1 Long Trade today. Took profit way too early against my system's signal because I didn't want to muck with 1400 resistance. I am in a short mode right now. Writing this note to make sure I don't break any rule if enter a short later today.
3 Trades today. Two longs and one short, and all good trades in discipline sense. Point wise, you know the story. It was a zzzz day. I am frustrated right now, and in a short mode. However, market is neutral. Therefore no more trades today. If I miss this short, and the market goes down, I will have even better chance of shorting Monday
You know I've read through your thread - thx for all the links and ideas btw - and it seems you might have trouble with getting bored and then pulling the trigger just to relieve your boredom? If that's wrong, then forgive me. But what I'm getting at is that imo it's better to do one trade that you really know is solid than five questionable ones that you think might be good. Think of this: If you made 35 trades and gained 2% on each trade in a year, you'd double your money. Sounds like you're a day trader - I'm swing - but I think you get my point. It's usually better to go with the sure thing. So how does one cope with boredom? I read peripheral things that will help with my trading, do backtesting, search for trading ideas, etc. That keeps me away from pulling the trigger too often. Just some thoughts...
I agree on trading only the "surest" ShoeShine. Boredom trade is one of the problems I have. I think I can get a hold of the boredom trades better these days. Another problem is I deviate from my system because I simply want to be in a trade all the time (afraid of missing). Today, woke up late 'cos I didn't expect the down draft in the first hour. No trade.
Gotcha. Well, what helped me is concentrating not on the # of wins, but the winning percentage. If you do the math, it's generally the winning percentage that counts much more toward profits and, just as important, keeps your drawdown minimal. Use the rest of your time to keep that percentage as high as possibe. In other words, you may not trade all the time, but you can increase your percentage all the time...
4 Trades. All shorts, all winners, all done before lunch above 1390, all breaking one rule in my system, and therefore all scalps. I was adamant on the short because it was a longer term resistance based on my "other analysis". And we had to test 1385 area again for any good up action. Finally the mother of all short came, and my system caught it but I was not at my desk. Whined the rest of the day, but didn't enter any more trades because I was expecting a bounce from the market later in the day. Right now, I am anxious to short again. Be aware we are at the bottom of the range 1370-1400. Tomorrow need to be bold if we gap down, and also not be stubborn with my shorts. Just follow the system...
I did the "What type of trader are you?" test on Van Tharp's site as suggested in another thread. I am categorized as "Socially Responsible Trader" http://www.tharptradertest.com/socially-responsible-trader-solutions.aspx Focusing on Challenge #4 Need for Excitement, this article below on Compulsive Trader was suggested. http://www.iitm.com/Trader-Test/Compulsive-Trader.htm Needless to say, I answered "yes" to 6 out of 20 questions that Gambler's Anonymous use to classify Compulsive Gambler. 7 is what's needed to make me official. Cutting it really close ...
abe lincoln had a qoute, achohol is not a bad thing .its the abuse of alchohol that is bad,gambling is the same thing,just gamble on the higher percentages