NexusFi: Find Your Edge


Home Menu

 





The PandaWarrior Chronicles


Discussion in Trading Journals

Updated
      Top Posters
    1. looks_one PandaWarrior with 945 posts (6,447 thanks)
    2. looks_two tigertrader with 101 posts (1,011 thanks)
    3. looks_3 tderrick with 88 posts (205 thanks)
    4. looks_4 Big Mike with 85 posts (437 thanks)
      Best Posters
    1. looks_one tigertrader with 10 thanks per post
    2. looks_two PandaWarrior with 6.8 thanks per post
    3. looks_3 Big Mike with 5.1 thanks per post
    4. looks_4 VinceVirgil with 3.1 thanks per post
    1. trending_up 399,131 views
    2. thumb_up 11,064 thanks given
    3. group 162 followers
    1. forum 2,157 posts
    2. attach_file 207 attachments




Closed Thread
 
Search this Thread

The PandaWarrior Chronicles

  #191 (permalink)
 
PandaWarrior's Avatar
 PandaWarrior 
In the heat
 
Experience: None
Posts: 3,165 since Mar 2010
Thanks Given: 6,329
Thanks Received: 13,404


tigertrader View Post
No doubt, introspection is good- too much, is certainly counter-productive.

You want to be able to just pull up, and take the jump shot - without thinking about the proper mechanics of the shot, each time you shoot the ball.

Yes, acquiring market knowledge, methodology proficiency, and risk management skills, is a relatively finite process. Developing mental skills can become an internal struggle and an infinite process, but is the necessary companion to knowledge and skill.

You must be confident, but ego-less; objective, but subjective; mechanical but analytical; focused but relaxed; disciplined but flexible; and patient but decisive.

There are a self-defeating emotions in all of us that blocks our minds and clouds our decisions. Improvement begins with changes in how we choose to think, act and be. Positive changes that will only be realized when we make a decision to learn to let go of the selfish me.

If you are looking for "setups that meet your rules but also fit within your risk tolerance." there is going to have to be a "premium" paid, one way or another. The market will not allow you to lower your risk for free.

There is always a price to be paid when it comes to trading, and whether you realize it or not, you're paying it.


I see introspection as the sort of what you do when learning to drive a car. In the beginning, you study everything, question mistakes, second guess yourself, etc. But after a while, driving becomes second nature. Intuitive if you will. I am in the stage between just learning and driving with mostly intuition. Some introspection is good. To much and I over think it. Lately, there has been much less introspection and more realization about just relying on what I know. I will learn more over time but the basics....risk control and patience, I am really beginning to have a firm and almost intuitive grasp on. Not there yet but its much better than even 3 months ago.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci


Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Started this thread
Thanked by:

Can you help answer these questions
from other members on NexusFi?
ZombieSqueeze
Platforms and Indicators
Deepmoney LLM
Elite Quantitative GenAI/LLM
NT7 Indicator Script Troubleshooting - Camarilla Pivots
NinjaTrader
Exit Strategy
NinjaTrader
The space time continuum and the dynamics of a financial …
Emini and Emicro Index
 
Best Threads (Most Thanked)
in the last 7 days on NexusFi
Get funded firms 2023/2024 - Any recommendations or word …
61 thanks
Funded Trader platforms
39 thanks
NexusFi site changelog and issues/problem reporting
26 thanks
Battlestations: Show us your trading desks!
26 thanks
The Program
18 thanks
  #192 (permalink)
 
PandaWarrior's Avatar
 PandaWarrior 
In the heat
 
Experience: None
Posts: 3,165 since Mar 2010
Thanks Given: 6,329
Thanks Received: 13,404


monpere View Post
I think you are describing Mahatma Gandhi !!! No wonder 95% of traders fail



You start stalking a trade the moment the market shows you that trade might trigger within the next few bars, or whatever the basis of your method is. At the time of the trigger, if the risk is too large for your psyche, or for your method, you pass! Fewer trading opportunities is the statistical premium you pay. Watching some of those passed trades going on to be huge winners, that's the potential emotional premium you pay.

