Yukoner's 2015 Psychological Journal

[Redneck]

Yes, (and "of course!" Yuk says inside). I'm looking back now, and hindsight 20/20, and a bunch more sleep... I realize that I could have very easily put at risk the baseline discipline I have been working on since last week. That would have sucked! And all because I was run down and weary... should have listened to the other guy who was telling me not to trade.

Four days does not a habit - or change make - it must be from this day forward

Head down - keep doing things differently - else the loop not altered

Here's what we're going to do;

Can't count today - but I'm also not predisposed to start back at day one - yet (because I do acknowledge that you're doing things differently)


If..., tomorrow (Thursday) and Friday - you continue doing things correctly - then EOD Friday we'll be up to day six

If..., over the next two days - you don't do things correctly - then EOD Friday - we start over..., and Monday will be day one

==========================

This isn't about winning or losing...., it not even about trading

It all about you doing things differently..., you making sound decisions


If you still feel under the weather tomorrow..., even Friday - don't trade (because this the correct decision)

If you do feeling fit - then off we go - but you decide off we go - don't fuck it up

Make good decisions..., do things differently

Win or lose = does not matter



Like H123 said; we go up against the best in the world - which by default means we better have our shit together

Come fully prepared - or don't bother coming at all

===============

EOD Friday - it will either be;

Day four - because you didn't trade the rest of this week

or

Day six - because you traded - while making sound decisions..., and doing things correctly (differently)

or

Day one - on Monday


It in your total control which it ends up being

PnL does not matter - your performance does

==============

Keep on Truckin My Man

RN

 

[Redneck]

Yes, (and "of course!" Yuk says inside).

I should have listened to the other guy who was telling me not to trade.

One other thought Yukoner

Quit..., as in stop - ignoring your other

Invite him along..., make him your best friend

Else..., you will never know when to trust / listen to him / heed his advice..., or when to ignore him

Which will only lead you to bouncing all over the f'n place (inconsistent behavior / inconsistent trading)



Come to trust him..., love him - then he will never (I repeat..., never) lead you astray - any more than "you" would lead "you" astray


You and he are not there yet - get there

Spend the time..., make the effort - talk to him

He is there..., and wants desperately to help you - stop putting him off

RN

 

[Redneck]

Thought so..., I screwed up

Below should read day six - because you didn't trade the rest of this week - not day four


Apologies

EOD Friday - it will either be;

Day four six - because you didn't trade the rest of this week

or

Day six - because you traded - while making sound decisions..., and doing things correctly (differently)

or

Day one - on Monday


It in your total control which it ends up being

PnL does not matter - your performance does

RN

 

[Handle123]

I have forgotten something I use all the time, but when was just starting when I was deer in headlights and not take trades. Through my backtesting, I would keep ongoing amount of how many ticks on average each day I should average with every signal, so lets say I am to get 100 ticks a day, if I miss a trade and that signal was a 50 tick trade, I would subtract that from the average and so on till signals give me the 100 ticks and I would quit for the day. So when you miss trades cause you entered limit orders and missed these trades, it might have been your daily average would have been achieved and that's all there is except chop. I do this so often in ES, I don't even think about this as it is subconscious to how much I should have later in first 90 minutes.

 

[moonmist]

Thanks for posting this. Going to take a better look at it over the weekend. Love the line...."If account stays stable, I will get winners"

Yes.

After examining the two CL charts by Handle123, I notice that if I can move the stop to around breakeven upon about 10-tick profit, and have a very low losing percentage, soon or later, I'll get the 50-tick winners. After all, crude oil is still a running market, although it is not as volatile as few years ago. Of course, the 10-tick winners also help, especially in choppy conditions.

Just my two cents.

 

[Redneck]

Yukoner,

Am I fit to trade

Is this day six..., or day one - your performance will determine

===========================

Familiarity breeds lackadaisicalness

Keep your head down - and do something different - else the loop not altered




=================================


Today;


This is Your Job Description / This is Your Making Widgets

===================================

(1) Take the first trade as per the trading plan;

(2) Note the PnL (or ticks). Immediately do a "go/no-go" analysis and disregard the PnL/Ticks -- "go" if your daily stop limit is not hit/surpassed.

