Maintaining Self Discipline

[IAlwaysWin]

You're not going to get that edge you desire trading someone elses method. Learn to code or hire someone i you have the means and develop that edge yourself.

My advice is to use a multi timeframe approach. Use the highest timeframe for identifying the long term trend. Use you shortest timeframe for a precise entry.

 

[studentofthemarkets]

I doubt it.

But to the point, I wouldn't be surprised if all four of your tendencies had to do with the same issue, which would be not having a thorough understanding of, and complete confidence in, WHY the method works. It sounds like you are simply following a list of requirements without a clear knowledge of the role each part plays.

If this is true, if addressed, there is a possibility that the behaviors you described above might begin to happen much less frequently because of the confidence and trust you would then have in the plan giving you the motivation to wait for the right opportunities to present themselves rather than chasing after unfavorable ones, and because your clear and thorough understanding of how the method works will enable you to "see" the ideal setups in their entirety without having to always refer to the rules/criteria in minute detail.

That's an interesting observation. I think I agree with you. I mentioned that my system is difficult, and the reason that it's difficult is that price action itself is difficult to figure out. Even with indicators that are really helpful, "knowing" when there is a high probability trade has been difficult.....at least so far. I'm hoping that I'll begin understanding price behavior better the more that I use this method.

 

[studentofthemarkets]

you haven't mentioned how long you're learning the hardcore skills, with screen time & practice, since knowing what to do & knowing how to do are two different things.

Once you get better at how to do part, the discipline part will adjust accordingly to your priorities & those are quite simple - to get the real understand of what is happening, once you open the position & to become profitable.

I've been trading, mostly in demo for about a total of 3 years as an unsuccessful scalper. I've changed markets and methods many times. This summer I began trading the NQ futures. For about 2 months I've used a 10 tick sl and 10 tick tp and the purpose is to get a high win rate using this 1:1 risk to reward before extending the target and to begin to recognize the price action of the smaller movements of the NQ before moving on.

Thanks for the welcome and encouragement!

 

[studentofthemarkets]

That part, gets the attention right away.

Extremely complicated can be fixed by improving in certain skill sets. And some work on perspective/mindset, should be done as well, because if not -
then it's like going into the ring & already thinking about defeat.

I like the complicated method I'm working on primarily because it's helping to make sense out of the chaos of price action. I plan to find out if improving my skill sets will make this system profitable for myself. Thanks

 

[studentofthemarkets]

It been more than 10 years since my last job. I was naive back then, to think how difficult the stock market can be if I put in the hard work. Looking back, it was like jumping a deep hole without a rope of getting out. No one can help me getting out, I have to do it myself. Discipline is the key but having the following are equally important.
1. A supporting/understanding spouse (if married)
2. Have enough capital for the long haul

Have a living documented plan to instill discipline. The market is constantly challenging us and we have to learn and adapt constantly. Of course, protecting our capital is key and nothing else.

Good advice. Thanks.

 

[studentofthemarkets]

Thank you to everyone who left comments. It's very helpful to have feedback.


Today's trading had 15 winners and 15 losers, so a 50% win rate using 1:1 risk to reward.

Regarding maintaining self discipline:
1. I gave up on waiting to enter after a losing trade. I was very frustrated that a couple trades didn't work and so had some "revenge"trading, which I know is going to kill my account if I trade like this live. Unfortunately, I added up my losses and wins from revenge trading and there were more wins than losses from the revenge trading, which doesn't do much to help my determination to stop this bad habit.
2. I did not jump into a fast moving market.
3. I did make up a rule, that didn't work out, just so that I could enter one trade. Other than this, I followed the rules for each trade.
4. When looking over today's trades, there were only about 3 of the losers that I figured out why they didn't work and can easily avoid taking similar entries. The rest were allowable, under my system, but not necessarily high probability trades and hopefully I'll start to recognize those as well.

 

[expiated]

Even with indicators that are really helpful, "knowing" when there is a high probability trade has been difficult.....at least so far. I'm hoping that I'll begin understanding price behavior better the more that I use this method.

I read your Post #16 and you seem to be on the right track, which is to say, take the best you can get from others and combine it to come up with your own system. That's what worked for me. And the traders I learned from the most—Nick McDonald, Jarratt Davis, Scott Barkley and AJ Monte—each developed (and taught) there own system (with the exception of AJ, who uses more standard or generalized strategies).

I was just writing about this earlier today...

By the way, everything I learned from Nick, Jarratt, Scott and AJ is available for free online. From my perspective, if one is able to discern the genuine from baloney, one need not spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars that a lot of instructors love to charge.

 

[.sigma]

Welcome and look forward to reading your journal

 

[studentofthemarkets]

By the way, everything I learned from Nick, Jarratt, Scott and AJ is available for free online. From my perspective, if one is able to discern the genuine from baloney, one need not spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars that a lot of instructors love to charge.

I'm slightly familiar with Scott Barkley's method, but never heard of the others. I'll look each of them up.

You wrote: "positioning your trades based on a proper understanding of market structure." And this stuck with me today. I ended up re-watching a video on basic market structure/patterns and learning about trapped traders and am starting to think most of my problems are coming from not understanding market structure, or why price moves the way it moves.

Thanks for the helpful comments!

 

[studentofthemarkets]

Today's update:

Ended up with a 50% win rate, 1:1 risk to reward. 18 winners and 18 losers. I started off trading carefully, but at one point, I had a few losses in a row, and then decided to just "practice" which means I don't take the best set ups, but take more "experimental" trades, still following my entry criteria, but entering trades a little riskier than usual. So, I ended up taking a lot more trades than I would usually take.

After reviewing a video I'd seen before (and then forgotten about) explaining about trapped traders, I realized that I'm not proactively looking for those areas and I'm not seeing price action as a movement of order flow. Those are 2 things I plan to study more and work on starting tomorrow.

Re: my 4 goals for Self-Discipline:
Goal #1: I still re-entered too soon after taking losses. After "giving up" on doing well for the day and practicing, I really didn't care about this and felt like it was more important to practice trade to watch how the trade did. I think it was a good decision because it kept my focus on price action. However, when I do go live, this will be a hard habit to break.
Goal # 2: I did jump into a fast moving market several times today, with good results. I think I may need to allow myself to do this sometimes, but will need to think up some rules so that the entries are taken with precision.
Goal # 3: I did follow my rules carefully with the exception of the trades in a fast moving market.
Goal # 4: Still need to work on being very methodical when placing a trade.