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Thanks @sewmuch2do . We already discussed the answer to this in the chat room, but for anyone else reading:
I've kept a lot of stats. What I'm really working on (and apparently have a difficult time with) is adopting and being consistent with a method.
-AT
"Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitude. It's having the right attitude that's hard." - Robert Pirsig
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I suspect Trade Analyzer will allow you to add the entry price as a column to the above report? I'd think this would help you analyze the trades better. I try to review the following items daily for my trades:
Is this trade a valid signal for my method?
Did I follow all my rules?
Was there something that told me not to take this trade or wait on the entry?
In hindsight, was my entry good? How could I have done better? Did I miss any signs?
Was the trade with the trend?
Be critical at the end of day and ask yourself what trades you should have taken and which ones you should not and why. Be positive about it and don't beat yourself up, but figure out why you are taking trades.
I used to feel similar about some of my trades. I had to look long and hard at my trades to break bad behaviors. I found I needed better definition on trade entries and less discretion. This change was harder than I thought it should have been and I'm still working on it. Better trade definition helped me take better trades, which helped my internal belief in my trades, which helped keep my emotions out of my trades which in turn helped me take trades without hesitating.
Seems like there could be some emotions getting in the way of you trading. Your Time Standing By (TSB) is under 5 minutes for 9 out of the 13 trades for today. The consistency is within yourself. Land on one method and follow the rules as you have them defined.
This is something you can keep stats on.
What methods you use. Which is the most successful.
I rate my trades as being successful not by how much I made or lost on each trade but by whether I followed my trading plan.
Thanks @MarketPilot and @deaddog for your input. I keep copious stats and do quite a bit of self-analysis, and I appreciate your thoughts on developing the method that I'm going to apply.
I know I'm posting my results and my charts (which I'm doing for my own sake to help me with consistency), but I don't want to veer too far away from the main thrust of this thread, which I'm coming to believe is really the critical element in all of this: attitude.
Thanks again for your comments.
"Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitude. It's having the right attitude that's hard." - Robert Pirsig
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I wasn’t feeling well coming into the week and it wasn’t until Thursday that I began to feel better.
As anyone knows, it’s difficult to be “positive” when you’re not feeling well. Even though I got a lot of studying done and worked every day doing my live simulated trading, I lacked the positive attitude that I know is so important to my success.
Now that I’m feeling better, I’m back to focusing my attention on what I’m doing with my mind.
Today (Saturday) I’m working with one of the exercises from [I]The Magic[/I] (Day 13), and I’ll be making room in my schedule to visualize (employing the basics of today’s practice) several times throughout the day.
I think it’s easy to dismiss this stuff even though we all know about it. Or easy to forget its power and the importance of applying it – even for me.
There is an optimum state of mind (attitude). And I believe that the closer we come to attaining that optimum state of mind, the more profound and positive its impact is on our performance – on our lives.
Here’s a video that I watch occasionally that helps keep me reminded:
"Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitude. It's having the right attitude that's hard." - Robert Pirsig
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I just want to share something with you. I hope I am articulate enough to convey my thoughts clearly. I read a long time ago that when you find a topnotch setup then you go very aggressively with your trade. I am very aware of how this statement conflicts FT71's "you dont know" statement. What I am saying is some days the sun is just shining brighter than others- you are in the zone, you slept good, you just have this positive energy inside you and you are very aware of your trading. Those are the days that you need to be aware of and be aggressive on those days with your setups. Nail em. It's almost humanly impossible to treat each day equally. Mondays are very hard for me, fridays the easiest and Wednesdays are dicey. I kept stats on days too-when I was rested well, when I did my morning routine, What days are most profitable for me, what days I made big blunders and why etc etc. This is a whole new exercise in itself.
Coming to second part: In my trading I have different strategies within different time periods. There are maybe 2-3 setups that happen infrequently (about 10-15% ) of time and over time I ve realized that these need to be treated differently. These are the home runs. Low risk high reward setups. Like when the smaller time frame aligns with the bigger trend. Let's say I take a setup on 5' then I need to let the runner have the potential on the hourly and these can really pay off. I am still working on discipline myself on these - its hard not to book a good 3-4R, rather than leaving it running at night just cause I cant sleep well with an open position. An example is took a recent trade with 6 tick risk and booked 35 ticks--it stayed near my exit for a day and now its over 200 ticks higher-all on a 6 tick risk. You probably are wondering why not take the exit and re enter another time-if I did that and my logical stop would be 30 ticks--so now you are risking 30 ticks to make the 200-if that works. If and when I am able to put on a lot bigger size is the only time I could take majority off and then let the small remainder ride-that's the only solution I have for this right now. But just throwing it out there that on your best setups you need to be really aggressive-both with size and with profits. And yet FT's statement holds true that even on these kind of setups"you dont know" holds true just that they need to be treated differently.
Sometimes I feel my mind is going to explode with all these complications
I think that is what makes this so hard. If you cant look at yourself in the mirror, and honestly say "what I do WORKS" how can you be consistent in it? I find there is a million things you could change or adjust, but every solution has its problem.
I am trying to get to a consistent place myself, where I can honestly make the above statement. I am not there yet, but I think/hope I am very close.
I'm glad you said that, because part of the purpose of this thread is to dispel the belief (which I also have a hard time letting go of) that making finding your "edge" the main priority is the key to trading success.
If it's just about the "edge," then one should be able to pick up the Turtle method and start making money - and there are extremely successful traders using variations of that even today.
I don't think that it's news to anyone that there are plenty of people who have discovered an "edge" but still can't make money (e.g., analysts and peddlers of systems?). It's also not news to anyone that there are traders who have relatively mediocre edges by many standards, which can be learned for free in many cases, who are incredibly successful.
I think the phrase "making the turn" is reminder that it's not just about an edge. I don't think that phrase means that "they found an edge." I think it means that they finally developed/acquired the appropriate attitude(s) to allow themselves to capitalize. An edge is a required component, but not the key.
I believe an edge, and more importantly, the ability to execute it, will only come as a result of developing the appropriate attitudes toward trading - not the other way around. And I believe that success in trading or any other pursuit/endeavor comes down to attitude.
I understand if you don't agree. And I hope you understand that I started this thread to share my opinions (as well as my journey) with others who are open to them and would like to discuss them in more depth - not as a forum to debate the validity of them.
-AT
"Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitude. It's having the right attitude that's hard." - Robert Pirsig
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