Keep up the good work. A couple of other suggestions: I try to minimize the negative feeling descriptions. I know you felt frustrated but it's better to talk about it as a feeling rather than "I am frustrated." You are NOT your feelings. So saying something like "I felt frustrated as the result of ____" is better than "I am so pissed off at myself." Does that make sense? Bottom line is try to separate your feelings from who you are. And you're going to have feelings, but to the extent you can use them as information, that can be helpful. Also, saying you "need to do something" isn't the best way to talk about the improvements you want to make. It's better to say something like "next time this happens, I will do _________." I'm not trying to be a pain but the words we use (on paper, orally and in our heads) are important. Best wishes!
Reached my goal withing 2 minutes of the open today. Trading in sim and will update later in the day.
Quick summary: I took a quick scalp last night on ES for 10 ticks and then gave $100 back later in the evening. Today, was perfect! The first trade was less than a minute and the second trade which I entered about 10 minutes prior to the open was closed w/i the first minute of the open. I reached my goal and switched to sim. What areas did I shine in today: I was more patient Basically took 2 trades and done (if don't count the overnight session) - Super pleased! Followed my plan! Content with profits even though I left a bunch on the table Didn't overtrade - Stayed in sim even though today was a fantastic day to trade - One of the best I have seen in a long time What do I need to do different next time: Nothing - Be like a machine and repeat what I did today Here is the recap for the day: Enjoy your weekend everyone!
For what it's worth, I use Trademetria for recording trades, analytics, etc. You can even post all your journal stuff in there.
@formikatrading - Is there a reason you went with Trademetria instead of one of the other programs like Tradervue or Tradersync?
For the features I needed, Trademetria was at a better price point. I use the pro version which is $210/year. The broker import is all external based (meaning you export a file from your broker and then import it or do a copy and paste). Some of the other options I explored required your brokerage login info which made me a little uncomfortable. The journal is very "free flowing" so you can ad whatever you want and leave out what you don't want. Last but not least, Thiago, who runs Trademetria is awesome. Any time there is an issue, he solves it. I have heard good things about Tradervue (don't know much about Tradersync) but it just didn't seem like the best solution for me.
Just got home a little while ago and thought I would glance at the charts. NQ has had some great movement already. I saw one of my X2F setups and took +21 with just 1K to start the week. Here is a picture of the trade: