I traded well this week. Simmed on Monday then Live the rest of the week. Wednesday I went straight to office to trade CL after the inventory report. Rest of the days just traded a couple hours after the open at home. All trades taken, only around 10, were valid and managed properly. Wed. I was holding a trade that was not moving much after entry but not showing any reason to exit. It was difficult to hold but I talked myself through it (anything can happen, stick with plan, etc) and held. It went to target, thankfully reinforcing my positive behavior. Thursday a crazy short covering move after the open I missed. I do know in the past missed huge moves like this would draw me into poor trades. This day I stayed calm and sensed I wasn't as focused as I should be. So took a break and had another look. Because of the volatility I had my platform open at the office looking for a trade but still wasn't feeling focused. So shut it down so as to not be tempted to do something stupid. Days where I'm not as focused as I'd like usually is an indication I'm not getting enough exercise or sleep. Overall I traded very patiently and in control. I did miss trades though. My main focus this week was to take valid trades, manage properly and not get frustrated or force things if I did miss trades or have losses. It wasn't a perfect week (missed trades) but much more right than wrong. A little more patience and maturity or self-awareness and control I think in my trading than in the past. Wow, how about that ? sim was the only day with a loss, -12 ticks the rest of the week made a little each day; + 63 Live ticks Monday I will trade Sim and then Live rest of week. I'll be reviewing trades and the missed trades this weekend.
Lesson learned this past week: I’ve heard some traders say their job is to manage risk; which sounds pretty cool. My job though is to be patient, have discipline to follow the plan and stay focused. That’s my edge and that’s my job. Yes, risk management is part of it but that’s built into the plan. I’m pretty good about ignoring PnL when I trade . It’s after hours where I start tripping myself up. Last week trading was going pretty good through wed. but then I start thinking about, making X amount of points per day, increasing contracts, annualizing out and the need to be profitable every day. Old habitual thinking. This of course then finds it’s way into the session. Thursday trading did not go well. Forced trades. After trading I realized, once again , that all I need to do is just be patient. This time though I literally felt a different part of my brain recognize this. I have a plan with positive expectancy. I don’t need to “try” to find trades or over analyze price action trying to think what may happen. I just need to sit there observe price action and take trades per my plan. If I do that there’s a good possibility I will make money everyday or at least have small acceptable losses. It was a freeing kind of realization. I just need to be patient. I intend to continually focus on that fact. Not going to worry about averaging X amount per day etc . I've said this all before but this time it feels different. last week: - 13 ticks Live +15 Sim +2.25 NQ live (two trades during a slow CL period) (Thursday was around a - 50 tick day)
One..., of the myriad of aspects - part and partial to risk management - ensure over trading does not happen Entering where the risk to find out is acceptably small..., and actually keeping each loser small - are but two.., of the myriad of aspects - part and partial to risk management ==================== Yup ================= Any trader focusing on the results - will fail (me included) Process / routine / discipline / patience / consistency / trade plan for each Just a little food for the ole cranium My Friend RN
Welcome back. It is always tough to be motivated when you keep doing same thing and nothing changes, that is often a hint, something has to be changed. As you develop into better trader through the years, you might see yourself differently. For me I manage risk and risk to me not only means money that can be lost, can be profits that can be lost too but can also be passage of time. I look at a trade like it is Jello and in the frig, liquid when it goes in, but if I wait too long at some point turns to more of a rubber and if I wait longgg time-turns into mold. Of course these are weeks, but if they were minutes, time is not a friend unless you are selling options. Do you notice trades early in trend work better than later in trend? It is just as important to not take a viable signal based on recent irregular price structure than to take a trade where everything is setting up perfectly. It won't guarantee profits, but you not going to fight yourself later on.
yeah, it took me awhile to learn that context AND pay attention to it. ====== The goal this past week was to trade with more patience and control than the prior week. Check. That was accomplished. Another issue i've had over the years is staying focused and continuing to take trades once up on the day. I'm still aware and being influenced by the PnL. The result is i'm missing good, valid, profitable trades. This will take some effort to overcome. Right now i'm only trading about 2 hours a day due to work. I think that's also influencing me to just get in , make some money and call it a day. I'm semi-OK with it for now but I do need to try to work on improving my focus. And really there's no time like the present to work on the weak areas. Last week: Only took 5 trades ! No trades on tuesday cause I didn't see anything set up. Monday Sim +20 Live trading + 59 ticks No losing trades. Next week , well holiday monday so sim tuesday then focus on patience and maintaining focus. ========= I'm trying to work meditation back into my schedule; which is a great help for focus. I used to meditate in a quiet room. Now i'm using the “Calm” app which is a guided meditation with background sounds (ocean waves, river, rain etc. (free app too) I'm finding using the app makes it easier to get motivated to sit down and actually do the sessions.
You did great especially Tuesday, I have watched so many in my time force trades that were not there only to take losses, we all know how hard it is just to sit there and why I have included in my money management rules that if I don't have enough profits by certain time, my platform shuts down, you do enough back testing and be surprised to learn at times that when market showing no trades early, later on shows losses. Of course after you turn off, then good trades appear, but eyes are trained to show winning trades and misses all the losses we would have taken. Another error many do is wait for 2-3 trades to go by before taking a trade, no trade straight up without MM rules is greater than 50/50, but if you let 3 winning trades go by and your style of trading is not 10% losers or lower, you could be taking 12.5% chance of profitable trade on 4th trade. Days after holiday, so long as price traded before the time we normally trade, will be a bit more wild than normal, but few minutes later just like any other day. Good trading next week.
Yesterday I was in a long trade that was stalling and I saw some signs of weakness (selling signs). I thought of Douglas' "anything can happen " which has helped me stay in trades with patience in the past. I also know that repeating that phrase that has caused me to hold trades too long 'hoping' it will move in my direction. So as I told myself anything can happen I then asked myself what would I do if I were flat. Get short was the answer. I exited my long got short and then of course, doubted myself thinking I was overtrading, guessing etc. I looked again and yes get short was valid and the correct trade to take per my plan. (This is all in about a minute and a half) The short trade went to target. This was kind of a big thing for me cause it felt like i was able to see things more objectively while in the trade than in the past. Overall, trading is going well. I'm taking valid trades and mostly doing a good job of monitoring ME. My mantra is "if I'm rested and patient I make money." Almost always true. I did have a very poor performance a couple Fridays ago which left me with a big loss for the week. The following week I was able to recover the loss by getting back to patience. Still simming on Mondays although past Monday too tired so didn't trade. Tuesday nothing set up during my allotted time to trade. Wednesdays I wait till after inventory numbers to trade. So far I'm balancing work with trading, which I haven't done before at this time of year. One thing that I think has helped is I've cut out drinking alcohol during the week and I make sure I go to gym at least once or twice during week and then once on the weekend. The combo I think is helping me sleep better and have more energy. Good trading to you my friends ! I'll be back when time allows. jas