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Five months ago I started this journal to document my journey to full time trading. Today I took the next step in my journey and signed up for my Combine. I will start on Monday. My goal is to become a funded trader and get to the point where I can trade full time.
Since the start of my journal my mentality has changed, my trading has changed, I have changed. The most significant change coming in November when I threw down gantlet and decided it was time to start walking the walk and talking the talk. I still don't know what event lit the fire under my ass, but whatever it was I thankful that it happened. I now feel confident as a trader that I can do this and make a living out of it. Many of the things I have been scared doing I dont even think about anymore. This is a good feeling knowing I can overcome fears and the one thing which will keep me from obtaining my goal; that One thing would be me! I am my own worse enemy. A great lesson learned.
I do have to give a shout out to @VinceVirgil. His videos showed me that you can win at trading by following a disciplined plan. Once I learned how to win the rest of it fell into place. The second action which has help me get to this point was signing up for a membership @ TST. This was a important step for me. It allowed me to fail massively without suffering the monetary consequences and the phsycologiclal baggage which can destroy a person. More importantly it taught me how to succeed with a trading plan within specified limits. I cant tell you how important it is to go into a trading day with a plan and limits.
All of these things I think about every day before I even thinking about placing a trade. I think the most important one on the list is "how do I feel today?". This may sound silly, but I have found that if I am not confident or my mind is not 100% focused on what I am doing then I fail. Learning not to trade is one of the harder lessons to learn.
Finding a instrument which fit my personality came next. I have traded ES, CL, GC, ZB, ZN, UB, 6E, 6J, ZC. I found each one of them very different to trade and each present their own challenges. The three I have had most success with is GC, ZB, and UB. I recently came across ZB and UB and when I started trading these I knew this was it. The movements made sense to me, almost predictable. I feel very comfortable trading them. Unlike GC where I felt like on every trade I could be stopped out because of irrational move I feel just the opposite with ZB and UB where in every trade I feel like I can come out on top.
Surrounding myself with winners and like minded people has been a huge help for me. I spend my mornings in the chat room talking to people who are trying to succeed just like me. The best part is they are willing help out and give thoughts and observations during live trading days. Some of things I have learned you will never find in a book. Experience is a great teacher. Perhaps the most interesting thing I have noticed in the different trading rooms is how like minded personalities gravitate toward a particular instrument. I had this realization a few weeks ago. Perhaps this is why when I started trading bonds I knew I was home.
I am not making the claim here I have it all figured out; far from it. I am at the beginning of my journey and if I am fortunate enough to be trading for the rest of my life I will still know very little in the grand scheme of things. I am and always will be a humble student of the market.
Final thoughts: This was true when I started my journal and its true now; I have never wanted to do anything more than what I am doing right now. It is culmination of passion, determination and true love for what I do that has help me get to this point... My goal is within reach... I can almost touch it.. It is a feeling of great pride and happiness that I have made it this far. Journey on, journey on!
I was a little anxious this morning. I was thinking about the combine next week. On the first trade I tried to jump the reversal and got burned. This is totally against my entry rules. On the second trade I followed my entry rules and I was 1 tick away from getting it all back but could not bring myself to close it out because I wanted it all back. There were three key mistakes I made:
I didnt follow my entry rules on the first trade
I did not exit the trade when it stalled on the second trade
I was over confident going into the first trade.
The third trade of the day was a learning experience about T4; When you hit flatten it does not kill all the open orders like Ninja does. There is a obscure red button which does this. Anyways the price hit my open order and reversed and before I knew it I was out a 1000 bucks. Lesson learned.
I was more disappointed than mad about what happened on the first three trades. I quickly analyzed what I did and went over the rules for entry (again) and moved on and ran off 5 consecutive winning trades. I also went back to smaller targets, 1 to 3 ticks, which has worked for me in the past.
What I learned today is I still need more practice with the T4. Going to take more time next week to get familiar with it in my practice account before starting in the combine.
The other thing I learned today is I handle adversity much better than I used to. Five months ago I would have been down and out after the third trade. Now I see it for what it is and make adjustments and move forward.
I did discover a great entry tool the T4 has. Its called a trailing order. You place the order 3 ticks off the bid or ask and it will follow the bid or ask until the price pulls back to the entry order. I found this to be extremely helpful for the type of trading I do. I actually used this entry method on the last 3 trades I took.
Despite the negative number today, it was a good day. I had cold water thrown on my face after the post I made last night and the market humbled me again which helped me bring myself back into focus.
What was the best thing that happened to me today
I made mistakes on my practice account and not the combine.
What was the worst thing that happened to me today
I let the excitement of the starting the combine throw my focus off.
Many thanks!! Not sure if your question was serious or not but going to answer it anyways ; Yes I need the combine. See todays results in my previous post as to why I need it. I am still very wet behind the ears and need the structure to help me advance to the next level. The other part of this whole process which I like, is taking the physiological burden of possibly destroying my account by making stupid mistakes out of the equation. If I screw up to badly with a funded account they will cut me off. If I screw up to badly in the combine then I will be cut off. Going to use these safeguards to my advantage to learn my limits and advance.
That's a great thing to be aware of, as those feelings will probably intensify during the Combine. Perhaps give yourself permission to take the first three trades of the day on the Sim, the way one would stretch and warm up before a run, particualarly a marathon.
Well, it was at least a 'half' serious question, because your results and your attitude / mindset seem to match perfectly.
But, pretty much according to your previous post, I exactly feel the same since every time when I think I 'got it' now, I'm going to make some stupid mistakes too, whether not getting out of a losing trade by time, or going for the 'last tick' even when all signs indicate that the market will turn against me, so that I end up with a break even trade at last instead of taking what the market is willing to give me...
So, bottom line, I think that I also need a certain 'pressure' of being monitored / supervised by a kind of 'higher authority' to make sure that I won't continue repeating those mistakes and sometimes that unprofessional behaviour during the Combine and especially not when trading the Live Combine, which I think will be a quite long ongoing process for me.
And at the end of that process my goal is to have uprooted (I hope this is the correct word ) most of my mistakes and 'bad' behaviour, so that my trading evolves in the right direction.
I did not trade in the Combine today instead I continued in my practice account getting familiar with the T4 platform. The first trade of the day I was greedy. I had several chances to exit the trade with a profit or BE but thought it might breakout so I held it. After I determined it was going to be a tight range day I took six 1 tick scalps.