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Scalpingtrader's Earn2Trade Gauntlet Journal


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Scalpingtrader's Earn2Trade Gauntlet Journal

  #21 (permalink)
 
Mtype's Avatar
 Mtype 
Hungary
 
Experience: None
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I've been in a trenches many years and have worked with many trading teachers some better some worse but for me Al Brooks is a person who worth listening to. I personally found his style a little bit machine like but also precise and detailed, so at first I missed his message but the more I understand the mechanics of trading the more I learn to appreciate his work. Of course I've been following your work for a while now as well and I know you know all this. Technical edge can be learned from others but self-understanding, which just as much a requirement imho can only be obtained through inner work.

I believe a good starting point would to go back to the point of 'failure' and see how you felt. Let's say I set a goal to execute and manage my next trade by the rules that I've set. I execute the trade, it goes against me I don't take the stop and I end up taking 2 times the planned loss. We can say I lost my awareness when I acted out of emotional drive. Then I set a goal again to try twice as hard this time.. same thing happens. What is the issue? Why am I doing this? A part of me starts judging another part of me (strangely, right?) I tell myself that I should've been more aware, try harder next time but what about this moment, this moment is real, it has happened, I'm here but I I feel hurt, failure, pain, I don't want that (I am being judged by myself.. what, then am I one or two?) Yet it is the only thing I seem to get on the long run. What I forget is to accept myself now. I set goals to not get to this place again but I forget to set goals to not judge myself again If I get here and life will surely let me have this lesson as many times as I need

I say become aware at or after the point of failure (as well) and accept yourself, just breathe, you are okay. The pain is like a demon that will haunt us until we face it. Magically and this is true magic, once we truly face something it will be dissolved, gone. Strangely many times we traders are using the market to act out our emotional dramas as well. This is life, this is how we grow and that is okay. If we strip all this, what will happen? Charts, execution, management, win/loss, probabilities playing out.. mmm pretty boring right? The roller-coaster ride has a certain magic to it.

I've read many journals over the years and your journals are one of my favorites. I can see that you can trade properly and profitably, you have the trading skills, the question is do you really want to be in that place?

All the best! And thanks for sharing and being open.

“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” Δ

“There is no path, but only a fool wouldn’t follow it.”
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  #22 (permalink)
 
Scalpingtrader's Avatar
 Scalpingtrader 
Hanover, Germany
Legendary Amateur Trader
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: NinjaTrader
Trading: ES
Posts: 1,945 since Apr 2014
Thanks Given: 3,144
Thanks Received: 5,147

First of all, thanks to everybody for the contribution & support!

I have spent much of the weekend on introspection, thinking about multiple angles of why I am not evolving as a trader.
Among others, these are important observations:

1) I have no structured "trading day". In the last 6 months or so I have traded more than 95% of the time on-the-go via remote desktop from my phone, very often in the office or on public transport.
2) I have no clearly defined entry signals. I do have a broad spectrum of "trade ideas". But I haven't focused on a single setup or recurring pattern.
3) Consequently, I have no way to systematically improve and master the execution.
4) I have no structured "daily review" / learning process.
5) I am prone to changing things - A LOT. Markets, Charts, Timeframes, etc.


For many of these things, there is simple remedies.
The following action plan will be implemented during the next 2-3 months, not focusing on performance but on habit, process, method & operation.

1) I am only trading at home on a stationary computer. To achieve this, I will carve out 3 days per week where I will be able to trade almost the entire US Session, from about one hour after the open onwards. (I wont trade until market close, of course cause I cannot concentrate that long, but the time is blocked for it.) This is a more professional AND more balanced approach, compared to today.

2) I have spend a good amount of time on actual THINKING about the markets, and what separates losing behavior from winning behavior. As a result I have been able to settle on a specific trade setup that I understand from the underlying market psychology and that seems tradeable to me. It occurs several times during the day, so trade frequency is not an issue. It occurs on trend and on range days, so that also is not an issue. I'll post more details sometime during the next days / weeks, but the trade setup is not the point of this post. The point is, I am focusing on ONE SETUP.

3) This allows me to consistently train spotting the setup live & also on replay. I will replay the same day over and over, until I am consistently spotting all occurences of the setup for that session & execute them properly.
Just as importantly, by doing this I hope to rewire myself such that I stop taking trades that are outside of the defined method.

4) The justm mentioned repay-drill will then be the core and foundation of my learning process.

5) This one is easy (not simple, mind you). I focus on one market (ES) and one chart (5min RTH) with no technical indicators on it.



I will give a status update frequently, but not on a daily basis.
Now that it's thrown out here, let's see which of these adjustments stick

Cheers,
ST.

