#2 First Week of Trading – Wins, Losses & a Hard Stop

This was my first real attempt at day trading using the ABCD pattern… and it didn’t exactly go smoothly.

I had one clean loss, one messy win/loss combo, and a few bad trades that pushed me past my 6% monthly drawdown limit.

The good news? I’m sticking to the rules. The bad news? It means I’m done trading live for the rest of the month.

Trade Summary

• Total Trades: 7 (ETH, SPX, CRV, PENGU, TURBO, AAVE)

• Best Trade: SPX short (+$188)

• Worst Trade: TURBO long (-$298)

• Net Result: -$607.18 (-6%)

• Status: Switching to paper trading

• Strategy used: ABCD Pattern

A Quick Look at the ABCD Pattern

Since I’m focusing on the ABCD pattern, here’s the quick version for those who don’t know it:

• A to B: Price makes a strong move in one direction (uptrend or downtrend).

• B to C: The price pulls back (a healthy retracement).

• C to D: After finding support (or resistance in a short), the price resumes in the original direction.

The goal is to enter near point C, with a stop loss slightly beyond it, and ride the move toward point D.

It’s simple but powerful—if done with good volume confirmation and proper risk management.

Trade 1 – ETH (Loss)

My first ABCD trade was on ETH:

• Setup: ETH surged from A to B, pulled back to C. I waited for support and went long at $3,872.

• Stop: $3,857 (just under C).

• Result: Hit stop, loss of $52.20 (0.52%).

Looking back, ETH was already overbought on RSI, so the odds were against me.

Lesson: Don’t go long when RSI is screaming “overbought.” Wait for better conditions.

Trade 2 – SPX (Messy Win + Loss)

This one was chaotic.

• I thought I spotted a short setup, but volume was weak (first mistake).

• I shorted, took a quick win of $188.

• Tried shorting again with half size, got stopped out for -$118.

Lesson:

1. Confirm strong volume before trading.

2. Learn your platform better—couldn’t scale out because I didn’t know how to sell half my position.

Other Trades & Overtrading

I took several other small trades, but most were losers.

Main mistakes:

• Not drawing a clear plan on the chart for later review.

• Overtrading to “make up for losses.”

• Going over 2% risk on some trades.

The 6% Rule – And Why I’m Stopping

After three days, my account dropped to $9,392.82 (down over 6%). According to Alexander Elder’s “New Trading for a Living”:

In other words: Hit -6%? Stop trading. Reflect. Regroup.

Did I feel crushed? Not really. I’ve lost way more in past crypto investments. But I did feel frustrated because this time I actually had rules—and I still broke some. And now I have to switch to paper trading for the rest of the month to respect those rules.

Key Lessons This Week

• Respect RSI—don’t chase overbought setups.

• Volume matters: no strong volume, no trade.

• Learn your tools—know how to scale in and out.

• Don’t overtrade to “get back losses.”

• Respect the 6% rule—it saves accounts (and sanity).

What’s Next

For the rest of the month, I’ll:

• Trade ABCD patterns on a paper account only.

• Build my crypto watchlist properly.