I'm struggling here. Here is where my head was this morning after having reached my profit objective, in 10 minutes. I was really happy. I was satisfied. I immediately went downstairs, to tell me wife the good news. I also told my wife, that if I was live, that would have been my day. I was done. Where My Mind is stuck. Maybe it shouldn't be stuck here: If a trader has a profitable approach that consistently yields positive results over a series of trades, why stop? I don't have one yet. But, I have to trade/test/research to find it don't I? I had the whole day off today, to learn. I wanted to learn to execute my signals well. I wanted to continue to learn PA. I didn't go in it looking for more money. I went in it to objectively identify my signal and trade them well. My mind said "I'm not going to stop learning since I hit it, but if I was live, I would not be placing orders." And maybe my ego was in it. I think I could have learned a lot by watching and just annotating where I would enter. I'll need to think on this, intently. =========================================== I'm not thinking that at all. I'm not thinking "what's the big deal" because I'm new, because it's on SIM, etc... I'm thinking shouldn't one come out profitable over a series of trades, if they have a proven edge. Maybe my mistake was not seeing my edge proven. I screwed up today. It's ok. I'm going to learn not to do that. If I find it easy to break rules, then I have a problem. =================== Thanks RN. I'm here AM tomorrow, but I'll likely not be trading, because I want to spend sometime revisiting today's activities, and dig into my metaphysical. Have a good night, JS
It boils down to this JS As a trader - rules are all we have We make these rules to protect our self against the mkt..., against external forces..., against our self Either we follow our rules..., or we do not RN
Trade 1 yesterday 1/12/2015--> Spent time this AM working on me. No trading. Here's a review of yesterday's trade off the open. This review took a while as I dug into it. I'll review the others tonight or tomorrow. Good learning. 1. Did I objectively identify my edge? I objectively identified this edge. The 15 m had great context showing LOLR was down, and there was a failed breakout at the open. 2. Did I act on my edge w/o reservation or hesitation? I acted on this edge without any reservation or hesitation. I didn’t want to be wrong though. I really wanted to be right. I’ll address this in patience and emotional control. 3. Did I predefine the risk of this trade? I predefined the risk of this trade. It was 3 points = 1.5%. 3. Did I completely accept the risk of this trade? No. I did not. I didn’t want to lose. I want to learn this game. Addressed in patience and emotional control. 4. Was I willing to let go of this trade? I think I was willing, if I didn’t accept the risk. 6. Did I pay myself as the market made money available? I did! I set a profit target, and as the market made this money available, I took it. 7. Did I maintain Patience and Emotional Control? No. I was incredibly emotional in this trade. I had the fear of losing and being wrong. 7a. Why was I afraid of losing? If your edge is objectively identified and if I predefined risk and accepted it, losing is part of the game. Why didn’t I accept the risk of this trade? Why didn’t I accept that this trade, with all of its great PA confirmations could have lost? What is keeping me from accepting this? Do I have a need to be right? Do I really hate being wrong this much? I believe I have a need to be “right”. Sometimes, always being right is actually wrong—even in life. 7b. Am I not fully accepting the risk of each trade because I want to be right? Probably. I think it’s more than this though. I think there is also a lack of trust in my method, and in myself. Is there something I can do, that will help me to trust my method? The statistics from the 50 back-tested trades were great. 7c. Is there something I can do that will help me to trust my method? There is! I can build trust in my method, by being consistent in my 20 trade tests. It’s not yet there. But it can be! Trust in myself and in my method, comes with patience, discipline, practice, and constant review of my 20 trade series. If I can’t complete this series well, I’ll never be able to trust my method. So sure, my method is probably sub-par. But, if I can learn to execute my sub-par method with discipline and amazing objectivity/neutrality/focus, the TA will fall into place. I know this. I believe this. It’s time that I begin building trust knowing full well that I am not my method, and I need statistics in order to build/tweak/learn/ and inevitably trust myself. (THIS WAS GOLD)!!! 8. What Fear(s) did I experience during this trade? See above. 9. Was I focused on Flawless Execution? On this trade I was definitely focused on flawless execution. I executed it well and objectively, but lost neutrality because of aforementioned reasons. 10. Did I exercise "Consistency" in all my actions? In this trade, I exercised consistency in all my actions pertaining to the trade, except for the fears. Comments: It took me a long time to figure out what’s going on. I hope that this information sticks with me. I’ve often struggled with fears of being wrong and losing at this game. I need to work on those. This entry has helped. Building my method/approach will build trust in myself AND my method as I stay consistent and objective. I should have stopped trading after this trade. I was selfish. I wanted to continue to trade to “practice”. I should have not taken another trade, and I should have only observed, and maybe practice by just annotating. Maybe there was a fear here as well, such as fear of leaving money on the table. I won’t explore that now, as I have 12 other trades to analyze and work out. Journaling has been really helpful. I enjoy the digging. One has to be vulnerable though…which isn't always easy. Happy trading, --> JS
You have a unique knack for getting it right at just the right time and it's part of the processs that we all have to learn. So I appreciate your willingness to keep on doing it day after day. Thanks for all that I've learned from you.
