Aphie's REAL Trading Journal

Status
Not open for further replies.
Hey Aphie,

Now here this - take it or leave it - it is up to you. But at least think about it.

The vast majority of us on ET want to see you trade well. You kinda grew on us after ya 1000 enthusiastic posts. Now that was in your youth......lol....you are a little bit older now!!!

It's ok to chill-out some now. You have just traded what? - maybe 10 trades........of your next 10,000 trades. So chill-out a bit. I lost a few bux today myself trading nq. Everybody has losing days.

10% wow!!! you say!!! Well that's ok. For the vast majority of us, learning to trade is a journey. Not a sprint. You are now two days old and have done nothing unusual.

Now remember, that learning to trade is a process. You have been given much good advice, by traders who really do care about you. I would like to say, for now - PLEASE- trade only ONE vehicle. Also, for now, USE HARD STOPS.

I can probably speak for many at ET when I say that we have been there done that - to nearly every mistake that you have made in your first two days.

Now, what you have done here is pretty dog gone normal. IT'S OK. - OK!!! Follow the advice that has been given - plan your trades on whatever ONE vehicle that you trade. Then trade your plan to the best of your ability - using HARD STOPS, for now - on each and every trade!

Aphie, this is going to take some time to learn. It's not a sprint, it's a journey. Right now your priority is "PRESERVATION OF CAPITAL" while you learn. Papertrade ONLY tomorrow!!!
Unplug your mouse from your puter if ya have to. The break from being live in the market will do you some good. It costs nothing to watch!!! for a day, except maybe some missed opportunity, but that will not show up on your IB account statement as withdrawn funds:cool:

I also want to say that you can make a million from 5k via ES. It's just going to be a long and wonderful journey - that includes learning more about yourself than you ever dreamed of :)

You lost some bux in the market, you are not a loser. Never forget that!!! You decided to try trading and you put on some trades. Many people don't have those kind of guts. You are now a member of those who have guts enough to try trading.

Welcome to the world of the trading journey - it will be a long and sometimes very difficult journey - but it can be a very rewarding one also. A lot more rewarding than just making money. Learning about oneself and making many good friends is a very great and wonderful by-product of trading. (now go ahead and cry :D )

You Can do this for consistent profits - just tread lightly and slowy! OK

Plumlazy
 
Sorry Alf,

But here's my prediction: you are going to talk about trading to such an extent that you'll never master it. You seem to be a voyeur extraordinaire. This type of personality can be a severe detriment to your desired craft.




But that's cool if that's your thing. Many folks teach rather than do. In fact, many if not most books on the market are by those who’s bank account dictated they would be more profitable by writing about trading rather than actually trading.

Bernstein, Alexander Elder and David Baker are a few who come mind. None of these guys and I repeat none of them could trade their way to profitability even if they were holding tomorrow's Journal.

But they all make living by talking about it. They are masters at the "Academic Spread” that is they are long "hot-air" and short "trading ability."


What about you?


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


Oh yeah, what part was BS??

Who are you kidding, you haven't even tried your method for god sakes you've only made what FIVE trades??? And those five were all over the place..futures, stocks, etfs. What method?? Where's the method at? Where are you hiding it?I don't see any evidence that you've traded any strategies that you've allegedly been paper trading for months on end.

What is this ATM chart that you've suddenly discovered is BS without even trading it?? HUH?? LOL :p
 
plumlazy,

That was a wonderful post. Thank you!

I have to say I've come up with a few very interesting observations:

First, when you're out of the market on a easy Friday night drinking some wine and kicking back and relaxing, it is easy to read all those wonderful "psychology" messages on ET. I don't think there is anything wrong with them, either. They're great little "thought pondering tibits" that are good to digest mentally.

However, does a soldier think about Robert Frost or T.S. Elliot while on the battlefield with bullets whizzing by his head and shells exploding around him? Probably not.

This is where I find the discrepancy.

For the longest time, I guess I was a bit like this great strategist "war book" writer about how to capture the enemy and bring down his army. When you're not *STANDING ON THE BATTLEFIELD* it is VERY easy to talk about how to roll the cannons up to the hill and how to set them up, etc.

Suddenly, I'm transported onto this very interesting battlefield. My gut reaction is, "Oh shit, what is this!" and I start running around like a freak at the carnival trying to find a rock to get behind.

There is a wide rift between application and dictation. I have to walk this battlefield and learn what it means and feels like to "take a bullet."

There really is no substitute for experience. I can totally understand why 90% of traders fail. Trading, removed from emotion, really doesn't have to be that hard. However, you cannot choose to when you are emotional and when you are not.

I have a small anxiety problem that I need to overcome. I also have a discipline problem. I also have a patience problem. In fact, I have a lot of problems. These problems aren't something you can easily fix with a few turns of a mental wrench.

The monetary aspect of this part of my journy is non-critical to me. I can say that easily right now as I sit here in the comfort of a nice leather chair while sipping wine. The next time I'm in a position, will I be so calm?

I may have to go back into observation mode and determine what it is I am trying to accomplish. Today I traded options, futures and ETF stocks. I am probably still in that phase of just wanting to trade all these "cool new toys."

Well, that "cool new toy" called YM spanked me really good. In fact, it was the biggest losing trade I've made yet. I didn't trade YM with my system -- I traded it thinking that I could sit there all late afternoon and scalp it afterhours totally ignoring the fact that MSFT was about to announce.

People on ET can talk to other people on ET until they are blue in the face, like they did before I started trading. However, the market is really the master teacher here. Will I be trading YM afterhours for awhile -- NO. That little market making excerise cost me $200 on one trade.

