Maintaining discipline

Thanks Mandel. I am aware that there's opportunity before Fed for a trade. In fact, yesterday if I had traded, I would have had a great profit catching the short late in the day.

I figure if I trade before Fed and lose, and get myself clouded, I risk making bad trades during the fast market.

Remember, I am not yet a stable trader. My "plan" can change many times during the day :)
 
4 trades today. Broke 3 rules on third trade (shorted ES 94 just because we are stagnant)

Compulsive trade, no stop and averaged down (last two go hand in hand).

4th trade was a very nice trade that followed all signals and rules. In fact, it is one of the few times I reversed a losing position(went long at 97).

It was a revenge trade of some sort, and yes it paid out. Ideally, I can stop trading once I break a rule. However, I often cannot stop until I am in positive region for the day, or the market is stagnant or I have accumulated a loss that I regret.

Very tempted to make a 5th trade since we have bulled beyond 1400. Writing this note as a stronger reminder just be thankful and take home what I have .
 
Quote from nimble:

4 trades today. Broke 3 rules on third trade (shorted ES 94 just because we are stagnant)

Compulsive trade, no stop and averaged down (last two go hand in hand).

4th trade was a very nice trade that followed all signals and rules. In fact, it is one of the few times I reversed a losing position(went long at 97).

It was a revenge trade of some sort, and yes it paid out. Ideally, I can stop trading once I break a rule. However, I often cannot stop until I am in positive region for the day, or the market is stagnant or I have accumulated a loss that I regret.

Very tempted to make a 5th trade since we have bulled beyond 1400. Writing this note as a stronger reminder just be thankful and take home what I have .
More...
 
3 trades today. The last two weren't suppose to be done after I caught a good short ride for the first trade. I was looking for long below 1410 because I mix up time frame, and was greedy for more. Ended up BE on those trades but spent 2 more hours in front of the screen...

Trades followed system signal and had stop, but market was very choppy that period so I quit.
 
"However, I often cannot stop until I am in positive region for the day"

bad bad bad bad bad

don't trade your P&L. period. the market does not know whether you made 50 pts or lost 50 pts. it doesn't care.

trade decisions should not be affected by where your P&L is.

trust me on this. this is a basic part of psychology, risk management, money management, game theory, etc.

it is one of the hardest tendencies to overcome.

any trade you enter needs to be taken in context with price action, fundamentals, key reference area - WHATever market psychology, TA, fundamental, etc. analysis that is part of your system, but NOT what you have done, what you have made, or what you have lost.

it also totally limits you to the upside, and can cause more pain to the downside. no revenge trades, no "i'll just set my target here, cause that's breakeven and i just wanna get to breakeven and im done" etc.

that's a loser mentality, it's negative expectancy, and it should never be part of your trading.
 
Acknowledged whitster.

Trades are based on signals right now. Not what I did yesterday... Thanks.

Today is pretty much a non event. Took one trade and stopped out.
 
trading isn't a business.

trading isn't a job


get real job or real business

it's a game if you are a short term trader. daytrading and swing trading.

mutual fund managers make money on managing money not by trading
 
Today 4 trades. First 3 were shorts (1406 up until 1412.25) and you know how that went. I followed rule on these.

Last one was long with a 2x bet, breaking a rule. But the entry signal and stop was followed. Regained 2/3 of my loss.

Happy that I was still able to maintain some "consciousness". But still made an impromptu decision to double bet.
 
Back again.

5/7 Wednesday was pretty much break even. Gained on short in the morning, but bought breaking system entry rule in the afternoon.

5/8 Thursday. Some loss, but followed rules.

5/9 Friday. Worst day of the week in terms of discipline. Weekend coming was a good thing.

5/12 Monday. Followed signal and avoided to trade that day.

5/13 Tuesday. Followed rules, small gain and happy day.
 
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