Hi,
I have the same problem.
If you are early the trade always looks like failing at some point or worse: you reverse. Besides this if you've been in the market for 10 minutes it seems an eternity and staying objective is then kind of hard.
Being early and gaining points quickly after putting on the trade is a contradiction. It doesn't exists. Just being 5 minutes early can be a big disaster. You just have to be exactly on time or a little late.
I am early but I really prefer late. The best position to monitor, analyze, decide and act is to have no position. Once you have a position everything changes so better have a gain quickly thereafter. If you make a mistake later on maybe you sell at a 5 point profit and it could have been 10, who cares?
There's just nothing like this feeling when you are in the green one point 15 seconds after putting on the trade and PRV is increasing big time. I am recalling yesterday the last hour or so
We are early and if we keep on trading like this we will always be early. So how do we deal with it? The point is that the moment you want to take the trade you have to assume that you are early and take a deep breath.
I noticed it helps to stay relaxed. Don't be afraid to miss the boat, and if you miss it, so what? Do something else while price is slowly heading from point 2 to point 3. A point 3 is usually not 5 minutes after point 2 although the market is doing its best to fool us. Remember Spyder wrote he calls people during trading hours, going outside to take a smoke etc.
This thread mainly deals with technical issues. Controlling those is a requirement but just a part of the puzzle. In my opinion your mental state (staying relaxed, recognizing a new opportunity right after a loss and act!, etc.) is just as important. These go together.
regards,
Ivo
Quote from BlowFish:
Trading those point 3's present a couple of challenges especially if just using the 2 charts. Tapes can help often.
Actually the real problem for me is being early often leads to early closure. Price ticking against me causes my mind to do strange stuff. On a course level we are still not necessarily on the wrong side of the market we just haven't been proved to be on the right side yet.
When I am finally proved to be on the right side that's when the ego working away in the subconscious and says close. This is despite knowing that the correct course of action is hold.
Cheers.