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Sideways with a single directional movement. Out of patience. I'm tired as I didn't sleep to well last night. So done for the day.
Last trade I scaled into three times, missed a fill at the top of the move down, so ended up with a much less profitable trade than I was looking for. Otherwise, a huge day for me. As it was, I ended with a nice profit after two trade sequences.....
I'm trading less and making more money. Scaling in is making the difference as well as holding longer.....both essential for longer term success I think.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Hereby announcing that I finally allowed my ten tick target to be hit (6E) - a first in the past few months.
I imprinted @tigertrader's advice, and also actually followed @josh's advice 'this is a risk game and those who take risk get paid' - the funny part was I actually checked and rechecked that my ba__s were in place (LOL imagine a trader in position groping himself) but seriously this was a click moment for me.
In a sudden rush of experiencing it instead of simply philosophizing it:
Whenever I play defensively I miss every opportunity by not entering because I am trying not to lose money.
Whenever I stop playing my game I lose money. I stop playing my game when I take four ticks out of a trade that has an average expectancy of 10 ticks.
Most importantly are the "why?"s
If I am missing stuff it becomes a stressor. Solution: To counteract that stressor I am simply playing my game as defined in my plan.
Risk management and patience are like north pole and south pole - the constant struggle is with uncertainty which makes (used to make?) me jump the rules - e.g. if I am wrong with timing then patience takes on a slightly different context in an early entry rather on a perfect entry. Solution: Every time I am not playing a trade for its maximum value I am going to revisit my original premise as to why I am in the first place. This should give me more staying power.
The early entry part especially: Its easy to say to myself in hindsight that I should have waited. Perhaps I will in the future but that is countering price risk with information risk. However assuming I enter a tad bit early and feel trapped then what?
I keep stifling my self, seeing the position moving against me towards an MAE that I already can anticipate, (can I take off the position and reenter again at the correct point - sure I can, but that is for another post!).
Now this is important: The moment such a position jumps from red to green after what seemed like eternity I see the escape route! The exit! That is where I start taking it lightly (whereas I should be doing the opposite - I should be HOLDING now that the position I have built up is finally working). Loss aversion is the demon here and as @xelaar and @PandaWarrior said, it is best extinguished by perfect practice and knowing the market and my setups to the point that I no longer fear loss aversion because losses then become part of my winning strategy!
It is tough @iqgod, you have heard me complain about it. But I am leaning towards being right less than 50% of the time. Here was my big trade of the day. And I felt my heart race, I tasted adrenaline in my mouth. But, it is possible. And, truth be told, I closed the last contract early, I have no idea why, but it is still an every day push to do the right things.
My Friend Panda has been bustin my stones for the past year. At first I thought it was because he was just a major Dinkus Head! Of Course that is not the case. He sees himself in me. He sees the mistakes I make as similar issues he used to suffer with and it was @tigertrader who was bustin his stones. I wonder who was crackin on tiger trader in his younger days?
Thanks also goes out to @iqgod for sharing his honesty. Sometimes I think you guys with the red hash tag have arrived and are confident money making machines. Keep posting brother, You are helping me.
If you always do what you have always done you will always get what you have always gotten.
Celebrate because you executed your edge. Not because you won.
Barry Lind, Leo Melamed, and Tom Dittmer, were among my early mentors. Fast-forward to today, and my inclusion in Victor Niederhoffer's "spec-list" has allowed me access to the personal musings of some of the sharpest minds in trading. I am always reticent to post there, because the bar has been set so high by the other members.
Critical thinking, self-examination, and passion have always been an integral part of my approach to trading. I used to make copies of my trading cards at the end of the day, and bring the copies home to analyze them (trade-by-trade) from memory.
While a passion for trading is a prerequisite for success, it can't be a "blind passion". One theme that I picked up from Victor is Bacon's Principle of "ever changing cycles". Bacon's philosophy lead me to constantly question if my methodology is optimally effective given the current market regime, or has it been "played out." Always ask yourself, if you could be trading better - remaining flexible is the key. If your methodology fails to work or it stops working, change it.
No need for charts today. I fat fingered an entry....well not really....what happened is I had a resting order to scale in, got stopped out on the first bit and forgot to pull the resting orders. Then price chopped around for a bit, I got in again, then the resting order was triggered, of course I no longer wanted that order there and my blended entry was in the wrong place, I moved the stop for the whole thing to -10 and got hit.
Combine that with a couple of smaller losers early and I am done for the day....
Not a good way to strike out....no problem losing the right way...but losing because your eyes are closed while swing the bat is just stupid....I know things like this happen once in awhile but they make you feel like a total idiot when they do....
Anyway, on to other things.
I have an appointment with a trainer tomorrow. Not really looking forward to this. All these trainer type dudes all seem so freaking gung ho about getting you to Mr Universe ASAP. I had to remind him to take a breath, dial it back a bit and take baby steps. After all, I am middle aged white male, unaccustomed to intense physical activity. To make it worse, when I walked in the place, all the 20 something alpha males were in front of the wall length mirror preening like a bunch of peacocks. In my mind I said, "just you wait, in 20 years you'll be back in here looking like me begging someone looking just like you do now to fix your problems". Time is the ultimate equalizer.
I've spent more time in the hospital in the last month with my brother, my dad and mom and of course myself, than I care to admit. The docs in the ER are accusing us of having our family reunion there. Last night I told the doc it was a potluck dinner and why didnt she bring something.....she was from India and I think the potluck dinner thing went right over her head. She just stared at me like I was from Mars. The ER staff and our family had a good laugh at her expense.
Its gotten so bad I now have a shoulder bag with snacks, hand sanitizer, something to read and a spare phone charger all ready to go....if its at night, I tuck my 9MM in the bag along with the rest and I'm ready to head out in 2 minutes or less......my parents are working on getting into Scripps in San Diego and hopefully find out what's really wrong with them....they are in their 70's but still, this is ridiculous.
Cheers......
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris