NexusFi: Find Your Edge


Home Menu

 





Vision For Trading - Work In Progress


Discussion in Trading Journals

Updated
      Top Posters
    1. looks_one KBal with 19 posts (30 thanks)
    2. looks_two SoftSoap with 3 posts (4 thanks)
    3. looks_3 Caerus with 3 posts (3 thanks)
    4. looks_4 Quick Summary with 1 posts (0 thanks)
      Best Posters
    1. looks_one sagor with 2 thanks per post
    2. looks_two KBal with 1.6 thanks per post
    3. looks_3 SoftSoap with 1.3 thanks per post
    4. looks_4 Caerus with 1 thanks per post
    1. trending_up 5,046 views
    2. thumb_up 40 thanks given
    3. group 5 followers
    1. forum 27 posts
    2. attach_file 0 attachments




 
Search this Thread

Vision For Trading - Work In Progress

  #1 (permalink)
KBal
Evans, GA
 
Posts: 31 since Sep 2016
Thanks Given: 14
Thanks Received: 35

This will be my first post in my online Journal.

This is basically a quick recap of my year, high spots and low spots.

I have been Trading profitably for the entire year, until last week, and now this week. After two swings in my account, and noticing that my frustration was leading me to huge mistakes and losses, I thought it best to sort things out for all to see, so that maybe I could see for myself.

I've kept a written journal off and on, but never with much discipline. As soon as I started winning consistently I thought I had it, and didn't need the journal or to keep track of what I was doing, since it was working so well, might as well enjoy the profits. "I got this"- Mentality, we'll call that.

It's going to be difficult for me to list every trade, since I trade a mix of stocks, options, futures, and futures options. Sometimes with many legs. When things are going poorly, I have a tendency to take on too large of position size trying to make back losses quickly and that always ends in disaster. I know this, but I still do it. I'm trying to stop this, as it's ruining my consistency.

While I can put on large positions too quickly, I have not mastered the mental ability to manage those positions with clarity. If I have success with one, I usually get back in to quickly again, and then let that one turn against me and wipe out the profits of the successful trade. The problem to top it off, is usually I am instantly profitable, to a degree, maybe a few hundred, maybe a few thousand dollars to the good. But rather than take even some of those profits off the table, I hold on to long and let some of them turn into horrific losses before closing them out and walking away with a new trading scar.

I'll be honest, the scars are starting to add up, and if I don't make a strong turn soon, I considering walking away altogether for the sheer sake of preserving my capital.


Over the past few weeks, I joined a website that has fantastic tools for trading, a group chat room and just an overall good group of traders. But it has been of absolute zero help on me improving my trading. If anything, I have become a worse trader since joining the site, simply due to over-trading. Jumping into a whole new set of instruments that I have little experience with, letting others views, effect my own views.

I set up a new futures trading account and downloaded ninja trader and after 2 small profitable trades, took on a single contract of SI futures long during the sell off last week, without a stop. I got out with a near -950 loss, wiping out my two small profitable trades. Then after trading for a few more small profitable trades, I wipe them out and now I'm down near 25% in the new account.

Sometimes, I just don't understand what I am doing. After I do it, I look back at the chart, and realize that I was trading backwards. This seems to be a recurring problem, that I can see clearly, once I'm out of the trade. So I'm trying to relearn how to sell tops, and buy bottoms. That seems to be the whole point of trading, but sometimes...or more than sometimes, when you feel like you missed out on a move, it's so tempting to try to get in on a pull back, or just jump right in with a MARKET order like a freaking moron, only to realize that you should have been selling instead of buying or vice versa.

After taking more than 1 - $50K profit swing in the market, I've decided to draw the line. I need to figure out how to hang on to my profits if I am going to bother to trade. It seems that I'm running into personal resistance once I reach a certain profit level. Trying to get past that profit level has been met with the same frustration as trying to get past BE basically where I am now, counting trading costs. What I'm trying to find out is why am I getting in the way of my own success? Why is it that now it seems I have all the tools for success, but still it's like I choose to just ignore them and trade emotionally and without reason? It's like I just can't stand to be out of the market, where in reality, the way I trade, I am better off to be out of the market 90% of the time.

