david's trading errors/mistakes journal

T

trader_david

I traded lots of years. but because of this reason or that reason, i commited lots of mistakes most traders did. i hate them. and i want to control them firmly. I want to correct it totally.

as most know, trading knowledge is not hard to learn.skills to spot trading opportunities are not hard to learn too. the hardest part is how to manage ourselves to do what a trader should do. here are a list of some mistakes very common to most traders and to me

1. carefully planned a trade, but next day did another different trade, end up with no plan trading
2. cut loss too quick or too late, either way, did not follow the plan
3. book profit prematurely or beg the market to give more and overstay
4. not trust himself, and his workable system, frequently change his strategy back and forth, try to beat the market evey time
5. feel he takes profit too early, enter another trade again immeadiately after he is out, hope to catch the remaining unseen profit
6. do not want to lose. do reckless scratch trades to try to make a red day to be a green day, trade in a rush without well thought plan since the day is being closed or other things occur
7. strong ego, always want to show he is good. even in a no trending day or in a day even a skunk can not make a scent, he try to squeeze something out. he does not know when he is good at.


today i was pretty angry about myself. I planned to do 2~3 intra-day swing trades, but I did lot, most are scalpings.
in the morning, i noticed sweet crude short spot is 70.5, i waited patiently, that is good, when teh time came, i entered it at 70.58, i planned to cover it at 69.5~68.8, but I could not wait, i toke it out too early at 69.8, then i started to bottom fishing, got it at 69.31, shoke out at 69.11, good. then bought it again at 68.9, my stop loss is at 68.6, sound very robust, but shoke out again at 69.37, then lost control there, started to do lots of reckless scalping trades there, lost a big chuck of the morning profit(i should just take the near-closing breakup trade)after that I noticed I did 31 trades on crude trades, what an idiot I am.

late i spotted MR, planned to enter it at 33 at 33, sell it at the closing. but I did not do it, it seems I still angry about myself.

hope tomrrow I will just make 3 less trades, all well planned and executed accordingly
 
I already did two trades. first one, bought HCLS at 1.31 in the pullback, plan to hold it all day. in this process, I was a little eager, my initial buy order is at 1.25, but afraid of missing the train, the morning jump up point.

mistake here: eager to jump in and afraid of missing the train

I just leave oly HLCS on the screen, my rule is one time just focus on one, I honored it. after I entered it, I shut down the computer. then HCLS got stopped out at 1.21 after I turned on my computer around 10:23am, I was planning to do another trade since crude inventory data will be released around 1:30am.

I saw crude shooted nicely around 71, I thought I should go short it, but made another mistake, my intial sell point is 70.7, but I change my stop sell order into a limit order at 71.8 (wish some stupid guy jump on my gun, what a wish), did not short it. after the big bar down, I thought it is a good bargin buy, this time, I was good, patiently wait the market struggles around 70.3~70. saw it suddeendly dipped to 70 under, I put a stop buy at 70.16, here we go,it reversed there, got it there, my intial plan is sell it at 70.65~70.8, but I commited another crime again, I was out at 70.47, felt blessed since I got my morning HLCS loss back and gained a little more, another big mistake. so the morning session to me is done. because of those mistakes, I know I better shut down my computer.

I am planning to do the FOMC announcement this afternoon. only one trade is left for me today. I may do it may not do it depends on my mistake effect
 
suggestion - make your posts as short as possible. Make a digest, not a brain dump. This is the first thought I had when I entered your thread - "aack - this is going to be an encyclopedia..."

It takes you longer, and likely turns off readers. Reading 20-30 lines from someone you don't know is not so appealing.

Same as a resume. You get 10-30 seconds from the recruiter before he adds you to the reject pile.

Just summarize your trades and thoughts...
 
I do not try to write it concisely. that is not what I want to achieve. if no one read it, good. my aim here is use this mistake journal to monitor my trading activities, curb trading errors, tnansform myself into a true professional trader. English is not my mative language, though I am an u.s. citizen.



Quote from TraderZones:

suggestion - make your posts as short as possible. Make a digest, not a brain dump. This is the first thought I had when I entered your thread - "aack - this is going to be an encyclopedia..."

