Can anyone share ways they stay consistent in their approach?
I feel like a different person after the market opens and I begin processing tons of information. It's like one big rat race and discipline/patience may go out the window (usually if I'm not having a good day then things slow down).
Perhaps some kind of mental checklist throughout the day to make sure I am still thinking the same way?
Or some kind of rating I give to each trade BEFORE I make it and then after it is completed as a better way to hold myself accountable. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.
BD
Have a plan with rules for:
* What constitutes a valid setup
* How a trade is entered (stop or limit order)
* How risk is managed
* How profit-taking is managed
Either write the reasons within your plan for each trade you're about to put on, or state the reasons out loud.
Teach your plan to other traders until you achieve success with at least a couple of them. Then you know you have a plan well-defined enough that it's possible to follow it in the "heat of battle". Amazing how easy it is to manage each trade when manually backtesting static charts, and how difficult it can become when price has the nerve to run back and forth inside that price bar that finally prints at the end of each time increment.
The way I did this was by spending hours a day talking to other traders via Skype. While I was developing my plan, someone would ask me why X was a valid setup and Y wasn't, even though the patterns looked very similar, and this compelled me to transform intuitive decisions into fixed rules.
Teaching trading to others was a critical part of development. As I shared my experience and ideas with others who then demonstrated the ability to trade profitably, I came to trust the concepts more and more until finally trading became very routine.
This will sound strange, but I'm sure other experienced profitable traders will understand what I mean: At the hard right edge, I very often "feel" that price can't possibly go to where my research told me it will go more often than not, but my experience has convinced me to trust the plan and I simply put on the trade when it fits my rules for entry.
Amazing how easy it is to manage each trade when manually backtesting static charts, and how difficult it can become when price has the nerve to run back and forth inside that price bar that finally prints at the end of each time increment.
Price runs back and forth for a reason.Do you have an IDed reason for that?
* What constitutes a valid setup
* How a trade is entered (stop or limit order)
* How risk is managed
* How profit-taking is managed
Either write the reasons within your plan for each trade you're about to put on, or state the reasons out loud.
Teach your plan to other traders until you achieve success with at least a couple of them. Then you know you have a plan well-defined enough that it's possible to follow it in the "heat of battle". Amazing how easy it is to manage each trade when manually backtesting static charts, and how difficult it can become when price has the nerve to run back and forth inside that price bar that finally prints at the end of each time increment.
The way I did this was by spending hours a day talking to other traders via Skype. While I was developing my plan, someone would ask me why X was a valid setup and Y wasn't, even though the patterns looked very similar, and this compelled me to transform intuitive decisions into fixed rules.
Teaching trading to others was a critical part of development. As I shared my experience and ideas with others who then demonstrated the ability to trade profitably, I came to trust the concepts more and more until finally trading became very routine.
This will sound strange, but I'm sure other experienced profitable traders will understand what I mean: At the hard right edge, I very often "feel" that price can't possibly go to where my research told me it will go more often than not, but my experience has convinced me to trust the plan and I simply put on the trade when it fits my rules for entry.
right, so how'd that go when you were dating girls? When she asked you, "You want to get out of here and go back to my place? My parents are gone." Did you look at your notes and tell her, "How bout we go out for a coke? I know a great place where the kids are swell!"
right, so how'd that go when you were dating girls? When she asked you, "You want to get out of here and go back to my place? My parents are gone." Did you look at your notes and tell her, "How bout we go out for a coke? I know a great place where the kids are swell!"
