what is better to do sim trading or mental trading. I\'ve just read on somebody\'s journal: you should stop trading for awhile.. I know this hurts but it will save you money.. I would recommend you to not trade on SIM either.. Just make mental trades for now.. For ex, when you are looking at the market say to yourself \"ok this is where I will enter\".. Pretend you just made a trade (in your head).. Do that for now.. It\'s way better than trading on SIM trust me... SIM is horrible because most likely you will not take it serious..pushing buttons for the hell of it is not going to help you..
trading is all ,plus or minus,no maybe's or if's so if you are going to mental trade ,write it down and don't erase or cross out,don't say i would have been long or i told my friend to get short,write down your entries and exits,make a note as to why,check the win/loss against the why's and get a sense for how reliable each reason was for getting into a trade,if you do that with sim,it might help..with the true written word in front of you,after time you can go back and reread and see a pattern of reasoning,and it's results,will help you analyze your mistakes and strengths
Best advice in this thread yet There is a fine line between ego and confidence. You can learn to balance between the two if you put in the work. You have to be confident in this business no matter what. Second best advice in this thread Because of your fear of losing you sold/stopped out at the bottom twice friday. Rerun your trades from friday with a 2 to 3 point stop and what is the result? Are you listening ?
Professional Pilots â use simulators Astronauts â use simulators Police/ Military â use simulators Professional athletes â practice like they play Why would a wanna be professional trader approach his craft differently One thing I can guarantee â if you canât trade profitably on sim, without cheating⦠you donât stand a chance live Again â your choice RN
I'm an equities trader, therefore I have no insight whatsoever into trading the ES. Recently I've begun a new approach in my intraday trading that focuses upon going with the trend as opposed to fading the trend. At the outset, I had pretty tight exits for my winners which caused me to miss a lot of the big moves. As a result, I was getting in and getting out of positions that I could've entered once and added more as it went my way. It took 2 weeks for me to realize this. I know have wider stops for my winners --- The point is that tight stops sometimes equal tight pockets. You have to get positions room to breathe -- and I would guess that that rule applies to all financial products. I have no advice on sim trading or on mental trading b/c I've never done either one. But the worst thing I would think that you could do in sim/mental trading practice is lie to yourself. You'll only be cheating yourself. I recently watched a Mark Douglas interview and I highlighted what I found to be the best advice in my journal (which I've been slacking on updating lately -- but I do post in the P/L Thread). This is what Mark Douglas said regarding sim trading: If you paper trade, you should view your paper trading results as a graphic representation of the mental skills that you DON'T have. View your paper trading account as where you COULD be if you had the mental skills that allow you to do exactly what you need to do without reservation, without hesitation, without fear --- with a carefree attitude. The link to the video is here: http://www.traderslog.com/mark-douglas-video-interview/ -- disclaimer: I do not use Wizetrade; I've never used Wizetrade; and I have no affliation whatsoever with Wizetrade -- I just liked the video. Thanks.
Ok, for the sake of restoring peace in this journal I apologize to everybody I\'ve offended I do appreciate most of the comments here, but some are outright hostile, so what I need to realize is that\'s OK. I don\'t have to take every trade and I don\'t have take every comment personally. Thank you again for everybody\'s sincere contribution. I don\'t know how I\'ve given the perception that I don\'t listen and don\'t want to change, I do listen and do want to change and are implementing many suggestions here
I\'m listening. Thank you! I did notice and thank you for pointing out that my stops are too tight. I\'m going back to SIM and will figure out the best stops amount. Although I\'m going to switch to NQ for now. Vol, have you ever traded NQ? I realize now that one of the reasons that I make my stops too tight is the artificial limit I put on myself not to lose more then 600$/per day. 2.5 point stop on 2 contracts =$250. So I can only afford 2 loosing trades in a row. Which is obviously not working, so I need to either trade 1 contact or increase the daily loss limit. I will try both in sim, plus trading NQ should make it easier as it\'s a smaller increment.
