2nd best day in a while. I didnt hold like I should have but to be fair, all the buying tails on the short side really freaked me out. I started taking what I thought I could get in a reasonable amount of time. I should have just held. My targets eventually got hit but in around 2-3 times the amount of time I normally will see targets hit.

Anyway, a good day that could have been great.

I only took signal trades today. I know I have an edge there and am getting more and more comfortable with them. I am also seeing counter trend trades fairly well although not taking those. I had 40 potential ticks on CT trades today. No regrets not taking them as they are currently NOT in my trade plan.

Yesterday was my kid's 10th birthday. She had her special breakfast she likes on holidays and birthdays, her favorite sunday lunch, then dinner at her favorite buffet last night. This place has a chocolate fountain she's in love with but it was out of order last night....she was disappointed but got over it like a trooper and indulged in chocolate covered strawberries instead. Oddly enough, she did not want a party but instead wanted to spend it with just my wife and I. Odd......we'll be throwing her a party in a few weeks after school starts and all her friends are back from vacation.

Cheers

I took yesterday off. I was exhausted for some reason and just could not work. I planned on working today as well and totally overslept. I guess somethings going on. Not sure what it is but I'm not working again until at least Monday. It feels like my body needs rest.

Could be all the back issues, the being sick, the heat, the pressure from trading,etc....but just feels like a soft crash.....

Til next week then.

Been watching the Olympics quite a bit. I've never really thought about it but these guys train for years to become good enough to enter a race that might last all of 9 seconds. Once they qualify for the final, there is the waiting around for the race day and then the entrance to the arena, more waiting and then finally there is the actual race.

They are deathly still for a second or two and then bam.....they explode with all the energy and strength they have. If a competitor seems to be gaining on them, they can attempt to increase the pace they run or swim at, in other words, they can try harder.

I was thinking about this in terms of trading. There is a lot of time learning the craft, which basically consists of learning how to wait, then there is the part where you click the button which lasts about 1 second, then there's more waiting.

We require the same level of discipline an Olympic athlete requires to become successful yet when our waiting is over, there is no explosion of physical activity to release the pent up adrenaline. Instead, we click and then we wait some more. No wonder so many traders fail. Once the waiting for a set up is over, its just more waiting. No release. Its more like a marathon than the 100 meter sprint, we wait and wait, the race starts and then we have to wait a long time to determine the outcome.

As a trader, we need to prepare for the long term. On a daily basis, I think this means a trader must have something that occupies the time between set ups. And then have something that allows for physical exertion to expel the tension build up.

Something to think about.

Been watching the Olympics quite a bit. I've never really thought about it but these guys train for years to become good enough to enter a race that might last all of 9 seconds. Once they qualify for the final, there is the waiting around for the race day and then the entrance to the arena, more waiting and then finally there is the actual race.

They are deathly still for a second or two and then bam.....they explode with all the energy and strength they have. If a competitor seems to be gaining on them, they can attempt to increase the pace they run or swim at, in other words, they can try harder.

I was thinking about this in terms of trading. There is a lot of time learning the craft, which basically consists of learning how to wait, then there is the part where you click the button which lasts about 1 second, then there's more waiting.

We require the same level of discipline an Olympic athlete requires to become successful yet when our waiting is over, there is no explosion of physical activity to release the pent up adrenaline. Instead, we click and then we wait some more. No wonder so many traders fail. Once the waiting for a set up is over, its just more waiting. No release. Its more like a marathon than the 100 meter sprint, we wait and wait, the race starts and then we have to wait a long time to determine the outcome.

As a trader, we need to prepare for the long term. On a daily basis, I think this means a trader must have something that occupies the time between set ups. And then have something that allows for physical exertion to expel the tension build up.

Something to think about.

Yes... I remember a while back, something that @Privatebanker said. "This really is a marathon"

It stuck.

We had better all invest in a very comfortable chair, Because we are about to spend a great part of
the rest of our lives in it

I was driving along today thinking about a few things and it dawned on me that I have a mental block about a certain profit level. When I start getting close to it, I start looking for reasons to stay out of the market instead of looking for valid trades. I've even noticed I either intentionally or subconsciously make up reasons to be away from the computer or invent some other distractions....today, a perfectly good signal came, I was already within a few dollars of this magic number and I saw it happening in front of me. One of my trading buddies that knows my signals asked me if I had taken it. I replied no because I was typing something. I was typing but certainly could have stopped for the two seconds it took to place the order. Sure enough, that trade was a winner as was the next one I saw a bit later. Neither of which I took.

So gonna take this weekend and think about why I freak out at this profit number. I know I had a mental block about a certain income threshold in the mortgage business. It took me two years to break it. The first year I got within $700 of it and I remember electing to NOT close a piece of business in the calendar month because I was afraid I couldn't actually get it closed in time to qualify but I used the Christmas holiday as an excuse to not even attempt it. I certainly could have gotten it done, of that I am sure, but was afraid to try. The following year, I broke the level by about $5000 and then after that, it was double then triple that figure. Four years later I was quadruple the so called income ceiling.

I am hoping by following some of the same mental exercises I went through back then will help me break this level I didn't even know I had.

Cheers....

I've slept more the last few days than I have in probably two years. I feel better now than I have in a long time and ready to go back to work for real on Monday.