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AJ's Journal

  #591 (permalink)
 
bobarian's Avatar
 bobarian 
whitestone, new york
 
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indextrader7 View Post
I've never been able to completely remove emotion, such as things you listed here, and I don't think anyone can.

The trick is making proper decisions DESPITE those emotions. Simply being aware of them (feel them with your conscious self as your unconscious emotional being produces them) is the trick. Become more aware of your self (in real time) and you become a better trader.



well said Indextrader...

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  #592 (permalink)
iankotze
thabazimbi limpopo/south africa
 
Posts: 27 since Oct 2012
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Very nice journal, good to see you put so much into knowing what you think and feel when in a trade. I believe this is a very important part of being in the zone. My motto is self management first, trade management second. The setups and trades comes naturally when you are in the zone and in control of yourself.
Good trade management is the outcome of how well you can control yourself. Trade management will determine how well you control your down side and how profitable you will be in the long run.

Keep it up.

Ian

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  #593 (permalink)
 mmarco 
boston, MA
 
Experience: Intermediate
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indextrader7 View Post
I've never been able to completely remove emotion, such as things you listed here, and I don't think anyone can.

The trick is making proper decisions DESPITE those emotions. Simply being aware of them (feel them with your conscious self as your unconscious emotional being produces them) is the trick. Become more aware of your self (in real time) and you become a better trader.

You know, I've found meditation to be an amazing tool for learning how to be consciously aware of your emotions. It's amazing just how little "emotional intelligence" we have in our western society. I've been a somewhat skilled athlete all my life too, so you'd think that you could keep your cool when the heat is on and all that. Not the case with trading at all.

In the beginning, you're a mess. That's when you learn just how chaotic your mind is. If you can hold your thoughts for 30 seconds, you're doing very well. But then it gets easier and easier and eventually you're labeling precisely what emotions are happening in your head without subjecting yourself to them.

There are 2 resources I'd offer to fellow traders who are interested:
- This is a free podcast by some meditation center in san francisco, the intro to meditation series is just fantastic. I wish whoever taught that class kept recording his stuff. (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/zencast/id73331418)
- This is a book by Denise Shull that does the science part of convincing you to work on emotional intelligence, very good complement to explain the "ah-ha" moments you will come across meditating (https://www.amazon.com/Market-Mind-Games-Psychology-Investing/dp/0071756221)

Good trading!

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  #594 (permalink)
 
tderrick's Avatar
 tderrick 
Nashville, Tennessee
 
Experience: Intermediate
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I made good strides this week.

The art of learning to control my emotions is going through it's prerequisite turmoil,
healing and then building up the calluses.

Trading live under fire is progressing with no meltdowns to make me shut the account down and
practice the technique more. I think I have logged enough screen time now that I am comfortable
with who I am, how I like to trade and my charts.

Still, the charts are unchanged. They are about as bare and naked as a chart can get, I suppose.
All I need is longer TF charts for targets and the 5 min for entry. Hand drawn SR lines on all charts.

Keep up with the news releases and be patient with entries and exits.

I'm moving down the road to success and fairly proud of myself. The thousands of hours of screen time
appear to be paying off. Much to learn, yet, much learned.

I'm in an exciting spot.

Here's another studio shot that was brought to my attention via fb to end the week.




Studio business is starting the mad rush to the holiday break, so trading time will be minimized
but never eliminated. I will be spending every spare minute running market data, practicing entries
and exits. Trading live when it is prudent.

A good week indeed.


AJ
Nashville, Tennessee


"Life On The Edge of SR"
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  #595 (permalink)
 
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 Xav1029 
Tampa, FL
 
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Awesome AJ! See you in London

Xav

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  #596 (permalink)
 
tderrick's Avatar
 tderrick 
Nashville, Tennessee
 
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Day 2 of live trading


I missed an entry early, as I had a selling bias and did not want to take the
inside bar set up long. PA gave no indication of such a strong bullish move. So I am OK
with the decision. I could not find an entry to enter the break out which met my trading eye.

