Maintaining discipline

4 Trades today. Yes I tried very hard to short this damn thing.

#1 Short was too early, followed rule, thus stopped out with a loss.

#2 Long 1/2 size, followed entry rule, broke exit rule, took profit instead of trailing 'cos I have short bias.

#3 Good short, followed rule, but not many points.

#4 Another nice short. Entered late, and the trailing stop took me out. If I took profit based on instinct I would have closed near low.

I still have short bug on, but the ES just won't close below 1370. Therefore, still need caution, and yes, I am quite frustrated these two days trying to short. That's another caution.
 
schizophrenic is the perfect word for the market.

I shorted over night, and stopped out. This trade I broke a rule, 'cos I am only suppose to day trade futures. One would think after yesterday's head fake, today we needed more time to test 1370 support :) Well... no.

Second trade was a long trade and gained a small profit for the day overall.

Decided not to trade the rest of the day because we have gone up too much, and I have seen what a day like today that can do to shorts. I feel satisfied 'cos this is the third time in the last two months I have been able to leave a day like this alone. These are usually days I would end up with big losses.

In theory 1370-1400 range is broken. So my bearishness is broken also. I will play it day by day.
 
Missed globex. Woke up right before market open as I was expecting yesterday's bullishness to continue. New lesson, possibly I should consider waking up earlier on reporting days.

Today system had 4 signals, out of ordinary.

First signal. Shorted at open. Small position since it is a huge gap down.

Second signal, same small position. Broke a rule by taking profit because market went down 10 points in a very short time. Left 1/3 profit on table, and didn't re-short on the first bounce 'cos no signal from my system.

After I see how much we bounced the first and second signal, I got a hunch market was in trouble.

Third signal, I broke a rule, I doubled my position. My stop for the trade would have caused 1/2 profits from the first two trades to vanish. So this is a great today vs. nothing gamble. Instinct says days like these don't come often.

Four trade. Broke a rule 'cos I shouldn't enter a trade after 2PM Chicago time, but instinct says days like this don't come so often. Shorted small position at 2:12, and covered at 3PM :)))))))

Need to regroup this weekend. Next week, maintain small size, and should be extra careful as the swings will be huge.
 
I was not suppose to trade today. But I did.

Shorted while my system gave no signal in the morning, and stopped out for small loss.

Missed the short during midday, and had to walk around a few times to tell myself I missed the trade and not chase. Plus, system was anticipating a late day bounce.
 
Quote from nimble:

I was not suppose to trade today. But I did.

Shorted while my system gave no signal in the morning, and stopped out for small loss.

Missed the short during midday, and had to walk around a few times to tell myself I missed the trade and not chase. Plus, system was anticipating a late day bounce.
More...
Ask yourself:

"Why should I take a trade that is outside of my system?"

Whatever answer you get is the secret to your being a consistently profitable trader.

Good Luck
 
Quote from nimble:

I have realized for many months that lack of self discipline is my biggest problem in becoming a consistent trader.

By nature, I am a very adaptable, flexible, and forgiving person. Somewhat a risk taker, and like to try out new things. Always curious.

As you already can tell, I have a predisposition that makes it hard for me to maintain discipline.

General wisdom says I should find a job that is suited for my personality and talent. Well, I am attached to the potential of monetary reward, and flexible hours of a trading career. I am working towards making trading my second/retirement career.

I have traded actively for 1.5 years now. Made a whole lot in a very short time and lost it all. Possibly I will finally find that trading really isn't my thing. At this point, I am not giving up. Not yet.

My main focus for the next many weeks, months, years is to train and maintain discipline. I will post in this thread readings or tools I have found regarding self-discipline, as well as my plan and progress.

I hope this thread and compilation will be useful to myself and others on the board.

Comments, suggestions or simply moral support or beating are very welcome!
More...

nimble -- You have all the moral support I could ever muster. I look forward to reading and learning from the thread and possibly contributing. THANK YOU and all the best.

Ansare
 
Quote from MandelbrotSet:

Ask yourself:

"Why should I take a trade that is outside of my system?"

Whatever answer you get is the secret to your being a consistently profitable trader.

Good Luck
More...

Thanks for the reminder. I belive I have found the answer and I am reminding myself again below :

05-24-08 07:07 PM


Hi Inspector,

The current ES day trade system I trade has fewer trades than what I like I think. It trades at most 2 or 3 time a day, and no trades on some days. It is designed to catch predictable trades, not necessarily the largest point move. Therefore the way to trade the system is to trade size when it is due. But these days do not come often, and right now I don't trade large lots yet.

I trust my system (at least 90% I think). I deviate from the system because I trying to out do the system.

.....

I can pretty much point to the impatience to recuperating my loss as the ultimate reason I break rules here and there. The fact is if I remove the days I break rules, it is quite clear that the small profits I have done would bring me much further towards my goal. The days when I break rules are what is setting me back from reaching my goal. If I can only remember that every time before I break a rule.....
More...
 
not everybody has discipline,that doesn't mean you can't trade,spud web was 5'6" and played in the nba,he made tradeofffs for his height,get rid of the word can't and remember there are no problems only solutions
 
Quote from ammo:

not everybody has discipline,that doesn't mean you can't trade,spud web was 5'6" and played in the nba,he made tradeofffs for his height,get rid of the word can't and remember there are no problems only solutions
More...

Spud had talent though, not everyone has the natural talent to trade profitably so they must create an edge from discipline and strict money management until years of screen time improve their ability.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZZWDyn5-CA&feature=related
 
7 Trades *DUH*

System gave 1 long (4th trade) and 1 short signals.

I tried to short the entire day not following my system. Missed the best short of the day because I wasn't at my desk (my system didn't catch it until it was quite late late)

System had a long bias for the day, and I still have shorting bug. Therefore I went on to do my own little thing. Because I was doing my own little thing, I had stops in the whole day and didn't average. That's probably why I survived the day without taking much heat.

Except for one decent long and one decent short later in the day, all other trades were small loss or BE.

Even though the day had small everyday profit, it was tiring like heck and I wish I had just let it go without trading...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top