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Catching Big Waves - a trader's journal of surfing the the markets
Trying to explain trading to a non-trader is difficult.
Trying to explain the "be here now" element is even tougher.
And rolling the whole concept into a discussion of life in general, might cause the person on the other side of the table to refresh their understanding of the Baker Act.
I get nervous with my size goals recently, and I compensate by scalping.
Forget if it is right or wrong, for now, that is just where I am. I am happy to be able to talk about it with such comfort, truthfully.
When I consider more than 1-2 contracts, something shifts. How do I bring size into my world of comfort?
We are taught to "keep our losers small", and also taught, "you could make some serious money", that is a common lure, and so realisticaly, how does that seem possible? Scalp.
I learned to trade by scalping, many of us do. Not an advocate, do not define it as "good trading", just making a point.
if I am in for a short period of time and have a small amount of risk, I have learned that I am ok in multpiple contracts of more than 3-6, . Not an ideal stop-loss situation, I know, for profit, but not a big risk either. It is where I go to find some middle ground between the comfortable and the uncomfortable.
The images are a note to myself. I doubt myself often, looking for some level of comfort that I should not expect to exist. Hundreds of times in my past that I have not exemplified, being ashamed possibly of not having trusted myself completely. Right or wrong.
We start the path to become traders with such optimisism. And then such dedication. And then such fucking struggle, and perserverance... that we are taught to be humbled. And to give thanks for any semblance of success.
Why did we begin? Whatever it was, we learn to push aside. And it needs to be pushed, because, initially, it is all wrong.
But, there comes a turning point.
Some posts are specifically for me. This is one of them.
Try scaling smaller ranges until your comfort level grows.. When you go from 2 to 3 cars, try to scale the 1'st 2 out at your comfort zone and try to let the 3'rd go to where you think it should. The value of the 1'st 2 scales is to cap your max loss. It should work well if you can keep your total stop out under 50%.. Lets say you have a 20 tick stop loss on 3 cars.. an entire stop loss is $600.00. If you scale@10/20/30, that's a max gain of $600.00 for a 1/1 r/r. If you can achieve a greater than 50% ave of hitting the 30 tick target, then the week/month should turn out green. Over time, you can increase the target range as your comfort level grows to lets say 15/30/45 for $900.00 max profit for a 3/2 r/r.. and if you can achieve a 50% target hit rate, then your week/mo will be more profitable.. This can ease the transition to greater size and manage the risk at the same time..
With 10/20/30
Max loss = $600.00
With 1 scale off, max loss = ($300.00)
With 2 scale off, max loss = $100.00
Target hit = $600.00
With 15/30/45
Max loss = $600.00
With 1 scale off, max loss = ($250.00)
With 2 scale off, max loss = $250.00
Target hit = $900.00
You can also play with the scale ranges as you're contending with s/r but the impact should be similar..
