So I have been around these boards for a very long time and met some fantastic people and traders. I am fully aware that opening this thread could lead to some pretty wild answers. I have spoken with most of the older seasoned people on here going back 10 years. There are some really amazing traders /people around here and some not so great. I went on a journey that took me into the depths of technical analysis that I doubt many will ever see. After 14 years of some incredible runs and some certainly poor ones, I realize that I have exhausted technical analysis and need to focus on the mental end of this business. The 14 year mark is not something to boast about. It’s actually quite the opposite. It’s more embarrassing to not know the answers to the stuff below after so long. I’ve been stuck so long in so many loops . I recently sparked a conversation with a trader that clearly understands the mental end. I know the title of this thread will pull out some of the pro’s left in these parts to hopefully nudge me in my humbled new direction . Most of the seasoned people hang around here to give back. They grasp where others are on the journey and they want to help as they once needed it as well. They also know that it’s a solo journey in the end so outside help is a tricky beast. I essentially accept the fact that I have spent way too much time on a part of trading that I needed to spend less on. I accept that I needed to spend more time on the trading process that was loosely neglected for so long. N=1 Ground zero .... So here is what I am doing - I am building a trading plan. I have been looking to rekindle an old flame with an exceptional trader on here but have not been able to contact him. He might not be around here anymore. He was solely focused on his trading plan and gave more to ET than almost anyone could. I recently bumped into a trader that I had not seen before and as I went through his posts . He had amazing insights into the mental end of the business. He has a way with words that clears things up quite well. He has also been very generous in exchanging DMs with me over the last few days. I thank you for this if you are reading it. I know it wasn’t easy . Start of the process 1 . Asses myself as to strengths , weaknesses and what any given scenario in the market does to me mentally. I have been in enough good and bad trades to feel the scars to know what I like and what I don’t like. I’m guessing I’ve taken thousands of trades at this point over the years. I have to be able to approach MY game by bringing the same “me” every day. If I bring a different “me” , I am bringing a different game and therefor my results are from different games. I want to play the same game every day. How many consistent variables do I need, I don’t know yet. Approach trading from a grouping of trades in a system I build for myself. Any individual trade is not the goal I am focused on. I am focused on being a human computer and taking every trade over a group of trades to have a sample size of trades with the same variables to analyze . This batch of trades will yield results and then I have to determine which variables to add/remove to achieve a positive expectancy. Every tick in the market is someone else’s game they are playing off of. I need to form my battlefield that I can win on. I need to have an edge ,which defined by my older friend ,is an expectancy for price to do one thing over another. The recent thoughts which came from my new DM trader pal - this is a game in my mind that I have to construct in such a way that I am able to use the chart data as my game board to win the game. The game is to create a trading process that yields profits over time. Current struggling thought I have to work through in getting the process and plan in place. if the process of consistency is so important and the “edge” is defined, what’s the point in not automating trading in every situation? Why even have people at a chart? Easy example - My s/r line has an expectancy to hold more often than not. Why would I not simply program a computer to just enter at that line and then never look at a chart? This sounds ridiculous in how easy it is, so I want to understand why people are even needed. The consistency of a computer would be far superior to a human with emotions in terms of process and discipline. The edge is accepted here as a s/r line giving a positive outcome of price heading one way over another. If it were this easy , everyone would do it. What am I not grasping?
Welcome! (Back!) Nice description of your trading journey. Humility, a focus on process over results, and an unrelenting demand for intellectual rigor will do you just fine. (And for that matter, it's also what got you to where you are -- so take a bow. Maybe a bit more scenic than you'd prefer, but as you've already observed, when you might wish to 'give back', you have plenty of material from which to choose, eh. )
Really nice of you to write it that way. Some people on these boards are so good with words. I am pretty sure becoming an author as a second career path would have worked out.
To summarize what I am doing today - I took a friends trading plan outline and made a broad version of it my own. I have addressed as many emotions as I can think of relative to trading and put a solution to those unknowns in the trading plan. There were some I didn't think of so as they pop up, I am sure I will add a few. What I am trying to do is fully eliminate that feeling of discomfort I get in a trade which at its core is just the inability to have control over what I should be doing . It's basically a mini surprise that makes me do a micro panic. I am addressing each as they come up. There aren't many left as I have seen them so often so my trading plan has covered them. I don't want to alter too much as I need this sample size to have as few variables as possible.
My thought exactly. If your approach is rules based, why are you not automating? Perhaps focus on that instead of reading "Trading in the Zone" for the 20th time.
I think I am trying to understand my blind spot here. I am not saying automating is not a good option, but why have the old timers that sing the same mental song not all done this. Many of them mix in some automation, but have not fully done it. There is something I am missing here on the mental front.
Some traders do not fully automate because their approach is not entirely rules based or they are using rules that include data not easily accessible via an auto trading platform (i.e. earnings, government reports, etc). Also, most traders are not competent programmers.
This makes sense, but if a discretionary trader is trying to be a human robot in the sense of repeated actions and the example "edge" above of playing an expected s/r line is in fact valid, why wouldn't they just automate it. Not being entirely rule based would suggest additional variables or not playing the same game each time. Maybe I am wrong. So many of the traders I have spoken with that have the traders mindset could easily pay someone to automate that but choose not to. They choose to be the button clicker for a reason that escapes me for the moment.
Forget about what they are doing as it is irrelevant. Focus on what you are going to do with the information at hand.