NexusFi: Find Your Edge


Home Menu

 





Self-Mastery and Development through Trading


Discussion in Trading Journals

Updated
      Top Posters
    1. looks_one WayneA with 39 posts (27 thanks)
    2. looks_two Lornz with 3 posts (2 thanks)
    3. looks_3 aquarian1 with 2 posts (0 thanks)
    4. looks_4 Big Mike with 1 posts (0 thanks)
    1. trending_up 9,618 views
    2. thumb_up 31 thanks given
    3. group 2 followers
    1. forum 48 posts
    2. attach_file 1 attachments




 
Search this Thread

Self-Mastery and Development through Trading

  #21 (permalink)
 
WayneA's Avatar
 WayneA 
Seattle, WA
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: NinjaTrader
Trading: Ones that move
Posts: 62 since Aug 2009
Thanks Given: 64
Thanks Received: 58

Thanks for the concern, aquarian. My biggest concern, too, is burning out from lack of sleep. I have some friends who scored gigs as banking analysts. It's not uncommon for them to pull 11+ hour days for someone else's bottom line. Some have burned out. Some are still plugging away. I figure if that's the standard for folks my age, then I'll go ahead and try to meet and exceed that. If I burn out, then I'll have to look at some other trading instruments and times to trade. (By the way, I haven't even talked about what I'm trading or how I want to be able to trade. I'll cover this tomorrow.) But for the next week and a half, full speed ahead!

----

I had a thought today going to work. It's related to philosophy, which I'm causally interested in. A friend once sold me on the idea of metaphysical monism, which, roughly, is the idea that there is no mind separate from one's body. This is distinguished from the more ancient idea of dualism, where the mind independently can act on the body. My monist friend even had me questioning the very idea of free will. If there's no mind, then what's doing the willing. But I'm not so sure I buy that anymore anymore.

This morning, I saw my will expressed through my actions. The day before, I told myself to eat better. I told myself to go to bed at my set time. All of these were first ideal actions in my mind before they became reality. Holding and believing in an ideal self is just as abstract as having a willful mind. And, I think they're both as valid concepts as the concepts "2". Just as two does occur anywhere, our mind doesn't occur anywhere. But, we still use them every day.

Just some random thoughts.

Started this thread Reply With Quote

Can you help answer these questions
from other members on NexusFi?
Build trailing stop for micro index(s)
Psychology and Money Management
My NT8 Volume Profile Split by Asian/Euro/Open
NinjaTrader
Are there any eval firms that allow you to sink to your …
Traders Hideout
New Micros: Ultra 10-Year & Ultra T-Bond -- Live Now
Treasury Notes and Bonds
ZombieSqueeze
Platforms and Indicators
 
Best Threads (Most Thanked)
in the last 7 days on NexusFi
Get funded firms 2023/2024 - Any recommendations or word …
59 thanks
Funded Trader platforms
36 thanks
NexusFi site changelog and issues/problem reporting
22 thanks
The Program
20 thanks
GFIs1 1 DAX trade per day journal
19 thanks
  #22 (permalink)
 
WayneA's Avatar
 WayneA 
Seattle, WA
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: NinjaTrader
Trading: Ones that move
Posts: 62 since Aug 2009
Thanks Given: 64
Thanks Received: 58

I'm up, at my desk, and refreshed.

Started this thread Reply With Quote
  #23 (permalink)
 
WayneA's Avatar
 WayneA 
Seattle, WA
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: NinjaTrader
Trading: Ones that move
Posts: 62 since Aug 2009
Thanks Given: 64
Thanks Received: 58


More tired than yesterday, but not as tired as Monday...

Started this thread Reply With Quote
  #24 (permalink)
 
Surly's Avatar
 Surly 
denver, colorado
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NT
Trading: ZS
Posts: 704 since Mar 2011
Thanks Given: 628
Thanks Received: 1,263

Wayne - thanks for starting your journal here on futures.io (formerly BMT). Good luck with it. After reading your entries, I thought of this post that several have pointed to as a good source of advice - it ties in with what your doing in terms of playing around with your entries and just observing - I thought it might give you some confidence in what you're doing and help with your level of psych.

Learning to Become a Successful Trader | E-Mini Player

Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty. - Frank Herbert
Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #25 (permalink)
 
WayneA's Avatar
 WayneA 
Seattle, WA
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: NinjaTrader
Trading: Ones that move
Posts: 62 since Aug 2009
Thanks Given: 64
Thanks Received: 58



Thanks Surly.

I'm definitely starting to incorproate the main idea in that post. I think the gist is this: if given time and a safe, non-threatening environment to learn, the human mind is the best pattern recognition tool.

Started this thread Reply With Quote
  #26 (permalink)
 
rtrade's Avatar
 rtrade 
Paradise, USA
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Big Charts
Trading: E-mini, Forex, Futures, Equities, Options
Posts: 499 since Nov 2010
Thanks Given: 578
Thanks Received: 378


WayneA View Post
Here in Hawaii, I felt isolated from the world of finance. I wanted personal contact with traders to see if this is really what I want to do. As I mentioned in the first post, after graduation, I hopped on a trader trainee program. The experience was great. I met traders already enjoying success and traders starting out just like myself. I saw that traders are just like anyone else. I saw that successful trading was possible. Moving along in the training, I began to see that I, too, could be a successful trader. Then I made a mistake. I got overconfident and decided to go it alone.


Hi, can you be more specific on what trainee program this was?

Who were these traders enjoying success?

What specifically was this Trading Club?
or
What specifically was this Trading Firm?

