two days later.

NEXT WEEK

Same size, same rule. PCE inflation comes out Wednesday.

Plainly, as always: this is a $10,000 simulator. No real money moved. I'm $166.20 below where I started, seven weeks in, and I post the red weeks the same way I post the green ones.

[Morty @morty_trades]

10:15. The trade after "that's a wrap." One contract, stop under the last 15 minute candle, and I said I wouldn't touch it for 15 minutes. I didn't. It stopped out at 10:44, twenty minutes before the move I'd called all morning.

[Morty @morty_trades]

Friday. Four trades, down $157.10. Paper account, started at $10,000, now $9,833.80.

Before the open I wrote down that I was long for the day, with a target at a level above. The market went my way and came up about 11 points short of that level. I wasn't in the trade for any of it.

TWO LOSSES BY 9:35

8:42, long two contracts. I'd said I wanted to see the 15 minute candle close first, then got in before it did. Stopped six minutes later, down $78. On the recording: "I should have waited for a 15 minute close above that wick. That's on me."

9:30, short one contract. This was my backup plan from the morning: if a level broke on the close, go short, small size. It broke, I went short. At 9:33 I decided to flip it long and said it before I clicked: "That'll be my second loss. One last shot." Then I fumbled the button and closed the short without opening the long. Down $25.35. My limit for a tiny loss is $24.78. Missed it by 57 cents, so it counts as a full loss.

My rule is two losses and I'm done.

WHAT I DID INSTEAD

I got long anyway, one contract, and added a second on a strong five minute close. Wednesday I said I needed to add sooner instead of waiting for breakeven. Today I did that, and kept the total risk under one percent. Moved to breakeven, got stopped for $3.05. Then: "I've lost twice. So that's a wrap."

Two minutes later: "I just don't have it in me to just sit out when I'm pretty sure what's about to happen." Long again. Stopped at 10:44, down $56.60. "I know my discipline faltered a little bit."

Between 10:45 and 11:05 the S&P ran 44 points, toward the level I'd called that morning.

THE LESSON I SAID OUT LOUD

At 9:32: "I drew a 15 minute trend line and got scared when it got broken, when we were still holding the one hour trend. I need to mark out the areas where it's actually invalidated on the higher time frames." That's the whole day. I kept reacting to the small chart while the big one never changed its mind.

And one more thing the numbers say. The long I scaled into had its original stop nowhere near price. If I'd left it alone instead of moving to breakeven, it would have been up about $210 by noon and about $315 by the close. Yesterday the same habit saved me about $216. Same habit, opposite result.

Grade: B minus. Three trades built the right way, one taken after I'd said I was done.

[Morty @morty_trades]

9:33. The short, one contract, and the moment I decided to flip it: "That'll be my second loss. One last shot." Thirty seconds later I closed it by accident instead of reversing it.

[Morty @morty_trades]

@holeyprofit It’s kinda crazy to me how the chart seems to predict the news/events. Like, you’ll see pricing action coiling up or reclaiming and level, and then BOOM 💥 news.

[Morty @morty_trades]

@holeyprofit This is bearish for stocks yes?

[Morty @morty_trades]

11:15, the Dow short a second before the stop. The order was a resting sell above price, two contracts. The same candle that filled it paid my S&P long and then ran through this stop.

[Morty @morty_trades]

9:00, the long off the hourly close, filled on the retest of the 15 minute level. Two contracts, stop under the last 15 minute candle. It went 11 points my way before coming back to my breakeven stop. The original stop would have cost $103.

[Morty @morty_trades]

Thursday. Five trades, down $17.70. Paper account, started at $10,000, now $9,990.90.

Three of the five were scratches, and that's the story of the day. Every time a trade went my way I moved my stop to breakeven. If I'd left the original stops alone, those same trades would have lost about $216. On a choppy day, breakeven is what kept me flat.

THE ONE THAT DOESN'T COUNT

Ten minutes in, I got back into a trade I shouldn't have, tried to close it green, and it moved against me right as I clicked. Down $2.85. My rule is two losing trades and I'm done, and the way I wrote it Monday, any red counts, even fees. On the recording: "That doesn't count. I'm not counting that as a loss. I'm saying it right now." I was laughing. I still said it before my next trade, not after, which is the part I'm working on this week. Whether tiny losses count toward the two is something I have to settle for real.

