No need dude, all good
Maintaining Self Discipline
- Thread starter studentofthemarkets
- Start date
I can't seem to find the chart.
It is interesting to compare charts. Here's what my chart was like during your time frame...
But why did you not see the triple bottom as marked by the first cyan line on the left? You did not note that in your post-trading analysis chart.
P.S. I was sweating through that range-bound choppy shit and knew it would break one way or the other. To be honest, I did not think it would break lower due to time of day and day of week, but alas, there it is. We know how the day ended from there.
To be fair to you, this was an unusual day for RTH. Have not seen porpoising up and down to the downside through the RTH for quite a while. Q4 2019 has us spoilt.
Thanks for the charts. It's helpful to see what someone else is doing on the NQ. I like the renko look, although it's not for me. I tried them a while ago and it made me too uncomfortable to not see price exactly as it happened. I found it interesting that you placed your stoploss where you did, "below the previous higher low." That was a good place to put it, amazing that it tested close to it 4 times yet never touched it. Gaining 2 points is better than losing!
You asked: "But why did you not see the triple bottom as marked by the first cyan line on the left? You did not note that in your post-trading analysis chart." I didn't see that it was relevant to the live account trade. That one was taken below the cyan line. However, I did take a demo trade with the same problems as the live trade that was taken at the 1 min candle up that came just before the breakout to the triple bottom of the range came. I'd post a chart, but it's too embarrassing. I don't like any of the losing trades. They all had problems with them and shouldn't have been taken. Surprisingly, in the moment, they all seemed like good trades.
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Traded today after all, because I made some small changes to my plan. I didn't get the best trades, trading with the trend of the day today because price action didn't seem clear to me. The chart looks clear as day in hindsight.
Live Account: No trades
Main Demo Account: 2 winning trades. Usually I haven't been trading the open with this account, but after making some slight changes, I felt confident enough to take the trades in this more carefully traded account.
Practice Demo Account: No trades
Live Account: No trades
Main Demo Account: 2 winning trades. Usually I haven't been trading the open with this account, but after making some slight changes, I felt confident enough to take the trades in this more carefully traded account.
Practice Demo Account: No trades
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Not sure how much progress you made since the initial post, but I can tell you that it's absolutely crucial that you define very clearly what your signals are. In addition - these signals should have a positive expectancy through your backtesting and knowing them like the back of your hand.
Then - it's a matter of simply following the market and following your signals and associated rules.
If you don't have that at hand - it's very hard to both trade successfully and be a discplined trader.
As a day trader, you should also adopt the mindset that each and every trade is just another trade in a series of thousands of trades. The key is getting ahead over time. With this mindset, you mind find it easier to take a loss and don't put too much significance on any single trade.
Then - it's a matter of simply following the market and following your signals and associated rules.
If you don't have that at hand - it's very hard to both trade successfully and be a discplined trader.
As a day trader, you should also adopt the mindset that each and every trade is just another trade in a series of thousands of trades. The key is getting ahead over time. With this mindset, you mind find it easier to take a loss and don't put too much significance on any single trade.
Very good advice. I'm still working on defining my signals clearly. "Then - it's a matter of simply following the market and following your signals and associated rules." Hope to be at this place soon. Thanks!
Live Account: 1 losing trade
Main Demo Account: 3 losing trades and 2 winning trades
With today's trades, I see problems with all of them, including the 2 winning trades. All that Laissez Faire said is what I will continue to focus on. There are many things that I should be seeing before entering that would keep me out of a trade, and I'm seeing them after I enter, or I see them, but see other reasons that support the trade. At one point, just before the 2 short trades were taken, I even said out loud, "Don't trade, it's ranging." It had been in the same price area for over 30 min. And what did I do? I took 2 trades. So, I'm noticing I have a lot of voices going on in my head re: every trade, and I'm having a hard time knowing which voices to believe. So, I'll be spending a lot of time going over trades, finding why they worked or why they didn't and cementing into my mind exactly what I need to see before entering a trade and invalidates them.
