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My journaled journey to success


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My journaled journey to success

  #131 (permalink)
 
Big Mike's Avatar
 Big Mike 
Manta, Ecuador
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Swing Trader
 
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gordo View Post
So here it is Monday. Big day. Can I trade JUST three contracts? Yes I can!



Awesome work Gordo. I knew you could do it. I look forward to many more days just like this one, and you can do it - just keep things simple so you can focus.

Also, if you haven't seen this already -- check it out. It pertains to members journaling on nexusfi.com (formerly BMT):


Mike

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  #132 (permalink)
 
Big Mike's Avatar
 Big Mike 
Manta, Ecuador
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Swing Trader
 
Experience: Advanced
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gordo View Post
Now if only I had done yesterday’s analysis before today.

Gordo, I noticed you talking about counter-trend trades not being part of your plan. I want to ask, do you have a clear and concise method for identifying in real-time prior to placing a trade if a trade is with trend or counter trend? If so, and since you are a programmer, you may be able to make a very simplistic indicator to display on the top left or right of your chart that says "TREND: <up/down> <long/short> ONLY" as a reminder to you.

I find visual queues like this help break bad habits.

Also, remember that if a trade losses money or hits your stop, it does not always mean it was a bad trade. You can take a stop and still have done everything right. Your grade should reflect the execution, not the profitability of the trade. Profit comes later after refining the methodology, once your execution is top notch.

Mike

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  #133 (permalink)
 
Big Mike's Avatar
 Big Mike 
Manta, Ecuador
Site Administrator
Developer
Swing Trader
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Custom solution
Broker: IBKR
Trading: Stocks & Futures
Frequency: Every few days
Duration: Weeks
Posts: 50,322 since Jun 2009
Thanks Given: 33,143
Thanks Received: 101,477



Mickey Caine View Post
Then my brain had a great idea, why not post that I had followed my plan. Why did I feel the need to lie to people I have not, and never will meet. God only knows. Fortuneately for me, my honest golfer instinct took hold and I knew that the only person i would be lying to was the one I look at in the mirror. Therefore, tomorrow, come hell or high water, I will take the first three trades I see on the 12 range, and if thats not moving to well I will move down to the 6 and take them there.

Mickey, good job posting! It's incredibly difficult to post on a bad day, especially if you are to blame. It's no fun. But you did the right thing, and so long as you stay focused and you continue to be 100% honest, then you will absolutely succeed in the end.

There are several things at work here:
- Accountability. Next time you go to place a "dumb" trade, you will think twice. Oh god, do I really want to tell my trading friends about this trade? No. You don't. So don't take it! When you post your trade report, you want it to be clear you followed your plan to the letter, and let the results speak for themselves --- it either made money or it didn't, but either way, you did all you could.

- Habit forming/breaking. It is hard to break old habits. Very, very hard. But by being 100% honest with yourself, you will remember the true cost of your bad habit, not just in terms of money lost, but in terms of how you felt. Soon, you will not be so quick to repeat a bad habit. And that, my friend, means you've started to form a new, positive habit of following your plan

- False memory. The mind is a wonderful thing. But it gets us into trouble all the time without us ever realizing it. I can guarantee you, you will "remember" trades a different way than what actually happened. Not on purpose. Not sugar coating it. Not stroking your ego. Your mind just works this way. That is why it is crucial to your success that you record or imprint the actual events as they unfold in your journal. Write it on scrap paper. Jot it down in Notepad. Make a forum post in real time. Whatever your answer, it's all about recording things as they appeared the instant before you decided to get in or out of a trade. Only then can you analyze what is really happening with your execution, and how to improve it.

Good work, keep it up.

Mike

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  #134 (permalink)
 
Big Mike's Avatar
 Big Mike 
Manta, Ecuador
Site Administrator
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Swing Trader
 
Experience: Advanced
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gordo View Post
Looks like I am the last one to post tonight.

Still not following my rules. I did much better today in not trading just to trade. I did however, not follow my entry rules which seems to be a constant theme for the past four days. I must break this cycle.

Gordo, I am here to tell you - you did a good job!

- Rome was not built in a day.
- You are creating invaluable information about your strengths and weaknesses.
- You are learning every day.
- You are committed to improving, and overcoming any obstacles.