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  #23 (permalink)
 
Pa Dax's Avatar
 Pa Dax 
Netherlands
Price Action Scientist
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: NinjaTrader, IB TWS
Broker: InteractiveBrokers, CQG
Trading: ES
Posts: 1,236 since Oct 2017
Thanks Given: 2,006
Thanks Received: 6,318



Scalpingtrader View Post
First of all, thanks to everybody for the contribution & support!

I have spent much of the weekend on introspection, thinking about multiple angles of why I am not evolving as a trader.
Among others, these are important observations:

1) I have no structured "trading day". In the last 6 months or so I have traded more than 95% of the time on-the-go via remote desktop from my phone, very often in the office or on public transport.
2) I have no clearly defined entry signals. I do have a broad spectrum of "trade ideas". But I haven't focused on a single setup or recurring pattern.
3) Consequently, I have no way to systematically improve and master the execution.
4) I have no structured "daily review" / learning process.
5) I am prone to changing things - A LOT. Markets, Charts, Timeframes, etc.


For many of these things, there is simple remedies.
The following action plan will be implemented during the next 2-3 months, not focusing on performance but on habit, process, method & operation.

1) I am only trading at home on a stationary computer. To achieve this, I will carve out 3 days per week where I will be able to trade almost the entire US Session, from about one hour after the open onwards. (I wont trade until market close, of course cause I cannot concentrate that long, but the time is blocked for it.) This is a more professional AND more balanced approach, compared to today.

2) I have spend a good amount of time on actual THINKING about the markets, and what separates losing behavior from winning behavior. As a result I have been able to settle on a specific trade setup that I understand from the underlying market psychology and that seems tradeable to me. It occurs several times during the day, so trade frequency is not an issue. It occurs on trend and on range days, so that also is not an issue. I'll post more details sometime during the next days / weeks, but the trade setup is not the point of this post. The point is, I am focusing on ONE SETUP.

3) This allows me to consistently train spotting the setup live & also on replay. I will replay the same day over and over, until I am consistently spotting all occurences of the setup for that session & execute them properly.
Just as importantly, by doing this I hope to rewire myself such that I stop taking trades that are outside of the defined method.

4) The justm mentioned repay-drill will then be the core and foundation of my learning process.

5) This one is easy (not simple, mind you). I focus on one market (ES) and one chart (5min RTH) with no technical indicators on it.



I will give a status update frequently, but not on a daily basis.
Now that it's thrown out here, let's see which of these adjustments stick

Cheers,
ST.

Very sound solutions you put in place there mate and I think you're making good decisions there.
Less is more - reduce, reduce, reduce.
I've pretty much limited everything I can in trading - no indicators, no manually dealing with stops and profit orders, one chart, (as prep going through HTF but do that before markets).
No P&L, no DOM, no bid/ask watching, only watching the chart. Every tick means something to me and I see price moving at different levels. I try to understand what the market is doing and then try to see if it succeeds at that or fails.

Also, think about the trading business rationally: you're competing against the smartest traders in the world. You want to take their money, they want to take yours. You think you can do that in public transport on the phone if you're trading short time frames? Obviously not. Stop doing that. While on the road put your eyes away from the phone and look outside. While trading, put your eyes on the chart. The combination of those two will bring you the best trading ideas.

For me, I know I need to be home alone, in my zone with no distractions, and with my set-up. Hell, I even needed to switch to Ninjatrader cause I can only trade well if my bear bars are black and my bull bars are white. I'll leave all of you with green and red or blue but for me that doesn't work. I also needed to have a chart where I can scroll around freely. I just don't like price to be at the top of my screen in a bull trend because it seems to hit the edge of the screen and cannot go any higher. It's those tiny little things when you're starting out that can make all the difference.

In any case the motto 'reduce, reduce, reduce' might be the way to go for you short term. Too many traders are focused on entry points. I actually focus more on exit points - places where I believe profit targets are. If I know where the stop is and where the target is, I can basically enter at any point in the lower half of that to get a more than 1:1 risk reward. Basically it means that I'll never ever enter a trade where I believe the profit target is less than 1:1 RR. Over time looking at price action only you'll start to see those area's more clearly and once you understand the mathematical approach that defines an edge you'll be able to further reduce trading by simply entering with stops and targets and leave the rest to it. I you just look at the ES, you'll find a lot of times that buying above a strong bull signal bar goes up to 2R (with trend) or 1R (counter trend) and that's where traders take profits. Sometimes it reverses at just 1 tick below the target which tells you traders are trapped. It's really the tiny little things like that - even when the ES moves 20 points on a day there's tiny little 1 or 2 tick things that can tell you something. Nothing is noise.

Anyway @Scalpingtrader - let's keep our other channel open and happy to discuss anything that comes up.
Good luck my friend.