It takes you longer, and likely turns off readers. Reading 20-30 lines from someone you don't know is not so appealing.

Same as a resume. You get 10-30 seconds from the recruiter before he adds you to the reject pile.

Just summarize your trades and thoughts...
More...
 
turned on my computer again around 2:00PM, thought FOMC announcement may stire the market a little bit. did not see crazy movement, I did not nothing this afternoon.
 
Quote from trader_david:

I do not try to write it concisely. that is not what I want to achieve. if no one read it, good. my aim here is use this mistake journal to monitor my trading activities, curb trading errors, tnansform myself into a true professional trader. .
More...

My guess is, that you will never really read all the details, either...
 
No, I do read them. my purpose is keep an open journal, so people in this site can monitor my trading activities and point out my inconsistency, or errors or mistakes (of course not grammar/spelling errors, I will try my best to write them better).

Quote from TraderZones:

My guess is, that you will never really read all the details, either...
More...
 
turned on my computer around 8:00am, saw CIT was active and moving higher. thought to go long with it. but it seems to me the penny stock was moving not attractively (even % good, but I need big size to catch a nice run). so I shifted my focus on crude again.

I knew the labor data will be released at 8:30am, I checked the umemployment 6month chart, I found the chart is poing down, that means it become better. then I read the number, felt umemployment situation may stay there a while (the market most likely will head down), I saw crude'short spot at 71.5, it really dropped there, I shorted it at 71.56, my target is 70.5~69.8, planned to cover when it hit 70.5under, then something happened, my little son disturbed me for batheroom, I should just leave my stop loss at 71.8, I toke it out at 71.1.

around 9:30am, it dipped to 71 under, I saw another short spot at 70.8, I just wanted to put a stop sell there, my little son came to my desk again, gee, when I came back it was struggling around 70.2 under, I was totally angry about missing the opportunity. yelled at my son, then calm down, thought that was good bargin buy, when i just got it at 70.23, my little son cam back again asked me for juice let me open it for him, I killed it again at 70.31. after I opened the juice bottle for him, he asked other thing too, I saw it was shooting, felt totally angry about the situation. I know when I was angry, better off the market, I did not trade after 10:20AM, watch its climbing very painfully. at noon, when it hit 71.5, planned to short it, but because of the family disturbances and luch time, I did not short it, then watch it nose dive to 70.5 under very painfully.

seized MMR at 7.8 after lunch, plan to sell it tomrrow,
 
after the day closed. I read Nodoji's trading journal. from her trading, I realized I made the same mistake.

then went over many trades I did in my memory. I realized the reason why many traders fail or trading is so hard to them. I put a note in my mind: the game is a self-designed game: the trading rules,the trading system (how to enter a trade, how long to hold a trade, when to cut loss or get out, what setup used, what idea involved). the market is never ending, only you trader chose how to play, the final results whether win or gain is your decision,not the market. when you lose, you can wait wait endlessly, finally the market may show you profit; or vice versa.

after I realized this. I start to understand where my big drawdows can from: I jump around my rules,my trading system too frequently, I do not have a clear firm trading plan, I traded this trade using this strategy, while another using another strategy, sometimes I hold profit very short and regret booking profit prematurely, then changed to hold longer and turned a winner into a loser, full of inconsistency.

I woke up very early today at 4:30AM, I could not sleep any more, an urge to write down my game rules very detailedly and clearly. I told myself "this is your game, you must first clarify your own game, then you can play it". it toke me one hour to finish that document.

now I know it is my own game, I should not change my own game rules to cheat myself any more. I know I will modify some of my game rules when my situation elvolues, but not now.

my aim is to create efficient daily positive cash flow or make the dead money live money (just like feed a chicken to get eggs daily), not home run instantly rich, use this cash flow to support/improve my daily living

based on this objective, I do not need do overnight trading for big gain, I just need do intra-day swing or some scalping, I do not need do lot, I just need do 5 less trades. I told myself if I did more than 5 trades or I hit my daily maximum loss target, either way, I must shut down my computer.
 
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