I'd like to become a better trader

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Quote from Redneck:


We don’t give you feedback to belittle or berate you, or inflate our egos…

The feedback you’ve received is truly from the heart… and it comes from lessons learned the hard way… in some cases very hard, and very costly ways (both monetarily and emotionally)

RN
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RN, I do appreciate your feedback and am trying my best to be best I can be. I am taking trading seriously. The reason I\'ve been posting less here for the last couple of day is that I\'m still working on organizing my thoughts/trading ideas and new software.

I took 1 trade today to sell 3 NQ@2360.75 the target was PP touch/gap close, but I closed it prematurely before the target was reached.
 
Quote from NoDoji:

This week was a critical test of my trader’s mindset.

No one can do it for you. It’s a personal journey requiring an immense amount of study, analysis, and enough trust in your edge that no individual trade result or group of trade results or occasional mistakes affect your ability to trade the very next setup that presents itself and manage it according to your rules.

Your P/L throughout the day will be irrelevant. You’ll be trading in the zone, trading every valid setup and managing it according to your rules. If you make a mistake, you put it behind you, keep calm and carry on.
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NoDoji, congratulations to making it to the new level. I completely realize that nobody can do it for me and I\'m working hard on getting there. thanks for the inspiration.
 
sell 3 nq@2360.25 for pp tag and gap closed. done, out @ 2351.25
Finally I held till my target was reached.
 
Quote from Best Loser:

long 2351.5 stop below LOD, target yesterday high.
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closed before the stop hit for -3 nq points, we have a failed bounce of PP.
 
Quote from Best Loser:

closed before the stop hit for -3 nq points, we have a failed bounce of PP.
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I\\\'ve reversed short @46.25, but closed at b/e prematurely. my previous trades were affecting this one. Need to be more patient with the trades and close them when the situation changes, not when they stop moving or moving slow. Original target was YL/S1 - just reached without me :(
 
BL

Slow down... and let your trades play themselves out


Please

RN

eta - put your hands in your pockets..., after you've entered and set your stop:)
 
I haven\'t quit the journal, just took a day off from trading because I was feeling very tired, worn out. I was reading \"Trader Vic - methods of a wall st. master\" and the second part of the book that deals with the psychology, emotions and motivations was very much to the point of my issues. A very short summary is below.


People adopt an idealized self-image of themselves as a self-defense mechanism and then try to actualize it. It causes the need for perfection that manifests itself in a rigid set of \"shoulds\" and unattainable goals. One of the hardest things to accept in life is that mistakes and pain are an inevitable and essential part of it. It\'s so hard to accept it, because it upsets our idealized image of ourselves. Self-idealization inevitably grows into a more comprehensive drive - \"search for glory\". Neurotic ambition - the compulsive drive for external success - is one aspect of the search for glory. For the neurotically ambitious person life is not experienced as a process, but as a path toward an unreachable future. It sabotages the ability to enjoy the process of living. This self-delusion isn\'t consciously chosen, its the result of an elaborate and hidden subconscious system developed over a period of many years.

The first step to conquer this false pride is to realize that it\'s there. As a trader, as a person, you have a choice. You can let this search for glory determine your behavior, or you can recognize that you have to learn in order to grow and with learning come mistakes. You are going to make mistakes - win sometimes, lose sometimes too. When you make a mistake you can grow by analyzing the mistake and changing your behavior according to what you\'ve learned.

To be a successful trader, you have to obtain a mindset that following the rules is pleasurable and breaking the rules is painful. But, even if you follow your rules, you\'ll still lose money sometimes, and losing money is almost always a little bit painful. You have to understand that pain is normal, natural, and accept on the emotional level that the pain is unimportant and it will pass. If you go through life trying to avoid pain and mistakes, you can\'t learn, can\'t think, can\'t grow and accomplish much. Success is a process of change and pain is part of the process.

Life involves risks and if you don\'t recognize risk, falure and pain as part of the process in trading then you\'ll either lose money or be miserable in the process of making it. The essence of maintaing your mental well being as a trader is taking a position in which you feel confident and sure, while always knowing that you may not be rewarded for your work. You have to be open to the pain that so often accompanies honesty and growth. Opening yourself to the risks of life may be frightening, but the fact is that there really is no alternative. There is no freedom from risk, there is no freedom from pain, there is not freedom from possibility of falure. But there is freedom in the acceptance of all of these as part of life, and moreover as the least important part of life.

Many traders would say that freedom is their goal, but it means more then just financial independence. It means being able to experience life with an unbridled capacity for joy, regardless of your financial condition. It means learning to experience joy in the process of living.
 
BL,

Wonderful insight

Next step along your journey

Come to know all internal pain is self created

And if we have the ability to create our pain.., then we also have the ability to eliminate our pain


De-energize it – then it no longer has control over us / or ability to hold us back/ make us hesitate
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Couple of pages ago Laissez was trying to make me feel pain (of sorts) by suggesting I had some issue with admitting I was wrong

How much pain do you think I experienced from his comments – really…

Was that situation any different - than what the market places us in each day we trade?

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Random thoughts

It is not what happens to us that matters – it is how we respond that defines us

Every trade’s out come is uncertain – how could we ever feel pain over a losing trade

To profit from a trade – we must enter… every time we enter – we must risk money

Some times we win…, some times we lose


We never fail – unless, and until – we quit….

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You’ve grown since starting this thread – I’m looking forward to more of the same :)


RN
 
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