This first message does not reflect any more what I am doing now. More information in the Quick Summary below. ;)
Dear fellow traders,
Time has also come for me to start a journal.
One word of background: I spent some time in the world of automatic trading, but with no success. (I do not intend to discuss automatic trading in this trade.) Some months ago, I decided to switch to discretionary trading.
After some time for education (see "inspiration" below) and building-up of my own trading methods, I am now starting live trading.
First, I will train myself using SIM trading. As soon as possible, I will trade with real money but with small positions, in order to cope with the psychological aspects of trading.
My approach is based on price action. No indicator except one EMA. My methods are deeply inspired by Lance Beggs, Al Brooks, PATs Trading, etc. I will tell more about them in future messages.
Instruments:
- I intend to focus on ES in the afternoon (European time), so only for the beginning of the session
- When I will be better organized, I could consider to trade another instrument in the morning (European time): Euro Stoxx 50? Bund? To be investigated later.
Time-frame: tick-chart roughly equivalent to 5-min bars. For ES, it will be a 2000-tick chart.
The purposes of this journal are:
(1) Make me accountable. On this psychological aspect, I strongly believe in the following statement by Brett N. Steenbarger in The Daily Trading Coach (p.160):
"You want to be visible, warts and all, because that will help you - emotionally - put those warts into perspective. If your flaws (or your concerns about others' reactions to your flaws) are so threatening that you must hide them, then your defenses control you. When you can make yourself completely visible to others, you have nothing to hide. Their acceptance of you is complete and genuine, not a false reflection of a false self."
(2) Benefit from comments from fellow traders who would have the kindness to post some.
(3) In case there is finally some value in this journal, give food for thoughts (things to do or... not to do!) to other traders who begin their journey
About this last subject, I would like to express my thanks towards futures.io (formerly BMT) and its community. It is obvious that I still have a long road in front of me. But I have the feeling that my progresses so far have been boosted by my participation to futures.io (formerly BMT). Of course, it has not replaced my hard work and charts study, but it gave me direction, ideas, insights, suggestions to progress more quickly. Always in a very positive atmosphere, that's nice! So many thanks to all! :)
I intend to post charts every day I trade (SIM or real money). There could be some delay at the beginning, due to personal organization ramping-up. And a wrapping-up message in the week-end.
I do not want to be too long with this introductory message. I will tell more on several aspects of my trading (goals, beliefs, money management, position sizing, trade management, psychological aspects, personal journey, business plan, etc.) in future dedicated messages which will come in between messages with charts. I will use "Quick summary" to refer to this "special" messages.
Thanks in advance for any feedback or comments you could give in this thread in the coming weeks and months! :)