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It's been a long time since my last post. Here are my last eight months of SIM trading.
(3) losing days in (152) trading days - but employing self-destructive trading practices.
Eight months of horrible habits:
Doubling down
Lifting stops
Refusing to admit I'm wrong
My attempt to turn trading into a career is based on three steps. If Step 1 can't be done, there's no reason to go to Step 2. If Step 2 can't be done, there's no reason to go to Step 3. I have a limited amount of capital and cannot waste it trading before I can truly trade.
This is an assault on my personal Everest. Each Step is a basecamp along the way.
Step 1: Figure out how to SIM trade.
Step 2: Top Step Trader. 1/2 way between SIM and LIVE. I have some "skin" in the game now.
Step 3: LIVE trade.
I've finished Step 1. I've got a trading system that more-or-less works. I'm trying to improve my system to be more realistic (no doubling down, no lifting my stops). Wife is complaining that I'm spending too much time in front of the computer. I've been trading both European and USA sessions for 8 months now (two sessions allows me twice the experience). Homework, Trade, Review, repeat every weekday. Run replays all weekend. The wife wants to see results so I'm jumping to Step 2 before I've gotten my trading system fully fixed.
I'm working on Step 2. Some advice: I signed up for the cheapest TST Combine. Don't save the money, it's not worth it. The daily loss limit is so low you can only trade (1) contract. Pay a little more and get a higher loss limit so you can trade multiple contracts. This will allow you to scale in and out of trades. I got to within 30% of finishing Level-1 in the Combine in eight days, then ran into news-driven volatility I'm not used to. I'm now back down to 60% away from finishing Level-1. TST is really teaching me about loss limits, stops and needing to be very exact on the entry because you can't afford to double-down. It's very realistic and TST forces me to confront my emotional "monkey".
I think I'm at the point where I've gotten the basic technical skills mostly in order. My system needs some more refining, but it's close to working. Now I have to deal with the emotional issues. Which is going to require changing my system. Hopefully, the majority of the system is workable and won't require major re-working.
This is very logical to me and exactly what I am doing at the moment. I've been able to do well enough in my paper trading that I feel it's time to take the next step. However I've failed so many times going from sim to live that doing a TST combine seemed a good intermediate step.
It looks like you are on the right track. The only difference between SIM and live is the added extra emotions. Try not to focus on the daily fluctuations and take it slow. I am one of those guys that the emotions affect me, I can relate to what you are saying. I have felt bipolar at times. Just trade small, don't go too big, don't revenge trade on a losing day, and be okay walking away if things aren't working for you that day. Perhaps, go for your first target. Get those base hits and build some confidence. Then when you add you can go for additional exits. You can do it SIM, so you can do it live. It will be uncomfortable, but that’s part of the growth and challenge. I looked for all the magic pills and magic techniques for emotions , I couldn't find one. I like NQ too.
I don't want to harsh in someone else's thread, so I'll post on my own thread instead.
I've been reading a lot of posts about psychology.
Now, I'm having my own fight with psychology and trading, but I think a lot of people are missing the point.
The single most important thing you need to develop before you work on anything else is:
Do you have a working edge?
If you don't have a working edge, you are probably chasing price around with a 20-30% hit rate. No amount of risk management or psychological control will make a 20-30% hit rate profitable with the tools and capital available to the small retail trader.
Without a working edge, it's useless to work on your psychology because you don't even know if the feelings you're working on are right or wrong because you can't even tell if the trade you made or didn't make was right or wrong.
If you can't tell if you have a valid trade because you have no edge or system that defines a valid trade there is no way you can even judge your psychological reaction. You're just chasing price around.
Starting with psychology is putting the cart in front of the horse. Then shooting the horse because it feels like you're doing something to control the random losing outcome of chasing price around.
I'm watching a friend blow up a small fortune trading LIVE. Pro-tip and I'm not a pro: It's a lot less painful to lose a small fortune in SIM than LIVE.
"I knew I was right."
"I knew I should of done XYZ instead of ABC."
"Why am I always on the losing side?"
"The problem is my psychology."
No. The problem is that you don't have an edge or system. If you KNEW what to do then didn't do it, you could correct the problem. But you will never correct the problem because you don't have an edge or system to correct. You're just chasing price around and saying you "knew" what do but didn't do it when you lose. You are one serious trend reversal away from blowing up your account.
You have to find, develop, copy, get a working edge.
Applying psychology to a random guess at which way price is going to go next is not going to make chasing price around become profitable.
The market is an auction designed to find the highest buyer and lowest seller. If you cannot situate your trade logically and repeatedly in that auction you do not have an edge. You are just chasing price around.
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