I am starting this thread to present the result of my mental transformation when it comes to trading the markets. I will post both trades and comments on a regular basis. The mental factor is by far the most critical component when it comes to discretionary trading operations. Controlling yourself without having a risk manager by your side to watch over you is hard, especially in the long run over years or even decades. Enjoy watching the account grow. You can track it via MyFXbook. The link is in my bio.
I use subliminal message with stock trading affirmations. Can google for these affirmations. Use Audacity to compile a 30 minutes audio clip. Use a whale calling or wave sound and insert the messages at specific interval. Lower the message until one can barely hear them. Once awhile just listen to it and relax. It won't hurt after all it's positive messages.
To Peter8519: The main cause of detrimental behavior in trading is a lack of self-reflection and impulse control. It is usually deeply rooted in our subconscious, due to past experiences that have led to certain personality traits. Deprogramming these is of the utmost importance. Subliminals need to be specific, but there are other tools that need to be included as well.
Be careful. You have to see the bigger picture. At this moment, gold (and European stock markets, currencies ....) is not moving at all. This European session is extremely quiet. So your trade has a < 50% success rate. Gold (and Asian stock markets, currencies ....) already moved during today's Asian session due to the China PMI / Caixin mfg data release.
The success rate depends on the quality of the setup. Overall macro or sentiment is irrelevant for positions with a tight profit target. A frank word on information overload and sharing ideas with other traders on market situations: This kills success! Other sources of information and traders do not know the time horizon you have chosen for the position you are considering. They have their own ideas and theories. You have, if you have developed everything correctly, a clear setup that offers you a great risk-reward profile with its hopefully high probability of success and which in itself does not require external parameters such as reading analysts' comments or discussing the market picture with other traders. In the past, when I still implemented this behaviour, my performance was as lousy as it could be. Pure focus on what works in backtesting in all markets and timeframes is the key.
The last post was a comment on another forum member's response to my XAU/USD trade, which he removed after realising he was wrong in his opinion. Generally speaking, I am not interested in exchanging opinions or market evaluations of other traders on specific situations that I trade. I don't want to come across as rude, but these discussions about the market picture don't lead to anything.