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I am NOT a Trader


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I am NOT a Trader

  #11 (permalink)
 
mattz's Avatar
 mattz   is a Vendor
 
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@eudamonia


Trading is a business, and the goal of the business is to make money.
Success is measured in terms of what you earned because you spend so much time studying, observing, taking notes, testing, etc that somehow you must show reward beyond personal growth at some point.

Sadly, Trading is one of those fields that has a very uncorrelated relations of effort versus outcome for many traders.
Some put effort and come out ahead and some do not. If one approaches this game from the perspective of "The goal of Trading is to Make Money" a plan starts to formulate.

I do agree that trading has a process, and you cant always focus on the short-term. But, beginner traders do not lose because of fear of being "measured" rather they fight impulsiveness, and other reactionary behavior as a response to the way prices fluctuate.

When beginners start reading more about traders who are successful, only then measurement comes to mind, which is a must. The measurement against better traders, and those who treat trading as a business. They start developing a plan to reduce frequency of trading, observing odds of one trade versus another, etc. In short, what you think is a cause of failure IMHO could be the turning point for many traders. Isn't measurement a form of motivation that drives us forward?

Trading futures and options involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. You may lose more than your initial investment. All posts are opinions and do not claim to be facts. Please conduct your own due diligence. Use only Risk capital when trading Futures.
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  #12 (permalink)
 
eudamonia's Avatar
 eudamonia 
Sacramento, CA
 
Experience: None
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Broker: ADM and Sierra Charts
Trading: ES, CL
Posts: 315 since Jul 2010
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When I walk into a room people want to talk to me, to get my attention, and want to be me because I am 100% authentic. People like me because I love myself first. I'm not trying to get anything from them. In any social interaction they are reacting to me and are drawn into my reality. If they don't like my reality no big deal. I move on unphased.

It's the same when it comes to trading. The market reacts to me. When I place a trade the market moves for me. It wants to because I am not trying to force the market to do anything it doesn't already want to do. When I'm against the market flow I take my stops like a champ. Another hot trade is right around the corner. No need to force this one. There are so many amazing opportunities I don't have time for them all.

Everyday I am a 10/10.

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  #13 (permalink)
 
eudamonia's Avatar
 eudamonia 
Sacramento, CA
 
Experience: None
Platform: None
Broker: ADM and Sierra Charts
Trading: ES, CL
Posts: 315 since Jul 2010
Thanks Given: 308
Thanks Received: 449


Yesterday and O/N levels

1386.75 responsive sellers
1382 responsive sellers ON
1377.25 acceptance ON
1373 init and responsive buyers ON
1369 acceptance
1362.5 init buyers

Premise is if we hold above 1379.50 then targeting 86.75 responsive sellers and 90.25 gap.
Hold below 1379.50 then targeting 75.25 and 72.5 gaps.

FOMC was the big catalyst for the day. Quiet rotations before FOMC. 82/83 no responsive sellers stepped in. 86.75 responsive sellers stepped in. Couldn't seem to break below OS low at 1380 except for a couple ticks. Multiple tests of this level and rotations up to 1384/85.

6:30a - ES open 1381.25. OS high 1383. OS low 1380.5. Open rejection reverse
6:32a - ES short at 1382.25. stop at 84.25 targets at 79 and 75.25. -2/-2
no responsive sellers at this level. missed taking the 86.75 short that followed.
8:58a – ES long at 1382.00. stop at 80.25. target 86.5 -1.75
blown out on the FOMC news. no biggie half sized for a reason.
9:34a – ES long at 1381.25. stop at 80. target 86.5 +2/+5.25
right back in once premise holds

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  #14 (permalink)
 zt379 
UK London
 
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Lornz View Post
Watched Fight Club recently?

I agree with your sentiments about fearing the unknown. I've never been afraid of dying and I became profitable within a month.

Thanx for the thread @eudamonia, interesting "stuff".

@Lornz gets to the heart of the matter imo, thx.