Haven't you read Dratsum - its all photoshop No way it - been there done that LMFAO ================= You are Very Welcome Sir And..., Thank You RN
Catching up on your thread JS- your recent comments- and although unqualified- a couple of comments/questions for your consideration- If trading in SIM, and you hit your "ideal' daily profit target early - why would you simply walk away? Why not continue to test yourself to see if you can indeed select the wheat from the chaff? This would seem to test whether your ability to select the best of trades was just odds- or was it an acquired sense of evaluating the trade condition.? Why does a predetermined "profit target" suggest that you close the trade? Shut the cash drawer closed? How do you know when your winning trade that meets your expectations will not become the big run higher of the week? If you take the entire position off at target, you are effectively limiting yourself to trading within a defined boundary of limited expectations. It may not occur often- but that bigger winning trade can make up for numerous smaller losers- Perhaps a consideration in your trading plan would consider a trailing stop on a 1/4 position- To see where it might go. If you trail a stop- keep it just below where your profit target was-raise it gradually- and see where it may take you- You will find this partial position will add to your edge over cutting your trades off. While i do not trade as you do- the principle is similar - and is worth trying out IMO. "Am I not fully accepting the risk of each trade because I want to be right? Probably. I think it’s more than this though. I think there is also a lack of trust in my method, and in myself. Is there something I can do, that will help me to trust my method? The statistics from the 50 back-tested trades were great." Could it be that you realize that you are indeed trading in SIM- and that is the elephant in the room? One can shadow box, but stepping into the ring with a real opponent is a different condition from a 'sim' condition- and perhaps this is a concern your 'trust'- it is not so much the effectiveness of your method perhaps- but the response of the operator. While you can criticize and analyze yourself in SIM- some part of your mind realizes it is indeed SIM-at some point, you need to step back into the waters and test them- gingerly. I personally found it useful to use IB's $1.00 commission/100 costs to take numerous smaller trades during periods I wanted to "test" a strategy- The goal at the time was to "practice" a method of approaching the market- It allowed me to take numerous smaller amount trades with a small commission cost- just to 'practice' without risking a lot- but real $$$ were in play- This may-or may not - be appropriate to your selection- but if your "ta method works" - it should have wider applications What i am personally finding interesting at this point in the market, is the increased volatility- A method based on the recent past lower volatility periods may not work as well- or perhaps it works better- within a different market environment. You would have to be the judge- but a static approach to the market works as long as that period is uniform. If you continue to trade SIM, prepare yourself for 2015 with increased market volatility- My personal belief- Just look at today's Price Action! I think you will eventually succeed when you step back in because you have both the desire, the work ethic, and prudence- And are not seeking to be the home run hitter at your first time back at bat- Get that consistency of average base hits makes great sense. I don't know that you should not perhaps consider some time in the Triple AAA teams though before stepping up to the big leagues- It is a logical training process- employed by most major sports teams- and what greater Sport is there? Many would-be traders jump in and bet large- It works until it fails to do so- Markets change- Do you have a position sizing approach? Do you Risk more than 1-2% on any single trade? IF so, I would suggest that you are taking on way too much Risk- and are ultimately destined to be a bright but fading Star- that ultimately fails. Knowing that I am not a 'successful trader" I would hope the successful traders on this platform could give you some deeper guidance on this subject- because this is what will assist you in surviving the learning curve- and ultimately allow you to become the success you want to be. Arrogant statement- but valid- I have caught large portions of this thread- but i do not think I have seen any discussion of appropriate Position sizing -particularly for a newer trader- There has been a lot of the positive psyche stuff going on- but I likely missed the 'backbone' basics page of the mechanics of trading survival 101 - just don't blow out the account- Understand position sizing- trading to learn- before you trade to earn! Best of Luck to You!- SD
Good trading today. Not much time to get into specifics. I went into today purposefully recalling three things: 1. I fully accept the risk associated with each trade, or am willing to let it pass. 2. Being wrong well and small is right. 3. I wrote a plan for a reason. Follow it. 3 TRADES: 1 W & 2 L = +$207.80. Made a plan for each trade. I'm typically using range heights or measured moves based on PA. Trade 1 was really weird. It's almost as if the computer/system had a glitch. For starters, I was filled really late. And then stopped out for $-15 while my stop was triple that. I don't know what happened. I think there really is something to what I read yesterday. "The second mouse gets the cheese." Trade 2, I traded trade 1 again. Stopped out. I decided to wait for a couple minutes, regroup, be objective. Trade 3, signal still valid, entered a little earlier after a failure to breach an uptrend or go lower. ================== Mentally, I'm now analyzing daily. But I'll probably start saving that for my "personal" journal. I am in the process of making this method, and I am also adding some other metrics to my databased to work out some stop-loss issues. ================= Chart attached. Trade 1 isn't even showing up, so I don't know what happened there. Trade 2 and 3 are there. -JS