Greetings Again Hooti, I can give you all the trading advice I have to give, but I can never give you my trading experience. You will have to gain yours on your own. I can lead you to what I believe to be the proper path toward success, but I cannot make you step in that direction. If I tell you to avoid this or that dark place, and if you chose to venture there, I will remain at peace with your decision, and the likely circumstance which may follow. So when you say that there is; âSo much difference between your Live Trading and your Sim Tradingâ, I say to you, why do you think that is the case? Is it possibly because you âactâ differently when you live trade, versus when you sim-trade? And if so, is that âacting outâ likely to be a problem that more or better technical analysis, or trade probabilities, can possibly solve? No,....it is more likely that you have some unwitting and inappropriate beliefs about the nature of the market which are at play. They are the root cause to the âacting outâ effect, not some more or better technical analysis. Hooti, the fact of the matter is; if a person canât make money on a Sim-Trading Account, he canât make money in the Live-Market either. To believe otherwise is sheer folly. Donât you think it wise to be able to thoroughly test out something that you claim is really important to you, before subjecting yourself to the very real possibility of catastrophic consequences, due to âthinking errorsâ, mistakes, and inexperience? Can you imagine what the results would be if a rookie Astronaut made the statement: âOh Iâll just wait until I get into space to test out my spacesuit oxygen system, because all this simulation isnât the real thing anyway, and I get bored with itâ. Or how about the Fighter Pilot who decides to pass up on all Combat Simulation Training because; âIt just isnât the real thing, so how can I possibly take it seriouslyâ. "The market is a merciless mirror, and each moment is a perfect reflection of your current level of development, and what you need to do to get better and improve". I therefore submit to you, that if you are experiencing major deltas in the market in your emotional control, perceptual distortions, and judgmental instability; and that these things are due to the manner in which you are acting, conducting, or controlling yourself, then you have some internal thinking problems that must be properly addressed and resolved before you could possibly succeed in trading. Iâm not talking about the Dr. Phil type of internal thinking problems, through they may be present as well. Again, it is more likely that you have some unwitting and inappropriate beliefs about the nature of the market which are at play. The professional trader doesnât have to deal with these types of emotional issues, to the same degree as you while trading. While they may have âholes and gapsâ from time to time, the pro has long since learned how to control and compensate for these momentary lapses before they result in unwanted consequences. YOU DO NOT! He/she has had to work them out during their own very personal and private âPass of Painâ. They survived this "Pass of Pain" because they learned how to find and resolve these issues without suffering through catastrophic game ending consequences. Or else they wouldn't be where they are. Hooti, learning something new and dynamic is always exciting and fun, but for your own sake, just make damn sure that what you are learning and studying, will be on the real live final exam. Class dismissed.
My puzzle is that I did make money sim trading. Where you reference those experienced who had a private passage of pain... perhaps my passage is just not so private. And actually, my being conscious of being watched on this thread, while having advantages, I observe is making me self conscious and crimping my judgements. That part will loosen up by choice, tho it may take some time. We will see. And working with my internal thinking... that is exactly what I'm about here. I have very competent teachers and experts in thinking working with me. It is a challenge. The title is odd, but have you read the book 'The secret life of the grown-up brain' by Barbara Strauch? It's just a summary of current findings about brains over 40. They know a lot now, and it is different than what we expected.
Failure, didn't fill within a few bars The news yesterday on the MRI was all good. Didn't have any of the ancillary problems, strokes etc. Yea! Then the neurologist says 'So, what are we going to do about your basic injury? I can give you several meds....' 'No way,' I say. And I had Al Brooks book that I was reading in the waiting room. We looked at Brooks book and I said 'I am going to work my way out of this.' Dr says that there is only one guy in the state qualified to help, so I have an appt coming up. These people are among the best in the world. I am so fortunate. Hey! Another up/down twin Short 9:24 Not trading much, my trading time is getting mostly eaten up by class assignments. Backtesting price channels, Bollenger bands and the like. out 9:33... lost a point. Starting Elliot wave again next week. Looking forward to that.
double down/up's long at 1238.5 11:16 moved my protective stop to 1238.75 set a tgt at 1239.5 and out at 11:29 +1 pt
awk! overlooked the down/up twin right near the end. It just went up when I saw it. Could have had another point! Actually I was too conservative. I tried to get in at 1238.75, and it had run by that already. I notice I've missed points by doing that.