I am a volatility trader who likes to buy into sell offs, and then sell once the buyers return. Prior to BREXIT was probably one of my best trades, as I loaded up on UVXY and SPY Puts the day before. Bringing me back from the brink of my last disaster. However, that night of the BREXIT Vote, when the ES Futures were down 100 points. There I was, trying to buy the bottom of the market. I was in, 1 maybe 2 contracts bought, right a the bottom. But the volatility was so high, I was up $500, down $1000, and couldn't hold on. Sold out for a loss probably, when I knew that the market wouldn't allow for a -100 Point S&P500 open. I awoke at 6AM to see that if I had help on to my long ES position I would have been up Thousands on the ES contracts, and the UVXY position, I was up nearly $20K on at Pre-Market Open, This is when I should have sold my UVXY position. Since near the Market open, the Futures had really rallied back to where they were down only a fraction of where they were at 6AM. I still made money on the long UVXY trade, but it wasn't pretty and If I'd had the mindset of closing out the Trade at Pre-Market Open then re-entering, I would have nearly doubled my Profit. Being as when I sold out in the UVXY price fell, into the initial rally, I had lost over $5K off profit, and really missed the trade of further selling UVXY.

I think that is the only time I have made money trading UVXY though. I could have bought a nice Truck or a time share with what I've lost on UVXY. And it's not that I can't not get in it and be profitable, it's just I find it difficult to close those profits out. whether it's $200, $500, $1000 I just let that sh*t go like I'm waiting for the $5 K trade, and it doesn't come, and I end up loosing my but.

So I haven't been trading UVXY like I used to, since it is my biggest loser. I do trade UVXY Put options betting against any rise in volatility. I buy slightly out of the Money Puts to contain risk. If I'm wrong and Volatility continues to rise, I usually buy more at a higher out of the money strike. If current market conditions I have lost less money this way than buying UVXY outright, and can consistently make small profitable trades fast.

My largest winner and what I have found the most success with are CL Futures and specifically Options on those Futures Contracts. Making $12K or $15K in a single trading day was not uncommon on a good day. Losses on CL Options have been contained to a small percentage however, the fact that I missed this most recent huge move in CL over the past few weeks, has all but destroyed my trading ability. I was long in both Options and Futures contracts, in great positions, but let my emotions get the best of me, and sold out for small profits, and even took some 1K losses by getting stopped out trying to catch the bottom with an actual contract instead of building my options position as I had done in the past. To me, this was a move in CL that houses are built with, that extra vehicles are bought with, and I fooled around, and got emotional, and got scared out of my positions like a little girl. When before hand I could see it. I could see the move, I knew where it was going, I knew it just needed a little catalyst a small rumor could take it there, and I got out with the slightest breeze of it could go down from here, no reason for it to go up. FFS man. Now and since missing the move. I am just making the most awful decisions that it's outright embarrassing to let anyone know, but I will so that maybe I can avoid making equally stupid mistakes for no reason.

A week or so Ago I heard the rumor about CAB Cabelas outdoor outfitters getting bought out. Well I had traded the stock before and made money and decided to start a position anticipating an announcement. I placed an order for 500 shares at the pullback point of the prior aftermarket trading session when the rumor came out. Well when the market opened up, the stock started trading down to my entry point and what did I do, but cancel my order for 500 shares and change it to 100 shares. Boom my order was filled and immediately it started moving in my direction, up $100 on 100 shares. So I bought 200 more shares after it kept going up. The next day or so they announced the buyout and it went up $8.00. Well at least I had 300 shares and made a considerable profit, near $2800 on 300 shares. But the moral of the story is this. Don't screw with what you've already set up, and further more, don't think it's going to happen every time.

