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This journal is going to be focused on intraday trading. Simply making myself "available" to seize whatever the market offers me.
My main focus of this thread is to start a systematic approach to trading in which I try to remain Zen-like when it comes to trading. Over the years, I've acquired my own edge to pinpoint key levels in the market in which more often than not, tends to work out.(Usually ends up being the best trades for the day) However weaknesses such as impatience, or fear/greed, etc tends to cause my own destruction. I still have yet to overcome this wall, but when I do...I believe I will finally make it to the next level of Consistency.
About 3 years after I first started trading, I thought I was going to become the next market wizard. Especially 2011, I pinpointed almost every move and made more money than most college kids could think of.....but little did I know that market's don't always act like that and was extremely humbled in a low volatile environment like 2013.
Now why did I mention that? It's because during 2011 when I felt God-like...I picked up "Trading in the Zone" and my review was, " As for me, I don't have any fear in trading and wanted to learn more about the psychology of trading, holding on to positions, etc.....but its mainly on the initial act for traders who don't have any balls....
To traders that have balls and have been trading successfully, stay away."
How cocky I was..... and how humbling the markets have made me. It was only recently in which I've had great market analysis, but started to have a psychological gap(biggest losing streak in years), did I start re-reading "Trading in the Zone." Now just like when I was a chart virgin and couldn't understand the squiggly lines on it, I finally started to understand what this book really meant.
Anyways, I am creating this journal for myself to remain disciplined to the "Trading in the Zone" approach and philosophy.
To remain in a neutral calm state of mind(Zen) with a winning attitude( Pete Caroll from Seahawks) and the patience of Tokugawa Ieyasu.
The charts are really clean and beautiful. I feel like I am just seeing price, instead of emotions or being emotional.
I feel like TWS is really clunky, same with booktrader. In fact I currently use TOS charts alongside IB.
That being said, I just realized the cost of NT so probably wont make the switch. Right now, I am just taking trades off my current setup, but then switch over to NT(visually) to be calm and less emotional in the trade.
I too use TOS alongside IB. I agree, TWS is not great for charting but I'm currently satisfied with orders. There are things TOS won't do so I'm looking at NT and Sierra Chart but no rush here either.
Sim results so far. By waiting for high probability trades, and fading extreme fear/euphoria, sim results are going pretty well compared to live account. I need to treat my live account more like I'm trying to impress someone(like getting funded by showing results) instead of oh lets gamble here and there, by taking marginal trades. amazing
Just wanted to note for my own self that whenever I chase, trying to catch the "move", I end up getting hurt a lot. So if my goal is to become a professional, I need to stop doing that. Also that if I end up losing on a trade, to stop being stubborn and let it go, not to get back in the same direction on that losing trade, unless I am 100% convinced it is the right trade. I plan to review my winners and losers of this week on my live account and try to tweak my performance.
One setup that I got extremely frustrated on was Thursday night of Asia session.
I saw a classic H&S forming so shorted near the high of the right shoulder. First it was attempting a higher low near the neckline area, but bears took back control...Then we pierced the neckline, but quickly came back up so I was forced to cover(noted in picture below). Then on the break of the neckline, I reshorted but with 2 contracts, waiting for intermediate target to hit(white line)....but it did not... It just stayed still for hours and then came back up to the neckline.....we pierced above it and market was barely moving...so I covered 1 contract for a loss. Then it just chopped under the neckline for hours.... and I had to cover since I needed to get some sleep for the U.S. session. Of course later in Friday's U.S. session, we get the drop. Don't really know what I could have done better in the trade. Maybe just let it go after it was acting strange compared to what normally happens? As Douglas once wrote, it was probably really frustrating since I had a lot of "expectations" regarding the trade and regarding the H&S pattern.
Took some losses in the morning, but managed to climb back up. Increased the # of contracts trading now.
Things I need to improve on: Just because I was bearish biased doesn't mean, I should be shorting near the open in case I "miss out" on the down move. Wait until bulls take it to an extreme level where most bears have given up, then short.....wait until everything coincides on the major indexes. Need to work on my patience more. One good thing I did today was being able to hold onto a position for longer than average by listening to the tape. Anyways, markets are coiling for a breakout relatively soon. Which way? No idea.
This morning NT7 was having problems with TopStepTrader, couldnt place any orders. Maybe all of you were having similar problems? Eitherways I missed some nice trades on sim due to that technical difficulty aka shorting CL!
Anyways I was positioned on the right side for GC and YM but I got out of GC right before it tanked...and same with YM. I need to learn to FREAKING HOLD MY POSITIONS for a decent move, not just a few ticks. ALSO, BE MORE PATIENT WITH HOLDING. BUY INTO FEAR. SELL INTO EUPHORIA. NEED TO GET THIS INTO MY HEAD.
I need to place a trade, set my stop, and not stare at the screen. Could have maybe gotten really close to the 9k mark....oh wells