Maintaining Self Discipline

[studentofthemarkets]

Took one trade, it lost and so I stopped for the day.

This was kind of an off day. I had some ideas going through my mind on how to improve my entries and didn't test them, but took a trade based on it anyhow, and didn't pay attention to my normal indicators. What was I thinking? I'm suppose to be trading very carefully, that's why I have my rule of one loss and done for the day. I almost didn't keep that rule either....which likely would have led to a disaster in my demo account.

 

[studentofthemarkets]

1 trade taken yesterday, 12-5-2019, and it lost. Broke my rule to not trade around the open, and so the whipsaw took out my 10 tick SL. I also traded based on the momentum of the candle and not technical analysis. It went against my goal to enter into a retracement to a trend. I hate it when I do things I'm trying not to do.

3 trades taken today. 2 winners and 1 loser. I'm happy with them. The losing trade had a few things going for it, but I did go against one indicator slightly, which is the one that price actually followed. I think studying my indicators more will help prevent this type of losing trade.

 

[studentofthemarkets]

This week was profitable, but barely. I had 4 winning trades on Tuesday and that's where the profit came from. I think stopping for the day after 1 losing trade has really helped me to trade more selectively and it's also stopped the potential for large losses in a single day.

 

[studentofthemarkets]

1 winning trade today.

Today I began to try to be more selective in my entries by only taking trades that should go more than 20 ticks, even though I'll keep my TP at 10 ticks. When it seems I can spot those trades well, then I'll add a 2nd contract that will go for the 20 ticks.

Today's trade reveals I'm not ready to add a 2nd contract. I followed all my rules and thought price was heading up. However, I couldn't have been more wrong.

 

[studentofthemarkets]

1 losing trade today then stopped for trading in this journal. This is journal is to mimic a live account. I switched to a different demo account to continue to practice, but still trading carefully (took 4 trades only). I don't want to go back to the habit of taking too many trades and being sloppy in the selection.

This trade had a lot of things going for it. However, I didn't time the entry as well as I needed to. The move that I was looking for went 128 ticks, however, price went against my entry by 28 ticks, so was stopped out at 10.

 

[studentofthemarkets]

Starting tomorrow, I'm going to try to enter by using stop orders instead of market orders, although I'm not making it a rule. This will force me to think through the price action a little more thoroughly and should stop some of the delay between my decision to enter and pushing the button.

 

[studentofthemarkets]

Today I had another losing trade. This brings my demo profits down to $440 and my statistics have dropped to a 67% win rate (since November 19).

It would be too embarrassing to post the trade because it goes against what I'm trying to accomplish. In trying to enter into a retracement to the trend, I entered the wrong direction, into a trend reversal.

I spent some chart time today comparing the price action around my trade with that of other days and I think I may have a better idea of what to watch for in order to not make this same mistake.

 

[studentofthemarkets]

Finally, a perfect trade! This is exactly what I wish all my trades would look like. I followed ALL of my rules carefully...except didn't bother with a stop order. I used a market order for entry. My goal for using 10 ticks SL and 10 ticks TP is to learn to be able to enter into the beginning or retracement of a move with very little risk. I did that today. The trade had the potential of making 95 ticks before any significant retracement took place. Only one trade a day, even if only capturing some of that move, would make a nice living.

My stats bumped up to 68.75% with this trade...not great, but enough to be profitable.

 

[studentofthemarkets]

Today was very disappointing because I had another losing trade. It was an entry that had several things wrong with it. One of those was that I tried using a buy stop for entry, but left it on and didn't adjust the stop as price moved. So by the time it got to my buy stop it was ready to retrace again. On a regular day, the trade may have worked, but with today's high volatility and spikiness, the 10 ticks was taken quickly.

Things to change:
1. Be very aware of the size 10 ticks is in relation to the candle size on whatever chart timeframe I'm trading on.
2. No more using stop orders until I've spent some time mapping out a plan of exactly when to use them and how to avoid getting the immediate retracement that oftentimes occurs with them.
3. The market structure at the time of the trade had signs it could be choppy for a bit, which it was, and which I saw before entering, but decided to ignore....to my detriment.

 

[studentofthemarkets]

This week had 3 losing trades and 2 winning trades. That is a 40% win rate.

Keeping the rule of quitting after 1 losing trade for the day has been hard to follow. It feels like it will take forever for the account to grow. However, it kept the account from dropping quickly, which is more important.

Overall, since Nov 19 my winrate has dropped to 66%. I'll keep plugging away at this method and see if I can get this higher and more consistent.

It seems my long trades are barely profitable and only my short trades have done well. If this isn't just randomness affecting the statistics, then I may need to only trade short. That would actually be simple to change.