Fast forward to end of last week, when Twitter TWTR sold off from $25 to $19.60 overnight. What did I do? Of course I bought in, with 3000 shares, since if that is what I would have done on CAB I would have had a really good day, right? Well after holding TWTR overnight, I sold at open on Friday for a $1,200 gain, then as it sold off through out the day, rather than leave it alone and let it settle, I decided to try it again, and hold over the weekend. Well, everything was fine until pre-market open on Monday morning and shares were already off $1.00. I should have taken the loss, then and there, a $3000 loss rarely looks, good, until you take a much larger loss. I decided to wait until market open, to sell thinking price would try to return to the last close. Can someone slap me? I mean, at this point, I'm so screwed, and of course the position size was just grossly to large on pure speculation trade like that I sold at open. Since it has went further down, and returned to where I would have only been down 3 or 4K, which still seems better than the 6K loss I took as I could not mentally maintain the position. Due to taking the trade for all the wrong reasons, and to large of a position size should something go wrong, way wrong.

Moral of the above

If I can fix these two things I think I'll trade much more profitably and confidently in the market.

1. - Don't be stupid - Don't just put on a trade out of a whim or due to trying to make profits back, or feeling like you missed out and just have to jump right in.

2. - Don't be scared - If you have thought things out, are not basing your ideas on emotions, frustration, trying to make profits back, and have a good solid plan, don't be scared out of your trade, and don't back off your position size, if sized correctly. This doesn't mean that if the trade goes wrong or turns against me not to get out. Please refer to rule No. 1 in this case. But it means, don't let other outside factors influence your decision to stay in a trade that you put on based off of your own solid research and belief in direction.

I will most likely come back and edit, this entry for a day or so before posting another entry. This one was meant to be a quick recap of high points and low points. It does pretty much capture my problems though as they all basically follow the same path. I get in, and make a good amount of money, then I try it again, to soon and loose that money. Same with Options, Stocks, and Futures.

Regards,

KB

Reply With Quote
Thanked by:

Can you help answer these questions
from other members on NexusFi?
Exit Strategy
NinjaTrader
Futures True Range Report
The Elite Circle
NT7 Indicator Script Troubleshooting - Camarilla Pivots
NinjaTrader
NexusFi Journal Challenge - April 2024
Feedback and Announcements
My NT8 Volume Profile Split by Asian/Euro/Open
NinjaTrader
 
Best Threads (Most Thanked)
in the last 7 days on NexusFi
Get funded firms 2023/2024 - Any recommendations or word …
61 thanks
Funded Trader platforms
39 thanks
NexusFi site changelog and issues/problem reporting
26 thanks
Battlestations: Show us your trading desks!
26 thanks
The Program
18 thanks
  #3 (permalink)
Caerus
Zagreb Croatia
 
Posts: 45 since Jan 2016
Thanks Given: 15
Thanks Received: 33


If I may give you a bit guide on this:

stop trading today, do not place trade, no matter how small it is, 1 contract even..forget it for some time.

You are mentioning a lot $$$ in terms of actual profit or loss, we have no clue if you have 1 mill account, or it is 40k account, so seems that your wins and losses are maybe too much for your account, and that is making pressure on you.

There is a lot of talk here and on net about fractional betting, so you always risk some % of your account,
but that only works if you use it consistently and have some system (setups or call it how you like it) to trade.

Maybe good idea is that you go trough your journals that you kept, and see what is missing there, and be brutally honest about it. Did you write journal only on 'good' days? Did you missed to enter in journal some loses? Is there any pattern in your trading?

Also think about what is reason for you to trade. Is it just about money? Is it to be right? Is it to 'beat' the market?You like to gamble?

When you investigate your reasons why you trade, and when you investigate your style, and when you compare period when you made money and when you didn't (markets and charts of them-was they trending, or trading in a range) I think you will know what to do.

Markets change, volatility changes, it is impossible to have system which will make just profitable trades no matter what, draw downs should be accepted as a cost of doing business.

Take a look at my journal, there is no much entries, but you will see how it should look like to trade with fixed fraction of account. Also then it is easier to follow, and there is no urge after loss to make all back and more. Yeah, this is very 'boring' way to trade.

In trading it all depends how markets, you and your actions are aligned. You can have system that makes money in following trends, and you use it when markets are in range. Or you use it when there is trend, but you miss some entries, or exit to early.

So, in short, stop trading, investigate your motives behind trading, then investigate how you made money, and then investigate why you didn't made money. Maybe is all well, and market just changed last 2 weeks, and then it will change again for your benefit.

Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #4 (permalink)
KBal
Evans, GA
 
Posts: 31 since Sep 2016
Thanks Given: 14
Thanks Received: 35

The struggle continues, to an extent. There are bright spots, but they are overshadowed by the losses.

It seems that I am just trading backwards. I buy when I should sell and sell when I should buy. I do most of this emotionally and this is all new to me. I thought I had overcame this emotional trading, but lately, for some reason I have regressed at an alarming rate. I don't even have something to blame it on other than myself. At this point I don't know what to do to correct it. I can follow my plan 95% of the time, and everything is working, and then if something goes wrong like I'm slightly up on a JNUG today like $200 on a 500 share position, at the open this morning I see /GC trading down and sell JNUG for about a $90 profit and a $37.50 loss on the day. What does it do the rest of the day? It rallies about 14%. If I had held on and closed when it was near $12 I would have pocketed a $750 gain. But I somehow protected myself from that gain, by closing the position since I "thought" it was going to sell off. Not that it was selling off, it was just shaking me out. This was on a very small position size trade too, that I shouldn't have been that concerned with, but it just seems that when everything else is falling apart around me i.e the market being down 20 points or so at open and no hedge protection on my account, I just freak out.

Let me see if I can post a chart.... here is a recent CL Options trade failure, that could have been a success, and by all rights should have been. Not that it was a good trade to begin with.

On Wednesday I bought 1 CL 50.50 Call Option and 4 51 Calls. I paid something like .59 for the 50.50 call and .44 for the 51 calls.

Prior to Close on Wednesday and shortly after close I was up at one point $450 on the set of calls. I had a limit sell set for a few of the 51 calls, but canceled it since I "thought" that if I waited I could get more out of them. MISTAKE NO. 1.
I should have sold them in that instant.


I thought that CL would bounce strongly off the red midpoint trend-line as it had a few days prior. It did not bounce, it barely held on and eventually lost the trend-line overnight and at one point I was down on the trade over $900.



Long story short, I didn't realize that the EIA report was today at 10:30, I thought it had already came out yesterday, but since the Columbus Day Holiday it was pushed back a day. Anyway, I'm trading along, and waiting for my trade to work out, I had a chance to sell at Open this Morning, Thursday, for about a $50 win on the 1 call and small loss on the set of 4. But did I sell? No. Sure didn't. Look for the small red arrow at the bottom of the chart below.



I waited until the absolute worst possible freaking time to sell. When the EIA report came out and CL started tanking toward $49 I was down $1,000 then $1,200, and what did I do? I didn't buy more, like I should have if I hadn't been holding the calls, I would have been buying them. I should have bought Ten of them for what I sold mine for. But I sold my set of calls, at the damn bottom out of panic. 1 instant of panic and I freaking sold out. As soon as I'd sold I realized what I had done. I watched as the market returned to where it was prior to the release, and then hit the profit targets I had set. It is a sickening feeling.

So 1. If I had sold the calls right after I bought them on Wednesday I could have pocketed between $300 and $450

I would have had a chance to buy them again, overnight at a better price, to sell at the open, More Positive Income +$400 Est.

Then If I would have been perceptive and realized that the report was coming out, I could have bought into that dip instead of panic sell and made a decent profit for the week.

But that is not what I did. I bought them and held onto them until I sold them at the worst possible time?

I just don't understand why I am doing things like this? I have been trading these options for quite a while now, since March or this year, where I racked up some real profits. It's almost like I'm so scared of taking a loss that I'm attracting losses. I know that sounds kindof mystical, but that's how it feels.

If I use a stop, I get stopped out for a loss. If I don't use a stop the trade moves wildly against me for a large loss.

I know that most of the people on here are probably systems traders, and will read this and cringe and say that I deserve to lose since I'm not trading with a system. Well, how do you trade options on CL with a system? I have just been buying calls when they are cheap when CL is selling and then sell into strength. It's just when I don't have that strength, I don't want to sell them until I've got a large profit, and then I get in trouble, fighting time and myself. Holding onto the options limits my options and my ability to see the market for what it is. Like today when the options were cheap, I should have been buying, that was my chance, but I had screwed that chance up by holding onto the calls I should have already sold twice before. Is it greed? Is it being right that is keeping me from letting go or getting out when I know I should? Setting realistic orders to get out and then canceling those orders? I swear, I am my own worst enemy. Selling out to soon and not selling when I should, damit man.

