Focus felt good during the day. Good patience in a slow day with ranges, S/R on top of each other. I did lose focus on my second trade. Got lulled into the slow PA and thought I was riding out a normal PB until I gave up on the trade. Mistake was my not exiting at target. Overall -2.25 for day when had I followed plan I would have been slightly positive. Good focus on entries. Stops were not moved on any trades. Wanted to move stop up on second trade instead used that thought to remind myself to focus on PA. Looking again at first trade the PA going into entry was a bit sloppy which should have tipped me off to expect the chop after my entry. 1. Short Complex PB / continuation E 3723. S 3725.25 2.25 T 3718 â LOD Exit -1.75 on FBO of swing Questionable stop placement and exit but per plan to be only in trades that show quick MFE 2 Long PB trend E 3724.50 S 3722.75 1.75 T 3729.50 Exit -.25 3 Long Range break E 3728.75 S 3726.75 2.00 T 3734 to hod Exit -.25
Not much time today for an update. I keep thinking one of these days it will all just click and the trades and profits will come easy. Not yet. -1.75 Good focus but some mistakes. Not enough patience then got frustrated. I reminded myself that being a frustrated trader is who I used to be and not the one I need to be in order to be consistently profitable. Hard to talk oneself logically out of an emotion. Yet , I need to change. Create a different mindset, break habitual patterns of thinking. Last trade was nice entry but overstayed. Still thinking too much. Didn't move my stop but found on my last trade I was moving my target order. This is as bad as moving a stop. Locked me into thinking price could or should go there. From now on no moving target orders if I have one placed. Distracting and probably why I stayed in trade too long.
What I've asked you to do is way harder than it appears But this is exactly why I asked you to do it "If I have one placed" Bullshit - each trade gets a target..., and a way to manage it (this is 1 of the 3 components comprising each trade's plan) Keep on Truckin Sir RN
I trade from two different computers (locations) so I don't have any software generated consolidated reports. Last two years been tracking my results in excel. Last year I had some nice streaks with weeks in a row of profits and then same on the loss side. This year just slow losses, down about 15%. Not sure offhand how much of that is from commish, not that it matters.
Sometimes I use a mental target to allow for an upside surprise, other times, channel targets or S/R I place the order in advance. Then there's the times I place the exit order then start moving to bigger targets. That I'm not going to do anymore. too distracting. Should my target exit always be a placed or are mental targets Ok at this point ? Thanks.
Much has been said about trading being mostly a mental game. I'm not in disagreement and as I've said before I'm trying to put more focus on ME and my actions. There are still execution mistakes, like overstaying trades today (that bastard confirmation bias) and I will continue to review and work on improving on that. But I'm not going to dwell on my mistakes. Instead I'm trying to get myself into a routine of focus, analysis and trading. More on that later I expect. Today I got rattled. Exited my first trade and then it proceeded to going strongly in my favor. The next two trades I then held too long, no doubt thinking I'm not getting shaken out again. This is the mental aspect I'm trying to improve and yes, perhaps a more rigid exit rule is all I need. (the exit signs were there, I was not listening) ended - .50 pt . I can remember a time when big up days caused me big losses because I would try to call the reversals. At least not doing that anymore. RN I did not include the trade details today. Let me know if you want to see them. For each trade after entry I write down E, S, T. I'm not moving stops or targets, now.
Placed - not necessarily..., as your working on real time reading and adjusting to PA Mental - until rock solid adherence to following.., is routine - it too easy to change Write em down - along with the other 2 components of each plan RN