And I have learned to accept that premium as the price I pay for avoiding certain set ups. Those huge winners I miss no longer upset me and no longer send me on the quest for the indie combination that would allow me to enter that trade, hold it for the entire move and exit at exactly the right price. I just accept that trade is not for me and let it go.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci


Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Started this thread
Thanked by:
  #193 (permalink)
 
PandaWarrior's Avatar
 PandaWarrior 
In the heat
 
Experience: None
Posts: 3,165 since Mar 2010
Thanks Given: 6,329
Thanks Received: 13,404



cory View Post
you can merge range chart and higher time frame chart (for stop placement) together using FT indie

I have looked at this and @MWinfrey has one that does not use indicators. In the past, I dont think I could have used this properly. But today is a different story and I will begin experimenting with it next week on sim after normal trading hours. In concept, its brilliant. It remains to be seen if I can execute using something like this.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci


Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Started this thread
Thanked by:
  #194 (permalink)
 
tigertrader's Avatar
 tigertrader 
Philly, Pa
Legendary Market Wizard
 
Experience: Master
Platform: NinjaTrader
Trading: ES, ZB
Posts: 6,482 since Jul 2010
Thanks Given: 6,662
Thanks Received: 36,257


PandaWarrior View Post
And I have learned to accept that premium as the price I pay for avoiding certain set ups. Those huge winners I miss no longer upset me and no longer send me on the quest for the indie combination that would allow me to enter that trade, hold it for the entire move and exit at exactly the right price. I just accept that trade is not for me and let it go.

If there ever was an indie/s that could deliver what you described, it wouldn't be in the public domain. The truth is, there is nothing out there that hasn't been tried, and traded to death - which is of course, antithetical to the dreams of the majority of futures.io (formerly BMT) members (present company excluded).

That being said, you are adjusting your trading, to your emotions, rather than adjusting your emotions, to your trading; essentially, "comfort-fitting" your trading; possibly at the expense of profitability. Don't you think you should, at the least... change your quote?

Follow me on Twitter
  #195 (permalink)
 
bluemele's Avatar
 bluemele 
Honolulu, Hawaii
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NinjaTrader
Broker: ATC/TT, AMP/Zen-Fire, AMP/CQG
Trading: TF
Posts: 2,543 since Jun 2010
Thanks Given: 3,803
Thanks Received: 2,842


tigertrader View Post

That being said, you are adjusting your trading, to your emotions, rather than adjusting your emotions, to your trading; essentially, "comfort-fitting" your trading; possibly at the expense of profitability. Don't you think you should, at the least... change your quote?

That is interesting. I have to reread this a few times to get my head around it.

Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal
  #196 (permalink)
 
tigertrader's Avatar
 tigertrader 
Philly, Pa
Legendary Market Wizard
 
Experience: Master
Platform: NinjaTrader
Trading: ES, ZB
Posts: 6,482 since Jul 2010
Thanks Given: 6,662
Thanks Received: 36,257


bluemele View Post
That is interesting. I have to reread this a few times to get my head around it.

blumele,

Every trader experiences anxiety. Not one day has gone by, that I didn’t get “butterflies” in my stomach when I woke up in the morning or before I sat down to trade. And there wasn't a day at the CBOT, that my heart didn’t race before I walked into the pit. It’s inevitable and unavoidable; because it’s instinctual. It is also natural that our psyches want to feel at ease. It is an innate defense mechanism, where our brain will do anything; even allow us to deceive ourselves (cognitive rationalization), to achieve this goal.
It’s very natural then, that we would alter our behavior to compensate for our emotions, rather than control our emotions, to better optimize our behavior. Every trader has a choice between what makes them feel good, or what is actually good for them. You either control your emotions and channel them to your benefit, or allow them to control you.

Follow me on Twitter
  #197 (permalink)
 
PandaWarrior's Avatar
 PandaWarrior 
In the heat
 
Experience: None
Posts: 3,165 since Mar 2010
Thanks Given: 6,329
Thanks Received: 13,404


tigertrader View Post
If there ever was an indie/s that could deliver what you described, it wouldn't be in the public domain. The truth is, there is nothing out there that hasn't been tried, and traded to death - which is of course, antithetical to the dreams of the majority of futures.io (formerly BMT) members (present company excluded).

That being said, you are adjusting your trading, to your emotions, rather than adjusting your emotions, to your trading; essentially, "comfort-fitting" your trading; possibly at the expense of profitability. Don't you think you should, at the least... change your quote?


