Welcome to NexusFi: the best trading community on the planet, with over 150,000 members Sign Up Now for Free
Genuine reviews from real traders, not fake reviews from stealth vendors
Quality education from leading professional traders
We are a friendly, helpful, and positive community
We do not tolerate rude behavior, trolling, or vendors advertising in posts
We are here to help, just let us know what you need
You'll need to register in order to view the content of the threads and start contributing to our community. It's free for basic access, or support us by becoming an Elite Member -- see if you qualify for a discount below.
-- Big Mike, Site Administrator
(If you already have an account, login at the top of the page)
Ok I'm starting a journal and it's NOT for the Ipad (I promise)
Today was a good day also. I woke up late (baby is still sick and was up all night) so, I missed the morning session, which is too bad.
I got a signal almost as soon as I sat down, which was nice.
Entered long 1327.50 and exited a couple hours later at 1330.50. I wanted to hold until I hit 4 points but, I hesitate and just got out at 3. I never know with the afternoon session....
It's been a decent week so, I'm kind of expecting a loser tomorrow. Just a feeling, all the more reason that I need to stick to my plan.
I just know from my backtesting that if I have a streak of winning trades, that is trades taken in according to my plan, that I can usually expect one to be a loss. Can't keep winning (or losing for that matter) forever. Of course, I don't know what that number is but, usually if I have 4-5 wins in a row (or losses) then I'm due.
And input? I don't claim to know much about trading, I've said all along that I'm a newb, learning as I go.
My day is done early today. I have some family commitments later so, I'm going to miss this afternoon session.
Also woke up a little late again (baby still not sleeping through the night due to her cold)
Got a signal about 30 mins after sitting down. Entered as per plan and exited with a limit order to give me a 4pt profit. I said in my first post that I exit with market orders but, the reality is that I only do that when I'm getting out of a losing trade. I set my stops and exits just after entering the trade and usually (try) and leave them. If I need out of a trade, for whatever reason, I use market, I don't move my stops and targets.
Wish I had more to write to make this journal more interesting and productive but, I'm new to all of this and my system is very simple. Maybe too simple? I am up this week but, the last 6 months have proven otherwise. I have been alot more disciplined since starting the journal just because I know I'm going to be reporting it to everyone. Last week, for example, I did alot of over trading, mainly out of boredom but, I have to admit I was wanting to make up for some losses, and of course it didn't work.
Well, have a good weekend everyone. I will try and post some backtesting on the weekend.
Well, something Mike talks a lot about is the grading of yourself on the execution and plan and maybe mention a supertrade and why.
Hope the baby gets over quickly, as I know how that is. I have an 8 month old at the moment and my wife misses so much trading since he was born. 2 kids will keep us busy.
Well todays trading is a perfect example of why I need this journal and why I haven't made any money over the past 6 months...
I did not follow my plan.
I actually don't even feel like writing this journal today because I'm embarrassed at my trading today. Started out wrong, made one right trade and then I should have just stopped but Noooooo. Just had to try for one more point and it all went downhill. Why do I do this? Is there any hope, I'm wondering if some personal traits cannot be overcome, maybe trading is not for me. I'm not saying this because I had a bad day, I can handle losses, no problem, I'm not playing with money that I can't afford to lose. I'm saying this because I should know better by now and can't figure out why I keep repeating the same mistakes....
I ended up one point but, with commissions, I pretty much broke even.
Good job writing about a tough day. I know it isn't easy. But you've got to get it down on paper so you can go back later, in a few days, in a couple weeks, etc and re-read the entry and learn from it.
Started off fine, great actually, hit my daily goal within my first hour of trading on one single trade!! Good right ??? . I was late to start this morning because we didn't have power until 7:30PST. Missed my initial signal but, still had a valid signal to act on and I just adjusted my profit target to be on the safe side. Perfect entry, perfect exit. 3 points and I should have called it a day.
But I didn't.... again....
I entered the market again, with what I thought was a valid signal but, in hindsight, it wasn't even close. Definitely did not follow my rules. And to make matters worse, once I was in the trade, I held on pass my normal stop loss.
Soooo, what should have been an nice up day was yet again another loser. What's it going to take for me to learn. Up one day, down the next. I guess I'm staying afloat so, that is the important thing but, I'm frustrated with myself on my lack of discipline.
I've read somewhere that discipline is basically doing what you don't want to do when you don't want to do it. So, for me, I don't want to stop trading after meeting my target for the day. I need to figure out how to address this. If I would just stop after my goal, I would be so much further ahead. I seem to have far less problems following my plan early in the day. It's later on that gets the best of me. Perhaps I should make a rule to just switch over to SIM whenever I feel like doing more trading. Maybe I will try that and see how that works.