Well you got balls, heart, and some deep @$$ pockets! Good luck man, Wish there was an easier way for ya. Later, JJ
Arrrrrgh. I got taken in by the total sucker play today. Setup: It is a Fed day with a bell shaped distribution, mean at 1384.50. There are supports in the 1383.75 and 1382.75 range. I buy 2 83.75s and 2 82.75, for a mean of 83.25. Apparently a lot of other people do as well. We are at 82.75 and outut of nowhere, the price volume curve shoots up a resistance at 83 even. They have me stuck long under resistance. I had an out at 82.75. How did I react ? I kept it. What happened ? They flushed out the weak longs, which in this case was me. I had to puke at 82 even, along with 7500 other people who made the same play. Then after we were flushed out , the market was free to mean revert back to 1384.50. I saw it coming and didnt take the out I was given at 82.75. Since I was holding 4 contracts, my limit right now I was forced to puke out. Had I dumped at 82.75, I would have been free to load up at 82 when everyone else puked. I just had to vent on this one...I'm getting better at avoiding the newbie traps and they totally got me today and my risk manager/trainer gave me a chewing out for it. Bah. -T
Well. This is it. I've finally made it to the final hurdle that will determine whether I can make it as a trader or not. And that hurdle is my own psyche. I'll admit that when I first got into trading, I thought the psychological aspect was all a bunch of hooey for people too weak to follow their rules. However, for all the challenges I've faced coming this far, mastering my own psyche is by far the most frustrating and difficult. Since I have dedicated myself to day trading futures(I am still on a simulator, by the way) using discretionary trading, I have been a consistent loser. Why ? Two very simple reasons. My trades fall into 1 of two categories: 1) I plan a trade, then either: a) Fail to execute it completely because I lack confidence in my abilities b) Put the trade on expecting 4-12 ticks of profit, and then bail at 1 or 2 ticks because I am afraid of losing. c) Put the trade on, let it go to 6 ticks of profit or more and give it back. ~~~~~~ Or ~~~~~~~ 2) I get emotional and get tempted into making sucker bets which are not in my plan, and invariably lose $200-$300 on each one I make. Basically, I am the reincarnation of the guy Mark Douglas talks about on pages 72-75 of The Disciplined Trader. Words cannot express how heart wrenching it is to take 2 ticks profit on a trade that eventually went on to 8-12 ticks and know you did it out of sheer lack of discipline. Almost every day I walk out down, when had I traded my plan I would have walked out up. It is so frustrating to be a good market analyst, and continually lose money as a trader. The two things I need to master are avoiding plays that are just going with the crowd and executing my plan flawlessly. I need to get it in my head that if I overcome this last obstacle I can actually start trading for a living and if I cannot best it, I have to give up trading.
For what it's worth you've actually come very far in your trading. You now realize that good trading is really psychological. You will eventually cross this hurdle, and then when you can maximize your trading using good money management you'll be well on your way to being a great trader. This might help. Instant Self-Hyposis It's a tool designed to help you manage your subconcious belief system(s). Try using the techniques for your aforementioned trading plan, and see what happens. Regards, JJ