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Thank you for checking out that site Brutus and GaryD that I mentioned above.
I don't like to promote sites, but this one is especially important for Traders with Emotions.
*
But this technique does have side effects: other areas in your life improve also !
And simple to do.
*
It is mandatory to resolve your emotions using any technique or method
that removes all tension.
Trading successfully requires zero emotions. "Just another trade''- is important to think about.
I will stop here ; about this ever so-important topic.
Cheers,
Greg
***
I just deleted charts again from this thread. I don't want charts to fuck this place up. I have done that enough. Charts are nothing but history, a method of communication, a frame within which to view the movement of a market.
Should I expect that what happened today will occur again? Of course it will. But each day, each setting, is unique, and just reading a few charts is dangerous. Trading and engineering are polar opposites.
I moved over here because there was way too much noise (charts) in the other threads I have used. That can lead to confusion, a belief that the answer is somewhere in that picture, and it takes something away from the words, or the thought itself.
Charts are indicators, something visual to use in a decision making process. It is how a trader interprets what the charts are saying, how they manage perceived risk versus perceived opportunity that makes the difference. That, and some healing of wounds suffered previously.
I just took a shower, got ready for the world outside of trading. As I was in there I was laughing to myself about changing my experience level in futures.io (formerly BMT). I started posting trades in chatbox about a week or so ago, had never done that before. Maybe 4-5 wins, no losses, nothing spectacular. I was doing it to maybe prove something to myself? I traded more than I posted, but would only post what I thought were the best trades. I was hoping to maybe share a little good fortune, maybe teach something?
But I realized just a few moments ago, that my ride has been a wild one, very long, very traumatic for me. I never lost money before 2008 in anything, then rode that underground. I think the real reason I was posting trades in chatbox was to give my ego a boost. And while ego has no place in trading, balance does. My previous losses in life had pushed me so far into lack of confidence that I think I used it as a shot in the arm. "Look at me, how great I can trade" was more "Gary, you would not be doing this in public if you did not have confidence, you are not that social... "
I am changing my experience, and resigning from calling trades in chatbox permanently. Both just for me.
I have gotten to where I know certain things to be reoccurring enough to depend on them from a probability standpoint. I have tested the markets in as many ways as I can think of, and done the same with myself.
I am closing down my business, but not burning any bridges. Going to give it a year and see where it goes.
futures.io (formerly BMT) is a great website, has been such a part of my life and my processing, but I need to get out of the mix for awhile. I will watch some things on futures.io (formerly BMT) here and there, probably occasionally comment if I can be helpful. But maintaining a thread or calling trades has too much potential for trading ego. I will still post here if I am going to post.
I have a feeling I will experience withdrawal symptoms, and can understand why I heard @Lornz asked to be banned (never did meet him). Please forgive me, but I am going to Facebook as my methadone for a place to perpetuate my insanity posts. Those have been very helpful for me.
A follower of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has recently been granted permission to use a photo of himself wearing a kitchen sieve on his official ID card. He says the kitchenware is a crucial part of his “Pastafarian” faith, and he must wear it at all times to respect his deity; a monster made of spaghetti and meatballs. Thousands of online followers insist that “Pastafarianism” is a genuine religion, refer to their almighty as “His Noodliness”, and claim that the universe was created by the ball of noodles after “drinking heavily”.
For those who "drink heavily" this weekend, at least try to make it productive. And cheers to a free speech victory?
My stop tighten on this trade kind of bummed me out on Friday. I had hit crude long into the Thursday close and after I was closed it ran without me then too. I went a different strategy on Friday and manually trailed my stop instead of taking a targeted exit, but there was a lot of selling that hit, and watching the footprint too closely caused me to pull my stop in way too close in hindsight, easier to see when I am flat and reviewing than while in the trade.
I figured I could get back in, but there was such heavy selling every time that I just hit the short side a couple times and called it a day.
Those two days of me catching less than 50% of the move caused me to feel so-so about the week, but it beats losing... Anyway, here is how I approached the day on Friday. Charts are not the really the answer, and this is not the set of indicators I used on that day. Just marked up the trade on a different view of the market and decided to post to point out more room for improvement and call attention to it here to make it sting a little.
Just replied to a PM about this, thought I would make it part of my record. Copied, pasted, and edited here.
I am not going anywhere. I just monitor myself very closely, and have seen a shift in the past few weeks. It started with me ending the turtle thread and starting a new one. Not sure what was happening, but it felt like I needed to get further out of the mix. That is why this thread went in the category of Off Topic. Far less traffic.
Then I started calling trades in chat, something I have not done before in that setting, and I liked it for a time or two, then noticed I started referring to my record there. Danger sign. The real push came when I was calling a long in CL on Thursday and had a few guys trying to explain to me how I was wrong. I almost got cocky and started to type something like "Look guys, I am trying to help you make some money here..." Then erased it, sat back and saw that I was headed for major trouble with my sense of overconfidence if I did not smack myself upside the head, hard and fast.
Backing off futures.io (formerly BMT) has something to do with 1) getting out of an environment where the majority is struggling, and 2) something to do with me seeing my ego start to build. I think it is time for me to separate myself for awhile from the crowd to address point one, and remove the audience on point two.
I am going full time, leaving behind a very good paying business to do it. I am being as acutely aware of my thoughts and actions as I have ever been when it comes to trading, and if something feels iffy, I fix it or drop it quick. In a trade and in life. It is a very butterfly in the stomach time for me.
I have been working on my environment pretty intensely as I prepare. The most important example was I had major, uncomfortable discussions with my wife about trading (some journaled, some not). I knew that I absolutely needed her to not have any bad feelings about it for it to work, or, we needed to sort that out in advance. Even if it meant going separate ways, it was something I needed to do for me. It looks like I get the better option, only had to adopt a cat for it. And I love him as much as she does, now... but did not want one at all.
I have been posting here for years, as part of getting to understand myself better, learn from others, but it is time to gain some new strengths. Birds throw their babies out of the nest, I am required to throw myself.
I still will remain a member, receive PMs, can't help myself from posting something here and there, it is an outlet for me. But I just need to turn the volume way down on this right now. My email address, skype name and facebook info are all in my profile. Some of you have my address, phone number, a few have an open invitation to stay with me while in Orlando. My trade desk is your trade desk. I think it would be a lot of fun actually. And, if needed I know lots of ways of throwing guys off my scent. Insanity helps a lot in that department.