Day 3Friday 3 July

Why I took it. This time I followed the 1-hour bullish leg and executed on the 5-minute, the way it is supposed to work. I waited for the retrace into the 5-minute range that had built, price pulled back beyond the 0.618 and tapped the range point of control, and I entered off the POC with my stop below the 5-minute swing low at 64.90. Both the 1-hour and the 5-minute were bullish and I was trading with them. Target was the 0.618 retrace of the leg that had been pushing us down, up around 66.50; I did not set a hard TP because I was at the screen watching it.

How it played out. It went barely 0.05R against me and then pushed almost straight to the target. I got out manually at 66.581, just above the 0.618, for +1.57R net after 68 minutes in the trade. It kept going to the 0.886 after I was out, about 2.3R if I had held, but I took what the level gave. The one thing to watch: I sized up on this one, $47.78 at risk which is 8.8% of the account, well over the 5% I have committed to. Right process, wrong size. Temper was on for the first time this run: readiness 98, confident, and the trade looked like it.

Why I took it. Everything was bullish: the 1-hour on SOL was strongly bullish and the 5-minute was bullish with it. Price pulled back, built a range, broke market structure to the upside on the 3-minute, and the range value area low was holding. That is where I wanted in, though I entered a touch late after the level. Target was the range value area high, which lined up exactly with the 0.618 retrace at 81.67, with the stop at 80.03 under the range. And because I got front-run at the level yesterday, I deliberately set my take-profit just BEFORE the VAH and the 0.618, as a resting limit order to save the taker fees.

How it played out. It dug about 0.2R against me, then ran 1.7R straight toward the target, and stopped one tick short of my limit. One tick. Then it turned, gave the whole move back, and my break-even stop took me out flat, minus the fees. Two days in a row now: a good read, a good entry, and a front-run by the smallest possible amount before a full reversal. Temper actually pinged me at the top: daily target reached, don't swing for the fences. I did not take the market exit because price was sitting on my TP at that exact moment. Frustrating as hell, but the process pieces were right: with-trend, level held, stop went to break-even at 1.2R, and the loss is fees, not capital.

Why I took it. The re-entry after the break-even stop, and this one had a real reason: the sell-off only swept the low, it never closed through it, so the bullish structure I was trading was still intact on every timeframe. Price tapped the range value area low again, broke the 1-minute structure back to the upside, and retraced into the local 0.618 of that break, right back onto the VAL. That is where I got in, stop at 80.28 under the swept low. For the target I deliberately front-ran the last fair value gap and the 0.618 of the leg that pushed us down, about 1.5R, and after two days of one-tick front-runs I scattered three take-profits around the zone instead of one.

How it played out. It dug about half an R against me, then pushed up and filled all three TPs into the zone, +1.34R net, and the move still looks like it has more in it. The fee playbook from this morning worked too: limit entry at the level and two of the three TPs filled as maker orders, so fees ate 13% of the risk instead of my usual 19. The mistake was size: 10.5% of the account, double my rule, and Temper flagged it as urgent in the moment. I kept the size anyway. Right read, right levels, wrong size, and a green result that I can't let teach me the wrong thing.

Why I took it. A counter trade, and that is the important word. The 1-hour and 4-hour were both bullish and we were front-running a 4-hour 0.618 above, so there were plenty of signs to stay out. But I got a 5-minute break of structure to the downside, waited for the small pullback, and entered at about the 0.5 of that break with the stop above the swing at 69.55. Target was 68.30, the previous 1-hour range value area high I expected to be retested, which also lined up with a 15-minute swing 0.618, for about a 1:2.

How it played out. Price went pretty much straight through my stop and kept pushing higher, because the structure I was shorting into was already super bullish. A full 1R stop-out plus fees. The lesson I am writing on the wall: a break of structure alone is not enough when the momentum is that strong. If everything is bullish and price has not even formed a range yet, I need to wait for the range, pick another asset, or not trade at all. That is where I get caught out badly, and this is now logged so the data can prove it to me.