I hope this helps someone, because at the moment, it is embarrassing and does not feel like it is helping me, but maybe it will.

Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #5 (permalink)
Caerus
Zagreb Croatia
 
Posts: 45 since Jan 2016
Thanks Given: 15
Thanks Received: 33

here I see few things...

you didn't stopped trading or thinking about trading...take few days off...regroup..market will still be there
what now goes in your head it will just get worse...

you think to much, also it is all woulda coulda shoulda...part is that you have too many thing on screen...at each turn you see some kind of signal, and then beating yourself up how you didn't saw it in real time or similar...I know that feeling

Also it seems that you jump from market to market, and trading stocks, futures and options too...stop trading, then regroup, start trading on sim account, then on real again...in meantime don't look at all that like you missing profits...because you don't, you missing losses, and making step to making more profits..

Also you wrote how you trade options, but, any strategy will work for some time...and then it will stop, and then it will again work...it all matters what you do in period when strategy is not working!

It seems that you have plan, but then not follow it..why? Fear of losing? You didn't investigated about your motives to trade, help yourself....

Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #6 (permalink)
KBal
Evans, GA
 
Posts: 31 since Sep 2016
Thanks Given: 14
Thanks Received: 35

Better overall day today, the market moved in a way that I anticipated yesterday. Some of my existing positions continued to move against me, however the winners outdid the loosers today in my account. I still have some hard decisions to make going forward, but at the present I am working on rebuilding my confidence after nearly 2 weeks or more of just doing everything wrong.

I have noticed a few things that I need to change in order to be more successful.

1. I need to be a more active and confident seller.
- I need to sell my longs, and have the confidence to sell again. If I missed the top in selling my long, I didn't leave profit on the table, I gave myself a chance to get short. I.E. GPRO trade a few weeks ago. TWTR at $25, I knew it wouldn't hold.

2. Take more profits. This morning when the market opened up, I had profits everywhere, but I didn't take nearly enough off of the table. Toward the close this came back to haunt me as my overall P/L for the day began to decline. I could have sold and then sold again to maximize profit.

* Note someone said that I think to much, and I probably do, but getting all of this out here, helps me get it out of my head and make better decisions I believe. To much Coulda and Shouda is my way of trying to train myself to be a better trader. To make that sell when it's hot, to sell again and go short and ride it down to the next support level to cover and possibly buy back in.

My most successful closed trade of the week is outlined in the chart below. I decided to give Futures a break, since they have been a major source of my losses recently and move back to something I am more confident and comfortable trading. Options on Stocks.



I want to highlight this trade, and use it as a model for future trades.

1. I bought as GS was selling into support. Out of the money options on support. I bought 5 GS $167.5 Calls for 2.25 That was $1125 total outlay for the position on the Options expiring next Friday. It took me 2 attempts to get in them as I sold out when it didn't hold like I thought, so I lost $50, but I got back in after it showed me support held. If the trade goes wrong, you have to get out. I need to honor this always. If it continued to sell most likely these would be worthless, but yesterday it held and I held into close with about $350 in profit open. Today on open GS had traded up to nearly 172 in Pre-Market so I sold on open 15 mins for an average sale price of $5.56 effectively doubling my initial investment. I saw $6.00 flash for a second but you have to sell options when the iron is hot. Later in the day it sold off and they were only worth 4.2 and now 4.5 at close. However when it sold off I was free and not tied up in the $167.5 calls so I bought the $170 calls for 2.38 and sold them into close at $3.10 I held 1 option to find an entry next week.

2. I sold as soon as profitable. I scaled out selling 2 at 5.15 9:30 then 2 at 5.75 @ 9:37 I had to wait about 10 mins for one sold at 6.00 at 9:41. I don't feel bad for selling the 2 at 5.15 since there was no guarantee that the price would continue to go up. If it hadn't that would have been my high sell and I would have sold the others for a lower price but still a profit.