(2.a) If "go" goto step (3).
(2.b) If "no-go", shutdown the computer, and do something else.

(3) When you get the signal for the next trade. Skip the trade. Instead, write the trade down in your notebook. Just sit back and observe the trade as it progresses (this is very important). Document (in audio/book) all your thoughts -- the urges to trade, all the self-talk you have, your feelings etc.

(4) After the trade in (3) is complete, go back to Step(1) and start all over again.

Notes:
(1) For any reason, when in step (1), you enter a trade not in plan, close the trade, write it down. Shutdown the computer, and walk away.

(2) Do not review the documented emotions as part of step (3) at the end of the day. Instead, review them the following Sunday morning.


================================


Today simply another new day

I am the same - You must do something different


No matter what happens / we think / we feel / mkt does

We work through it / we set it aside / we move on

We do our job

Screw the results

========================


Absolutely nothing within you has / will change - unless..., and until - you do something different


??? day(s) does not a habit - or change make - it must be from this day forward


RN

 

[jas_in_hbca]

I wanted to comment on a couple things Redneck said because I think it needs to be pulled out from his excellent posts and emphasized.

1) Self -talk or talking to the 'other'. I've mentioned this before and referred to it as the Inner Critic. RN has pointed out it's also our inner cheerleader as well and more ( I don't want to misquote him so i'll leave it there) Part of my pre-session routine is asking my inner critic how he's feeling , what is he afraid of, nervous about etc and then talking it out until those feelings are understood and calmed. If the feelings arise during the session then at a minimum one can say 'hey, look we talked about this early and everything is OK". Amazingly this works and helps but if not we can take a break.

Extended conversations with oneself outside of trading hours where one asks questions about thoughts, feelings then asking questions of those answers and drilling down to some core beliefs is very helpful.

2) Do things differently. This is great advice on different levels. One, for me it helps create mindfulness. If I'm trying to do something different I have to be aware of what I'm doing currently. Do this outside market hours. And this will sound silly but I've caught myself getting aggravated on the freeway with other drivers, then thought 'think differently', and then did exactly that and let the feelings go or replace them with more constructive thoughts.

Two, humans are hard wired to resist change. By consciously thinking different we are doing something that is not natural and will help create the habit of making change (IMO). This then helps us break the bad trading habits we've fallen into, exiting early, hesitating etc and again IMO.

Out of time.. hope this helps.

You guys are doing great work with this Budda BS

jas

 

[Redneck]

Good stuff J

Yeah that Budda BS some good mojo - again today

Go figure

================


Get those taxes filed so you can get yer butt back here with the rest of us dumb asses

RN

 

[Yukoner]

Day #36 (Mo Step #8) - Slept well, and woke up feeling much better. Asked myself, if I was qualified to trade today, answer was... I believe I am, but going to give myself some time to wake up and see how I feel. Went through standard pre-market routine, and felt good... felt sharp. Night and day from yesterday.

Went into the trading day, with one focus and that was to stay discipline and consistently follow my plan. Put on some trades... checkmark... Recorded trades... checkmark.

I did struggle a bit with taking profits early, as my plan was expecting more continuation, and when that didn't happen... I would watch 20 ticks or so just vanish. (It is a bit of a challenge only trading 1 contract) Secondly, I also caught myself hesitating on cutting a losing trade, because I knew the next trade would be a Mo sim trade. I didn't like that at all, and reminded myself to just stick with the plan.

Then the market setup really really nice... but I was out of time. I do confess to feeling the temptation to put a trade on, but I reminded myself of my goals for March. I wasn't going to do any trading from my work office, and so it didn't matter how good of a setup it was. What mattered was staying disciplined and doing my job.

+67

-250 Mo ticks

 

[Redneck]

What mattered was staying disciplined and doing my job.

So from your actions - you're saying yesterday was a hiccup

Sweet (we all have those from time to time - called being human)



Good Job Today Yukoner (be sure to let your other know that as well)

==============

Tomorrow - we'll do'er all over again

Get some rest Sir

RN