I have documented my trading system but in past have slipped many times. how can i master it so that i just follow the system
how about mastering it myself so i can trade by hand daily and make money till i get the ATS running. I am looking for some steps to master the system trading by hand
Sorry, I misunderstood your request. Drills work best. To design a drill is the bridge. You can start with a foundation and then add building blocks. I notice about 6 levels of building blocks. Begin in the "middle", then as you gain "facility", my word for the mind building. You will be able to build out both ends of the spectrum with facilitating drills. At this point a real deep experience happens. (Insider comment: neither Denise nor Flavia have had or know anyone who has had this experience) As you wake up day after day, your mind starts giving you Q's to answer. What has happened is that both parts of your prior day's experience (the small conscious part and the huge unconscious part) have beem mentally processed as a "meerger" over night. Before his, your mind could not add in your unconscious learning of "facility". after your sleeping mind has passed this giant milestone, you can begin to create and do dills that deal with the nuances of your system. some bad news. Be prepared for E's and O's in your system. Each experience may take more than a day to conquer. But, the fact is, that you can solve the challenge. the mind does not acknowlede challenges it cannot handle. And on the other hand, most people get thwarted before they can succeed simply because the mind cannot erase mistaken concepts or beliefs (See marketsurfer and Covell for this incurable excess) View the Temple Grandin Story to get a grasp of how the mind works. She was the first adult to explain Autism to the professional world who didn't "get it". Most people do not get how the mind works in learning proper trading properly.
What do you mean by "slipped"? a) You deliberately did something you shouldn't? b) You acccidentally did something you shouldn't? I'm guessing (a) as you posted this in Psychology... If so, find a way to disconnect yourself from the monetary "meaning" of the money your trading, so that it just becomes a number that you're trying to increase (rather than your hard earned savings, or your kids' college fees that you see being wittled away, or the rent for you and your partner, or the money for a car, etc). That way you may find it easier to just follow the rules. In my experience, (assuming of course that you have a good mechanical system) two ways to achieve the above are: a) trade with low enough leverage that you know you can stand the drawdowns and just focus on following the system mechanically, and/or b) trade only other people's money, and not your own, or of course c) just paper trade!!! ... there may be more ways, too ...
I often think people don't change their ways unless something physically gives them intense pain in some way and all the positive drills are a slow waste of time. Give your wife or girlfriend a Taser, tell her your signals to your system and if you don't do exactly what you should, allow her to tase you. I am thinking getting zapped just once might be a quick solution. I have found too many people don't have a sense of loss when they lose money or their accounts.
Not a bad solution. I mean the pain thing, not the taser thing. Trading firms use a "boss" for that very reason. "Follow the system or you're fired." For the independent trader, you may need drugs. I heard of one that makes you indifferent. Try that one. If you can't increase a second pain, decrease the first one. No, but seriously, the answer is found in crowd theory. The reason a boss works in a firm is because people respond to the hope of affirmation and the fear of rejection. They get both from the boss and the money takes a back seat. For an independent trader, the hope of affirmation/fear of rejection comes from making or losing of money (proves that you're a winner/loser to everyone whom you imagine gives a crap). If you can get all those people out of your head who you think give one crap about how good or bad you are at this, you'll stop having compulsions to deviate.
I compute the cost of each of my discipline error, and wire money back to my trading account to cover for each discipline error every single time (if the error ended-up in my favor, I send that money to a charity). Do it long enough, you'll soon realize that you'd rather take the risk of following your trading plan in your trading account, rather than have your bank account debited yet again.
My second thoughts. Stop trading. Get your ATS running. You need an incentive to find out if you have a trading method that works.