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Ok not really, but I wanted to get your attention.....and mine.
An odd thing happened on the way to the bank today. You know, the bank where I am going to deposit all the money I'm gonna make trading!...no really I am!.....Just not today.
Alright, …
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
I missed the big sell off right at the beginning of the day. Got to the computer right at 6AM instead of the normal 5:45. I had one opportunity to participate and passed on it. I also forgot to roll over the contract today until about an hour into the session.
Then what seemed like hours of pure torture. I was up then down. Could not get a feel for it. Finally quit at -62 ticks. Took a break for 30 minutes. Came back and with great caution, managed to claw back to only -11.
Then some even tighter chop and finished the day down -45.
I traded much longer than normal today due to the lack of perceived opportunities. Of course it was simply perception as there were in fact opportunities but they came disguised as head fakes and one pip failures today.
So on a day when CL moved 200 cents from the moment I sat down, I managed to lose $450.00. Honestly, its days like today that really bother me as a trader. I know I am better than this. But there seems to be a threshold I can't seem to break through.
I really am sick of it to tell you the truth. I beat my head against the wall in a very similar fashion about 10 years ago wondering why I could not break the $100,000 income barrier in the mortgage business and it took me three years of earning almost that much to do it. Once I did though, the income shot up like a rocket. Am I in the same spot now as I was then? I don't know. But it sure feels like it. Those weeks leading up to the end of the year knowing I was not going to quite make it were awful weeks. They felt like today, knowing I had to be almost perfect to dig out of the hole. The years where I made the 100K in the first quarter, those years felt like I was not working, just grooving with my system. The money just flowed like water. Today I worked. No grooving at all.
So tomorrow, back to basics. Looking for the groove.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
You and me both AZ. Not that it will make you feel any better, but I too finished the day 45 ticks down on CL. I will post where I went wrong in my journal. Just wanted to stop by and offer my condolences. I feel the pain too.
I am reading First Month of Training as we speak.. and I read your comments ... I figure I share something that I find interesting that I think will help you.. I know it is helping me at the moment, along with various futures.io (formerly BMT) based content ... anyhow.. from the site, two quotes..
"we lay out suggestions as to how structure your daily routine. Ultimately, how you structure your day individually is up to you, but you must learn how to schedule time for your record keeping and preparation time necessary for each day’s markets. There should be no discussion with yourself when it comes to doing your necessary preparation for the markets each morning or night and you will see the value when you find that it helps you start the trading day feeling totally prepared and in control, ready to go"
"a crucial component of the trading diary should be the honest recording of a trader’s emotionalstate before, during and after the trading day. There is a very strong correlation between the state of mind of the individual trader and his profit & loss. This correlation should be noted and its effects pre-empted by recording the emotional state at regular intervals in the trading diary and addressing negative emotions swiftly. By ensuring traders complete a trading diary effectively you can learn to take control of your trading behaviour. By having the discipline and honesty to complete an objective trading diary, traders take a big step towards conquering themselves – the biggest challenge for any aspiring, professional trader."
needless to say... your daily routine was broken.. and once you saw the opportunity pass you by, you were probably a bit upset about it... I know both things happen to me, so I figure I share... I personally have to be more disciplined and less emotional when trading.
Very early on I was already skyping to a trading buddy that CL was just in a 50 tick chop and not to trade. Then an hour before close was my only trade for the day for 100 ticks.
Didn't it seem like CL was in a chop zone to you? My chart seems to show we gapped down, then held at support around 81.50. I made comments early on in skype to my trading buddy that it seems like some accumulation was going on as volume was high and range was small, and we'd see a big move after we get through this. At 60 minutes prior to close I made the decision to enter short at 81.15 after I felt the support was now broken. My target was based on daily and weekly support levels that were below the prior support that was just broken. My ultimate target was not hit before the pit closed (was targeting 150 ticks, it moved only 100).
Anyway, I post only to demonstrate how patience was rewarding on a day like today. I admire you posting to your journal on a bad day, its tough to do but will help you ultimately to overcome this behavior.
Early on I saw chop so did not trade, and then just waited for the right opportunity which came at the end of the day. You did not mention how many trades you made today. If it was only two or three and you ended with -60 ticks, then I don't think it's the end of the world. Sometimes it takes one, maybe two at most trades before you realize you are in chop. Other days you can see it before taking any signals and just wait it out. However, if you took a dozen or more trades on a day that was very choppy, and those trades were unprofitable (you were not setup for a choppy day) then I think you need to ask yourself why you didn't see it was range bound earlier than you did...
After yesterday, was wondering if I was cut out to be a trader. (come on, admit it, you've thought it too, no judging here, honesty is the watch word right?) But my friend talked me off the cliff and today I made my profit target. It did take to many trades. At this point though, I don't care how many trades it takes, as long as I am within my daily stop limit, I'll take 100 trades if I think I see a legit one set up.
Something I learned today; Trust the system. It almost never lies. What lies is my judgment and coupled with impatience, that can be bad. Today I resolved to be patient and for the most part I was. There were only a couple of trades I took where I can say I was trigger happy. (Remember a few months ago I had the opposite problem!)
I did miss my two favorite set ups today. One twice actually. Shorts off the 75% fib failure. They were perfect and I never saw them until after the trading day was over! Had I caught them, would have been an even better day.
So after two really bad trading days this month, I am flat in the account from the beginning of the month. Not a great record but proof that if you keep your losses smaller than your winners and have more winners you can be profitable. The two big losing days were daily stop limit violations. After talking with my friend yesterday, I realized I'd done it twice this month without really knowing I was doing it. I keep the P&L hidden most of the time and so those days slipped by me without notice. I am thinking of putting the P&L on the chart where I can see it all the time. Ideas on this?
Cheers....
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
I like seeing the PNL but have a problem letting it influence the way I trade. In other words, later in the morning when I have positive PNL I become hesitant to pull the trigger. I'm working on that and trying to view the PNL objectively and trust my plan.
I would advise against it. I hide mine entirely. I want each trade to stand on its own merits and not be influenced by the rest of the day. But, I am human. I do check my pnl tab throughout the day. Most of the time it is just to confirm execution prices, as I know where I am at on the day because it is easy to remember the figures as you are trading... unless you are taking a bunch of trades.