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my keyboard Logitech Deluxe 250 Wired Keyboard - Black
features;
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3 out and out losers for -21 ticks. Was using a tighter stop, because of the volatility in CL...pretty rangy 5 min bars. I want to take my lumps earlier if I was on the wrong side of the trade.
Wasnt an easy day. 2 trades at +14 ticks, and small winners on the others. 1BE.
Risk and money management is very important. And trading in then moment with full awareness.
Was a little early on a couple of trades. In fact, got my SL hit then, just because I didnt learn my lesson, I jumped right back in..."stop filled" The first one, not my fault. the second one...all my fault.
But, chalked up to exerience.
Also, missed my signal at 9:35 to go short. Would have been a sucess, but, my eyes were not on the screen. Error 2.
Those 2 errors cost me 25 ticks. So, in real terms, each error is very costly.
This for me, highlights how important it is to remain mindful of the task at hand at all times, but particularily in trading, as these errors are tremendously costly.
Managed to finish +38, however, I give myself only a C grade, because I could have easily been down for the day.
But, that being said, i am gainig confidence in my process, and I am working on all facets of trading. What do i mean by that.
Back to the golf analogy. A single digit handicap golfer is good golfer. in fact, less than 2% of all golfers are single digit handicap golfers. ( If you dont golf, you can skip this part) A single digit handicaper is pretty good at all facets of the game. Driving the ball, approach shots, chipping, putting, shot selection, course management. But to get better, lower your handicap, they have to improve at all facets of the game. Because improvement form 9 to 7 to 5 to less will only happen incrementaly.
Trading seems to me to be the same. To improve as a trader, its not just about profitabilty. It is about strategy, trade management, money management, risk management. And what each of this means and how it applies under pressure. At least, thats the way i see it.
Had a computer /internet problem this morning, that I finally figured out.
But, it took me an hour. And instead of being ready to trade at 7:30 EST, I didnt get set up till 8:30 EST. The result?
I was anxious to get started, and i blew up on my first 2 trades. I know exactly what my problme was...I felt like I was missing somethingt and I became impatient. Havet had that feeling in a while, and i recognised it in myself, but not until I made 2 losing trades.
Was that the sole reason...nope. The first trade was reasonable, but it hit my SL...the second was a mistake. A losing trade should not affect my psyche.. If it does, then it was a trade that I should not have taken in the first place. The ssecond trtade was an attempt to get even, and of course, it was a mistake.
Was down 15 ticks after the first 2 trades.
Lots of raniness on the CL today, % minute chart showing large bull and bear tails, so it was a day to 1...increase my stops to mitigate that...something I wasnt inclined to do, particularily after the first 2 losing trades. 2. Be more aggressive with moving my stop to BE + 2. Went with 2, and as such I nibbled my way into positive teritory.
+ 18 ticks after commissions. On 12 trades. Had 3 losers for -24.
Had another mistake of a short I hessitated in taking at 9:15. Had my finger on the trigger, but...I waited a hair too long, and it ran away from me...Would have gotten 10 ticks out of that easily.
so, if I had elimnated the 2 errors, I would have not lost the 7 ticks on the bad trde and I would have gained the 10 ticks on the missed trade. Need to think of a technique to overcome the wrong thinking.
Keep forgetting, this is 2012. I dont have a Mayan Calender, so I guess the year is not overly significant to me.
Made a big mistake today...well, a foolish mistake. I was distracted around 10:30 AM. and well, you know what happens next...the Petroleum report and my stop gets hammered. Pretty difficult to find a CL trader that trades during the Petroleum report. oops.
That was a big mistake, will be more mindfull in the future.
I decided to make sure my first trade was a win, even if it wsa a small win, to set the tone for the day. So I get 3 ticks, and I feel...a little upset, because I short sheeted myself into 3 ticks when it should have been 15. was still a little discombolutaed about it 20 minutes later, and of course....I had 3 trades for -24. -21 after 4 trades. Overtraded...
