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On Monday I took a trade on the 15-minute US500 chart that could have gone either way.
There was a small bull doji near my trend line, marked by the yellow rectangle. Small dojis in the right place catch my eye because they can offer an attractive potential reward relative to the planned risk, although there may be a greater chance of being stopped out. Depending on the context, I sometimes place an entry order on either side. Here I could see a possible bull flag breakout, but also a bear breakout if the selling continued.
The upside entry triggered, then price came back towards my stop without hitting it. It formed what I read as a Micro Double Bottom and started moving up.
I normally leave the protective stop to do its job during the entry candle and reassess after it closes. That helped this time.
The red curve is my chart-timeframe EMA; the orange stepped line is a higher-timeframe EMA. Trend-line alerts give me a heads-up to return and assess the price action.
The bordered yellow rectangle marks approximate entry and protective-stop levels. For a long trade, entry is near the upper edge and the stop near the lower edge; for a short trade, the reverse.
Triangle markers highlight strong consecutive candles using my own utility. These markings support my judgement rather than provide automatic trading signals.
I scaled out around the blue line. My journal records +2.2R, and I was happy with that. I decided it was enough for the week. It was only Monday, but stopping suited my energy levels and what I wanted to do with my time.
Usually I would have kept some of the position open to see how far the trend went. The move shown afterwards wasn’t all profit I took.
I could recognise the possibility at entry, but I couldn’t know how far it would develop. Looking back, the stronger bull bar a couple of bars later also looked like a reasonable opportunity.
That’s something I’m trying to get better at: taking reasonable trades without waiting for a perfect one, while avoiding marginal entries just to be involved.
It doesn’t mean taking trades until a winner turns up. And it doesn’t mean catching the whole move.
This time, I had enough and stopped.
Explore the thinking
Personal trading journal · 9 November 2026. Trading involves risk of loss.