I'm also going to change the layout of my journal and how I update it. I don't think reporting my P&L is helping me at all and improving myself is the point of this journal. I also don't think reporting my biggest winners and biggest losers is very effective for me. I'll probably be playing with a few ideas over next few days while I look at other people's journals for ideas and while I come up with my own ideas. Thanks.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
ElecEquity's Active Trading Journal
- Thread starter ElecEquity
- Start date
Today's Total: +1865.18
Discretionary: +1341.28
Solid day. Because I'm changing my format and I have no idea yet what the most effective format for me is as of yet, I'll just post my biggest winners and losers with no explanations. I'll likely begin a new format of sorts on Monday. Thanks and good trading to all.
SFLY +588.04
SLV +548.35
GPRO +411.98
SPY +385.25
DBD +266.45
-------------------------
BIDU -316.70
WFMI -260.48
BC -135.96
Discretionary: +1341.28
Solid day. Because I'm changing my format and I have no idea yet what the most effective format for me is as of yet, I'll just post my biggest winners and losers with no explanations. I'll likely begin a new format of sorts on Monday. Thanks and good trading to all.
SFLY +588.04
SLV +548.35
GPRO +411.98
SPY +385.25
DBD +266.45
-------------------------
BIDU -316.70
WFMI -260.48
BC -135.96
Today's Results: +1878.15
Discretionary: +847.45
Solid end to the month. Choppy day, but I came back from down around 1k to finish green. My psychology is in the best place it's ever been in my entire career.
I've never focused so much on improving my psyche as I have over the past 4 months in my entire career. It has also made me realize how flawed my psychology has been throughout my entire competitive life --- from sports as a kid, to during high school, throughout college, and now during my trading career. I've always been a pessimistic optimist -- never fully believing in myself or my ability and always expecting a downfall. I've managed to persevere through all of that just off of talent, smarts and perseverance without giving myself fully to the belief that I can achieve my goals.
Trading made me realize (albeit only recently) what my coaches meant when they said, "90% of this game is played above your shoulders." That is trading in a nutshell once you have developed the skills and the strategy/strategies to make money. From there, it's all about what you believe you're capable of enduring in order to achieve your end goals...whatever they may be.
I look at the exceptional traders around me and I see that they effuse positivity and confidence. I found myself lacking in that positivity and to some respect the confidence as well. The shift in my mind began to really take hold shortly before the Japanese earthquake crisis and I felt like I was coming into my own...I felt it. Then, if you follow my journal at all, you can see that my feeling of arrival was mentally shaken temporarily --- only to be regained with even stronger fervor than before. And maybe that's exactly what I needed in order to fully understand what was driving me into these negative places and how to rectify myself from them or to catch them before they occur and right myself.
I have no clue what the future holds, but I do know my goals and I'm going full-steam ahead reaching for the top. This journal will document the next few months of my career....financially and psychologically. I only seek to control those things that I can control about my trading and I'll leave the rest to the market. I'm going to read my journal from start to finish this weekend to see if there is anything more I can learn about this entire process over the last 4 months. Thanks.
Tell that bastard I wanted more short yesterday!
Discretionary: +847.45
Solid end to the month. Choppy day, but I came back from down around 1k to finish green. My psychology is in the best place it's ever been in my entire career.
I've never focused so much on improving my psyche as I have over the past 4 months in my entire career. It has also made me realize how flawed my psychology has been throughout my entire competitive life --- from sports as a kid, to during high school, throughout college, and now during my trading career. I've always been a pessimistic optimist -- never fully believing in myself or my ability and always expecting a downfall. I've managed to persevere through all of that just off of talent, smarts and perseverance without giving myself fully to the belief that I can achieve my goals.
Trading made me realize (albeit only recently) what my coaches meant when they said, "90% of this game is played above your shoulders." That is trading in a nutshell once you have developed the skills and the strategy/strategies to make money. From there, it's all about what you believe you're capable of enduring in order to achieve your end goals...whatever they may be.
I look at the exceptional traders around me and I see that they effuse positivity and confidence. I found myself lacking in that positivity and to some respect the confidence as well. The shift in my mind began to really take hold shortly before the Japanese earthquake crisis and I felt like I was coming into my own...I felt it. Then, if you follow my journal at all, you can see that my feeling of arrival was mentally shaken temporarily --- only to be regained with even stronger fervor than before. And maybe that's exactly what I needed in order to fully understand what was driving me into these negative places and how to rectify myself from them or to catch them before they occur and right myself.
I have no clue what the future holds, but I do know my goals and I'm going full-steam ahead reaching for the top. This journal will document the next few months of my career....financially and psychologically. I only seek to control those things that I can control about my trading and I'll leave the rest to the market. I'm going to read my journal from start to finish this weekend to see if there is anything more I can learn about this entire process over the last 4 months. Thanks.
Quote from ksmetana:
<--- skyping GPRO
Tell that bastard I wanted more short yesterday!