THE BEST TRADE WAS A SCRATCH

At 9:00 the hourly candle closed above its average with the average turning up. I had a resting order at the retest of the 15 minute level, two contracts, stop under the last 15 minute candle, target at yesterday's close. It filled, went 11 points my way, I moved to breakeven, and it came back and stopped me out for $1.80. The original stop would have been hit 15 minutes later for a $103 loss. Well built, didn't pay, didn't cost.

THE SPIKE

I was in a long I'd admitted was early. One contract, target at one times my risk. At the same time I had a sell order resting on the Dow a little above price. My plan was: if the Dow order fills, take the long off and ride the Dow down.

At 11:15 a report on US and Iran talks hit and every index jumped in one candle. That candle paid my long, filled my Dow short, and ran through the Dow stop 51 seconds later. Up $63.40 on one, down $82.20 on the other.

I called the Dow order a hedge. It wasn't one the way I placed it. A sell order above price only fills if price goes up, which is exactly when my long was already winning. And the Dow order was two contracts. I said "one contract" out loud twice.

THE PART I'M PROUD OF

After the spike: "I'm not about to chase this." Twelve minutes later: "If it runs, it runs. Can't lose money if I'm not in it." I did move two buy orders up toward price and caught myself doing it. Neither filled, and at noon I cancelled everything and called it a day.

Grade: B minus. Three clean, two flawed. The flawed ones were the jump back in at 8:37 and the Dow order with the wrong count in my head.

[Morty @morty_trades]

@trdr_d Hi 👋

[Morty @morty_trades]

11:54, the target filling on the trade I wasn't supposed to be in. Trailed above the fifteen minute wicks once I was up, target walked to the level on the left. Half a point above the low at the time. The original target filled nine minutes later, then the market turned. Up $102.15, and it goes in the record with a note that I'd said I was done.

[Morty @morty_trades]

Wednesday. Four trades, up $54.50, and I broke my own rule to get there.

Paper account, started at $10,000, back over it at $10,008.60.

THE RULE I BROKE

Two losing trades and I'm done. That's the rule I wrote on Monday and used on Tuesday. Today I hit my second loss at 10:29 and, in the same click, opened a third trade. On the recording two minutes later: "I broke my rule. I lost twice, and I'm going for another attempt. I'm owning it. I'm aware of it. I did it willingly."

That third trade made $102. Without it the day is down $47. I know exactly what that teaches and it's the wrong thing. Two days ago a chase paid two to one and the next day the same chase lost. Same order of events here.

THE BEST TRADE LOST FIVE DOLLARS

At 9:30, after price missed my re-entry by a hair, I said out loud "I think it's gonna run away again." That sentence has cost me money twice this week because I chase after I say it. This time I put a resting order at the level I wanted, said "one contract," and left it alone. It filled nineteen minutes later. I named the exit twice before it happened: if the fifteen minute candle closes back above the level, I'm out. It did, and I was out two seconds later. Down $5.35 with $47.50 at risk.

That's the trade I want to build the rest around. It lost.

THE REVERSE BUTTON

I have a button that flips a short into a long in one click. I'd been talking about it for three days. Pressed it twice today.

The first press turned the $5 loss into a long with no stop for sixteen seconds, because the button doesn't carry one. I named the exit, then talked myself out of watching it. "Maybe I don't worry about a manual invalidation and I just let this thing ride. Walk away. Look away." The exit condition hit at 10:15 while I was away. I came back at 10:29, closed it by hand two points above my stop, and pressed the button again. Down $61.60. My own review thirty seconds later: "my initial reversal was the wrong move. I probably should have just let that get stopped out."

The second press was the rule break. I managed that one better than anything else today. Never widened the stop, trailed it above the fifteen minute wicks once I was up, and walked the target to a level I'd drawn. It filled half a point above the low at the time. Nine minutes later price went six points further, right to the target I'd walked it in from, and turned there. Up $102.15 with $81.25 at risk.

THE FIRST TRADE

Short at 9:09 with one contract and a wide stop, which I said I'd do four minutes earlier if a level broke. Moved to breakeven when the fast average crossed my entry, added a second contract, trailed it, and a squeeze took me out for $19.30. It had ten points in it and I got two. "I need either to scale in faster or have a wider risk tolerance so I don't have to move to break even so fast." Fifth time I've done breakeven-then-add. I know what the fix is now.

