This is to show everything can go wrong: I got stopped out 1.25 pt this morning as my ES trade went my way for 1.5 pt and reversed? It was a good trade I still think even though I lose money. Should I tighten my stop to guarantee profit? I decided not to... I don't want too many decisions as I still can see it could go against me a little and reverse. It did work out a little later without me. I took another trade which went well. I wanted to take my 3 pt profit and found out my platform does not work... As I called Tradestation Securities, the trade went more in my way but by the time I got someone on the phone (after 20 min??) to make my account work again, my trade is over and I just take the .75 or whatever because it is no longer my trade anymore. I asked them again if it is safe to trade and they said yes, they fixed the problem with CME. So I put on another trade which gives me another 1.5 pt profit, I couldn't believe it... the platform does not work again when I click "close the position"... The price bounced right back and go thru my stops because I was trying everything including cancel all orders. The problem is precisely that there are some old cancelled orders stucked in my queue that cannot be really taken out before executing my new order. It occurs to me that I should have just used a straight limit order instead of the convenient "close the position" button. I ended up scratching out the trade even but only after it went 2 pt against me and came back. That was a good trade turned really bad. Even though I did not get hurt, I did not get out the trade thinking the pending holiday... hoping for no follow-thru... making up reasons... I lost my head. I closed down the shop early with a slight loss until Tradestation fixes out my order queue. The 3 + 1.5 - 1.25 = 3.25 pt from the morning session turns slight negative.
Chapter 10 "Can you hold fast your crescent soul and not let it wander can you make your breath as soft as a baby's can you wipe your Dark Mirror free of dust can you serve and govern without effort can you be the female at Heaven's Gate can you light up the world without knowledge beget things and keep them but beget without possessing keep without controlling this is Dark Virtue" This is my own read: "Can you hold fast your crescent soul and not let it wander" This sentence implies one might try to APPLY EFFORT in holding the awareness "can you make your breathe as soft as a baby's" This sentence suggest the correct solution to hold the awareness is simply breath naturally like a baby WITHOUT EFFORT. A baby also does not judge things as good and bad (Of course they do, just the symbolism). "can you wipe your Dark Mirror free of dust" Again this sentence impies one might try to APPLY EFFORT to remove unwanted thought and feeling from the mind. "can you serve and govern without effort" Here it suggests the correct way is to leave things in their natural way without imposing will and effort. This is the basic way to meditate and cultivate awareness. The harder one try to make things happen, the natural flow of things gets obstructed. Same way with trading. There is a natural way to trade for each method. Complications and stress increase when one try to interfere with that natural process with one's will. "can you be the female at the Heaven's Gate" Female symbolizes wisdom but Heaven's Gate symbolizes some kind of an Enlightenment destination far away which requires EFFORT to get to. "can you light up the world without knowledge" Here again suggest the correct way is to free the mind from conceptual fixations (knowledge) and not by effort. Fixating on the ego then you cannot beget without possessing and keep without control. Ego fixation is an area IMHO needed to have personalized way to deal with. That is why they said there are 84000 Buddhist doctrines taught for different dispositions and numerous schools of thought. I am still experimenting ways to lessen its effects in my own trading. Be forgiving... Make things less painful... Keep it fun. Do not impose your want and things get easier.
jmho Trading the markets is only playing a computer game. Or playing Rubik's Cube. Kids excel because they are not polluted by daos nor karmas while ceos, phds, entrepreneurs, doctors, engineers, ... fail miserably! These 'smart' men think too much and do too little.