Quote from ElecEquity:
Trading made me realize (albeit only recently) what my coaches meant when they said, "90% of this game is played above your shoulders." That is trading in a nutshell once you have developed the skills and the strategy/strategies to make money. From there, it's all about what you believe you're capable of enduring in order to achieve your end goals...whatever they may be.
This is so accurate it's not funny. You need a method but you can't make $$ unless you trade that method with positivity and confidence!!
Kill it, WITH BALLS!
These are a few great quotes from Zen in the Art of Archery. Great book. I recommend you check it out if you get a chance.
- "The right art," cried by the Master, "is purposeless, aimless! The more obstinately you try to learn how to shoot the arrow for the sake of hitting the goal, the less you will succeed in the one and the further the other will recede. What stands in your way is that you have a much too willful will. You think that what you do not do yourself does not happen."
- "Stop thinking about the shot!" the Master called out. "That way it is bound to fail." "I can't help it," I answered, "the tension gets too painful."
"You only feel it because you haven't really let go of yourself. It is all so simple."
- "You worry yourself unnecessarily," the Master comforted me. "Put the thought of hitting right out of your mind! You can be a Master even if every shot does not hit. The hits on the target are only the outward proof and confirmation of your purposelessness at its highest, of your egolessness, your self-abandonment, or whatever you like to call this state. There are different grades of mastery, and only when you have made the last grade will you be sure of not missing the goal....The spider dances her web without knowing that there are flies who will get caught in it."
- "You worry yourself unnecessarily," the Master comforted me. "Put the thought of hitting right out of your mind! You can be a Master even if every shot does not hit. The hits on the target are only the outward proof and confirmation of your purposelessness at its highest, of your egolessness, your self-abandonment, or whatever you like to call this state. There are different grades of mastery, and only when you have made the last grade will you be sure of not missing the goal....The spider dances her web without knowing that there are flies who will get caught in it."
HELL YEA!!!!
We finally got Osama!!!!!!!!!!
I feel great about it!!!!!!
U.S.A.!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let's go!!!
Pakistan.......hmmmmmm....in a mansion in the capital city? I think our relations belong on thin ice.
Not journal related...but I couldn't resist.
We finally got Osama!!!!!!!!!!
I feel great about it!!!!!!
U.S.A.!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let's go!!!
Pakistan.......hmmmmmm....in a mansion in the capital city? I think our relations belong on thin ice.
Not journal related...but I couldn't resist.
No updates this week
Quote from Jackie Treehorn:
No updates this week
Nope. I've been working on some psychology things all week. Doing some meditation and drowning myself in positive messaging throughout the day (in the morning and during workouts) to see how it effects my mentality during the trading day and in my everyday life.
I recently realized that my pessimistic-optimism has played a major role throughout my life in all performance activities....most recently trading. I really want to get to the next level and I'm working on everything that has been obstructing that progress. Because I know that I have the skillset for trading profitably, I know it's my psychology that needs the most work. So I decided to take the week off from updating my results. Thanks for checking in and I'll be back to the norm next week. Have a good weekend.
Thanks to everyone that followed my thread while I maintained it. I don't plan on ever updating this thread anymore. I'm glad I tried the whole journal thing here on ET, but I didn't find any great improvement in my trading from the updates I did here. I've actually grown a lot more in the past few months than I ever did updating my journal here.
A final update. I've been continuing with strengthening my psychology daily. Not only has it changed the way that I approach the markets daily, it has had a major effect on my life as well. I highly recommend that every trader (every trader with an edge, that is) contact a sports performance coach (there are a few highly reputed ones on twitter that will talk to you for free), read a book or two on the topic of mental training (or google it), and then commit to employing those tools in your everyday life and your everyday trading operations. It will change your trading Some people don't need this kind of thing. I did/do. The best setup in the world will fail if you're lacking the psychological capital to trade your plan appropriately. My $.02.
For all the struggling traders on ET and the profitable traders, I recommend you check out Twitter. Not to take anything away from ET, but there are some really good traders there that share a lot and offer different, useful insights to trading, setups and the markets. That said, there are a lot of gems on ET as well if you look for them. I guess that makes $.04 now.
Moderators please close this thread for further comment. Thanks again.
A final update. I've been continuing with strengthening my psychology daily. Not only has it changed the way that I approach the markets daily, it has had a major effect on my life as well. I highly recommend that every trader (every trader with an edge, that is) contact a sports performance coach (there are a few highly reputed ones on twitter that will talk to you for free), read a book or two on the topic of mental training (or google it), and then commit to employing those tools in your everyday life and your everyday trading operations. It will change your trading Some people don't need this kind of thing. I did/do. The best setup in the world will fail if you're lacking the psychological capital to trade your plan appropriately. My $.02.
For all the struggling traders on ET and the profitable traders, I recommend you check out Twitter. Not to take anything away from ET, but there are some really good traders there that share a lot and offer different, useful insights to trading, setups and the markets. That said, there are a lot of gems on ET as well if you look for them. I guess that makes $.04 now.
Moderators please close this thread for further comment. Thanks again.