Yukoner's 2015 Psychological Journal

monoid said:
I just saw this post, and feel compelled to write this:

Yukoner: First of all I want to thank you for thanking the contributes to your thread -- I would assume that would include me. However, I want to assure you that my contribution in your journal has been miniscule and does not deserve any credit or recognition. I really want to see you succeed in acquiring that trader's mindset -- there was no other intention or expectations.

On the other hand, when I look back at your journal, there has been one man who was a giant amongst us (us contributes) and he deserves most of all the credit and recognition -- you know who he is: no other than that dumbass Redneck ;). I don't think you still understand the magnitude of his magnanimity; or may be you do, but if you don't, when you look back in years to come, you will understand what I mean. He alone deserves most (yes, only most not all :)) of the credit and recognition.

All the best.

Regards,
Monoid.
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@monoid absolutely that includes you! I am grateful to anyone who writes in this journal. But yea, you nailed it. @Redneck generosity is humbling, and it is hard to describe, but it is like that generosity ignites me to succeed even more. When you realize someone is pulling for you who has the dumbass wisdom and experience of a @Redneck, well it drives you... It challegenes you to dig deeper... To go to your limit and push past just a little bit more.

The other person who has also really stood out and shared in my journal is @Handle123 who in contributing some personal information made me feel the sincerity in trying to help me succeed.... When he/she has nothing to gain. Again, humbling for me.

The future impact of their magnanimity on myself and my family... Mind blowing. Hopefully, one day life will allow me to meet them personally and thank them.

However, I have to say this also.. There is something uniquely special about the guys who contribute in here, and yet are facing their own trading struggles. It's like having brothers in arms, who by hitting a like button... Or reply to a post... Are now mentally high fiving you at the same time to keep going. :cool:

All in all, it's pretty awesome...
 
END OF WEEK UPDATE:

Just tallied up the week, and even making some mistakes, the week ended positive $658.

For those who may be struggling in their own trading, I want to point out what a significant difference the last 6 trading days has been for me when I inserted a small routine.
After each trade, I have to stop and physically write down in my journal which trade number it was...and a check mark if I correctly traded the process.

It sounds small, probably insignificant if you don't try it, but it's not. What is happening is I have to self monitor on each trade if I am correctly executing the plan, then I have to use a different part of my brain to write it down and check mark. In a way it is bringing me back each time into core alignment of my trading methodology before I proceed with the next trade.

That routine keeps pulling me back to examine if I am correctly executing my plan. Highly recommended.
 
Yukoner said:
END OF WEEK UPDATE:

Just tallied up the week, and even making some mistakes, the week ended positive $658.

For those who may be struggling in their own trading, I want to point out what a significant difference the last 6 trading days has been for me when I inserted a small routine.
After each trade, I have to stop and physically write down in my journal which trade number it was...and a check mark if I correctly traded the process.

It sounds small, probably insignificant if you don't try it, but it's not. What is happening is I have to self monitor on each trade if I am correctly executing the plan, then I have to use a different part of my brain to write it down and check mark. In a way it is bringing me back each time into core alignment of my trading methodology before I proceed with the next trade.

That routine keeps pulling me back to examine if I am correctly executing my plan. Highly recommended.
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This is awesome, Yukoner, it's how negative habits are replaced with positive ones. Now as you continue this journey of focusing on the right actions (not the outcome), please post this where you can see it at all times. It's a favorite quote of mine found here on ET by Pa(b)st Prime:

“Being disciplined in the past isn’t good enough: on each and every trade you must be disciplined. Forever. Like a drunk in a program you can NEVER slip off the wagon.”
 
Yokoner

I received the book Moniod recommended ("Mindfulness in Plain English")

Haven't finished it..., but so far - it a good n

PS - Do not skip to the end (yeah I admit I did) - work through it..., build layer upon layer

RN
 
Yukoner said:
Day #24 (Baby Step #5) Slept well, and actually woke up about 30 mins prior to my alarm, and felt good. The only problem was as I got ready for the day, I kept having this feeling that I was going to blow it today (even had a bit of it last night too). In the past I might have tried to brush it aside, or crank up some good tunes to pump myself up and stay positive... but I know better now.

