ES Journal - 2021/2022

Who is printing money in retail trading? No one.

I have never heard of any retail trader that printed money via trading, each trade is a psychological mindfuck ;)

This is an interesting comment. Care to elaborate? To my knowledge there certainly are a few who are making good money as retail traders.

And each trade being a psychological mindf''k? What does that even mean?

The only time a trade is a psychological mindf''k for me is if I deviate from my plan. Such as taking on too much size or trading when I shouldn't be trading (still happens a bit too often).
 
Essentially this goes a little bit to your psychology question. Here are some excerpts from my recent report which explains why I made the mistake and my demeanor in September:

* Uses his self-confidence, energy and charismatic approach to “sell” people on his ideas
and plans
* May rely too much on “gut feelings” and “quick thinking” to guide a presentation rather
than using an analytical and organized approach
* In his focus on the big picture, may miss the details
* Strong results orientation may result in announcing conclusions without patiently
explaining reasons

So in September I let my big picture view and anticipation of a market bottom dictate that view rather than let the indicators signal. But I also acknowledged my mistake and got out of my positions. I get that now.

Thank you for sharing that so freely, @formikatrading.

Humbly, if I may, I'm afraid you're about to repeat the same mistake as your confidence level seems too high and you're very persistent about wanting to put your view forth. The latter is especially concerning because it makes you very much want to be right. No doubt you want to have some recognition for having called this bottom and take a "See guys? Told you so." in a few weeks.

And that's okay. It's human. I do it to from time to time myself. I like to brag a bit when I get it right. We all want some recognition for what we do I suppose as we're mostly doing this in isolation and our friends and family don't have one idea about what we're doing.

But like I wrote earlier in this journal I think putting a view forth very strongly is dangerous because it makes you more concerned about being right than about making money.

We all trade differently, but the way I approach trading is that I tend to forecast/predict and have an idea about what my main scenario is moving forward (be that a few hours or a week ahead), but I also have an idea about where I'm wrong and where my main scenario was violated and where it's time to either go neutral or reverse course. As I receive more data as the day/week progresses, I can update my model and make updated views, i.e., are we confirming or negating the main scenario...?

I did this in an exemplary way live last Wednesday where I was initially long and stopped out thrice, but updated statistical data told me we had a big move lower in play. I recognized it and reversed course. I'm bragging about this part because in the past and many times I didn't even share it here I have come very locked down in my main scenario and have defended it even to myself not accepting I was wrong. For example continuing to go long even when the market is falling and it was clear I messed up.

That's why I'm asking you and the other bulls on this thread to thread carefully and maybe consider putting in a protective stop and if you feel like it maybe share where you would consider yourself wrong from here? I think it would do you a world of good and help your trading and prevent further losses. In my view, this is a dangerous environment where it's so easy to lose money and one where I think it's very good to recognize and respect both sides.

There's nothing I'd like more than everyone here to make a sh't ton of money and if up is the way we're going from here I'm going to participate that direction myself. 10 short trades last week and 40 long trades. :)
 
Quite the volatile session today. Plenty of > 10 point 5-minute bars. How did guys make out?

I had to sit this one out. In hindsight, this looks like a session where one could quickly rack up losses even if being on the right side of the market, but not catching the exact entry.
Heiken ashi 12 second bars. Try it.
 
Heiken ashi 12 second bars. Try it.

I’ve been looking more at the 1-minute and still have the 1500-volume chart as my execution chart. That helps when the market is moving a lot inside a 5-minute bar.

I’ll check out the Heiken bars. Thank you.
 
I’ve been looking more at the 1-minute and still have the 1500-volume chart as my execution chart. That helps when the market is moving a lot inside a 5-minute bar.

I’ll check out the Heiken bars. Thank you.
Execute based on 5,15 minutes and even higher TF.
Examine the shadows of the long TF in the PA of the lower TF.
 
This is an interesting comment. Care to elaborate? To my knowledge there certainly are a few who are making good money as retail traders.

And each trade being a psychological mindf''k? What does that even mean?

The only time a trade is a psychological mindf''k for me is if I deviate from my plan. Such as taking on too much size or trading when I shouldn't be trading (still happens a bit too often).

To me, comparison between retail trading and printing money would indicate that risk of a loss is non-existent. This is simply not true. Risk is always there. Only insider trading, which is illegal, can be comparative to printing money.

Why each individual trade is a mindfuck is related to the above, each trade carries unknown outcome, otherwise you would be able to bet a farm on each trade. And because market can often be unpredictable, we often observe traders closing positions due to ‘head-fake’ price action ie your method says close and you close and then market goes in the anticipated direction. Doesn’t happen to you? Of course it does. And everyone ponders should I close now or give it another .5 point to go in my direction. These type of decisions equate to the term mindfuck.

Show me one trader that prints money trading and I will eat my shoe :)
 
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