My NQ Journey

Okay so I'm going to be focusing on my mindset and psychology a lot more and that's how I will start out my prep.

Psychological goals today

• Only trade within my 'trade zones'
• Follow my trading plan
• Let the trade come to me
• Be comfortable with potentially taking 0 trades today if none of my conditions are met

If I can do this today, it will be a successful day regardless of $ P&L.

1. 4800 zone, PD High - low-medium strength
   • Look for signs that a move is slowing down
   • Take a short if volume allows it
   • If we break through this fast and/or hard, then you can take a break-out trade
   • Can enter preemptively ONLY if the move is showing signs of exhaustion, otherwise look for a bit more confirmation
2. 4780 zone, top of balance for most of yesterday's RTH, ON resistance- low strength
   • Likely to be first zone hit today
   • Look to see how strong this resistance is
   • Only enter a short position if volume allows it
   • DO NOT enter preemptively
   • If this gets sliced, you can take a break-out trade at ~4782 area
3. 4760 zone, Bottom of 15+day balance - high strength
   • Can enter preemptively, but preferably if you can keep stop on the other side of the zone
   • Expect it to be strong first time around, but second time + be careful about relying on this without volume
4. 4750 zone, Next expected zone after breakdown - strength unknown
   • Watch for a potential long entry, but be very careful if we break down fast from 4760 zone

 

I will be reaching at least one milestone today - First full month of live trading!!!

I re-read my journal yesterday and some feedback I received triggered me to think very deeply about my trading. Through that thinking I realized that while I think about psychology, I don't actively do as much as I should to improve it.

My journal lists entries, market expectations, etc. But doesn't focus nearly as much on the psychological aspect as it should.

The thing that is holding me back the most are my emotions, so why do I dedicate so little of my journal to combating them?

When I did some internal consulting in my old job, a big part of my job was getting the business and its key departments to understand how we should prioritize initiatives. We used the following slide a lot, now keep in mind this is for an Oil & Gas organization but this is still very relevant for trading.

1. First you must mitigate anything that could be of significant risk to the organization. In trading this is risk management, I feel comfortable where I am with that on my Gold risk management rules, so don't need more focus on this for now. A lot of traders will agree that this needs to be the first thing you worry about, not losing money.
2. Then you need to worry about ensuring you are compliant with the regulations. In O&G this is a big deal but in retail trading not so much.
   • The business impact on these 2 is not to generate additional profit, but to ensure there is no destruction of business value and / or a catastrophic loss (think BP Macondo or blowing up an account in trading)
   • That stuff is easy to grasp, but the difference between the next 2 was what we struggled with the most when integrating various business functions. Effectiveness vs efficiency
3. Then you must focus on effectiveness, doing the right things.
   
   We all like to jump straight to doing things efficiently, how can I do this faster? how can I optimize this process? but rarely do we ask, is this the right thing to focus on?
   
   For trading, the effective things would be things such as:
   • Finding an edge
   • Keeping your psychology in check
   • Understanding your market, and how the market functions in general

1. Lastly, you must focus on efficiency, which is doing those things well / improving on them
   • For trading, the 'efficient' component is made up of things that allow you to optimize your edge
   • Finding ways to optimize entry / exit
   • Finding an indicator that shows you something easier
   • Making your charts look nice
   • Journaling

Very rough thoughts here but I'll be thinking about this more and more.

 

Seems like your overthinking it . Relax dont worry almost become a sociopath disconnect from all emotions connected to your money and keep your rules stops whatever you call them in at all times. You look for setups you find your entry you enter and keep your exits Dont enter into emotions, it throws off your trades. If you have to stop trading then stop until you have a legitimate reason to trade again .
Be well

 

I tend to overthink things sometimes. What you are saying makes 100% sense but it seems that at least for me it's a lot easier than done.
I'll keep chipping at it though.
Cheers

 

Good for you I look forward to seeing your actual p@l with this new mindset .
Its how smart/big money functions .
If you do its not a matter of if but when .
Success comes to those who can adapt, if one equity isn't showing an entry were watching another 3 or 4 . The more doors we have open the more likely success is and again its not matter of if but when .
If you become to know how any security flows up or down orderflow volume . You will be able to pwn it nearly 99 percent of the time , remember its not a matter of if but when meaning we know where it will go .grind it out . no one wins or loses prices are being matched thats it .
Be well .

 

I have found this thread very educational.. more ways then one lol.
Enough of the bickering. Let's get back on track here.

It's been awhile since any post from the OP. Curious as to how things are going. I too am on a journey of learning to day trading the ES and NQ. I prefer the NQ.

I feel like after reading what you're posting that you're a bit inside your own head. Simplifying things a tad while sticking to your strict plan and being discipline would greatly help. Over complicating things can ruin you.

I used to play poker regularly.. basically for a living. There was this one player that was sooo analytical towards everything about poker. Hand ranges, the "right way" to play a hand, following his system regardless of action, mental issues, etc etc.. the list went on. When it comes down to it you have to go by some minor gauge of "feel" .. getting a feel for the markets might be one of the greatest edges you could have. It's all a balancing game. Balancing emotional state and what is really in front of you.

But I don't know much and am on my own journey of learning. But maybe what I said here has some level of truth that might help.

Best of luck and I look forward to continuing to read your journal.

 

Thanks for the kind words! I was initially keeping a journal on ET as well as another futures website, but I found that copying, pasting and reformatting it from one website to another didn't seem to add much value. I made the decision to stop posting on ET and continue journaling on a different website as I'm also enrolled in a journal competition there.

I don't want to post the link to my other journal on here as I don't know if that's against the rules, but if you want to PM me I can direct you to my journey!

Cheers.