A little introduction I've been trading on and off, not full time for almost 3 years. I've lost money for the first 2 years and made a little money last year. The time has to come to either make it or break it - I have till the end of this year to see if I can do it. Objective The purpose of this journal is to keep me accountable to myself and to keep my emotions in check. I've hit the rock bottom in the last few days of this market's roller-coaster ride and desperately need to change the way I trade. I will accomplish this by documenting here my trades and experiences. Main issues could be summed up as lack of discipline, overconfidence and fear/greed of missing a trade 1. Overconfidence - I work hard on making money for weeks and to gain confidence in my trading, only to loose it all on one stubborn/overconfident counter-trend trade. 2. Lack of discipline - I hold on to a loosing trade instead of cutting the losses short, even worse, I add to my loosing trade. 3. Revenge trading sometimes clouds my judgement. 4. I often fear missing a good trade and not make money, so I get greedy and end up rushing into a trade without a plan. 5. I know what I should do, but don't do because emotions cloud my judgment and I think 'this time is different'. My Resolutions --- I will need help to stick with them. I don't know why I break my rules... But I cannot longer afford to do that. 1. I'm trading ES exclusively. Never adding currencies, stocks or options into the mix. They take away from my focus. 2. Take only selective high probability trades. It's better to miss a trade then to rush into it. When in doubt - stay out. 3. Always have a catastrophic stop loss in place. Don't ever add to a loosing position. I need to learn how to loose. 4. Don't trade until I assess the market's trend. Will try to write down reason for a trade, stop loss, target. Publish my EOD p&l here. 5. Keep tabs on my emotional state. Take a break after a loosing trade. I don't need to be right, I need to be wrong small. All comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated, although I will be responding only to some of them due to the limitation of time and desire not to start any fights. ******Trading is a losers game and not a winners game. He who loses best will win in the end*******
Market is at yesterday's mid point and PP as well as last week's high. if it holds gap fill will be in play. 1-2-3 buy here on 1 min chart. Long 4 es @98.75, stop 97.25 in place, target 1302.5
I don't know what happened with my post so I have to repost this. Market stopped at 98-99 area, which are PP, yesterday's mid and last week's high. If they hold, gap fill in play. Long 4ES at 98.75 (1-2-3 buy of 1 min chart) , stop 97.75, target 1302.5
sell 2 at 12.75, couldn't hold any longer because it seem to have stalled at 1302. but I was obviously wrong in closing my position prematurely. still holding the other half.
closed 2 at target 1302.5 because NQ seem to have stalled as well. I need to work on patience with holding the winning trades longer. We are above yesterday's close, if we stay here, next target yesterday's high 1306, but i'm flat for the moment.
Gap closed, PP tagged. Open range is 1298.75 - 1305.5 = 6.75 points Time for a little break so I don't overtrade.
NQ new low for the day, ES still in the opening range... sell 2 ES at 1300, stop 1302.25, target 93. why 2? lower probability trade. I'm not sure about it.
I guess I was so unsure about it that I've just closed it at 1300.5 for -.5 point. need to walk away from the screen now.