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An observation is that, when you keep a clear head, you do well. When you don't, you jump around one way and the other reacting purely to whatever price just did. (Just like me, by the way.... )
I would say that having very clear (and simple) criteria for taking a trade, and always taking it when that is present, and only when it is present, may provide a bit of steadiness.... a reference point amid the (perceived) chaos. (I understand that this is much easier said than done. )
Psychologically, it's important to not care whether you win or lose (also not so easy!), but only about whether you executed as planned. (Also not so easy....) Trading small size is one part of that: being able to take a loss without worry about the consequences.
Good luck. You're doing very well in your journal, bringing the things that you need to change into focus.
I agree with Bob. Whether you win or lose you need to wash your mind mentally between trades. Try not to carry any residual over from the previous trade to the next. Now that is harder said then done, but it is something that I work to do. I wash my mind premarket of previous sessions and then again between trades.
Overtrading: Yes, but better
Stick to trading plan: No, but better
Daily P/L = 3
SPY:
1st trade: short @197.95, target @197.55(low of yesterday), stop @198.22(exit @198.08), lost
Shorted the downside breakdown of prior low (on 1min chart) Scared when the price moved up and turned my entry bear bar to a doji bull bar. Exited with fear.
2nd trade: short @197.85, target @197.55, stop @198.14 (exited @198.04), lost
When exited the first trade, the price moved down (seemed just to mock me of my idiot fear...). So I entered again on the downside break of previous bear bar(on 5min chart). Again the market succeed in making fun of me...And again I have been scared out...
The exit of these 2 trades are emotional, normally the strong trend like this would not just reverse without any trading range. It's all because of myself, I scared myself (what a talent...).
3rd trade is totally emotional with both entry and exit. In and out @198.04, lost (commision)
4th trade: long @196.94, target @197.14 (exit @197.05), stop @197.85(low of previous bar in a ii partern on 1min chart), win
Entered with stop order on the top of ii partern. I was targeting a pull back to MA on 5min chart, but in 1min chart, the price could not reach 1min MA. So I exited earlier with a little profit.
5th trade: long @197.22, target @197.60 (exit @197.25), stop @196.80, even
Long again after the 4th trade, The good shape of entry bar makes me believe that a touch of MA would be soon. Honestly speaking, I have not place my entry just after I entered. A mental stop was there, but I should not do this again!!! Two legged move down on 1min chart just after my entry, I was nearly to exit with a loss. Ran away around entry price.
FB:
1st and 2nd trade: the first 2 trades were exactly the same as those two on Tuesday. 'Let the winning trade run', easy to say, but difficult to do.
I was fighting extrem fear and greed between the first 2 trades and between 2nd and 3nd trade. Wanted to entry immediately to catch some profit, but fear that teh price move up after my entry...
3rd trade: shorted @77.59, target@?? (exit @77.32), stop @77.76, win
Shorted a downside breakout, failed pull back to MA on 1min chart. I was not sure where the price would heading. So I get out once there was a sign of pull back.
SIM on FB
Only the first trade was a loss. Still a better performance on sim account. Fear really significantly limites my ability to judge the price action. This shows me that I could do much better if I could take this issue nicely~ Time and study needed!
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Actually feel better today than Tuesday, fewer trades (12 -> 8), less pressure (but still...), fewer emotional trade, longer pause between trades.
@tturner86, @bobwest, thank you both, I'm trying to feel the feeling when I'm stressed and fear, and let the lossing trade go, so I would not just follow the price to do a lots of emotional trades. I'll keep working on that!
Weekly Summary
Monday: 0
Tuesday: +39
Wednesday: No Trade
Thursday: +3
Friday: No trade Total P/L = +42
Still distance to stick to my trading plan. Feel difficult to control emotion. After watching the webinar with Linda Bradford Raschke about the trading habits, I learned that a trading plan should have 3 features which makes it easier to be executed: simple/catchy/long-term positive influence to life.
I'll redact several simple and easy rules to help me control emotion and place trade during the weekend.
I'm also reading the book 'The Disciplined Trader' by Mark Douglas. I just begin to read and find it very interesting.
I want to let you and all your readers know that in October nexusfi.com (formerly BMT) has a Trading Journal contest w/prizes. The contest runs October 1 to October 31, and the three best journals (as decided by nexusfi.com (formerly BMT) members) will receive a 150K combine from TopstepTrader.
Continuing in the tradition of encouraging journals on futures.io (formerly BMT), I am announcing a new Journal contest for October 2014.
The rules are extremely simple:
a) The contest begins October 1 and ends October 31. All decisions made …
That thread will be open for posting starting Wednesday, October 1. As the author of your journal, you need to make a post in that thread linking to your journal, and then ask users to press the "Thanks" button on that post if they want to vote for your journal to win the contest.
Members can vote for as many different journals as they want. Votes are cast in the Contest thread only, and only on the first post made by the author of the journal that contains a link to their journal. This is done so I can easily count the "Thanks Received" by author/journal, and award the three prizes.
Same as last Thursday. Generally failed to achieve. Overtraded / Several Emotional Trades.
Positive side: better pause between trades, less stressful than before (still stress).
1st trade: short @78.78, target @78.50, stop @78.91, stopped out
Shorted the down side breakout of prior low. After the previous 2 highs, I was expecting a double top which leads to trace back to the beginning of up trend.
2nd-6th trade: Got emotional, just following price movement but generally in wrong direction or got out too soon. Exact same behavior pattern as last 2 trading days. Tried to control, but failed. I'm working on it by taking note and reading books. Just more time needed...
SPY:
1st trade: short @197.00, target @196.80, stop @197.12, stopped out
The doji bar just before my entry was a good signal for short, but now I realize that it's also a tempting bear trap! I hypnotized myself to believe that the big green bar before the doji bar was a buy climax. Still a reasonable entry with logical stop. Even not succeeded.
2nd trade: long @197.21, target @197.60, stop @197.13 (exited @197.23), lost
After the 1st trade, I switched to the long side, but the very next bar shows strong bear strength. Got scared and ran away at even.
3rd-5th trade: Emotional entries and exits. Entered 3rd trade expecting that a down side breakout of MA would lead to further move down. Scared and got out, just about 40 seconds later, tried again the short side with 4th trade. Reversed to long side in next 5min bar. Still emotional so got out long position very soom.
6th trade: shorted @197.62, target @197.42 (exited @197.53), stop @197.76, win
Price was too far from the MA, shorted a downside breakout of the bar before my entry. Looking for a pull back to touch the previous lower high. Exited too early.
QQQ:
Same as the 1st in SPY. Took short and stopped out.
Occupied during the weekend, had little time to redact trading strategy. Cannot control emotion without a detailed and easy to carry plan/strategy. I'll focus on working it out tomorrow, even just a simple draft.
1. Not Overtrade (Better)
2. Sense the body and emotional reaction when I'm in fear with holding winning position and afraid to enter a trade (Yes)
3. Abide by my trading plan (Not yet)
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Summary
1. Clearer feeling of fear, I noticed it when holding a winning trade, and did some reaction to control it (like counting numbers, watching another stock).
2. Feel confused when holding a position without clear winning or losing sign. Kind of forgetting why I entered it and just hope to get out at even. Stronger feeling when the trades don't move in my direction. It must be caused by emotional entry!!!
1st trade: short @98.56, target @98.35, stop @98.68 near MA (reversed to long @98.63), loss
The doji bar before my entry was a perfect bear signal. As it promised, the price moved down sharply. But I was expecting a touch down to yesterday's resistance level. My target was just a little deeper than what the price dipped. When my entry bar formed a bull bar with very long tail, I thought the bull must have taken control. So I switched to long.
2nd trade: long @98.63, target @98.90, stop @98.55 (exited @98.57), loss
Soon after entering this trade, I felt that I was a little impulsive to enter this trade. since the price have not breakout the MA, I sacred to get out.
3rd trade: short @98.55, target @98.41, stop @98.64, win
Shorted the down side break out of 2nd trade entry bar. Since the bull bar before has not moved above the MA, it suggested that the bulls were not strong enough, and few bulls are ready to jump in. So a down side break out must scared out many newbies who entered long side (like what I did in my 2nd trade). But I was very conservative about the profit target. I put it 2 ticks above previous low, and about 98.40 the round number for safty.
FB:
1st trade: long @79.55, target @??, stop @79.50, scalping win.
My entry bar and the bull bar before it both have long tail at their bottom. It suggested relatively strong bull are lifting the price. I assume that a breakout of prior high must be a reasonable move. But I really don't know if the price may stay above it or not. Got out with a scalp profit.
SPY:
1st trade: Same as the 1st trade in QQQ, I was watching SPY when the price bounced back from the bottom, So I got out with tiny profit. I placed the my stop around the high of my entry bar. But it is a bit too large, So I got out earlier.
2nd trade: Long @197.22, target @197.36, stop @197.13 (reversed to short @197.14), loss
3rd trade: short @197.14, target @196.93, stop @197.25, win
The 2nd and 3rd trade are same as what I did with QQQ.
4th trade: short @197.25, target @197.90, stop @197.53 (exited @197.51), loss
I was expecting a two-bar reversal + downside movement, so I shorted the downside breakout of previous bear bar. I placed my stop above the high of my signal bar. Reversed to long just 2 ticks before stop get hit.
5th trade: long @197.51, target @197.81, stop @197.35 (exited @197.59), win
Got out too soon. Once I saw the price moved down, I really fear that the winning trade can turn into a losing one, like the first trade in QQQ and SPY (must be psychologically damaged ). The moment I hit the close buttom, market jumped up like I was a such heavy burden holding it from moving up . I know, I was just holding myself, my fear is imprisoning myself! "You sould let yourself go, dude"!!!
6th trade: scalped to get my account balance. Buying the breakout of openning.
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Still effort to make, another busy day slow myself from preparing the redacted trading strategy, which may help me reducing emotional trades. But I'm fealing less stressful than before, as I sense my fear and eagerness. Good trade to everyone!
1. Not Overtrade (Yes)
2. Sense the body and emotional reaction when I'm in fear with holding winning position and afraid to enter a trade (Yes)
3. Abide by my trading plan (Half yes, did not enter any other trades by emotion)
Only trade today: Short @78.14, target @77.82 (exited @77.90), stop @78.36, win
Short the downside breakout of openning range. I targeted around Monday's low, since the price hanging around my exit point(77.83) and traced back a little, I exited early. After my exit, the price moved down sharply...I am not surprise that my target got hit and broken throungh. What I concern more is that I always leave too early F.E.A.R, I'm not eager to the reenter with an revengeful emotion (I used to think the market makes a mock at me, and I will come back to get what I missed). Now, I understand that it just my lack of exp and skill to emotion control ~~
)
)
). So I entered again on the downside break of previous bear bar(on 5min chart). Again the market succeed in making fun of me...And again I have been scared out...
. I know, I was just holding myself, my fear is imprisoning myself! "You sould let yourself go, dude"!!!
