Thanks for the tips guys and gals...think Im going to start basic with audible alerts then move up to stop orders and/or bracket orders...I would like to do some stop order/bracket order on the sim first i think to get a better feel for it (or maybe its an excuse because I want to be in front of the computer when the order fills?) Regardless, going to try some different things today.
What a depressing day, I was reading Matcha's journal earlier in the day and I think I got a bit of what she was describing happen to me today. Today really was a day where my mistakes showed up big time in my p/l for the day. Got absolutely killed because of mistakes. My 3rd trade of the day was a direct result of making a mistake on my second trade and my last trade of the day I didn't get any profits b/c of the hope I would get more out of the trade...ie greed. Today sucks...The past two days have been really tough mentally for different reasons. Yesterday missed out of a bunch of profits because of mental lapses and today missed out on profits and had major losses due to letting previous trades dictated my emotions and following trades. I took a couple of breaks in the middle of the day when there weren't any set-ups developing and that helped with the concentration factor, but my poor trading well... I think some of it has to do with my lack of thinking things through, I know I've written about this before, but I think my mistakes may have been minimized and/or not occured if I thought the trade out more carefully and didn't get trigger happy. Again, I think being a bit trigger happy stemmed from yesterday and missing out of trades. So not only did one trade to the next get effected but the whole day was effected due to yesterday. I was thinking after my big mistake (3rd trade) that maybe I should go back on the sim, but after stepping away from the computer for a bit and reevaluted what I was doing I realized that A.) the sim would'nt help my emotional issues and B.) if I take my time and develop the trade properly on paper the trade usually works out of my losses are minimal. That is when I decided to finish out the day live but make sure everything was set-up properly before call it quits...problem was the exit part of the last trade. That whole beginning middle and end thing Trade 1: 8:25-Short 1134.75 Stop 1137.50 Target 1131.50 8:37-Move stop to 1136.00 9:04-Stopped out Buy to cover at 1136.00 -1.25 pts So the price broke down below the channel it formed from the early morning, I thought it was going to take some momentum and/or a consistent grind to get to the target. My entry was ok, but my mistake came from either A.) not exiting when price stalled around the 1133.50 level or moving my stop to quick...I got stopped out on a long wick that hit the 1136.00. Just didn't give the appropriate wiggle room. It would've been a semi weak trade anyway since I had to get out before the FOMC stuff, but still some profit is better than negative profit. Trade 2: 11:24- Long 1138.25 Stop 1136.00 Target 1145.00 11:28- Stopped out sell at 1136.00 -2.25 pts Just reviewing this trade in depth for the first time right now...hmmm, not sure what I was thinking on the entry. I was kinda caught in no mans land on that one. Im really puzzled with this one, the only thing I can figure is I got antsy...don't have anything written down in my notes other than the entry info and not the "why"...well the entry mistake was compounded by having a poor stop. There was a bit of volatility after the FOMC notes and should've given the trade the appropriate wiggle room and set the stop around 1135.50 where the mornings channel support was. So got stopped out...market took off without me...I was so puzzled as to what I did wrong, I wasn't even really paying attention to the nice breakout that formed at the 1140.00 range where the proper entry would've been. This is how my biggy mistake of the day got compounded into trade 3... Trade 3: 11:43- Long 1143.00 Stop 1139.50 Target 1147.00 11:51- Stopped out sell at 1139.50 -3.50 pts Ouch...dumb dumb dumb is all I can say. I was so focused on missing the ride up that I didn't even take the time to set the trade up and really think it through. Just wasn't going to work out...poor R:R...had to go through 2 resistance areas to the target...TRIN really wasn't all that bullish to have price shoot straight up...Crappy stop. This one really hurt because it was a direct result of a poor 2nd trade and a poor trading day yesterday. Im just shaking my head at myself. Trade 4: 12:30- Short 1135.25 Stop 1137.50 Target 1131.50 12:34- Move stop to 1136.50 12:36- Move stop to B/E 12:42- Stopped out at B/E buy to cover at 1135.25 +0.00 pts Sh*t. That sucks...hit my target...should've exited. Set the trade up great, had great confirmation on the entry, good entry point...blah blah blah...none of it matters if you don't finish properly. I didn't exit because the downward momentum was pretty strong and I thought it could bust throught the 1130 range and head much lower and that would get me closer to even on the day. Price reversed so fast I didn't even have time to realize I was screwing everything up with this trade and a couple of moments later stopped out for a big fat donut. Again, a direct result of having a bad 2nd and 3rd trade caused a moment of greed and hope of getting back to break even. The other thing that is just so frustrating is even if I took some profits I would've am I must say I am WAY less emotional than I was the other week when I had a really bad day. So I think that is a good thing, but the theme of compounding my mistakes keeps reoccuring which is not a good thing. I need to remember to set-up my trades more closely on paper, then stick to that plan...even if it means leaving profits on the table. At this point in my trading, having some profits is better than none or worse, negative. Total Trades: 4 Winners: 0 Losers: 3 B/E:1 Total Points: -7.00 Avg. Win: $0 Avg. Loss: $116.67 Total Win: 0% Total Profits: -$350.00 So I did the write up first because I knew I would dread drawing up the chart...man, just shaking my head at myself as I went through the chart again. Sometimes it feels like an out-of-body experience of "was that really me that made those trades". Need better focus and more copious note taking tomorrow.
