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Then, I kida thought i could do no wrong...tried to force the next 3 trades, but hit my hard stop eact time.
But, i dint move my stop down. that was my goal for today. To not increase my stop. I could tighten it, but not move it down. in other words, take my full medicine, or bail when it wasnt working out the way i had anticipated.
After 4 trades, i was -8 ticks. 3 x 8 + 3 for commissions.
What did I do wrong? Nothing discernable. my signals were correct, perhaps a little late or early on pulling the trigger, but no ones perfect. So, I thought i was doing OK. In fact, i am trying to embrace my losses. Because, on average, with proper risk management, I will always be profitable. Unless we hve a fundamental shift in the orbit of the earth around the sun. Besides, if that happens, there has to be a way to trade that event as well, if it did occur.
Trade efficiently without emotion. Trade in the moment. Capitalize on the tension between buyers and sellers, and be quick to recognize the differences. Thast why it is so easy to trade in hindsight. Look at a historical chart, the setups are so easy to recognise. here is the entry, pullback dosnt hit my stop, winner...50 ticks. but try that in real time. Not so easily done.
Anyway, after the first 5 trades, i recovered on the next 6. + 39 ticks for the day.
On the day, I grade myself a B-. i kept my emotions in check on my entries and exits. Had a couple of misteps, but I am only really trading 2 setups. When i enter a trade is based on PA, and the area of the chart, and whether the price is near or approaching an area of support or resistance.
So for these last 4 days, i was up a total of 232 ticks.
And this is trading between the holidays, no less. Not a big fan of holidays, so i just choose to ignore them, mostly.
First day back after a few days off. Worked mainly on risk and money management, and given lots of thought to position size. Been trying 2 different methods.
I am aware of total risk in each trade, in fact i find myself calculating and reavaluating every few seconds while I am in the trade. Proper trade size is based on personal preference, however, for me, having 10,000 for every contract traded is reasonable. If I set a stops of between 8 to 12 ticks, averaging 10, that is 1% risk. risk ratio is 1:2 on trade entry typically, however, I will move my stop to breakeven and then attempt to capture a percentage of the move so not to wait out till the last possible tick. if i trade at 50% efficiency, averaging 10 trades, and out of the 50%, I capture 80% of my target, that means 90 ticks. If I hit my full stop on the other 5, thats -50. Therfore, my plan is for 40 ticks a day on 10 trades. that should be average.
I know, its not scientific, and I am using a small sample, based on my personal style. But, I like simple. For me, simple is better, because, I found, that when I added to my charts, i found the noise of it confusing.
So how did I do today?
7 trades today.
-7+18+9+6+8-8+16= +43
Seems that it was close enough today.
Going to get a new journal today , as the one I have is pretty full. In addition, working on an excel spreadsheet to track all my trades at a glance. I am not very computer savy...despite the fact I minored in Computer Science in University. That was longer back then I care to remember, when IBM stated "main frames would never be replaced by the personal computer!" It was true, only 99.9% replaced.
Trade 8. Price at 102.41 CL and i expect it to bounce off EMA 20 to retest the high, or at least capture a portion of it. Stoped ar -8 ticks.
Trade 9. Get back in long at 102.35. Failed 2 times this time -7 ticks.
Trade 10. ok...now its a strong bear on my signal. I take the short, and i get 30 ticks.
How did I feel. Quite calm actually. I quickly recognized that I was wrong in my original assessment, and I was will ing to adjust my postiion to take what the market was willing to give. And I feel pretty good about that.
Its about keeping ones emotions in check.
43 plus 15 = 58
So I netted 15 more ticks. i am happy about that...
Out of the 10 trades, I had losers for -30 ticks. 2 hit my 8 tick SL, 2 I closed at -7 because they werent working out.
I had 6 positive trades. 88 ticks 1 for 30 ticks, 1 for 18, 1 for 16. Those had good momentum.
today was a tough day for me. Distracted? Perhaps, but I didnt feel conmfident like yesterday. I think Al Brooks refers to it as doubting oneself. (Al is a a lot more cryptic than that, if you have ever heard him speak...I think thats what he means) Trading is simple, but it isnt easy. Contradiction in terms? Nope.
Technical setups on time charts have been around for a very long time. Fidelity has a rooom in Boston that tracks every commodity, currency and index in the free world(so I have been told) Fidelity has invited me to Boston to see it, and tour their Head Office, and take in a Red Sox game . I am told the room is remakable, and the charts are hand drawn daily. Not sure how many charts there are, but it has to be a lot.
Anyway, i was a little off today, and I am trying to put my finger on why. I lmit myself to 10 trades, but some days it feels like too many, sometimes it feels like too few.
How did it go today...I have my entries written down, time, thought process, but I just put the more interesting stuff here. I have a hard copy journal that I write in, but this online journal is very helpful.
13 trades.
-7+5+9-6-10+3+10+11-8+2-7-8+29=+23
7 winners and 5 losers...
my biggest mistake was a trade I didnt take. 9:30 was looking for a good entry for a long off the EMA, but I was writing in my journal, and I missed the entry. It was there, had I been watching, I would have caught it. The deep pullback off teh 9:35 5 min on the CL led me into a state of wait and see, however, the momentum was strong, and i took my eyes off for 30 seconds, and i missed it....ran over 100 ticks from the low...oops.
I am trying to guard against the feeling that this is easy, but I do not want to feel that this is impossible to do well. i want to build confidence without being cocky, and this is a very thin and difficult line to walk.
I was a little overconfident today, and i felt I was a little lazy.
but, i learned a couple things, which i will add into my trading in the future.
Been a while since I have had a losing day. Does this mean anything? Of course, means that my system must be working well.
The biggest mistagkes traders make? ( that I have made)
1. Averaging into a losing trade. Or increasing SL. I read this from a lot of traders. I flirted with this myself, but I decided that if i was wrong, i'll take the hit. i might even close early. And I have moved my SL during a trade. But if my asseesmant is correct, I can get back in. Sure it may cost me the commission, but I have time to re-evaluate and regroup.
2. Overtrading. taking a trade right after a loser, because we want to make it back in one fell swoop, and we dont want to see red on the board, for more than 30 seconds, or for the day.
3. Lack of patience. There is always another trade. Wait for the good trades, and we all know where they are. This is very simple. I guess 2 and 3 are the same thing.
4. Poor money management. If I have 3 trades, with my SL at 8, and my target at 21, and I lose 2 out of 3, I am ahead 2 ticks. It really is that simple. (-3 commission) So even if I am only 33% efficient, I am still profitable. Once I was trading with a 24 SL and a 6 tick target. Needless to say, it was a mistake.
Anyway, these are problems, because I have done them all. Others might have a differnt list, but I am sure a couple of these are there. If you dont know where you came from, you wont know if you are heading in the right direction.
The truth is, I have a wireless Logitech keyboard, and for some unknown strange reason, the keystrikes get messed up, or they dont register, or they cut off words. ( I had to correct these sentences a few times) No probs on Outlook or Word, it has spell check.
I think i need a new keyboard mouse setup. Juts too lazy to shop around at Business Depot or Future Shop.
Any suggestions as to make and model? There are about a gazzillion of them.