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Today I was sim trading, not trading in the top step live account. I have a weekly max loss of -1000 and am currently just under that so I have no choice but to wait until Monday to live trade again.
Today and tomorrow I am just sim trading for practice.
There's one nickel of free advice I can give you when it comes to trading, if I may be so bold.. If you are feeling burned-out at the end of a Thursday, and not under a time-constraint, just take a Friday off. No sim trading. Just fishing, Fritos and whatever hehe. Fridays tend to suck anyways for price action in many markets, on many occasions. Take a breather. Relax, let your brain chill, gather your thoughts.
Take a 3-day weekend to study and reflect upon your trades and logs. The markets aren't going anywhere and will be there when you get back, and you might feel refreshed for the following Monday session and do better than the previous week because you took a little vacation!
It works! Try it! It's like a Bianca Blast for the mind! (Anyone remember Bianca Blast spray? Whooo, potent!)
@ryanzw , thanks for sharing your experiences here.
I think a major reason most retail traders fail is the lack of accountability for their actions. Trading solo at home without a boss or fellow employees means no oversight, no enforcement of rules,no structure and no peer pressure. This means that if we break rules, take huge losses, it's done in private and while it can be very painful psychologically, we don't suffer the added shame of having failed in public and of letting our company / coworkers down.The fear of doing the latter can be a great motivator .
You have actually chosen a good situation since you have rules imposed by TST, and you are sharing your trades in public here. But I think it takes most traders a very long time to adapt to live trading, regardless of how well they do in SIM.
Personally, I can trade with ease and win everyday in SIM. But I still struggle everyday trading live.
So I wish you the best in this part of the journey.
As to your trading system, I understand that you are fading levels based on the OR, which is something I also do, but do you have another trigger to enter -- eg TICK divergence when price reaches your levels ? Do you enter with limit orders or wait until price moves your way and enter @ market ?
I fade levels based on the OR but also use them on trend days to stay with trend as each level breaks and holds. I don't have any other triggers, often times I just watch price test a level and if it looks like it's holding I go ahead and enter. I don't use market orders to enter, I usually just click on the dom price with a limit order.
I agree about having no oversight or accountability, that is a big problem for me I think.
Just wanted to add to my previous post, here were my levels this morning on the NQ. First I was trying longs from the -100% area, then on the fail and break of the -50/-61.8 levels I shorted it down to the -200 and switched long. Then once it reclaims on the -50/-61.8 over the VWAP it becomes a long setup.
Congrats on finishing the combine- I started my first combine in April 2016(first time trader) and trade ES. I have busted four combines. I am in a $100k right now. I started to implode again last week. I was up $1000 and started over-trading again and lost $1100. Since then- I cooled himself down. I have comeback. I am up $800 over the trail down. I make good trades. I just need to stay in check. I am willing to hear any trade ideas or setups or suggestions on staying cool but finding your next trade.
Unfortunately I have lost my top step account, time to go back to the drawing board. Despite my extremely poor performance in the Topstep account I still believe I have a profitable trading methodology, its just my execution of that methodology that needs serious work.
I will take some time off from the journal but plan to start again after I figure out the next step.
Thanks for the support, unfortunate that I couldn't do better but I will be back again.