So I slowed down, and asked myself where this was coming from. It was the past history, saying you can't keep staying consistent, you probably won't have a winning week, you might have a losing day today. So I reminded myself, the past can lie, and today is what matters... and what was my goal today? So I broke it down one more time... I want to correctly execute every trade that I take. If I can do that, then today will be a success. And that is 100% in my control, regardless of what the market does.

Once I started trading, I actually felt okay about the day. The challenge was my first couple of trades contributed ticks, so the account was in a negative position. Then I took a trade, and watched it get close to my target... and I could have closed it and had account over breakeven, but that wouldn't have been the correct thing to do... so I sat there and watched it not exit with a profit and come back and stop me out for a small loss. I reminded myself again, that was the correct thing to do... Checkmark in my journal.

A couple of more trades. Checkmark. Checkmark. But then I made a mistake. (And I hate writing this) I put a trade on, and rather than just let it work I got a bit concerned with being down a few ticks, and I closed it with a 1 tick contribution only to see it almost immediately go my way and to my profit target. I stopped and asked the question... Why did I do that? I acknowledged I had gotten scared.. and at that point I would have stopped for the day, but I remembered what @monoid had said about mindfulness, and particularly "acknowledging it" and setting it aside and moving forward. So I tried that. I acknowledged I had gotten scared, that this wasn't the correct way to trade, and I needed to stay neutral and just take the damn trades. Once I did that, I felt the fear dissipate and I was back to seeing the market well again.

I double checked my account balance, and I was down a bit over $300. My personal loss limit for the day is $400, so even though I am not watching P&L I needed to still be aware. Then I saw a trade setup, and if only that one trade mattered, then the correct thing to do was take the trade. I took the trade, it worked out well, and I wanted to add to it... but just never did... and it goes through my profit target and I am out with 31 ticks profit.

Then it was like a light came on inside, I could really see the market well. Everything was setting up as per my methodology. Now the crazy thing, greed kicks in and I want to trade big, because I just wanted to have a real profitable day trading and show everyone that I can trade. I tell myself, Don't be greedy, stick with your plan! I did some breathing exercises and got up and walked away from the computer and calmed myself down.
Note: So amazing that I can so quickly swing from being fearful to feeling greedy. I really need to work more on becoming more emotionally stable when trading.

After that I actually felt confidence. I had thought the market was going to move higher, but I got rid of that bias, and just asked myself... what is the market telling me. What is my methodology here, what is the correct thing to do. And then there it was, and I did exactly what I was supposed to do, get short... was again tempted to add bigger size.. but told myself, that wasn't part of the plan. Exited the trade, and called it a day as I had to drive my son to school. Checkmark.

This is a long post, but it is an important one to me, because what kept bringing me back to being centered was the constant focus on "Correct execution". Frankly, there was a lot of bad habits surfacing, and old emotion, but that focus helped stop me from straying too far.

Hello sweet weekend.

+180
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Stop Stop Stop daytrading
 
Problem is twofold with most day traders.
--They lack the capital to trade and so see an opportunity to get in and get out quickly with high margin as a way to make money easily.
--They don't possess the ability to trade without emotion yet, because they haven't had experience trading longer term plays and riding out the ups and downs. .
I believe you are victim of both of these observations and as such, need to back off the daytrading and go to longer term investing until both of these situations have been allayed. It is unlikely that you will find any success until such a move is undertaken. ---Thank you for your time----
 
Buy1Sell2 said:
--They don't possess the ability to trade without emotion yet, because they haven't had experience trading longer term plays and riding out the ups and downs. .
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Are you suggesting that one can learn to trade without emotion only if they trade longer term? If that is your thesis, I have to respectfully disagree with you.

Regards,
Monoid.
 
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