Happy with it now? Sure didn't start out that way, but always fascinated with trading from day one and every day since.
Passion for it?. When I first started I had a lot of passion for it and no knowledge of it. The passion is what got me through the no knowledge phase. The seeking for the holy grail phase. The seeking for any damned thing that might work phase. The maybe I should just find someone to double up and take the opposite of all my trades and then we can split his profits phase.
I suppose that I still have a passion for it, but it's different than when I first began trading. Todays passion for trading is a lot less obsessive and a whole lot less compulsive. A much more methodical type of passion seems to pay better.
I don't work hard. I know what hard work is and trading is not hard work. It can be difficult yes and it can be tiring. It can be stressful.
When I first started, knowing little to nothing about trading and about my reactions to trading, difficult, tiring, and stressful was an understatement. (gut wrenching might fit better)
After having daytraded for several years, I still have some difficult, tiring and stressful days. Wednesday was such a day for me.
On my first two trades I tried to let winners run and they came back at me. Then I allowed myself to go into a psychological protection mode and I took profits on the next two trades way, way, too soon. So I recognized my behavior and on my next three trades I tried to let them run and they came back at me..
Some days are frustrating. I had 7 round trips and 20 bucks to show for it = a net loss after commissions. (but hardly gut wrenching)
Now I have a daily maximum loss (500 dollars) and I honor that. I have live stop losses on all of my trades and I honor them. I no longer have a losing day, that is such a loss that I end up feeling anything more than frustration. No more gut wrenching days. I call my losing days normal trading days. (to be expected) To me this is very important not to allow myself to lose more than I can deal with pschologically on any given day. (500 loss in a day is my absolute limit, but I rarely let myself lose that much) Sometimes if I'm down 300 or 250 and/or if I just don't feel right and only down 40 bucks - I'll shut her down and go do something different. Sometimes I come back that day and sometimes I wait a day. (market will be there tomorrow)
I have learned to tell myself things like: I don't know what the market is going to do. Or would you look at that, rather than how in the hell can those fools be buying this worhtless crap, don't they know that they should be short like me!......I don't do that anymore. I'm out on my stop and I take another assessment before I make another entry - sometimes it's a reversal = what do I care if the fools are buying, I'll buy too. Better to be a buying fool and have a green day that to take a bad stand and look downright foolish on the p-n-l at the end of the day. Sometimes I don't reverse but wait and get back in the same trade (even at a worse price) if it starts showing good signs of what I was originally looking for.
Do I still have a passion" I suppose so, but it's a heck of a lot more patient, flexible, relaxed passion than my earlier passion and it's a lot less obsessive and compulsive. I have taken the "I have to make money today", out of my trading plan.
I have also taken the "I must be right" out of my trading plan, along with "this entry needs to be perfect" or else it's no good.
I also now know that I can trust myself to stick with my rules (nearly all of the time). The times that I don't (and I still slip up on occasion) usually aren't happy days, but no longer gut wrenching - the daily stop loss is honored. But it's still not hard work, it just isn't.
Taking the "I have to make money today" and "perfect entries" out of my trading phsyche has made me a lot more money than I would have imagined.
Happy with it now? I think maybe that I'll just say *satisfied*.
It fits my old - n- slow personality better .