I know there is no such thing as the indie I described. But I sure spent a long time looking for it. No more. What did it for me was accepting that most of the time I will would miss the long runners because I didn't have what it took to stay in it that long. I can find those trades, I just couldn't stay in them. Instead, I focused my attention on finding higher probability trades that I can enter and exit fairly quickly. Longer term, I think I will gravitate toward longer trades but for now I am profitable scalping.

After listening to noted trading psychologist Denise Schull who talked about the futility of controlling your emotions and instead trading in a manner that works within the emotional context you are currently in, I began trading to my strengths. Acknowledging those aspects of trading that cause me to stress out and then trading in a manner that avoids those situations allows me the space to think more rationally about each trade instead of yielding to overwhelming emotional drivers that more often than not cause me to do things that are counter intuitive to profitability.

I don't apologize for "comfort fitting" my trading. As long as it produces consistent profit, then who cares what my comfort level is? I would argue in fact that a trader would be more likely to take their signals if they are in their comfort zone. IF the comfort zone is unprofitable, then certainly the idea of trading to a comfort level is poor decision making. But once a person gets to the place where doing the profitable things are comfortable, then why take that trader to task? I have a friend whose profit requirement is ten ticks a day. He is comfortable waiting all day for the ten tick set up that fits his trading system, but more importantly, one that suits his emotional comfort requirements. Whats wrong with that?

This whole discussion started over my emotional issues of trading higher time frames. I don't trade those and am comfortable and profitable trading what I trade. I do want to move to the higher time frames at some point with a portion of my trading capital, but I'll get there the same way I got comfortable where I am currently. Practice and screen time. Practice and screen time produce confidence and confidence will allow me to trade the higher time frames without the emotional issues I mentioned.

That being said, perhaps I used the words "emotional issues" inappropriately. More accurately would have been a statement that went like this: "I can't trade the higher time frames because the risk is to great for my account size". I would be emotional about the stop size because to high of a percentage of my account would be at risk. I could take the trade with no problem. I can see it just fine, but a 30-40 cent stop is to much for me at this point. I would be freaking out every time I initiated a trade and needing it to go my way instantly. That is no way to trade.

As one grows as a trader, then perhaps one can attain the level of emotional control you talk about and have obviously reached.

Anyway, I'm pretty comfortable with my growth, profitability and future growth plan. I've given up the get rich quick mentality that trading breeds. Instead, I've adopted a long term approach to wealth and income creation.

I've also finally started treating this as a business with written goals for personal growth, business growth, knowledge growth, etc. I am taking an in depth psychology class these next two weeks. No trading tips, no new techniques, just the mental stuff. I don't even have many hard and fast rules. The more I write rules, the less those rules seem to play out day to day. Instead, pattern recognition, feel, support and resistance along with risk control, money management and discipline are the keys to the game.

I wish I had gotten where I am a whole lot sooner but I didn't. My journey has been long and arduous as most traders have been. I still feel like I am just a beginner but a beginner with a whole new understanding of who I am as a trader, what my skills are and more importantly, what they are not. This allows me to do some rudimentary planning for the future. I believe I can achieve a certain level of profitability most days, I have rigid risk control that limits my draw down days and a realistic plan for sizing up. This creates a level of confidence I didn't have in the past.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci


Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Started this thread
  #198 (permalink)
 
tigertrader's Avatar
 tigertrader 
Philly, Pa
Legendary Market Wizard
 
Experience: Master
Platform: NinjaTrader
Trading: ES, ZB
Posts: 6,482 since Jul 2010
Thanks Given: 6,662
Thanks Received: 36,257

That was your best journal entry to date.

Follow me on Twitter
Thanked by:
  #199 (permalink)
 
PandaWarrior's Avatar
 PandaWarrior 
In the heat
 
Experience: None
Posts: 3,165 since Mar 2010
Thanks Given: 6,329
Thanks Received: 13,404

I overshot my daily stop buy a tick or two today. To begin with, I had a nice winner and then the tech issues started. Intermittent internet caused my trading platform to freeze multiple times. After the first one, I should have stop but I got it going again, only to see it freeze up again. That should have been the stopping point for sure. Then my kid fell down the stairs. I took some time to comfort her. Fortunately, she was just shaken up. No damage at all.