WHAT I SAID BEFORE THE OPEN

Soft bullish lean. Wrong. Price fell 55 points between the open and noon. I traded three shorts and one long anyway, and the shorts were the right side. Nine entries into writing the read down before the open: three right, six wrong. The read isn't what I trade. Good thing.

Grade: B minus. Three clean, one flawed. The two-losses rule turns out to be a guideline I hold myself to, not a hard rule, so the third trade is scored on how it was built and managed. The flawed one is the long I stopped watching. The cleanest trade lost money and the messiest made it, which is the whole reason I grade the process and not the P&L.

Tomorrow's assignment: after the second red trade, say "that's two, I'm done" out loud and close the platform. A reverse counts as a new trade.

[Morty @morty_trades]

10:29, the second reverse. The long is closed by hand, two points above its stop, and the short is on. This is the click that broke the two-losses rule. I said so on the recording before I knew how it would end.

[Morty @morty_trades]

@holeyprofit Bearish because of god level ICT indicators /s

[Morty @morty_trades]

@holeyprofit Boutta retest the uptrend

[Morty @morty_trades]

The second short at 9:48. My rule for re-entering was a 15 minute close below the slow average, and I got it. Then I moved the limit toward price and squeezed the stop to three and a quarter points so four contracts would fit. Out 104 seconds later on a five minute close above the 9 EMA, and done for the day.

[Morty @morty_trades]

Tuesday. Two trades, two losses, down $162.45. Done at 9:50 because that's the rule now.

Paper account, started at $10,000, back under it at $9,954.10 one day after crossing.

THE RULE

Yesterday I replaced my three-trade cap with a simpler one: two losing trades and I'm done, no matter how small. This morning at 9:49, on the recording: "That's two losses. I'm done." Closed the platform at 9:50. First time it's been used. It worked.

THE LONG I DIDN'T TAKE

I came in leaning bullish. From 8:40 to 9:15 I built a long: the trigger, the stop under the big candle, two contracts sized off my one percent. The trigger was a five minute close above a line. It never closed above. At 9:13, while price squeezed higher without me: "I'm not going to chase this. I'm going to stick to my plan. We close above. We don't." No order.

THE SHORT THAT GOT STOPPED

At 9:16 the chart started to look like a pullback before another leg down, so I built a short the same way: the level, the stop above the band, the target at the overnight low, the trigger a five minute close below the trend line. Filled at 9:24, three contracts, $90 of risk. "Three contracts, targeting the overnight low," said as I clicked.

It went four and a half points my way, then one candle ran seven points through my stop at 9:39. "That was a crazy short squeeze. I just got fully stopped out by a big old candle." Down $106. The exit rule I'd named never fired. The stop did its job. Then price fell without me.

THE ONE I CHASED

I said I'd only re-enter on a 15 minute close below the slow average. Got it at 9:44. Then, at 9:45: "I bet this just goes without me."

That sentence is the tell. Yesterday it was "I think I FOMO when I see these big giant candles," and the trade paid two to one. Today the order log shows me moving the limit toward price and tightening the stop to three and a quarter points three seconds later, which is what let four contracts fit. Before the fill had even settled I said "Wonderful. I'll probably get stopped out now." A five minute close above the 9 EMA was my exit, it came at 9:49, and I took it. "I've got to be more patient with my entries. It's just so hard." Down $56.

Same sentence two days in a row. It won first. That's the order that teaches you the wrong lesson.

THE REST OF THE DAY

I called it chop from my phone at lunch and it was. Twenty-six points top to bottom, closed three points from where it opened. My first target never printed. My second stop would have been hit seventeen minutes after I got out. Neither trade had a winning path today, and the rule kept the second one small.

Grade: A minus. Two clean. Nothing broke a rule: both trades had the stop, size, target and exit named before the fill, and the day ended the moment the rule said so. The minus is the chase.

Tomorrow's assignment stays: say the contract count before I send. Three for three today.

[Morty @morty_trades]

The first short at 9:24, as it looked at the fill. Three contracts off a five minute close below the trend line, stop above the band, target at the overnight low. My 15 minute panel on the left was still reading trend up. Fifteen minutes later one candle ran seven points through the stop.

[Morty @morty_trades]

I got a nice little 2 to 1 MES long today - hit my TP and I was done.

I usually try to ride a trend and end up giving back some percentage of the move - so today I planned on just hitting a TP and walking away.

The day I decide not to try and ride the whole move, it runs all fucking day lmao.