Emotions controlled well . Very little sense of "missing out" score 8
did not "chase" Patience score 10


Trade 1

I was very patient all the way up the bull move. I passed on three levels to go short, so,
in escense, I had three good trades because I read PA well and knew the bulls were not done.

Patience good - 10

Price finally slowed to the point of setting up a good "edge" which left me confident enough to
fade short with minimum risk of 2 cars with tight fade based targets.

My Fade of Trend ATM brought up perfect PA based levels based on tons of science observing fades of strong moves.

Entry was perfect - 10

Now... here we go again.
Patience in holding a trade. 6

I don't feel as irritated with myself today because the run up was so strong, I was quite nervous in the
fade. I only shaved 1 tick off target 1 and 4 off T2

I'm getting better.

+13

I am very pleased, again, with my entries... better trade management will come as I spend more and more
time under the gun of live trading.

I'm shutting it down and locking in profits in order to build confidence. I have a lot of healing
to do to my trading psyche. It is important that I take this turn around in my trading slowly.
I spent the better part of two years losing money. Now that I am making money, I want to burn
every little positive step home and build on it.


baby steps.... baby steps....



AJ
Nashville, Tennessee


"Life On The Edge of SR"
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  #597 (permalink)
 
tderrick's Avatar
 tderrick 
Nashville, Tennessee
 
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Day Three of Live Trading


Trade 1

I got a horrible sinus headache yesterday while bush hogging the fields for winter.
The weed pollen really got to me. I was in bed just after the webinar and wasn't sure if I should
wake up for London and trade. But this is my part time job, so I woke up for work.

A classic PB on a BO formed as it receded back to the 20ema at a Support level. It looked good
but I'm not a big fan of BO's and I'm not so good at PB entries w/ trend so I put on minimum risk
and let it roll. Price was also at a top of range, so not much up side, IMO.

Of course it breaks out well. What else would happen when you put on minimum risk
I take profit at the first major resistance area.

Entry .... perfect 10
Patience ...... great 10
Trade management 5........... I should have used 2 cars as the set up looked good..... just a bit fuzzy
mentally from all the anti-histimines ...
I only shaved off 2 ticks from target when it stalled, this proves again to be
my weak point. ... I'm OK with it though. I'm getting a little better each time.

+15


The bullish move continued on hard and I was mildly miffed with myself over not having a runner in the
game.

sense of "missing out" score .... 5

Minimum risk from now on will be 2 cars
BE should be worst case with T2

lesson learned

a good day.

I am fading fast and don't have the stamina right now to wait through the news and catch the turn
at the top. I'm OK with that.


Little steps





AJ
Nashville, Tennessee


"Life On The Edge of SR"
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  #598 (permalink)
 
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 Big Mike 
Manta, Ecuador
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Feel better soon



Mike

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  #599 (permalink)
iankotze
thabazimbi limpopo/south africa
 
Posts: 27 since Oct 2012
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I think you did the right thing not to push it when you are feeling under the weather. I would not even have traded. Good job on keeping it together and doing what needed to be done. Sure you could have been better off using two contracts and letting the other one run, but it could have gone the other way too. Hindsight is not something we can put much stock into as it not the same as when you are there real time. A move looks kind of obvious looking back but we all know when you are there in the trenches things are never so obvious.
Keep up the good work.

Ian

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  #600 (permalink)
 
Xav1029's Avatar
 Xav1029 
Tampa, FL
 
Experience: Beginner
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I think the important part of this trade is that you took the trade you were looking for based on your previous experience and the information you had. Sound to me like you executed it how you had planned to, so its a winner. You cashed in on 90% of the move you were expecting, which is pretty good in my books. I think it is disciplined and smart to take minimum risk on trades you have not done too well with in the past. I wouldn't increase size just because you left some on the table until you get more confident and comfortable with those trades.

Get some rest and feel better

Xav

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Last Updated on June 7, 2015


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