To make myself feel better I'm posting my stats since November 19 because they say that I'm still slightly positive. However, for the last month, ever since changing my rule of stopping for the day after 1 losing trade, I have done badly. In this account I plan to continue to allow several losses in a day because I need to practice. And besides, the rule of stopping after 1 losing trade in the live account hasn't made it profitable, it just keeps the account from draining quickly. No more trading in the live account until I get my winning percentage up to at least 65% for at least 1 week.
Main Demo Account: 3 losing trades and 2 winning trades
With today's trades, I see problems with all of them, including the 2 winning trades. All that Laissez Faire said is what I will continue to focus on. There are many things that I should be seeing before entering that would keep me out of a trade, and I'm seeing them after I enter, or I see them, but see other reasons that support the trade. At one point, just before the 2 short trades were taken, I even said out loud, "Don't trade, it's ranging." It had been in the same price area for over 30 min. And what did I do? I took 2 trades. So, I'm noticing I have a lot of voices going on in my head re: every trade, and I'm having a hard time knowing which voices to believe. So, I'll be spending a lot of time going over trades, finding why they worked or why they didn't and cementing into my mind exactly what I need to see before entering a trade and invalidates them.
To make myself feel better I'm posting my stats since November 19 because they say that I'm still slightly positive. However, for the last month, ever since changing my rule of stopping for the day after 1 losing trade, I have done badly. In this account I plan to continue to allow several losses in a day because I need to practice. And besides, the rule of stopping after 1 losing trade in the live account hasn't made it profitable, it just keeps the account from draining quickly. No more trading in the live account until I get my winning percentage up to at least 65% for at least 1 week.
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Yes, I find this to be a terrible predicament I find myself in, where you are following the charts la la la, and you see an entry. After you get in you find out you are now stuck in a narrow channel of chop for sometimes a couple of hours! The pain of waiting builds up, you start narrowing your stop and target during the time.
And then what happens? You become so impatient being in the thing and want to move on, that you finally take a small few tick profit or loss just to get out of the thing so you feel you can breathe, and then BOOM! It breaks out.
The most soothing thing in the world however is after you get out of the slog (With profit or loss, matters not), you recognize it for what it is...A sideways channel primed for a breakout, and so you position yourself outside the range for your next entry. Once you train your eyes to see that on a chart you will have an "edge" of sorts. Not an edge over the market, but over your own head.
Yep. A while ago I noticed I would only take a few trades in the actual trend and I was driven like a moth to a light to take lots and lots of trades in a range, getting stopped out continually and always thinking I would catch the breakout. Even today, none of the trades were taken with the trend. Most of them were in the range zone. I'd like to think I've learned from the past, but it's still a struggle.
Main Demo Account: 4 losers and 5 winners, net $15 after fees/commissions. 3 of the winners had potentials of 30, 43 and 43 ticks.
Live Account and Practice Demo: No trades taken
I stopped following my rule of stopping after a losing trade for 5 min and writing an analysis. It seemed like I would wait so long to get a setup I liked only to get stopped out and then the trade happens without me.
I'm also getting frustrated with 10sl and 10tp because I miss so many entries yet when the trade does happen it moves a long way without me. I understood that this was going to be the case when I began this, but since my winrate hasn't really improved that much, I'm beginning to question if I should continue or come up with a different plan to cut off losers quickly and let winners run. If I stick with the plan I will continue to learn to read market structure on a 10 tick scale. This will be really helpful in the long run. If I change the plan I might actually start making decent profits, but by not having the 10/10 structure, I likely won't learn to read market structure as well.
Live Account and Practice Demo: No trades taken
I stopped following my rule of stopping after a losing trade for 5 min and writing an analysis. It seemed like I would wait so long to get a setup I liked only to get stopped out and then the trade happens without me.
I'm also getting frustrated with 10sl and 10tp because I miss so many entries yet when the trade does happen it moves a long way without me. I understood that this was going to be the case when I began this, but since my winrate hasn't really improved that much, I'm beginning to question if I should continue or come up with a different plan to cut off losers quickly and let winners run. If I stick with the plan I will continue to learn to read market structure on a 10 tick scale. This will be really helpful in the long run. If I change the plan I might actually start making decent profits, but by not having the 10/10 structure, I likely won't learn to read market structure as well.
