David_R's Trading Journey Journal (Pls comment)

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David_R

No trades today, unfortunately. My house is sold and I was moving today. I won't have internet until late next week, but looking forward to picking up from where I left off.
had to do this from iPhone at starbucks. :-)
Good trading to all,

David

Moving is a bitch. Try to enjoy what you can of your weekend, and if everything falls into place we'll see you trading again next week. If not, don't rush it!

Mike

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Big Mike

Moving is a bitch. Try to enjoy what you can of your weekend, and if everything falls into place we'll see you trading again next week. If not, don't rush it!

Mike

Moving is worse than a bitch. I hate it!!!

Well, not quite settled in the new place. Getting there, but more to do. The internet got installed, but only wireless, not a hard line. The tech says there is something wrong with the main panel that he needs to connect to. The wireless is pretty fast. Its fiber and it is faster than my old DSL line. I still want the hard line though.

I did trade today. I admit I was eager to get back at it. Unfortunately things did not go well. I was thinking too much and thought we would sell off in the afternoon. that did not happen. I believe I didn't follow my rules or my plan and this is exactly the kind of thing that has been an issue in the past. I will attribute it to being away for a few days and getting back in sync as well as having an opinion. I did feel that the first trade had merit, but it could have been a stronger set up. For that and only that reason I am giving myself a D for the day instead of and F.

I will also admit that I was pissed after the first stop out and felt the need to get it back. By doing this I exceeded my loss limit for the day which made me even angrier.

FOLLOW THE DAMN PLAN!!!

David

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David_R

FOLLOW THE DAMN PLAN!!!

Welcome back.

Mike

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Okay,

I have not posted in a few days. Last Friday was a drag of a day because after doing well and having a few days off for the move I came back and did not perform well at all. Nice way to start the weekend. Monday the 6th was a holiday so did not trade until Tuesday the 7th. Tuesday started off bad because I woke up with a migraine, so I stayed in bed and then tried the afternoon. Got into a hole and then dug myself out of it for a scratch day. Wednesday was similar in that I was in a hole and dug myself out of it for a scratch day.

I think the main reason is that when the market starts to just trade in a narrow range I force trades and end up not doing well. Today, Thursday was better in that I was patient and if I missed something I let it go and then when the next opportunity came i took it. I also traded CL instead of ES. The thing about CL is that it will tell you fairly soon if your trade is going to fail or work.

Really need to fight the urge to just trade and wait for the set ups to occur.

Quick charts for the 7th and 8th and the 9th.

David

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David,

Do you have a game plan that covers both ranging and trending markets? These are two different approaches. Usually, one can make money in one market or the other, but not both.

I think with time you can pretty easily identify a ranging market vs a trending market. Since I am a scalper, I am talking about "now" being "is the market ranging or trending in the last few minutes, last 30 minutes, last one hour" etc.

If it's ranging, I fade. If trending, I do breakouts and breakdowns. If you cannot decide if its ranging or trending, best not to trade. Also, there is always a chance you will be in a trade -- and the market switches its mood. Your stop will likely be hit. There is nothing you can do. It is not a bad thing. It is just part of trading. Do you think the egg stocker gets upset when a carton of eggs is broken, does it ruin his day? No. Just part of his job, right?

As for the down day Friday, and the 'digging hole' days Tue and Wed, have you analyzed these days? Looked at your trades? Determined what went wrong? Did you execute the trades according to plan, and they just didn't work out? Or were you executing poorly? If it's the first, then you fall back to your statistics and let them guide you as to what to do. If it's the latter, then you need to crush the problem! Come up with specific actionable items to get past poor execution. If you need ideas on this just ask.

Mike

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Big Mike

David,

Do you have a game plan that covers both ranging and trending markets? These are two different approaches. Usually, one can make money in one market or the other, but not both.

I think with time you can pretty easily identify a ranging market vs a trending market. Since I am a scalper, I am talking about "now" being "is the market ranging or trending in the last few minutes, last 30 minutes, last one hour" etc.

If it's ranging, I fade. If trending, I do breakouts and breakdowns. If you cannot decide if its ranging or trending, best not to trade. Also, there is always a chance you will be in a trade -- and the market switches its mood. Your stop will likely be hit. There is nothing you can do. It is not a bad thing. It is just part of trading. Do you think the egg stocker gets upset when a carton of eggs is broken, does it ruin his day? No. Just part of his job, right?

As for the down day Friday, and the 'digging hole' days Tue and Wed, have you analyzed these days? Looked at your trades? Determined what went wrong? Did you execute the trades according to plan, and they just didn't work out? Or were you executing poorly? If it's the first, then you fall back to your statistics and let them guide you as to what to do. If it's the latter, then you need to crush the problem! Come up with specific actionable items to get past poor execution. If you need ideas on this just ask.

Mike

Mike,

To honest I do not have a game plan for ranging markets, but I believe if I do it correctly my method can provide a means for trading during a range bound market. It is probably best to not trade during a range unless I am confident the range is holding.

