He BM,

If you ask 10 people for advice, you will get 10 different advices.

I can only tell you what helps me and it's up to you to pick what is relevant or applicable for you.

Having said that, I believe that P&L is the endresult of having the right discipline, the right mindsight, an edge, proper execution of entry/stop/exit management, etc.
So instead of focussing on the P&L, I believe in focussing on getting these basics right.
P&L is only the endresult and totally irrelevant. How about that, huh?

What helps me in getting the basics right is keeping stats on my discipline, the entry, stop, breakeven, adds and exits. Every month orso (after a reasonable amount of trades) I evaluate it, see if I've made progress and what to focus on next.
I don't look at stats like % winners, profit factor, etc. Instead, I look at the charts from hindsight view and collect data like: did price move indeed in my direction after entry, how many points did it move, was the stoploss too tight or not, how much did price move after my exit, etc. This helps me to straighten up the basics.

Regarding discipline, I'm not sure if you've read "Trading in the zone" of Mark Douglas (must read). At the end of his book he suggest doing an excercise on discipline. I've done the excercise and this was the moment that I got my discipline right.
It takes approx 20 days to implant a new behaviour. I use this knowledge on my kids also. They get a present once they do stuff like cleaning up their toys, sleeping in their own bed, etc. after 20 days in a row. If I make changes in my trading, I'll be doing the new, uncomfortable behaviour for 20 days and evaluate it then. Note that this approach does not work on wifes

I believe it was @tradeSlinger who stated in some thread: In order to hold longer, you will have to hold longer. Wise words and very true. In order to change behaviour: do it for 20 days, keep stats of you doing it and evaluate it after 20 days. That's how I make changes to myself.

We had a couple of pm's going on price risk versus information risk. Next to Douglas' excercise, my 2nd game changer was trading price levels instead of getting confirmation from price patterns. Our common friend and hero is not looking for confirmation in his entries either, he enters on price levels and accepts the risk of being wrong in exchange for a good entry location. You might consider skipping the confirmation-part in your trading for 20 days and see what it does on your entry efficiency.

One last thing, I notice you trade various instruments. All instruments have a different characteristics, for example: CL is a very thin market while ES is not. Your edge might not be applicable in all markets. Why not focus on 1 instrument and get the basics right?

I'm not here to tell you what to do, or not to do. I can only tell you what works for me sofar.
The above is in short what I do and what helps me.

Good luck with your personal journey.
I enjoy reading your posts and will be keeping a close eye on your journal!

GP

Thanks alot! Yes, I am aware of my position size that' why for swing trading I use etf's such as TZA, TNA, SPXL, SPXS, I generally don't about those position that much. TopstepTrader combine is one I am looking at right now but I don't if I can operate under those strict rules...

Not great but will take anything positive to keep my hopes of consistency alive and keep working towards that consistency.

Also not bad. Positive is OK.

Bob.

we all know markets can be irrational for a very very long time.

Looks like we are at a point where the oil correlation doesn't matter anymore or is oil just playing games because of options expiration? Anyway my stop is in place so I will accept whatever the fate is

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