I am planning to start a journal to review my trading day and track my progress and emotions. My goal is to get over my psychological barriers and iron out any technical kinks in my strategy. I have more than $50k in my account but I will use only $1k out of this for trading plus any future profits. My goal is to keep this journal till the end of 2018 and see how I perform. If I am successful I will know for sure by the end of 2018 and if I fail that will be $1k well spent in tuition. Constructive suggestions are welcome. For now I only trade stocks and etfs.
...Till the end of 2018...that $1K will probably be gone by the end of next month -- or week, A rather short-lived trading journal, May the farce be with you -- I really hope you succeed though, and report back here of all the money that you're making and growing, $1K is more than enough of seed money to grow a trading acct, All you need is the Seed. -- if you have quality soil, and sunlight, and air, and water...things can truly blossom, in the ideal conditions, Mazal tov,
imho, a pro trader doesn't need to bring Psychology issue into the trading; you simply need to improve your skill to overcome Psychology issue but this isn't easy and no one teaches you how to improve and you keep losing. Until you get the proper knowledge about the market, Psychology issue will remain there. Good luck and hope you improve your skills and achieve your goal;
I am afraid I must disagree. Trading is mostly psychology. Theirs and yours. When you journal make sure the entries are composed in a way that you can read them 6 months from now and they will make sense. I wonder if it would be interesting to include what you believed the other traders were thinking suring the trade. It would be a guess on your part but could be revealing.
Week 1 Day 2 - 0% Didn't place any trades. However, I am proud of myself. There were 2 stocks that showed textbook patterns of going higher and most traders would have jumped in. But I noticed signs of weakness and stayed away. I think it is an important skill to learn to recognize false flags and I am glad I did. Even if I got stopped out I would be down atleast 2% had I taken those 2 trades with false flags. The session is not done. I will update if I notice and place a trade. But for now it looks like a "sitting on my hands" day.
Week 1 Day 3 : +1% Not a good start. I hold the belief that a small gain is better than a small loss. So I exited the trade as soon as I had a small gain. In reality the stock is still going higher as I type this. I exited too early and left profits on the table. I need to learn that no risk no gain. I am kicking myself right now for not trusting my system and staying in the trade. Missed 1.5% in profits
Yes I have an afternoon job that pays 6 figures. This is just for experimental purposes like a scientist testing his thesis in a lab.