I guess one way or another the unknown is what it's all about.
Perhaps our way of dealing with that, what we choose, whether we realize it or not, is to think we need to be all of these things and have all of these wants. The need to be needed, loved, valued etc..etc.. the want to be wanted, loved, valued etc..etc..

Perhaps all of these things fill in our lives, like filling in the spaces between things, a space that is essentially unknown. They give us meaning but only in the sense of an unknown alternative.

We seem to require a validation of our existance and of the self for the selfs sake.
It's all very odd really especially when we all know, whether we care to think about it or not, that we will all end in this form at one time or another.

The thing about life is that...errrm.....hang on a moment....no that's not it...put it this way....ermm....no that's not it either....well it's ....no I had it for a moment but it's gone now....

We seem to seek perminance when there really isn't any.
Nothing is fixed. It's all ever changing and for as hard as we try to have things set and fixed in our way for us, well it's not really sustainable when everything is always changing.

Perhaps in all this seeking of definitions we lose sight of the moment and that in of itself that is all there is.
For as much as we choose to seek ourslves in some pre-defined future or prior labelled past we are not here, now.
Present to the continual flow of ever changing new moments.

Now just is and is, is busy being it...perhaps.

Maybe our awareness of that being will give us the better realization of all the opportunities that exist now for each of us rather than trying to get everything "fixed"....but we have to be present ?

As for dealing with the unknown, for me, I guess I accept it and then smile.

Just some thoughts...
Anyway, where is life..it's got to be somewhere around here...!

kind regards
zt379

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  #15 (permalink)
 
eudamonia's Avatar
 eudamonia 
Sacramento, CA
 
Experience: None
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Broker: ADM and Sierra Charts
Trading: ES, CL
Posts: 315 since Jul 2010
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Why do we let our emotions control us?

Have you ever felt that someone important to you let you down?
Have you ever "needed" a trade to go your way?
Have you ever had someone or some event attack your identity?
Have you ever lost a thing that you were greatly attached to?

All of these emotional demons are about frame. When the "monkey" is on a rampage you've been thrown out of frame, out of your reality, and been sucked into another.

Last night I got angry. Monkey angry. Someone I had trusted had let me down. But the anger was really about my expectations. Those expectations aren't real. They never are no matter what you think. Most of the time I'm rock solid in my frame. But I stepped off and onto the crazy train. The funny thing was this was a pretty trivial matter - but because my ego got attached to an outcome bad mental mojo was bound to happen.

How do you get back once you've been pushed out of frame? First you need to recognize it. Once you've done that you can see that your fantasy reality and the real reality are out of sync. Practice this enough and you will automatically step back into frame. The stronger your attachment to X, the more you will resist recognizing you are out of frame.

My lamborgini blew up. It was never mine anyway and I got to drive it for a little while which was damn fun.
My supermodel gf/wife broke up with me. She was never mine anyway and now I can see other hot women who are probably even better.
My trading sucked today, this week, this year. There is always another day or week and if my trading has been bad for an entire year perhaps I can do something else. Something even more productive and more lucrative.

Whatever you think you are attached to visualize letting it go. It never was you.

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  #16 (permalink)
 
mattz's Avatar
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To trade, or not to trade, that is the question:
Whether Lamborghini breakdown in the mind to suffer
The Slings and Arrows of outrageous paper trading methods
Or to take Arms against a Sea of Supermodels Girlfriends who break my heart.

Trading futures and options involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. You may lose more than your initial investment. All posts are opinions and do not claim to be facts. Please conduct your own due diligence. Use only Risk capital when trading Futures.
1 800 771 6748 local 561 367 8686 email [email protected]
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  #17 (permalink)
 
eudamonia's Avatar
 eudamonia 
Sacramento, CA
 
Experience: None
Platform: None
Broker: ADM and Sierra Charts
Trading: ES, CL
Posts: 315 since Jul 2010
Thanks Given: 308
Thanks Received: 449

Yesterday's and ON levels

1392.25 responsive sellers
1387.75 acceptance
1380 initiative buyers
1375 acceptance
1370 buying tail

Premise for the day was to look for responsive sellers at 92.5 should we hold above 1379.5 or
to look for responsive buyers at 72.5 and 70 should we hold below 1379.5.