So, I regrouped, took a few deep breathes, refocused, and then I calmly got back to the task at hand. I did well, I think, except for the 2 nd mistake at 10:30....but that was just silliness on my part. Dropped the ball on that one, cost me another 8 ticks.
But I finished the session better. Traded back from being down 21 ticks early, to getting back to +30 ticks.
This was on 14 trades. Eliminate 1 of the 4 foolish mistakes, and I am ahead +38 ticks on the day.
Only grade myself a C+...The best thing i did today was I was able to step outside myself and refocus during the session. in golf, it means making an on course correction. And I was successful after that, for the most part.Now I need to eliminate 1 error a session. The best time to eliminate an error? Before it ever happens.
Having a few connection problems with CQG on my AMP futures account. Worksapce donst seem to load immediately, so I have to reload the program, reconnect and hope NT dosnt time out before the conncection is made. Been happenning the last few days, but I do get it to work eventually...but today, I only had it working for the first hour on my simulated account connection.
I have Mirus Futures on a seperate platform with Ninja Trader and ZenFire, and that seems to perform flawlessly. But, I am not much of a techie, so its taking me time to sort out. I havea an account there as well.
had trade of +5 +8-1+4 for a total of 16 ticks.
The negative 1 was an error. I wanted to go long, but i went short by mistake (anyone ever do that before...hasnt happenned to me for weeks) andway, I reversed my position, immediately, but not before losing 1 tick, however, I close out the next trade at only +4 because I was rattled from the mistaken entry.
Bummer, because I would have had at least 12 to 15 ticks there.. price moved like I anticipated.
Today, because of my shortened screen time, I traded this afternoon...from 1 to 2:30. 1:30 to 2:30 does offer some movement on the CL, at least for my strategies.
Plus 23 ticks on 6 trades. Got my stop hit at -8 on 1 trade.
For the day its +16 net, this morning +23 this afternoon, for a total of +39 on the day.
There is an area of concern I do have, in that have not had a 20 - 25 tick gain in more than a few days. Ussually I get one of those every 2 or 3 sessions. For now, I'll be satisfied with little bites. As long as I come out ahead...
Is it really that easy? Trading is easy to understand, but very difficult to do, successfully.
A few months ago, I bought a book on forex trading strategies. I couldnt understand 10% of it. So it sat on my bookshelf. Took it out yesterday, and every single concept in it I understood and got almost as soon as I read it.
I am happy about my progress so far. And i really have to credit this forum, and the individuals that make up this forum. It has supremely beneficial for me, not only has it helped me learn more about trading than I thought possible, it has given me renewed perspective in my real job.
What is my job? I am an investment advisor/stock broker. From personal exsperience, the Market Wizards in this forum, are significantly more capable than the vast majority of the people in the retail investment industry. Proubly 99.9%. I read once, and I truly beleive this...the very best Mutual Fund managers quit to become Hedge Fund managers. I now know why that statement is true.
According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Ashville, North Carolina, an estimated 17 to 21 million people in the United States are affected by a fear of this day. Some people are so paralyzed by fear that they avoid their normal routines in doing business, taking flights or even getting out of bed.
I dint get that memo...I traded anyway.
In the book Forex Trading Strategies by Archer, on page 162, he states as one of the 9 characteristica of a sucessfull trader is that " successful traders seldom think of prices being "too high" or "too low".
What does that really mean? Does it mean sucessful trader ignore the HOD or LOD of the day, week, month?
It has to mean that, if a trader thinks in terms of strictly too high or too low a price, it will result in not being able to buy or sell, and as such, opportunities are lost. I know some of the biggest mistake I have made in terms of trades are the ones that dont appear on my P and L, becasue they are the trades that I didnt take, the ones I self talked myself out of.
Today was a Down trend day, at least it started out that way, from yesterdays high. But it seemed more of a slow down trend day, so i was looking to short, and to look for reversals.
For the most part, It went faily well. I took what the market was willing to give. on the 5 min, there were tradable patterns, for my strategy.
11 trades.
2+4-9+11+6+11+7-8+10+9+8 = 51
All in all pretty good . Will do some backtesting on the weekend, try to work on another strategy for longer trades.