3. I know there will be other opportunities, so it's better to take the profit and be able to seize an opportunity than to hold and hope.

All in all this was a confidence building trade for me. I want to use it as a stepping stone to make future trades. If it doesn't go my way, when I think, get out. Wait. Get back in, it's okay. I didn't force this, I just noticed an opportunity and jumped on it.

Holding this wasn't hard or stressful. I didn't lay awake at night and worry about this trade.

Note: To those who said I should stop outright and trade a sim account. A sim account has nothing to do with learning to trade IMO. I can put on a SIM position and hold it regardless of how it moves because it isn't real. I have a large account and had great success for months, I've just recently hit a rough patch. It is my intent to overcome that rough patch by facing my demons and sorting this out in real time with real money. I do plan to work myself out of some positions, but some stock positions will be held long term so that is okay. I build stock positions on a swing trade basis and scale in and out based on the market range of profitability. Some positions I am building could be held for years. My main concern is my sporadic buying of junk assets like TWTR for a bounce and then I hold it over the weekend to take a knife in the chest. Or jumping into Futures head on without really being equipped to manage the positions mentally.

I will end with this something that I found inspiration in and holds true for me in trading.


Reply With Quote
  #7 (permalink)
 
SoftSoap's Avatar
 SoftSoap 
Canada
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: NinjaTrader
Broker: InteractiveBrokers
Trading: NQ
Posts: 594 since Aug 2015
Thanks Given: 347
Thanks Received: 1,227

Glad to see you started a journal!


Some thoughts come to mind
  • You are very detailed when it comes to your journaling. I think this is good as long as it doesn't become too overwhelming for you to refer back to, only you can know what this limit is. But you might want to consider structuring your journal in a manner that is easier to refer back to in the future.
  • You're noting things that you need to improve on, one of the most beneficial parts of starting a journal!
  • You seem to be very emotional with your trading. I know exactly how this feels because you've listed things that I've done myself but in order to survive as a long-term trader, you need to work on this. Logic > emotion when it comes to trading. You need to figure out why your trading emotions are growing, is it because of the $? lack of confidence? lack of consistency? You'll need to think about why carefully.
  • When you talk about trading and $, you sometimes refer to things (truck, timeshare, etc.). Psychologically speaking, this is tying a win to something you could do, and a loss with something you could've done. I would suggest that this could be heightening emotions in your decision making and you might want to avoid looking at things that way.
  • You should refer to risk, wins, and losses as % of the capital you have put aside for trading, and not $. This will help you identify whether or not you are improving as a trader, and you can quantify your performance much better. This will ensure that you are not improving or not doing as well because of the size of your account.
  • A journal on FIO will help you identify the qualitative parts of your trading, but you also want to keep a spreadsheet that lists your entries, risks, strategies, errors, etc. This will help you with the quantitative part of your trading. Here's one that I use and would suggest if you don't have a spreadsheet ( Trading Journal Spreadsheet | Trade tracking, for: Stock, Options, Futures, Forex traders). I am in no way affiliated with them, the site was actually recommended to me by another FIO member.

A big goal of journaling is to see who you are as a trader, and where you currently stand, so that you can know what you need to do in order to improve. Keep at it!

I'll be checking from time to time. Cheers.

Yesterday's excellence is today's standard and tomorrow's mediocrity
Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #8 (permalink)
KBal
Evans, GA
 
Posts: 31 since Sep 2016
Thanks Given: 14
Thanks Received: 35


SoftSoap View Post
Glad to see you started a journal!


