Aphie's REAL Trading Journal

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Originally posted by Minime
You picked an atypical market to trade the last two days. So you can't draw any long term conclusions from it. Your discipline could use some work though.
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Agreed.

On a brighter note, I lost less today than I did yesterday, so I'm moving in the right direction.

I need to work on the discipline. How does one teach themselves good discipline? Maybe I should re-read Douglas' book.

Had I followed what I said to myself, I'd be looking at a gain for the day and not a loss.

The market is very compelling at times, though. What is really hard for me is realizing I can trade any market almost all day long and trying to avoid that tempation.

I have an urge right now to trade but I'm not doing it.

I need to draw a line with discipline so it starts now. No more trading today / tonight.
 
Aphex,

OK, you got a bit of a bloody nose. Good... now stop for a while and catch your breath.

And consider getting a series 7 and getting with a prop firm.

THEN, you don't have to put up with the PDT BS.

I figure there is at least 1 prop firm somewhere that wil take you on with $5000. But you got to stop while you still have $5000. (or nearly that.)

THEN... trade 50 SPY while looking at the e-mini chart. After some months, you will begin to be able to trade.

The good thing is.. that the futures market can go a long ways before 50 shares of SPY began to hurt real bad. You will be able to trade your SYSTEM without thinking too much about money.

But, you will NOT be able to get sloppy, because even 50 shares will mount up a loss if you do.

Slippage in the SPY is worse than the e-mini but not too bad if you don't chase or panic. But you can't scalp with the SPY now, especially since we can't see ISLD anymore. A**hole SEC.

Man do I wish I had used a penny a share broker and traded small lots of low priced stocks 2 years ago. I would sure be a lot richer and probably somewhat wiser today.

Good luck.
 
Thought about giving SVS a chance?

"Jasper" could be modified to automate most of that strategy.

All you have to do is follow the plan.
 
Originally posted by TonySanDiego
And consider getting a series 7 and getting with a prop firm. THEN, you don't have to put up with the PDT BS.
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Are you serious, a prop after two days of trading?
 
Originally posted by aphexcoil


Today I learned something new. An advanced trader may be able to use mental stops. However, a new trader better have hard stops to protect against the very thing that happened to me. I would have probably lost $100 less had I had a hard stop in place.

In fact, the thing was moving so fast that I was probably losing $10 a second.

Lessons Learned:

1) Don't be in the market before one of the largest US companies announces earnings afterhours.

2) If you are learning how to trade, don't pretend you're a market maker.

3) Use hard stops.
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This isn't the time to experiment. If you are going to experiment, do it on a simulator or on paper. Stay within yourself as they say in pro sports. If you have only practiced daytrading, then always get out before the close. If you aren't used to trading after 4:00 PM, then don't put on a trade then. If you usually don't trade in the first half hour or last half hour then don't experiment with those times now. If you haven't traded a particular market yet, then don't start trading it live for goodness sake.

Don't try to be the hero and guess which way a news report will move the market. There is no insurance for when the crystal ball fails to work correctly.

And no, you haven't made all the mistakes you can possibly make. There are hundreds more and all can cost you money. Try to take it slow. Slow the bleed. This is your tuition money, so be serious about learning something. You now have the obstacle of fear to overcome in addition to all the normal trading challenges. You need to have confidence to trade successfully so don't let the fear force your actions.

When everyone starts trading they "know" it will hurt to lose money and they "know" they will probably lose money. But after we have lost money we all say that we never really believed we could lose, and we never really knew what losing would be like.

Go for singles, not home runs. Don't try to get it all back at once or you will lose it all at once. Think Singles, Singles, Singles. Get your confidence back by doing some simulated trading. Get your timing. Check your plan. Do the homework on your past trades. Everyone loses. It is what you do after you lose that is important.
 
Originally posted by aphexcoil
Concerning "sticking to the plan."

What I don't understand is how a trader "sticks to the plan" when the market is moving in real-time. I guess maybe some systems are more simple than others, but when the heat is on, I find it very hard to be objective. Maybe that is because I am new to this game.
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Learning to trade is all about learning to act. You do what your plan says to do. There is comfort in having your plan make the decisions for you. You have a stop, that decision is already made. You have an objective, or some way to know when to exit. That decision has been made. All you have to do is act. If you act correctly and you lose money, you are not to blame, you did all you could and you succeeded.

If the plan loses over time then you get a new plan. But you have to trust the plan enough to execute it. If you don't trust your plan enough to at least try it out by following it then you have no business trading. And you need more committment than just "trying it out". You have to just do it and let the chips fall where they may.
 
Originally posted by Magna
aphie,

most of us see alot of ourselves in your journey:(
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This is soooo true. I have been there, done that and still do some stupid stuff.

Aphie,

You have alot to learn. Take it slow, very very slow.

But I know that the only way you will learn is through experience. All this advice is useless because you will want to do it your way.

Don't worry. The market will teach you. Just make sure you listen.

Kev
 
One other thing, I'd say you will be more sorry:

C)If you find out your system / method actually would have made you some good money if you had been dedicated enough to just follow it and give it a serious chance, and yet you don't have the discipline to follow it and you floated about like a leaf in the wind and squandered your opportunity.
 
Originally posted by aphexcoil


Some of those posts were absolute bullshit. I look back at my naivete and just shake my head in disbelief.

That ATM machine still exists. I am that ATM machine.
:D
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PRICELESS!!!!

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :eek:
 
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