Now as you get deeper into this exercise, there are a few things you need to very clearly understand. When measuring yourself, make sure it's possible to get an A! Set yourself up for success, not failure. You guys know I am a discretionary trader. That means a lot of subjective decisions during the day. But I've learned, the hard way, that in order to make those decisions I needed some type of yard stick that doesn't move --- otherwise it would seem like every bad trade was my fault, because I didn't follow my rules.

So when you make a trade that doesn't follow your plan, you need to be absolutely sure it was in fact possible to follow your plan correctly. If the answer is yes, then great news! All you need is more time. With time and determination, you will improve your discipline, improve your strengths, and minimize your weaknesses. If the answer is no, then also good news! You now know you need to re-write your plan using a "static yard stick" (one that does not move).

Last, let me leave you with more tips. Avoid changing too much, too quickly. You are on the right track today. I don't want you to change anything for 2 weeks. Even if you know 10000% for a fact that your method is flawed, I want you to execute that flawed method the best you can every day for 2 weeks (although sim would be smart).

At the end of 2 weeks, you are allowed to change two things and only two things. If you want to change a color on your chart, that is one. If you want to change your profit target, that is one. If you want to change your indicator setting from 20 to 34, that is one. If you want to change from a 4 range to a 6 range chart, that is one. You get the idea. Limit the amount of changes! Only two changes in 2 weeks. Period!

And all the while, during each of these two week cycles, continue recording your trades, why you entered, why you exited, and grading yourself on the execution of those trades. All of this will add up to a winning combination!

Mike

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  #135 (permalink)
 ticnau 
Buderim Queensland Australia
 
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Can you tell me what the indicator is for the yellow channel please??

Thanks a million

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  #136 (permalink)
 
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 kareem40 
Dallas, TX
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YM did gave me a nice trade set up, but I did not take it. I was concerned about the low volume because of the holiday. I did take a EURUSD trade. Only one trade today. I decided that I will take no more trades until tomorrow.

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  #137 (permalink)
 
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 kareem40 
Dallas, TX
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My first trade was right at the open. This is against my rules. Got greedy and did not want to miss the big morning drop, so I got stopped out. A 10 minute wait (as my plan calls for) would have been wise. I also had a problem today taking some a couple of set ups/trades. I kept justifying why I should not take these trades. That's not good. The dead zone (lunch time) was not so dead today, but at least I stayed true to the rules and did not trade it. I ended up the day for a small loss, but the good news I only took three trades as planned/promised!

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  #138 (permalink)
 
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 estrader14 
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Great Journal Gordo! I read the entire thing start to finish last night.. up til 2.. you had me at the edge of my seat.

Thank you for such detail and especially the indicators. Well done. Best of luck!

Learn from mistakes, and never do them again!
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  #139 (permalink)
 ticnau 
Buderim Queensland Australia
 
Experience: Advanced
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Trading: 6E, 6B, YM
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I am looking for the indicator listed on post 128 the yellow bands, i think from the page it is called 'aaBollingerbandbreak' cant seem to find it anywhere?

Could some kind person piont me in its direction please

Thanks a million



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  #140 (permalink)
 
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 gordo 
Tonganoxie, Kansas
 
Experience: Intermediate
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Posts: 160 since Nov 2009
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It has been 38 days since my last post...I am feeling like I am at confession and Baptists don't have confession!

I didn't realize I had been gone that long. I have been helping some friends build an autotrader. It has been a great journey for me. The 'why' is the thrill of the hunt. The 'what for' is to keep my mind sharp. The 'now what' is use the instrument to sharpen my personal trading system I describe in this journal. What I found with using the backtest and optimizer in NT was it would not show how I trade. I use a lot of personalized indicators and stop techniques that Ninja Trader would not do. So I built a trader that would. It has been fun, rewarding, challenging and down right hard at times. Now I just need to live with my results. I’m not ready to share the product yet because of the onslaught of questions that I am afraid would follow. For now I just need to work out bugs. My trading team likes it and have great hopes for the system in the future. We’ll see.

Thanks for the inquiries about my ‘yellow snake’. I was not ready to release it yet because it was a bit messy and not ready for prime time on nexusfi.com (formerly BMT). Here is the link to the indicator. I debated in releasing it because it was nothing very special and there are some fine Bollinger indicators out there. The only thing I believe mine has to offer is a selectable moving average. That makes it nice if you want something other than an SMA. But it is something I use and show here, so I thought it important to have a complete working display of my trading system.

It is definitely time for me to refocus on making a living. The rice and beans are getting old and running low!

Gordo

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