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  #24 (permalink)
 
Scalpingtrader's Avatar
 Scalpingtrader 
Hanover, Germany
Legendary Amateur Trader
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: NinjaTrader
Trading: ES
Posts: 1,945 since Apr 2014
Thanks Given: 3,144
Thanks Received: 5,147


Scalpingtrader View Post
1) I am only trading at home on a stationary computer. To achieve this, ...

... I just configured myself a desktop trading / gaming rig

Looking at what I did to my trading account this year I probably don't "deserve" this, but then again I haven't bought any other phone, PC/Laptop or console in the last 4 years, so I don't feel too guilty about it

Plus it's not over the top, really. Costs me "only" 1,200€ including assembly, Win10 preinstalled, monitor, mouse, keyboard & mousepad.

Below the parts if anyone gives two sh$!ts:

1 x GIGABYTE H310M S2V, Mainboard
1 x MSI Radeon RX 580 ARMOR 8G OC, Graphics card
1 x Intel® Core™ i5-8500, Processor
1 x Patriot DIMM 8 GB DDR4-2666 DR RAM
1 x Thermaltake Versa J25 TG RGB, Casing
1 x Thermaltake Smart RGB 600W, Power
1 x Intenso TOP SSD 256 GB, Solid State Drive
1 x Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM Alternate, OS-Software
1 x Scythe Katana 4, CPU-Cooler
1 x TP-Link Archer T9E, WIFI-Adapter

1 x AOC G2460PF, LED-Monitor
1 x Roccat Kova - Pure Performance Gaming Mouse
1 x Speedlink ULTOR Illuminated Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
1 x random 900x400 gaming mousepad off amazon

Merry X-Mas everyone

Oh and pics will naturally follow once it's set up

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  #25 (permalink)
 
Scalpingtrader's Avatar
 Scalpingtrader 
Hanover, Germany
Legendary Amateur Trader
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: NinjaTrader
Trading: ES
Posts: 1,945 since Apr 2014
Thanks Given: 3,144
Thanks Received: 5,147

Took the last 1 1/2 weeks almost entirely off from trading. This weekend I will get back into doing some replay.
Next week I am on business trip half the week & the entire week thereafter. So not much live (SIM) trading to be expected in the upcoming weeks. Nonetheless, I‘ll work on my focus points in replay, expecting that at least part of it will transfer into live performance.

When I got the PC all set up, I will probably still not trade live for the first 2 weeks or so, but rather just have the chart up on one screen while doing something else on the main one. Why? Because I need to drill into my head that I don’t need to be placing trades, just because the market is open & I am sitting in front of a Chart.

Now a happy weekend to everyone.
Cheers, ST.

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  #26 (permalink)
 
Blue Eagle's Avatar
 Blue Eagle 
vancouver British Columbia/Canada
Legendary Market Wizard
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: Ninja Trader
Trading: CL
Frequency: Daily
Duration: Minutes
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Scalpingtrader View Post
Why? Because I need to drill into my head that I don’t need to be placing trades, just because the market is open & I am sitting in front of a Chart.


Cheers, ST.

I hear you there... I'm all about just focusing on building the discipline to trade only when I should be trading. And to sit and watch happily (which is the tricky part) when I am not. I guess I should also say I am failing at it right now.

Sounds like a good practice to me...
Craig

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  #27 (permalink)
supreme23
Vancouver
 
Posts: 29 since Apr 2018
Thanks Given: 19
Thanks Received: 9


Scalpingtrader View Post
Took the last 1 1/2 weeks almost entirely off from trading. This weekend I will get back into doing some replay.
Next week I am on business trip half the week & the entire week thereafter. So not much live (SIM) trading to be expected in the upcoming weeks. Nonetheless, I‘ll work on my focus points in replay, expecting that at least part of it will transfer into live performance.

When I got the PC all set up, I will probably still not trade live for the first 2 weeks or so, but rather just have the chart up on one screen while doing something else on the main one. Why? Because I need to drill into my head that I don’t need to be placing trades, just because the market is open & I am sitting in front of a Chart.

Now a happy weekend to everyone.
Cheers, ST.



Happy new year !!
How’s trading been for you so for for 2019?

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  #28 (permalink)
 
Scalpingtrader's Avatar
 Scalpingtrader 
Hanover, Germany
Legendary Amateur Trader
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: NinjaTrader
Trading: ES
Posts: 1,945 since Apr 2014
Thanks Given: 3,144
Thanks Received: 5,147


supreme23 View Post
Happy new year !!
How’s trading been for you so for for 2019?

Thanks man, same to you!

Last couple of weeks I mostly unwinded. Watched the charts a couple of times while hanging out on the PC but mostly ignored the markets & took a breather. End of January / beginning of February I intend to get back into the Gauntlet. Until then it’ll be mostly non-trading stuff plus a few sessions of just watching the market I guess.

Happy trading in 2019 to you and everyone else,
ST.

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Last Updated on January 5, 2019


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