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Five A Day

  #131 (permalink)
 
ratfink's Avatar
 ratfink 
Birmingham UK
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Just need to log a few thoughts/minor epiphanies.

I continue to delete charts that I can establish have no benefit for making money but have been clung onto because they look pretty or seemed to have information content when in fact they didn't.

I continue to rearrange my screen layout to focus on the shorter term reaction and momentum (i.e. entry and exit) elements while moving the 'pattern' and 'structure' elements off to the sides, the opposite of my default setup. I have realised that not just EW but really all TA is just a rear-view mirror and to believe otherwise introduces so much bias that I find hard to get away from.

I need to let time play out, not just for trades that I am in but for trades that I am waiting for. This is definitely my biggest remaining gotcha. Apart from all the others.

My stop management is becoming totally defined and pinned down, always -10 points (Dax), moved to -5 or -2 if the trade moves away in my favour - wrong should still always be felt - if only slightly. I am not a swing trader so I will not trail stops, an exit should occur at a wanted target or when an inverse entry shows up in style.

An unexpected benefit of this has been that my (usually dreadful) R/R has started to improve significantly, moving from less than one up toward 2.5 and even 3 to 1.

Anyway we're still really in part-time autumn trading mode but interesting stuff is happening between the ears.

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  #132 (permalink)
 
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 ratfink 
Birmingham UK
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Looks like ES 40v52 stuckery, Dax behaving accordingly so done for the day with +25 points, 1 decent winner, 1 full stop and 3 dribblers.

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  #133 (permalink)
 
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 ratfink 
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Just a picture.


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  #134 (permalink)
 
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 ratfink 
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Ended up being a mouse practice day, ho, hum. Finished +11 points so green but from a ridiculous number of trades, despite having a couple of eyeballed prime setups I took the junk instead. Missing ingredient remains the coolth between the ears. One day.

Building and moving stuff next couple of days so that might be it for the week.

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  #135 (permalink)
 
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 ratfink 
Birmingham UK
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Today finished +21 points from half yesterday's number of trades, including a naughty 2X stop and 5 points unusual slippage, so I'm counting that as 4X better in 24 hours.

So total +57 for the first 3 day week of the new post-doldrums season, should feel good but it doesn't because:

1) Over-trading and not being careful with trade selection.
2) Not holding trades, leaving 5X more on the table.
3) Twitching to get in as well as out.
4) I don't yet follow any of the the rules that I set this journal up with, 17 might be half of 34 but it's not 5.
5) Too easily scared out of good trades or panicked into chasing missed ones.
But it feels better than it did in years gone by because:

1) I'm sticking to the 10 point stop plan. Mostly, hmmm.
2) I'm slowly learning to trade with trends and not fight them all the while.
3) There is at least a semblance of feeling that I might just be able to do this after all, with supporting numbers.
4) I was tempted to fund a second account today and try a different approach, but I didn't - for me that is good.
5) My system is actually fine, I am now in the market for massive trading psychology improvements needed.
I may experiment with using a wider stop and setting limit exits next week to see if I can begin to mechanically induce more sitting and/or better trade selection. Having progressed with 'a trade is a trade is a trade' I might start to make some headway with 'doing nothing until something happens' and maybe even 'don't be a scaredy cat, that's what your stop is for'. We'll see, have a great weekend and good trades one and all.

Cheers.

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  #136 (permalink)
 
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 ratfink 
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Poor session, did nothing that I intended, finished -29 points, way too many trades again, man do I need a hammer round the head. Deleted 2 more charts that were helping me talk myself into crazy trigger pulls, lets see what tomorrow brings, discipline someday, I wish.

Realised that trading results are simply the difference between what we can do and what we actually do.

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  #137 (permalink)
 
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 ratfink 
Birmingham UK
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ratfink View Post
Realised that trading results are simply the difference between what we can do and what we actually do.

With that now in full focus a ruthless cull has left me with just 5 charts for acting on out of scores, if not hundreds, last year. Have basically thrown out 90% of redundant information and pretty things and sticking with the 3 screens instead of 5. I have been forced to conclude after all this time that looking for any type of wave patterns/cycles or targets before price action and reaction has suggested a trade is usually, if not always, a mistake.

Looking to work hard on the eternal sitting problem, before and during trades, I'm not short of great entries but I am most definitely short of patience and the strength of character and self-belief to accept that what my eyes tell me is more than good enough.

Cleared out the trading platforms as well, both accounts will only trade Dax, no more Dow or ES clutter and with a much simpler layout stored for each.

Long and medium term weather charts on ES/Euro etc kept in background/offline workspaces.

If, and it's a big IF, I can get to a point where the rules also stick then I might see some progress. Job restarts now.

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  #138 (permalink)
 
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 ratfink 
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Well maybe not so weak, stronger weekly finish in terms of getting to locate the enemy, self of course. Even on Friday after the restart it only took two hours before I fiddled 2 Euro charts back in, laughs sheepishly.....

BUT, I have a layout that is now so much more relaxing on the eyes, and I have printed out the MD T-in-the-Z summary kindly posted by @Sparticus to eat whole as I realise that fear controls my every action, damn it, so we have a plan, and the plan is to stick to the plan, one day.

Had I stuck to the plan Friday would have been a +90 (Euro and Dax) day, instead of a -10 day, situation normal, am going to watch FT's latest webinar and reconsider my casual approach to logging trades as that must be reflecting my poor attitude - I can do this but I don't take it seriously enough. I may start seperate Euro and Dax threads to somehow force myself to take a couple of trades instead of a dumb bucketful and use this Five a Day as 5 hours a day of general trading and psychology wrap up...

Away from self so far the markets have reflected the action I expected a few months ago if new Gann cycles were currently dominating to the upside, the Dax hold at 8100 that I looked for was the tell and so far we are still behaving as if in a 3rd or 5th wave, doesn't matter really, things will change when they do, rallies usually end on good news not bad.




Best for the weekend to one and all.

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  #139 (permalink)
 
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 ratfink 
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With the gap up only 2 calls were clear:

1) Hedgecutting. Done. Knackered.
2) Watch FT's expectancy webinar. In progress. Embarrassed.

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  #140 (permalink)
 
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 podski 
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ratfink View Post
With the gap up only 2 calls were clear:

1) Hedgecutting. Done. Knackered.
2) Watch FT's expectancy webinar. In progress. Embarrassed.

That system FT71 is using to monitor his client's trades is really great. It is so powerful it seems to be even able to look at my trades and I'm an IB customer.

:-)

p

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Last Updated on March 28, 2014


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