Maybe you should put me and my thread on ignore! I feel like I am a witch! haha...just j/k! ! You are doing well. Sh** happened once a while, even for pros. As long as the outcome is good. One or two days out of controls will not do too much damage. Make sure you have reasonable max. gain/loss for the day, week, and month... Your acceptable loss-% of to yout total account. Those are your another type of stop, more like your brake. As far as discipline goes, you learned your lesson today, you will become more disciplined next time. That's money can't buy!
tlow: Take this little tip from me. On FOMC announcement induced move: Your trade to long 1143, target 1147, stop 1139 was very, very risky. 1. FOMC announcement induced moves are prone to reversals. Sometimes even 2 reversals. Although there were times there was no reversal. You just stepped into a trap to buy the high tick. 2. Announcement was at 11:15 am PDT. Your long trade was around 11:43 am. That was about 30 minutes after the first announcement. Reversal times are typically 15 minutes or 30 minutes after the announcement. 3. Look at the chart. A "2-stage" move. You were buying into the end of the second stage. If you didn't play the reversal, should refrain from chasing into a late move. Perhaps what can help is to study the past FOMC meeting market actions.
Boli, Ya inregards to 1.&2., just wasnt thinking straight and not looking at the picture properly. Good to know about the reversal times and # of stage moves...thanks. I think I will follow your advice and take a look at FOMC days. And how breakout trades, chasing late into moves, etc works out. Thanks.
I thought I would throw up a midday post because Im having another rough day. I had a really nice long trade in the morning go from a really good profit to a b/e, got out of another trade because I was jumpy and didn't want to lose money and in the end it would've hit the target...and lastly, I was thinking I will try a bracket order and take some of the emotion out of the trade and walk away from the computer. Didn't really solved the issue nor did I get the feeling out of it I had hoped for. My trading is really hurting right now because of my mental state. Not really sure what I need to do to fix this. At this point, I feel like the trades don't even matter because Im either going to 1. -take a bad entry or 2-get out early/late...both of which are going to either cause me to lose money or at best breakeven. I think I may need to just work on getting winners, not even big winners, even if it means 1 tick. I absolutely HATE watching a winner turn into a b/e or loser, but when I exit early its more like ahh man that sucks coulda had this much...but I still have some profits. My insecurity from watching winners turn into losers or b/e's is directly effecting my trading right now. Each previous trade effects the next trade and the whole previous day's trades effect todays trades. I don't want to keep making big mistakes because they will cost a lot of money. Capital preservation is still the number 1 priority and if I can't manage that then I need to step back. I really want to keep at it and figure out a solution because I am sure a time like this will arise again and it would be nice to have the experience to look back on it and figured out how I adapted/solved the problem. For now, Im going to finish out the rest of the day...but Im really debating taking tomorrow off. It always better to go at it with a cooler/calmer head, but Im not sure that is the solution. I have run into WAY problems/experiences/etc more than I ever expected with trading day in and day out...I knew it would be hard, but I didn't think battling the mental demons would be this tough. I really feel like my problems are beginning to snowball. Im really not even mad at myself...more like disheartened. It feels like I can't do anything right at the moment. Alright thats it...sorry for my rambling. Like I said, gonna finish out the day, try to recover on a positive note (no necessarily positive profit)...and then have a think about what Im going to do tomorrow.
Tlow, I sure hope things are looking up for you, here's something to meditate on. (use any Higher Power you wish), keep me humble in my prosperity, and strong in my adversity. <*)))><
So Im not posting a chart today or stats... Im going to take a mental break for the rest of the day/night. I realize I need to keep at it so I will be trading tomorrow. I may sleep in, I may not but Im not going to stress anymore about this. I want don't want 1 or 2 or 10 bad trades steer me off course. This morning there was never that feeling of "today is a new day" . It felt more like an extension of yesterday and I don't want to have that feeling tomorrow...if I do, I don't think I will trade. Tomorrows focus will be good r:r set-ups, good concentration, and minimizing discretion. Hopefully, I can stick to that...I got really stuck on the p/l the past couple days...I think if I can have a good trading day, even if its a losing day, that will help my confidence.
No one puts a gun to my head and makes me trade, it's a choice I make everyday. Hang in there tlow, "it's all in the recovery".