This journal is being started because I am fed up with the way I trade. I don't follow my rules. I randomly take trades based on what I think rather than my rules. I wrote up a long paper last night plainly outlining my trade set ups and committing to only taking those trades and I just didn't do that today. It's not like it's just one day. I haven't been following my rules for a while now, which is why I wrote up the paper last night. I was very discouraged after trading today thinking I can't trade. But when I studied my trades, I found that the trades that followed my set ups worked great, or I got out with a small loss because I was afraid to stay in the trade, but I would have had a great day had I just done what I was planning to do. It's like I'm a different person when I'm trading, yet I tell myself that I'm making great decisions, when I'm not. I can clearly see afterwards that I'm not. This journal isn't meant to be followed. I don't think I'll write out anything about how I feel in here. I just need some accountability and thought I'd try journaling again. There won't be any charts in this thread and I probably won't share exactly how I'm doing. I will only share if I did what I meant to do or if I was making random decisions. I might as well say this, to make it stick in my mind: I shorted ALL day today, even though I saw it could go up higher, because I thought, in the present moment, price was likely to go down. I have rules for counter trend trading and most of those entries did NOT follow those rules. Why did I place the trades? I told myself I wouldn't take any trades except my setups, but I didn't take my set ups when they came and I did what I knew I shouldn't. If I make it as a trader, it won't be because I have any natural ability to read price. The trades that were right followed indicators and rules. It's not like I didn't know I wasn't following my rules for the other trades. That's the part that scares me. I knew it and I still took trades that were contrary to my plan. One more thing. My best trade of the day was my last one, when I was completely frustrated and knew I had to stick to rules and I did and thankfully that one worked. I don't know why trading today was so mentally difficult that I had to come to such an emotional state in order to make myself follow rules. When will I ever learn? Reminds me of the phrase "When will they ever learn?" from the song, "Where have all the Flowers Gone?" I know it's an old song....it's one of my mom's favorites, but that describes me--never learning. Maybe I should keep that song playing in the background when I trade so that I remember that I have not been learning what I've needed to learn for a very long time now!
Love me some PPM, but that song is just not that good. Especially compared to this one: Switch to that one and watch your profits puff up hugely.... like a magic dragon!!!
Hello there, I kind of feel your pain, been there myself. In the past, I tried trading for a living, but I was dramatically undercapitalized and my goal was too ambitious. This in turn generated huge amounts of stress, and despite having developed a good system and a good plan before leaving my day job, I wasn't able to stick to it. Not even for a single week. After one year of this hell, I went back to work, and surprise surprise... I suddenly got the discipline to stick to my system and actually make some money on the side. I don't take any more stupid trades just for the sake of being in the market, I cut my losses without waiting and hoping (or even worse, doubling down). I believe that when too much depends on your trading results, you won't ever be able to perform well at trading. You need first to find some inner peace and remove the fear of failure from the equation. Maybe this is not at all your situation.. however, I hope it can help in some way. EDIT: oh yes, another thing that helps is keeping a journal. Try to use a notebook that you really like aesthetically.. you need to trick your own subconscious into following the plan...
Thank you! Everything you wrote is helpful! I start a new job this coming week, so hopefully that will take some pressure off because I do identify with being super stressed over losses.
Eliminate errors with discipline. You never did work out before going to bed or when waking up? Start it and stick to it. Have rules in place like after every trade have x amount of time away from charts. Not holding up to rules - no snacks for the day and so on. Discipline comes with work, decision and willpower.
Thanks! That's something I know in the back of my mind, but it's hard to think it really requires that much effort. In my case, I think I will require a lot of effort because I have never liked rigid rules but flexibility although I do have rules to live by that I value and it's never a problem keeping rules that I see the point to. Will it take losing a lot before I see the point in trading right? I honestly don't even think that will solve the issue. It's got to be what you mentioned, hard work at trading with rules. OK, for starters, I'll use this journal because it will keep me accountable. After each trade I'll post a smiley face for following my rules or a frowning face for not following my rules regardless of whether or not the trade was profitable. I won't show charts or discuss the trades, it will just be an emoji all by itself. That should keep me from over trading too, since I won't want to be posting emojis throughout the day. Well, if they were happy emojis, I guess I wouldn't mind. I'll try this on Monday and see if it will help with trading. If not, I'll try something else.
Instead of doing emojis after trades, I'll post my reflections at the end of the day on how it went with trying to stick to rules. My goal is to use this thread as the structure I need to make myself follow the rules that I want to follow. Seems ridiculous that it should require so much effort to follow rules, but apparently, it's not something that is going to happen easily.