[Trading Journal] Nasdaq Short Position Review: The Cost of Subjective Counter-Trend Trading

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Hello! I'm WBT from the Chartinfo team.

Today, I want to review my Nasdaq (NQ) futures trade from April 30, 2026. Unfortunately, it ended up hitting my stop loss, but this failure really hammered home some ironclad rules I need to stick to as a trader.

Trade Setup and Result: Right Direction, Wrong Timing

While NQ futures were on a continuous bullish rally, I figured it had reached a point where a pullback was overdue, so I entered a short position at 27,446.94.

The RSI was sitting in the overbought zone on both the 15m and 1h timeframes, and I used the top of the ascending channel as my resistance entry. Sadly, the price wicked my SL (Stop Loss) around 27,549 before it actually started dumping. My directional bias wasn't wrong, but I ended up locking in a $20 loss anyway.



Painful Mistake 1: Limited Capital and a Tight Stop Loss

My first mistake was setting my SL way too tight.

Since our prop trading capital was super limited at just $500, I couldn't handle too much risk and was forced to go with a tight stop. But through this trade, I realized that moving forward, I need to give my stop loss more room to breathe to account for market volatility. Instead of a tight stop, I should be reducing my entry position size to strictly manage risk.

Painful Mistake 2: Losing Objectivity with a Counter-Trend Trade



More than anything, the most fatal error in this trade was taking a counter-trend setup.

Both the 1h and 15m charts had moving averages in a perfect bullish alignment, pointing to a massive uptrend. Despite that, I let my subjective feelings take over, thinking "it's about time for a pullback," and took a position fighting the trend. It was a costly price to pay for prioritizing my own bias over the objective facts on the chart.

A Lesson for Staying Profitable

This trade gave me a valuable lesson that goes way beyond a simple financial loss. "Never trade against the trend." You always have to look at the market through strictly objective indicators, keeping your impulsive emotions and guesswork out of it.

I'll use this bitter review as a stepping stone and come back next time with a principled trade that strictly follows the trend. I hope you all stick to your rules and stay profitable, even in these tough market conditions!


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