When I finally closed that trade, I stared at the P/L in disbelief. Did I actually lose that much money compared to my account size that quickly? Yes I did! The market is smacking my cockiness back and forth like it was nobody's business.

While I was driving home from work, I started thinking about what the market did to me and I got angry. I felt this need to trade tomorrow and kick its ass. Then I stopped to think about it and realized that if I were going to get mad at the market, I should get mad at my own lack of discipline.

The market just is. It doesn't care how it reallocates money. That $500 or so I've lost so far could have just as easily been a $500 gain.

I'm slowly learning that I need to chill out. Perhaps a subsription of valium, more masturbation -- whatever -- but I need to slow down.

I'm busting out of the gate with this impatient need to prove to myself that I can strike gold instantly -- and that kind of pressure on myself is only going to cause me to burn through my account even faster.

Each day I lose money at the beginning of my journey, the more respect I have for the market.

I'm sitting here right now looking out my window and realizing, for the first time I think, how all the various pieces of advice I've heard on ET are slowly coming together.

I was some kid jerk who thought he was going to play the market like a fiddle and now, for the first time, I feel a little more grown up.

What money I've lost is more than paying for what experience I'm gaining -- I just need to learn how to slow the bleeding so my learning curve catches up with my equity curve.

It is going to be a long journey and I'm sure I haven't even begun to experience my hardest knocks.

I will be keeping this journal alive so long as I can trade -- and even if I burn through this 5k, I'm not going to quit. I'm going to learn a lot about life through being faced with my darkest fears.

Nothing exposes oneself to their inner-self moreso than trading -- and that is what makes us all special.
 
OK,

You got your ass kicked - stop sulking, and get your ass back in.

Before you take a trade, imagine yourself a samurai standing at arms length face to face with another samurai. That's the way pros trade - you don't think you can win - DON'T GO FOR THE SHEATH. But rememeber, it is possible to do everything right AND STILL LOSE!

nitro
 
Originally posted by Aphie

However, does a soldier think about Robert Frost or T.S. Elliot while on the battlefield with bullets whizzing by his head and shells exploding around him? Probably not.
More...


Experience is the key to developing a calmness when being in a trade. When I say chill out - right now, I am saying - stop jumping from one battefield to another = trade only one vehicle - be it ES or NQ or SPY or AMAT whatever.

Become familiar with one vehicle, one battelfield if that's what you want to call it. A soldier dropping into a new hot LZ every few minutes....aint gonna feel very calm....

The only way to learn to fight is by getting whacked around the ears a few times. But stay in one ring with one sparing partner - get to know how he fights....and preserve that capital.

Learn to trade with the trend - watch TICK and TRIN for clues - if you are trading with trend - then if you have that not so fresh feeling that comes from a not so great entry - then you at least have time on your side - if not, then that's what the "HARD STOPS" are for.

All stops are good stops - because they pay off in the long run- and because you allready know that you are going to get out at X point before you put the trade on.

Love to take your small losses and make all of your losses small with stops placed upon entry.
Hate to take your gains :)

And you will survive! Long enough to learn! Heck you might blow out this account you might not, but for now focus on trading your plan to the best of your ability. Learn, learn, learn !!! slowly, slowly, slowly!!! Focus on trading well and let the P&L take care of itself.

Now if you want to exercise some real simple discipline, do like I said and do not put on a postion tomorrow! Start over next week, the one day of JUST watching can help you get your mind right Luke!

One battelfield, hard stops, plan trade, trade plan! Love to take losses, hate to take gains......this will take some time, but it is Very Do-able !!!
 
Originally posted by Aphie
I have a small anxiety problem that I need to overcome. I also have a discipline problem. I also have a patience problem. In fact, I have a lot of problems. These problems aren't something you can easily fix with a few turns of a mental wrench.
More...
And after you've overcome all of that, you still need to have a method that gives you a positive expectation, aka "edge".

I've found that the best way to overcome all the emotional factors is to just stick to my 100% mechanical system. I thought you created one? Use it!!!
 
and rules?

I thought you were trading ES? what's the deal?

continue this way and I give you less than a month. You probably shouldn't be trading anyway with no concept of how the markets move.
 
Well, that "cool new toy" called YM spanked me really good. In fact, it was the biggest losing trade I've made yet. I didn't trade YM with my system -- I traded it thinking that I could sit there all late afternoon and scalp it afterhours totally ignoring the fact that MSFT was about to announce.

Aphie,
Whether you know it or not, you are starting to put some of the pieces together. You started a thread this afternoon that MSFT was leading the ES, this was the result of rumors that they were going to miss. As you are painfully aware it is important to know what is moving the market at all times and this afternoon it just so happened that every trader in the world was focused on MSFT. I know people have mentioned this before, but even if you are trading a system it is absolutely critical to have a list in front of you showing all economic news releases and relevant earnings announcements. When you are trading with a limited amount of capital it helps to go into every one of these announcements flat.

P.S. I don't know if you noticed the delayed reaction in the YM after MSFT's numbers, but it can sometimes be a useful instrument to trade after hours during that 30 min window when the Globex is shut down. It took several minutes for the YM to make a meaningful advance after it was clear MSFT was headed higher.
 
Originally posted by aphexcoil
The market is smacking my cockiness back and forth like it was nobody's business.

While I was driving home from work, I started thinking about what the market did to me and I got angry. I felt this need to trade tomorrow and kick its ass.
More...

The market didn't do anything to you, you did it to yourself. It may take a while for that to sink in (months/years).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top