SLD 1525.5 OPEN 13:06:47 We'll see about this one. I gave up waiting, and decided I should just go with the tape. I'll probably give this about 10-15 minutes.
Man I was 0 for 3 today. In fact i've noticed that I get whacked just about every Friday. Have you noticed any correlation like that?
I got stung for 20 points on the short side today. I think that the main problem was that by holding over the weekend I lost my objectivity, which caused me to slip into spectator mode. Also, I wasn't mentally prepared to execute a contingency plan. I suppose I could write some long and lengthy commentary about the trade, but it doesn't seem worth it. All I can say about today was that I wasn't trading; I was a spectator to my own destruction. Anyway, I'm determined to make this a positive week, so I've got some work ahead of me. One bad habit that I get into is trading what I think is about to happen instead of what is happening right now. I was short from 1533 and at 1530 I saw it was headed to 1534, but instead of getting out at 1530 and getting back in at 1534 if conditions were still favorable, I decided that I didn't want to risk being wrong and I would just wait it out. Well it went to 1534, but then just kept on going. A recurring problem seems to be that I'm so afraid of making little mistakes that I end up making huge ones, which could also be described as second guessing myself. I'm just too good of a trader to let stuff like this happen. I also continue to struggle with apathy, and it seems to get worse instead of better. Also, my apathy is multidimensional. For example, not caring about whether I win or lose (outcome) actually makes me a better trader. But not caring about how large a loss becomes after a certain point makes me a much worse trader. You'd think that I would be able to make myself care about some things and not about others, but it doesn't seem to be something I have control over. If anyone has any intelligent thoughts about this, I'd like to hear them. Thanks.
Hi Afterburner, I often suffer from the same problem you described. It is very easy to get into hope mode and get slammed by these trend moves which just won't retrace. My current solution is to put in a hard stop of 3 points on the NQ. I can see that it is really better to get stopped out and reevaluate for a new entry. Nothing ground breaking here but I think that one needs some hard rule which prevents blowout days. Good Luck, Juggernaut