I don't think if an egg stocker drops a carton of eggs that it will ruin his day, but it may piss off the boss which may bother him somewhat.

I know what you mean.

I have looked back at trades and I think that most of the time the trade did not work out is because of poor execution on my part. I think it all comes back to patience and waiting instead of forcing. The forced trades seem to have a higher fail rate and the ones that are "good" setups have a higher success rate. One would think that alone would be enough evidence to make one be patient and wait for good setups, but this business is weird that way. I find myself doing the opposite especially if I missed a move already etc. Yes, crushing bad everything is needed. Suggestions are welcome. My concern is that the bad habits are deep inside me and tough to reprogram. Know what I mean?

Today was ok. I started out patient and missed some moves and became less patient, but i knew that I needed to maintain. I still have moments, but I will say that I am happy with my progress, but still need some work. I will give myself a C+ to B- today because I had good moments as well as moments that were not as good as they should be.

David

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David_R

My concern is that the bad habits are deep inside me and tough to reprogram. Know what I mean?

Yes, I understand. I've been there. I know many that are struggling with this even now. You are in complete control, you can resolve this.

- Position yourself for success. Your surrounding life needs to be in order before you can be successful trading.
- Be realistic. If you have less than 10,000 hours experience, you are probably not going to have the screen time and experience necessary to be long term profitable. If your account is very small, you can't expect 50% returns each month. etc.
- Set clear goals. Generate clear actionable items to reach those goals, in small incremental steps. Measure yourself every single day, not in terms of net profit, but in terms of how you executed on your action items, to ultimately reach your goals.

In short, I find post-it notes can be very helpful. Short, concise messages like "5 trades a day is statistical average", "Six out of ten trades are losers, don't panic, keep losses small", "Profit takes patience, give the trade a chance to succeed", etc etc.

These types of messages, or better yet, ones you write yourself that are customized to fit your strengths and weaknesses, and get you to your goals, they can help. Put them on the sides of your monitors so you are reading them constantly.

Perhaps others can offer some advice as well. But really, it's up to you. You are in control. If now is not a good time to trade, then stop trading and come back to it in a year or two. If you are overtrading, then make clear actionable items to fix it. If you are cutting winners short, then do the research and prove to yourself that statistically speaking, you need to give your trades room to succeed.

Mike

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@David_R, how are things? I hope you've not stopped posting due to having a few bad days trading or blown your account, etc. Hopefully you are just on vacation

Mike

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Big Mike

@David_R, how are things? I hope you've not stopped posting due to having a few bad days trading or blown your account, etc. Hopefully you are just on vacation

Mike

Mike,

thanks for checking in. No, not on vacation, you hit the nail on the head.

The streak of success came to an abrupt halt. I was contacted by another member on nexusfi.com (formerly BMT) about trading together via skype and that lasted about 2 days or so. Lets just say it didn't work. I'm not going to say that was the cause of the derailment, but it didn't help.

This time is more of a permanent event. The money is gone. I may not have the right make up for this business. I don't know. I'm sort of at a loss for words. A lot of frustration in all areas.

This is an ironic industry. Its really meant for people with wealth, but if I had wealth I would have no need to trade.

David

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David_R

Mike,

thanks for checking in. No, not on vacation, you hit the nail on the head.

The streak of success came to an abrupt halt. I was contacted by another member on futures.io (formerly BMT) about trading together via skype and that lasted about 2 days or so. Lets just say it didn't work. I'm not going to say that was the cause of the derailment, but it didn't help.

This time is more of a permanent event. The money is gone. I may not have the right make up for this business. I don't know. I'm sort of at a loss for words. A lot of frustration in all areas.

This is an ironic industry. Its really meant for people with wealth, but if I had wealth I would have no need to trade.

David

David, very sorry to hear that. I feel your pain.

It may be of little value to you now, but for others reading I will say it anyway -- IT IS NOT THE METHOD, IT IS THE EXECUTION. Stop focusing on the method, the entries, the indicators, etc, and start focusing on yourself, consistency, execution, accountability, a plan to address shortcomings as you uncover them, etc. So to that end, I think most anyone could be made a good trader if their heart is in it and they can overcome their nature. Not an easy task by any means, most of us are programmed to be terrible traders and we have to deprogram ourselves little by little. Sure, it takes enormous time, and money, but what it really takes is the realization that the reason your trading has failed is within yourself, not the market, the method, indicators, etc. Most people never fully understand or admit to themselves this, and they just spin their wheels never making any real progress.

David, once again I am very sorry. I know how hard you've worked at this. Your heart is clearly in it. If you've read a lot of trading books you've probably noticed many of the guys say stuff like "I failed many times before I succeeded". It is true. The difference between a winner and a loser: a winner doesn't give up. So, I hope that one day, you'll be back to trading. Hopefully when the rest of your life is in as much order as is possible, as trading is already so stressful and demanding. Then maybe all the pieces will fall in place for you next time.

Thanks for sharing. You'll be missed around here

Mike