Thanks

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." --- "Therefore, I Believe it and I will see it. And every day and in every way, I am healthier, wealthier, and wiser."
Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Reply With Quote
  #27 (permalink)
 
WayneA's Avatar
 WayneA 
Seattle, WA
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: NinjaTrader
Trading: Ones that move
Posts: 62 since Aug 2009
Thanks Given: 64
Thanks Received: 58


rtrade View Post
Hi, can you be more specific on what trainee program this was?

Sure, it was with this group: Global Trading Community. I was looking for something similar to the famous firm, SMB Captial, onlywith a focus on futures.

The training lasted one month with the option to continue for an additional two months. The days were pretty structured. From the Eurex open, I would get a three hour class streamed to me, since I'm out in Hawaii and the firm is in the UK. In the class, we would learn some trading theory. Afterwards, we'd have practical exercises to complete for the next four or so hours. The exercises ranged from executing stop and reverse orders to placing inter-month spreads using the implied bid and ask. (The firm focused on European interest rate futures.) Then at the end of the day, we'd have a review session.


rtrade View Post
Who were these traders enjoying success?

What specifically was this Trading Club?
or
What specifically was this Trading Firm?

The firm is set up as a trading arcade. All of the full time traders and most of the trainees were there in the UK office. Actually, in my training cohort, I think the rest of them were in the office. We had pretty good access to the traders who had their desks with the firm. I was free to ask questions if I was confused or needed help with a exercise.

I think it was pretty healthy experience. I've heard stories of people shelling out thousands of dollars only to have technical indicators like stochastics and MACD explained to them.

Would I do it again? A month ago, I would have said, "Definitely yes!" The reason is that I need that structured approach. I really didn't do well trying replicate that process on my own. But, now that I've started working at a real job, I've learned more about my true work ethic capability (read, deficiency), where I want to be in that regard, and a little bit of how I can get there. Also, just posting here on futures.io (formerly BMT) in the past several days has been a real turn around, to where I don't think I need to pay someone to keep me on track.


Quoting 
“Our business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves -- to break our own records, to outstrip our yesterday by our today.” - Stewart B. Johnson


Started this thread Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #28 (permalink)
 
WayneA's Avatar
 WayneA 
Seattle, WA
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: NinjaTrader
Trading: Ones that move
Posts: 62 since Aug 2009
Thanks Given: 64
Thanks Received: 58

Most of the fiscal year stuff at work is over. So, less stress for the next week. Let's see how it goes.

(I did check in about 20min ago, but I pressed preview post instead of submit reply .

Started this thread Reply With Quote
  #29 (permalink)
 
WayneA's Avatar
 WayneA 
Seattle, WA
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: NinjaTrader
Trading: Ones that move
Posts: 62 since Aug 2009
Thanks Given: 64
Thanks Received: 58

Good day today. Took trades and ended strong without getting exhausted.

Started this thread Reply With Quote
  #30 (permalink)
 
WayneA's Avatar
 WayneA 
Seattle, WA
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: NinjaTrader
Trading: Ones that move
Posts: 62 since Aug 2009
Thanks Given: 64
Thanks Received: 58



Quoting 
"A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week." - George S. Patton

I'll use this post to start talking about what I'm trading, what I want to trade, and how I want to trade it.

When I first started trading, I was 100% systematic. Back then, Ninjatrader offered free forex data, so I used that as a data source when trying to create the holy grail. I traded the spot EURUSD almost exclusively.

When I got into discretionary trading and auction market theory, I started to gravitate towards futures products. I like the relative centralization of futures market. I shifted between the various equity indexes. Using volume, you can see exactly what supply and demand conditions at any moment in time. That's not to say it's easier to take trades. But, as an econ major, that context was very appealing.

When I started that training program, a year ago, I was introduced to interest rate futures. These are the most orderly markets one can find. They tend to have strong intraday trends. Also, within these trends, they cycle and pullback cleanly. Even today, I am drawn to the Bund 10-year German Bond ( FGBL). It's a deep market just like the US 10-year. But, unlike the US 10-year, it's quoted in decimals and has large intraday ranges.

But, over the last year, I've come almost full circle. I'm back to trading currencies. I say "currencies" because I will use both spot and futures. The plan is to trade off the EUR/USD futures contract from CME on EUR/USD Spot through an ECN broker, MBTrading.

I want to use the futures contract in order to have reliable tick data. I'm going to be using three-linebreak charts on Ninjatrader. They seem to hold intraday direction better than range or momentum charts. Also, they show the cycling that occurs within a trend very well. From what I've seen in the Divergence Trading webinar here on futures.io (formerly BMT), this cycling allows strategically aggressive trading. That's the type of trading I want to work towards. The decision to use three-linebreak charts with futures data is a trade management decision.

The decision to enter through a spot forex account is an account management decision. With lower initial start up capital and smaller dollar cost per tick, this is a way for me to go live (whenever that will be) without a large financial risk. Keeping financial risk down is a good thing both financially and psychologically. Transitioning from sim to live is going to difficult enough without the pressure of losing a large financial stake.

That's all for now. I gotta start getting ready for work.

Note: I am looking into how I can change my trading hours from 0200-0600 HST to 1900-2300 HST. This would make my schedule less Spartan and allow a more balanced lifestyle. So, instead of being active at the US market open I would trade during the European market open. I've looked at the charts and they look reliable. I need to check the market depth and spreads during those times.

Started this thread Reply With Quote




Last Updated on August 10, 2011


© 2024 NexusFi™, s.a., All Rights Reserved.
Av Ricardo J. Alfaro, Century Tower, Panama City, Panama, Ph: +507 833-9432 (Panama and Intl), +1 888-312-3001 (USA and Canada)
All information is for educational use only and is not investment advice. There is a substantial risk of loss in trading commodity futures, stocks, options and foreign exchange products. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
About Us - Contact Us - Site Rules, Acceptable Use, and Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy - Downloads - Top
no new posts