Anyway, the long and short of it was, I traded when I shouldn't have and paid the price for it. To be fair, I did take 1-2 signals that were legit that failed. No worries there but I also took a few that were against my basic rules. Those failed 100% at full stops. So the mix of winners and losers put me over my limit by a few ticks.

Now to a different subject:

You may have noticed I have stopped posting charts. There is a reason for this. I used to get a few private messages asking me how to trade the charts I've posted. Well to be honest, I took this as a compliment and tried to help. Then it occurred to me that I was the blind leading the blind. I posted the other day in someone elses thread about the indies I used and sure enough, someone asked me to help them with their trading.

Now I am not trying to be mean or unhelpful, but until I am rocking and rolling and making money every day and can honestly say I am a successful trader and by that I mean following not only my trade rules but my personal growth and knowledge plan, I will not be explaining how I trade to anyone that thinks I am further along the road than they are. I just know that for me, I had to figure it out on my own and to really blunt, there's only been a small handful of posts here on futures.io (formerly BMT) that have helped and NONE of them were about systems or methods or indies. The ones that have helped have been about the mental game.

So for those of you that requested my help, please read the psychology forum. Its the place to be in terms of figuring out how to win the trading game. I won't be answering PM's about how I trade the indies I use. The honest truth is that all methods have merit and all methods have drawbacks. Its your personal discipline and patience that wins the day. So my only real advice to struggling traders is:

First figure out who you are as a trader. Are you a scalper, swing trader, position trader, what is your identity?
Second, adopt a method that fits that identity.
Third, figure out your money management
Fourth, don't change anything for 6 months at least.
Fifth, open a live account and then trade one lot.
Lastly, learn the difference between trade management and money management.

Thats it until tomorrow.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci


Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Started this thread
  #200 (permalink)
 
tigertrader's Avatar
 tigertrader 
Philly, Pa
Legendary Market Wizard
 
Experience: Master
Platform: NinjaTrader
Trading: ES, ZB
Posts: 6,482 since Jul 2010
Thanks Given: 6,662
Thanks Received: 36,257



PandaWarrior View Post
I overshot my daily stop buy a tick or two today. To begin with, I had a nice winner and then the tech issues started. Intermittent internet caused my trading platform to freeze multiple times. After the first one, I should have stop but I got it going again, only to see it freeze up again. That should have been the stopping point for sure. Then my kid fell down the stairs. I took some time to comfort her. Fortunately, she was just shaken up. No damage at all.

Anyway, the long and short of it was, I traded when I shouldn't have and paid the price for it. To be fair, I did take 1-2 signals that were legit that failed. No worries there but I also took a few that were against my basic rules. Those failed 100% at full stops. So the mix of winners and losers put me over my limit by a few ticks.

Now to a different subject:

You may have noticed I have stopped posting charts. There is a reason for this. I used to get a few private messages asking me how to trade the charts I've posted. Well to be honest, I took this as a compliment and tried to help. Then it occurred to me that I was the blind leading the blind. I posted the other day in someone elses thread about the indies I used and sure enough, someone asked me to help them with their trading.

Now I am not trying to be mean or unhelpful, but until I am rocking and rolling and making money every day and can honestly say I am a successful trader and by that I mean following not only my trade rules but my personal growth and knowledge plan, I will not be explaining how I trade to anyone that thinks I am further along the road than they are. I just know that for me, I had to figure it out on my own and to really blunt, there's only been a small handful of posts here on futures.io (formerly BMT) that have helped and NONE of them were about systems or methods or indies. The ones that have helped have been about the mental game.

So for those of you that requested my help, please read the psychology forum. Its the place to be in terms of figuring out how to win the trading game. I won't be answering PM's about how I trade the indies I use. The honest truth is that all methods have merit and all methods have drawbacks. Its your personal discipline and patience that wins the day. So my only real advice to struggling traders is:

First figure out who you are as a trader. Are you a scalper, swing trader, position trader, what is your identity?
Second, adopt a method that fits that identity.
Third, figure out your money management
Fourth, don't change anything for 6 months at least.
Fifth, open a live account and then trade one lot.
Lastly, learn the difference between trade management and money management.

Thats it until tomorrow.

Good advice. TA and the other stuff, gets you in the door, but MM gets you out the door.

Follow me on Twitter
Thanked by:

Closed Thread



Last Updated on May 14, 2014


© 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