Congratulations BLâ¦, now the real work begins Aside The turmoil in your thread began with me, whyâ¦. because imo there was no need for you to lose any more money â needlesslyâ¦. Your ego has been kicking your ass That was then⦠this is now⦠==================================================================================== You asked me about context⦠First allow me to share this; Most important lesson to learn/ know/ assimilate â Every tradeâs outcome is uncertain Vital to your success that you wrap your head around this, so you actions always remain consistent⦠You, me, any of us â never know what price will do nextâ¦. We simply anticipate what it may do⦠sometimes we are correct.., sometimes we are incorrect We make money when we are correct; we exit for a loss when we are incorrect And we never hesitate, fight, or second guess either out come. ================================================================================ Context The market is absolutely devoid of any context⦠it is solely based on, and made up of, buying and selling⦠We need to pick a time frame to tradeâ¦, then build context - withinâ¦, and around that time frame We have a whole assortment of things we can use to build context â so pick what appeals to you Multiple time frames, lines â horizontal and diagonalâ¦, emaâs.., indicators, time, or whatever.. Btw imo it really doesnât matter what you chose to create context, as long as you can come to rely on it/ them â To take the appropriate action, at the appropriate time Context tells what price is doing (at least at that moment) Ema slanted up â price is going up â at least for the moment (I say at least for the moment based on uncertainty⦠and like I said, getting a handle on the uncertainty is where the mental work will come into play) Ema slanted down â price going down â at least for the moment Same for trend linesâ¦. Slanted up, horizontal, or downâ¦. S&R areas; Price bouncing off support (price ainât going down so it must be going up â at least for the moment) Same for resistance (price ainât going up, so it must be going down â at least for the moment) =========================================================================================== In a nut shell â the context you build should be telling you what price is doing â while always knowing price can change its mind in a heartbeat â which is why we always use stops Summarized â Context tells you what price is doing â which way to trade â at least for the moment ========================================================================================= Whereas a setup, tells you where to exitâ¦. The two questions required to create each set up⦠How much will it cost to see if this trade will work (the stop loss exit) Where will I take profit (the profit target exit) ================================================================================ Additional comment; It behooves us to know the personality of what we trade Example; How volatile is it⦠how much is the ânominalâ pull back⦠how does it act when itâs happy.., or lethargic⦠anything happen at "around" the same times of the day⦠etcâ¦. ========================================================================================= Knowing its personality, among other benefits, will give you a good way to determine how much room to give your stop so you donât get âshakenâ out needlessly BUT imo (a different point of view on setting stops) Building proper gives you a better way of determining stops â youâll know exactly why youâre getting in, where the reason you got in failed, and where to exit⦠Proper context also gives you an easy way to identify profit targets Which way you chose for a stop loss â is of course your choice⦠Either way, knowing the personality of what your trading is vitalâ¦. Never underestimate the power of observation, and being open minded. ============================================================================================== In closing For the record⦠any of us can tech you to trade in less than a day⦠it ainât no big deal⦠But teaching you how to be a trader is solely your responsibility⦠we can give you suggestions, we can give you guidance, but until you do the internal work â it wonât happen It takes some a life time â and they still never get itâ¦. (iow their ego won't allow them) It was obvious to a lot of us â your ego, and your reluctance to see reality â was kicking your ass â these are the two things youâll need to work through Sir Trading on a sim in the mean time is beneficial⦠it give you time to work through the mental⦠it give you time to come to know what your trading⦠it give you time to figure out what tools your want to use⦠and most importantly, it keeps you from losing money while youâre getting your feet under you Protect capital first, make money second â alwaysâ¦. As other questions pop up â simply ask I Sincerely Wish You a Successful Journey Sir RN
BL I believe if you posted charts of your entries, those of us that have been trading long time can offer our insights better. If you notice you are doing too many trades, chances are the market is in chop. Make a max of say six trades a day, it will keep the fees down and make you concentrate on taking the best trades. I think doing a trade by trade journal works against you, trading is very personal, no one is going to sit next to you, but if you offer to the forum your bias, this forum might say go one way or the other, you don't know their timeframe or if they are just messing with you, but whatever they write, it will make you second guess yourself, and that is not learning. Just a thought.