After the first hour it was clear that the OS was holding on initiative buying interested in the 1380 area.

6:30a - ES open at 1383.75. OS low 1383. OS high 1384.75. open auction in range
7:02a - ES long at 1386.75. and 1387.75 target is 1389 and 90.5 stop is 85.75. +1.75/-1.5
8:01a – ES long at 1386.5. stop 1384.75. target is 90.75 +1.5/+4.25
10:50a – ES short at 1392.5. stop 1394.5. -2 /-2
12:19a – ES short at 1397.5 stop at 1400.25. +1.5

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  #18 (permalink)
 
eudamonia's Avatar
 eudamonia 
Sacramento, CA
 
Experience: None
Platform: None
Broker: ADM and Sierra Charts
Trading: ES, CL
Posts: 315 since Jul 2010
Thanks Given: 308
Thanks Received: 449

When you placed your first trade you were like a baby. You had an idea, you took the trade and made a profit. Your self worth wasn't determined by the market because nothing had ever hurt you. You didn't know fear. Then you took several losses. And the baby started to cry. You were wounded. You knew fear.

So you built an ego. To protect yourself. You learned how to trade with 10,000 indicators. You saw indicators in technicolor. If trading wasn't going your way it was the indicator's fault not your own. Time to find the next holy grail. And the next. And the next. And it never stops going unless you decide it must.

What is the real reason that your trading isn't what you want it to be? It isn't because you are lacking some indicator or some secret knowledge of the market. It isn't because there is a lack of opportunity in the markets. It isn't because you can't make money. It is because there will be times that you aren't yourself. Times where expectations and reality collide and all of a sudden the ego is driving the bus. After you've exterminated your account or decimated your emotional well being you come out of this dream state and you start to believe, "I can't be trusted."

Return yourself to the state where your self worth is inherent. Do not feed the ego with validation from the market or anything else. You are enough.

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  #19 (permalink)
 
eudamonia's Avatar
 eudamonia 
Sacramento, CA
 
Experience: None
Platform: None
Broker: ADM and Sierra Charts
Trading: ES, CL
Posts: 315 since Jul 2010
Thanks Given: 308
Thanks Received: 449

Yesterday and O/N levels

1403 responsive sellers
1399 acceptance
1394-96.25 acceptance
1389-90 initiative buying
1386.75 responsive buyers

Premise is to look for longs at key support zones at 1397-98 and 1394-96.

6:30a - ES open at 1400.75. OS high 1401.00, OS low 1399.75. Open auction out of range.
6:43a - ES long at 1397.25. -1.75/-1.75
6:51a - ES long at 1396.25. Stop 1395. Target 1402.75. +1.75/-1.25
7:07a – ES long at 1394.25. Stop 1392.75. +2/+2
8:08a – ES long at 1397.5. Stop 1396. +5

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  #20 (permalink)
 
eudamonia's Avatar
 eudamonia 
Sacramento, CA
 
Experience: None
Platform: None
Broker: ADM and Sierra Charts
Trading: ES, CL
Posts: 315 since Jul 2010
Thanks Given: 308
Thanks Received: 449


Yesterday's and ON levels

1403 responsive buyers
1396-98 acceptance
1393.5-94.5 responsive buyers
1389.75 initiative buyers
1382.75 acceptance

My premise is that if we hold above 1394-95 that we will test 96/98 and possibly 1403. If we hold below 1394-95 looking for a test of 89.75 and possiblly 82.75.

6:30a - ES open at 1396.25. OS low 1395.75. OS high 1397. open auction in range
6:44a - ES short at 1393.75. 1.5 stop. +2/-1.5
8:22a – ES short at 1393. 2 stop. Target 1390. +3

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