Still Can't get it Right. I think its completely Subconciously

Flash, I have to think this is a common problem. Psychologically, it's the missed opportunity, and the desire to go back in time and put on the trade with the proper entry. But that's impossible. Yet you put on the trade at a poor entry point, because you want to make something happen right now to compensate for missing out.

What I've been doing is saying out loud my reason for watching a setup forming, my criteria for entering the trade, any confluence that makes the trade high probability, my stop and why. I keep my journal open and as soon as I put on the trade and place the stop, I write down these reasons, so I can later review and make sure I followed my plan.

So here's an example from today:

I see CECO hitting highs this morning, so I am watching for a failure to make a new high so I can scalp a pull back move. I'm tempted to try picking a top, but education is strong today and I prefer the confirmation of a lower high. This finally happens around 10:55 a.m. and I short CECO @ 24.45, overbought, SPY overbought, failure to make a new high, with a stop @ high of the day, because a reversal back to test that high means my trade is now invalid. I covered @ 24.30 just as it touched oversold.

I read somewhere once that you should pretend there are very experienced traders standing over your shoulder and you have to explain to them why you're putting on a trade.

So I have Bob, Geez, and Boosh standing over my shoulder now, and it kept me very disciplined today.

Thanks, Index, I needed that. Always good to know I'm not a lone defect in the trading arena

 

Who's Boosh?

 

Sometimes you need to reset and stop trading for a week or two. The market is not going anywhere and you can make money any day at anytime. Taking trades you know are wrong is so easy when you feel like you missed a move or when your set up is taking its time. When you start to feel like this its time to take a break and let the market tell you what to do. I usually feel more neutral after a week or two but everyone is different. You just need to stop while you see a problem so you don't blow up completely. How can something so simple be so hard to do consistantly?

 

Maybe your problem is smaller than you think. Traders take lots of losses all the time. The trick to trading isn't to always take winners and never take losers, but rather, to cut the losers while they're insignificant and to press your winners. If you have unrealistic expectations that being a professional means always being right, then all you have to do is adjust your expectations. I know lots of good traders who have made a living for 20+ years with win/loss ratios as low as 20%.

Also, when I first started trading I had this notion that I wanted to try to make "x" number of dollars or ticks each day -- which ultimately forced me to over trade and take a bunch of mediocre opportunities -- as well as get into trades too early. Once I adjusted my goals to just wanting to take whatever the market gave me and be willing to pick up whatever nickels and dimes were out there, my daily avg profit plunged but my monthly profit almost quadrupled and my trading volume decreased significantly (which also added to my bottom line due to lower commissions).

And lastly, if a losing trade makes you flinch at all, or care at all, most likely you're trading outside of your bankroll. You shouldn't be any more upset about getting stopped out of a losing trade than a poker player would be about losing a single hand of poker. If you do either for any period of time, you're going to have lots of wins and lots of losses -- you're not going to be able to eliminate one and keep the other... you just have to keep focusing on net-net.

 

This won't totally fix your issues but it might help. Your self control is higher when your blood sugar is higher, so drink koolaid or gatorade or eat a candy bar when you're feeling itchy. Other tasks that require self-control sap a finite supply of self-control, so a punishment for yourself if it requires self-control probably isn't the answer.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/how-to-boost-your-willpower/

 

Why, he's the author of the most "no-frills" trading journal ever written (http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=149664)!

 

Don't stop. Take a rest, a vacation away from trading for some time, but don't stop. You just one step away from reaching your goal.

I had the same problem as yours, and probably still have. But now I use a "battle-plan." A detailed, step-by-step, chronologycal, instruction sheet next to my monitor.

Here's some of it:

2:30 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. :

- Access trading platform.
- Check major trend
- Check minor trend

2:45 p.m - 3:00 p.m :

- See if there's a signal
- If yes, check if it's BUY or SELL
- Calculate Stop Loss and Take Profit points

3:00 p.m up:

- Wait for trigger
- ACT ONLY WHEN THE TRIGGER SHOWS UP!!!!

and so on.

Everyday, even before I began this routine, I look at the instruction sheet and make myself believe that it's a memo from my superior, or commander. That I have to follow it to the letter.

Then, as jot down every single act I did to see if I have followed those order literally or not.

I still have the urge to trade out of my systems. Sometimes the urge was so strong and latter so right. But the instruction sheet helps me execute my system as perfectly as I can. And bring profits to my lap.

 

You continue to get good advice on this thread.

I hope you realize that normally traders won't tell each other anything, assuming they even like each other at all.

Don't let it go in one ear and out the other, use it or stop pretending that you want to be a professional trader.

 

Flashboy,


Lot of great suggestions here however if nothing strikes your fancy then I have one additional suggestion


Slap the shit out of yourself every time you break a rule, and slap yourself twice as hard if you break a rule and make money


This is exactly what I had to resort to… All the talking, journaling, and everything else just didn’t work back then – my skull was / is just too dense – this other stuff it works now… but not then (when I first started out)


So since I had made up my mind I wanted to trade, and I needed a way to get my attention – every time I broke a rule – I punished myself…, and every time I broke a rule and made money – I punished myself harder

It works amazingly well – I really listen to myself now and pay attention


What you’re going through is not uncommon – I have a friend who trades and he’s starting to come out the other side of what you’re in now


Food for thought Sir

Redneck

 

Can't it be a new rule just found?