Create an audio affirmation of above..., then play / listen to it off trading hrs..., as well as when trading Just a thought Sir RN
Nov 17. What few trades I had today I executed well. So all in all I feel positive about the day's performance and even though I ended up in negative figures, it was only ~4pts. This was caused by two trades that got off to a start and then came back to take me out, which I took in my stride so that is encouraging. I'd assessed the risk and accepted it as MD says.* That wasn't always the case, so there is improvement there! In times past I would have a twitchy finger at the ready to close out trades because I hadn't fully accepted the risk. Either that or moved my stop to BE way too early. This obviously closes out more profitable trades than anything, so any progress away from poor decisions like that is positive. Anyway I didn't trade past the first 45m or so. I only trade the NQ. So if it is a lacklustre day I don't have the option of switching over to another more active market. I'm comfortable with the decision to stop trading. I knew that if I waited long enough the market would make its move (which it did) but I had taken the signals I got and they didn't pan out. I didn't feel the need to chase the market to make it up. I had legitimate signals as per my plan, so I took them. Simple. Fin. * In terms of "accepting the risk" I don't want to come across as being further along this path than I am. What I am getting better at is intercepting the negativity surrounding risk, and not being as reactive. Little by little I am finding that the more focused I am on taking the risk into account, the less I am impacted by those knee jerk reactions to close out trades. The other benefit is that my level of anxiety when I have open trades is falling....
Disclaimer - Writing this stuff up in a public journal makes for really boring reading for anyone else, I accept that and I apologise for a really boring journal! It takes a fair amount of guts for me to put this stuff up here sometimes. Whilst it might not make for the best reading, it does something of immense value for me though. By forcing myself to put this stuff up here I can’t lie to myself about my performance. I can’t sweep issues under the carpet and hope they don’t come back again. Its on the record, like hansard in government. Once its on the record I can’t take this stuff back. That has a bit of power to it when you embrace that. It means that I am not hiding from the limitations and frustrations of where my trading is at the moment. By admitting these shortcomings publicly I am giving myself a means to objectively measure progress in the future. I can look back at this stuff in a while and gauge where I am at. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Fin/.
Now on to todays update. [rant] Not the best of days! I suppose I’m just disappointed with the way I handled myself, particularly in terms of trade management. I think the key reason “why" was the way I interpreted the market info. That sums up my day. Expectations. I always find days like today really challenging to trade. (there’s your first clue sherlock!) Every time we come off a trending day I get it in my head to expect a small range “professional market” as Wyckoff would put it. That slow, sloppy, choppy price discovery does my head in. It rattles my cage and I interpret every single tick as confusing and untradeable. At the end of the day we could have moved 40 odd points in a slow crawl up or down or even in a lateral range, and yet I haven’t taken as many opportunities as I should have, or I’ve mismanaged my way through it. I’ve admitted defeat before the days trading has even begun. I am fighting myself rather than observing and taking advantage of the opportunities. I think the biggest problem is that I expect the market to operate in a smooth tradeable fashion. When that doesn’t occur - i.e the NQ today - my performance goes to hell in a handcart. There are other beliefs that compound this as well, but this expectation is a real liability. Firstly I am expecting the market to do something for me. WRONG Secondly I am letting myself interpret and perceive the market info as negative, with all the negative outcomes that entails. WRONG. If I really believed that "Anything Can Happen” then I wouldn’t have any negativity either before or during the session. If I didn’t expect the market to do something for me or against me then I wouldn’t interpret up and down ticks negatively. I’m down a couple of points for the day which is irritating, but not important in the scheme of things. This isn’t about P&L, but unfortunately it is the most useful metric to highlight what I am talking about. What is really disappointing is that I made mistakes because of a poor mindset. On 4 separate occasions today I manually and reflexively closed trades that went on to target. I’d defined the risk, and thought I’d accepted it. I know that sounds stupid but I honestly thought that I was ok with it. Then a tick or two comes back up towards my entry and I get out. Before I knew it I’d acted. Clearly there was a cognitive, reflexive, almost habitual process that responded to what I was seeing. This has to be due to the way I let my expectations of the market interfere with my perception of market information. The biggest impact of these conflicting beliefs and expectations is that my risk acceptance is the first thing to head out the door. I’ve looked back over my trades, and there were a few entries that weren’t optimal. But, the vast majority were good entries considering my headspace, I just ruined them by reacting to a tick or two in the wrong direction. [/rant] Finally. I don’t mind that I have SO FAR to go with this. I absolutely love trading. If I wasn’t so passionate about this it wouldn’t grate on me so much in terms of my performance. I love the fact that even on a day where I am so totally in the wrong frame of mind I am still able to spot the opportunities, and place the trades. What got me today was my trade management. That was a result of not accepting the risk, which in turn was fed by conflicting beliefs and expectations. "We have met the enemy and he is us." Fin/.
Me thinks not Stop already - this is for your benefit - to hell with us ================================ Then convert him to your best friend It is within you - to do so RN
You do have a way with words RN. Well crafted. BTW - I made that audio loop of MD's quotes. Maybe if I play it on repeat whilst I'm asleep it will sink into my subconscious Thanks!
Posting a few times in @k p's new thread re: stops etc I thought I'd throw a question up here and see if anyone has a different opinion. @Redneck posted a great reply to a question saying something along the lines of 'professional traders take the loss and simply move on'. I agree with that statement to a large extent but ..... I have 1 scenario outlined in my trade plan / guide that allows me to manually close out a trade if it is triggered and there is no follow through. In this scenario I exit without hesitation. I've gone through my trade stats and the ones with an MFE of only one or two ticks go on to take out my stop with monotonous regularity. So the question is this: Am I hiding behind the stats I mentioned above regarding those trades? Am I wussing out? Personally I think that if my trade stats show that the vast majority of the trades that exhibit this behaviour go on to be losers, then I am acting prudently by closing them out. But to the same extent could the argument be made that I am using the stats to hide any lingering shortcomings in terms of the proper traders mindset? i.e by manually closing out this trade have I not accepted the risk totally....? And finally should I stop asking rhetorical questions?
Call me a simpleminded dumbass redneck But as the stats back it up - why not use 1.., or even 2 ticks beyond the MFE as the stop Why set the stop to anymore than is necessary - and as vetted by the stats ============================= Not unless..., and until it's making sense to you RN
Dumb Redneck my arse! The reason I posted the question was that it brought up an interesting thought. Your quote reflected the MD / traders mindset I aspire to. Yet there was a conflict in my mind between completely "Accepting the Risk", and preemptively closing a trade; regardless of the legitimacy of the statistics. I was thinking there was a chance I was kidding myself that I had accepted the risk when I was merely giving myself an easy way out. I've just cut and pasted most of that from a PM, but I thought I should clarify the reason behind the question.... At any rate - Happy thanksgiving! I'll raise a beer to y'all over the pond