I've been trading much better as of late.. Sat out for 2 weeks or so to re-evaluate my Plan and objectives.. Started trading again on 4/25/05.. and doing much better.. my biggest problem was not taking all trades in my Plan that I should have and not letting profits run properly.. but profitable nonetheless.. I've found my performance over the last week and a half has dwindled decisively and its due to the fact that I've lost track of my Plan. As I was trading today I found myself questioning whether or not certain setups were actually in my plan and could not answer that question properly.. Does anyone else go through this??? What have you done to correct it? My plan to correct this is to go over my plan that I have written down every morning before trading... I've gotten lazy and careless due to decent trading results and its got to change.. Hope everyone's trading is going well..
my 2 cents: imo, sometimes we would do it intentionally, because we the system designer believe we would know very well how to improve/ override the system ad hoc. And particularly during some days of big winning we also would like to test (realtime, partly because we don't want to spend time later for backtesting the price actions like this time) and see the impact (sometimes with the expectations of losses, however most times additional profits) of this kind of ad hoc decisions for some potential concepts (that have been in the system designer's mind for long time) of improvement. But man always makes mistakes. Any cures? Probably automation.
It sounds like you have a lot of setups in your trading plan - personally, I only have five. So, my problem was not "is this in my plan", my problem was thinking on the fly and making plays out of things not in my plan. And, God forbid they were profitable!!! Then I would do it again and lose twice as much (luckily, I overcame that issue...). Back to your problem - even though I have only five setups, I still have a printout by my desk and look at it daily. So, I would suggest the morning ritual for you, and then keeping a printout handy for quick reference. Good luck.
Flashboy, if i remember from some of your previous postings, you are trading the mini sp? You are looking at a range that was around 4.75 points until the last hour of the day, and a day that was low volume and a number of sloppy-choppy periods. Now, I know nothing at all about your specific setups or how you trade, but I sure could understand how a day like today could make a trader not see some of their trades with the same clarity and would not have the same concern as if you were doing this in what should be a day that you would expect to be a very good trading day for yourself. I happen to work for a trader who is mini russell trader and probably the best day trader I have seen; he is still complaining about some of the garbage trades that he did today, which is why I thought I would reply to your post. Good luck with your come back. Stay as consistent and disciplined as possible, and try to take a second look at some of your setups that you might be able to eliminate in some of the more tight range and congested days.
What I know from experience is that wins can be as devastating as losing. You may need to manage yourself a little more after taking profits. Just getting away from the market for awhile, after a win, may be good. Keep your reading, studying and further education on trading up in between winning sessions.
Hey Sundance, You are 100% correct.. I have switched to the Mini Russell though.. After looking back at today's action.. I noticed it was nothing but chop.. a 4 point range and some change on the ER... and I know to stay away from these type of days... Glad to hear about your friend being a successful trader still looks back at trades and realizes he shouldn't have taken them.. guess you never quite completely overcome that...
. ======= Flash; Yes in heat of market battle ; there can be the fog of war. Yes ,evening and mourning review of plan helps lift fog ; and also i daily write my plans for buys/likely set ups before they are executed,same for sells. Update realtime in writing. If a market stays opens, its going; up or down or sideways. Sideways means i usually do nothing; if you have trouble there, may want to put that in written plan. Hope this helps