Day 32 The Journey is Hard... I reached my daily profit target for the day very early in the trading day. Then, I gave a lot of it back. I attention just wasn't there after I reached my pinnacle of trading achievement. I should've took and break, and chilled out. Thats what I'll do next time. What I should've done was to.. I should've put the brakes on. I shoud've been stringent with my stops etc etc..
Ripley too bad you continued after your daily goal has been achieved, but then this should be a good lesson learned for days to come.. i have read some of your posts in the past and was impressed that you could admit to your own mistakes,, and that you didn't make any income from trading for the past couple of years.. only a few traders can admit that, even to themselves, let alone to the public.. To me i believe this is a trait that a good trader possess. i hope you continue this journal until the end of the year,..
Day 33 Little more FOCUS could definitely help ^I am tired of updating this Journal, just not even two months into it. And I got a whole year to go. I almost forgot, and was just about to hit the bed till I realized I keep a journal in here. How could I've made my day better? Its just that I have a lot to do, before, after, and during the market hours. Even then, I need to keep my eyes on the task. I was trading small.. trading just 1 contract that I let it get away at times etc etc.. I cannot be complacent... never. I need to devote my complete attention to the market when I'm trading. Simple as that.. Concentrate on the markets, make money, and do everything else some other time.
Day 34 so BUSY... I had a great day & I have to jet out of here so soon. Will be back tommorrow. I'll be BACK.. 4 Disasters & all of them involved the new issue that I am fighting with.. I am waiting for the +15th pt, and it would come to +14 and go back to take my stop out. I need to be proactive, take the pts off da table, and get back in. In & OUT.. Take points, and get back in.
Day 35 COMPLETE DEDICATION... You have to have everything going for you.. for you to be able to trade well. You should focus on one and only one thing. And you have to be ready, prepared and well rested etc. Long story short.. Today maybe the fastest STOPPED OUT day for me ever. It was quick & painless I had to wake up at 5 am, and drive for a while to get back to my place. My eyes were so tired.. so sleepy. Thus, I was actually glad and happy to go back to sleep. In retrospect, I shouldn'tve traded today. I should've just chilled out. Need complete dedication to trading, or don't trade at all. I need to keep my surroundings clean & clear, things all caught up, and well rested for me to be able to perform at my best. Its time for me to get my act completely together.. & I cannot have any more lapses anymore. I missed out on so many opportunities, & thats why you cannot put yourself in a position to get stopped out. Take only high probability trades, contain risk and stay in the game.
Day 36 I have a HEADACHE Another brilliant day of executing stops. Executing, irregardless of great execution, or mediocre exectuion takes skills. takes SKILLS yo.. I need to treat every other day as a weekend day, so that I can actually get something done on weekends. Means, I need to do everything today rather than putting everything else off to a weekend.
Day 37 Disasterous #1) Cut losers short. Don't hold on & HOPE. #2) Don't be faked out. Must be aware, alert and GET OUT. #3) I must trade 1 contract, and if I accidently initiate a position with 2 cars, I must get out. #4) You cannot fight the market. You can FIGHT IT, but you can never win. Be one with the market.. never against.
Missed: Day 3 Need back up of back ups I had a technical glitch today which caused me a minor interruption at the beginning of the day. Thus, I quit trading after making 6 trades, and finishing for the day at +2 pts. Now on, I am only looking for 18 good trading days per month.. Thus, there is no reason for me to push myself to trade when everything else isn't clicking. I decided to take my yesterday's winnings and bought a new computer today: http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=dim515lo&s=bsd Making money is AWESOME. You get to buy new stuff with them. You have to take money out of the market.
Day 38 Need Momentum.. I cannot afford to miss trading days. I need to carryover the momentum from the previous day each and everyday. And that means, I need to put myself in a position to trade each and everyday. Only extreme unavoidable situations should I miss a day, and an equipment malfunction should be the last issue. I need to leave myself layers of outs. Even when I don't have all the bullets, I need to give it a go. I must keep myself in the market.
Day 39 Crazy day.. I have to go to sleep EARLY so that I can wake up EARLY. I need to move my alarm where I cannot reach it, somewhere I have to get up to turn it off. I have to be prepared. Trading is a 24/7 battle.