Day #30 (Mo Step #1) Took a break yesterday and didn't look at any trading or posts until later in the evening. Went to bed with encouraging words in my head, and a game plan for today. (thanks everyone!) Slept well. Standard routine, with the exception of printing off Monoid's steps, underlining and going through it a few times to be certain I was doing the correct procedure. I then downloaded some free screen recording software, and rather than just audio I also had my charts and DOM being recorded as I spoke out loud my self-talk. (My teenager boys must think I am losing my mind) As best as I could be, I went into the day completely focused on just trading the plan. I actually remember thinking I will probably hit my loss limit, but that is okay as long as I trade the plan. I also told myself the only thing I could rely on was my trading plan. Lastly, I also reminded myself that I just wanted to be consistent in my actions. So I did exactly what Monoid suggested. It was interesting, because at first I was down in combine, but up in Mo ticks. Then that kind of balanced out. One of the best trades I remember putting on in combine, was exactly to my system and I just felt so calm and relaxed as I let it work out. I was comfortable with my risk, and I was comfortable with my target. Then just let it work out. My last trade of the day, I was short and ahead but I was running out of time in the day as I needed to take my son to school. Also, I am not trading anymore from my work office (all though I hardly did any trades there). I was tempted to just leave my stop in place and the trade on, as my target was quite a bit lower.... but that is breaking my rules... and I still want to stick to good trading as best as I can. So I closed it with a 16 tick profit, shut down, and left the house. Summary - Did everything exactly to Monoid steps and my trading plan. Verbalizing what I was feeling, might have helped to calm down my emotional state. Still too early to tell. +291 +280 Mo ticks
Don't know what this 'Mo ticks' are, but whatever works for you. Glad that you exactly followed all the 4 Steps and 2 Notes -- taking every other trade, and watching and documenting every other trade. Fantastic. Now, for this week, after you are done with trading for the day, please do the following: Stop reading books on psychology. Yes, I said stop. Give your mind a break. Do something totally different from trading -- if you like to cook, make a good dinner for your family. Spend quality time with your family. If you like to read, pick up a novel or a non-fiction book if you prefer. Just don't do any more psychology. Your mind is tried. It needs rest. If you can't think of anything, just go out and breath the cold Canadian air -- go for a walk and not think about trading, or go to a movie and get a good laugh or visualize the beauty of the Yukon Territory and bask in it. Just do anything but have trading related thoughts. Now, if a thought related to trading comes to your mind -- which it will -- tell it that you will come back and address it tomorrow. If you think that thought is important, write it down, and go back to what you were doing. Do not, I repeat, do not dwell on those thoughts or chain them by thinking more about those thoughts. If you catch yourself dwelling on those thoughts or chaining them, tell yourself that are dwelling or chaining and get back to what you were doing. No need to do any more than this. Just be conscious of your trading related thoughts in your mind, and when they do arrive in your mind, consciously divert your mind back to the task you were doing. Come back relaxed tomorrow, and follow the same Steps again. Don't worry about your emotional state for now. We will get to it in due course. First, lets rebuild! All the best. Regards, Monoid.
Mo ticks = Short for "Monoid ticks": The ticks made or lost in the exercise of part 3, where I skipped taking the trade, but observed it as it progressed. @monoid is this something I should be tracking? I took part 3 to mean that I also had to monitor and react exactly how I would have traded it, had I been in that trade... if not, how do I know it is finished and I go back to part 1.
You are absolutely correct. That is the intent. I just didn't know what 'Mo Ticks' were. Thanks for the clarification. See you tomorrow. Regards, Monoid.
MO Money.., MO Money..., MO Money!!!!! (think In Living Color) But..., if it works - scratch that....., rather - if Yukoner makes it work - then so be it Whatever it takes..., by any means necessary RN
Sorry, I did not reply to you nor did I use any quotes from you. My message was to Yukoner and I specifically mentioned a few things I went through that he's been experiencing in these trade journals (there's two of them). If you think my experience relates to something you're talking about...its just coincidental and nothing more. You can easily review his prior journals to see I've been repeating the same thing consistently. Thus, it has nothing to do with you. Anyways, I've done both...trading alone and trading with others...if there's serious discipline problems...trading alone is the last place someone wants to be.
Yukoner’s last 7 trading days P/L: +180, +3, +190, +300, +133, -985, +291 Total is +112 Putting that into perspective, it could be much worse compared to the emotional trouble you seem to impose on yourself. Yes, it could be better, much better. You broke some rules etc... But you did not lose 10K either. You appear to get closer to consistency. I wish you the best.
@wrbtrader You do raise some good points. For anyone trading alone there is hardly any accountability, which is why trading with someone like Topstep Trader, at least forces some accountability on you. (Daily loss limits, stops in place, limited buying power, etc) Had I had this accountability trading full time in South America, things would have been much different, as there would have been checks and balances in place when I tilted on the prednizone. I would say for myself, 98% of the time I can be pretty good... it is that 2% of the time that I can lose it. Like @Redneck said to me in one post, and this isn't exact but it was basically this... Never forget that inside you is the power to destroy your account. My girlfriend suggested having someone I am required to actually call up and tell them I have hit my daily loss limit, perhaps even her. (Right now, I have my loss limit set at $400 - TST is $1000) This borrows from your idea of hiring someone to watch me trade. That simple phone call would accomplish a lot... slow things down, accountability, explain why it happened, etc. Thanks for your contribution, and sharing your history... Good Trades, Yukoner
@samuel11 Thanks for support. Now the kicker, had I only taken a $400 loss as per the plan, rather than an unplanned $985 loss, the last 7 trading days would look much better. One day should never wipe out a week's worth of work. Now my homework is done, and I am taking the night off to not think about trading...