Some thoughts come to mind
  • You are very detailed when it comes to your journaling. I think this is good as long as it doesn't become too overwhelming for you to refer back to, only you can know what this limit is. But you might want to consider structuring your journal in a manner that is easier to refer back to in the future.
  • You're noting things that you need to improve on, one of the most beneficial parts of starting a journal!
  • You seem to be very emotional with your trading. I know exactly how this feels because you've listed things that I've done myself but in order to survive as a long-term trader, you need to work on this. Logic > emotion when it comes to trading. You need to figure out why your trading emotions are growing, is it because of the $? lack of confidence? lack of consistency? You'll need to think about why carefully.
  • When you talk about trading and $, you sometimes refer to things (truck, timeshare, etc.). Psychologically speaking, this is tying a win to something you could do, and a loss with something you could've done. I would suggest that this could be heightening emotions in your decision making and you might want to avoid looking at things that way.
  • You should refer to risk, wins, and losses as % of the capital you have put aside for trading, and not $. This will help you identify whether or not you are improving as a trader, and you can quantify your performance much better. This will ensure that you are not improving or not doing as well because of the size of your account.
  • A journal on FIO will help you identify the qualitative parts of your trading, but you also want to keep a spreadsheet that lists your entries, risks, strategies, errors, etc. This will help you with the quantitative part of your trading. Here's one that I use and would suggest if you don't have a spreadsheet ( Trading Journal Spreadsheet | Trade tracking, for: Stock, Options, Futures, Forex traders). I am in no way affiliated with them, the site was actually recommended to me by another FIO member.

A big goal of journaling is to see who you are as a trader, and where you currently stand, so that you can know what you need to do in order to improve. Keep at it!

I'll be checking from time to time. Cheers.


SoftSoap, I appreciate you taking the time to review my journal and provide your thoughts on it.

At this time I am preferring to use my journal here as a stream of consciousness review of my trading and my thoughts on my performance. I agree that lately I have been letting emotion rule my trading and it caries forward into my journal.

Shortly, I plan to do a review of the individual positions that I am holding in my account and define risk according to each position and my goal or targets for the positions. Am I sized correctly, where will I exit. Your comment on % instead of $ will be helpful.

I appreciate the link you sent for the spreadsheet link. I have been keeping spreadsheets, but nothing like this. Looks like a great way to track and manage trades.

In regards to how I've looked at losses or wins in the past and quantifying what I could have done with the $. You are most likely correct in your assessment of detrimental thinking. I need to quit being my own worst enemy and work on this. Does anyone have any good links to the psychology of trading? Are there threads on here relating to it?

Again,

Thanks!

Reply With Quote
  #9 (permalink)
 
SoftSoap's Avatar
 SoftSoap 
Canada
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: NinjaTrader
Broker: InteractiveBrokers
Trading: NQ
Posts: 594 since Aug 2015
Thanks Given: 347
Thanks Received: 1,227


KBal View Post
Does anyone have any good links to the psychology of trading? Are there threads on here relating to it?

Psychology in trading isn't as easy as fixing other parts of trading, luckily there's a whole sub forum dedicated to it on FIO!
https://nexusfi.com/psychology-money-management/

There are also some fantastic webinars on psychology with some very respected traders / psychologists.
https://nexusfi.com/webinars/#registernow



KBal View Post
I need to quit being my own worst enemy and work on this.

So glad you came to this conclusion, this took me a long time to figure out.

I'm quoting my wife as she helped me realized this, she said:
"There is nobody who is cheering for you in the market, so you need to be your best cheerleader".

Find ways to improve yourself without beating yourself too hard, and do not become your own enemy because then who will be on your side?

Yesterday's excellence is today's standard and tomorrow's mediocrity
Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Reply With Quote
  #10 (permalink)
KBal
Evans, GA
 
Posts: 31 since Sep 2016
Thanks Given: 14
Thanks Received: 35


1. I didn't trade anything last night. Didn't hold any futures or options on futures over weekend. I watched the open briefly before hosting a cookout with new friends. It was enjoyable and good to step back from an open market.

2. I did download the Trading Journal Spreadsheet last night as recommended by Softsoap and recorded most of my open positions, and started working on setting up and figuring out how all the sheets work.

3. I did review as much on the trading psychology thread as I could stand and have tried to refrain from repeating affirmations when standing in line, or when talking on the phone. It is really a fantastic thread and there is alot of great information there. Just getting started.

On open today I was more calm and relaxed and was in a good position on open. However since the move was not sustained my overall P/L for the day was 0.15% to the downside, even though I closed out $1805 in profitable trades.

Closed Trades: Stocks/ETF's

TTWO Closed 500 shares on 7% increase overnight. I will look for another chance to enter between now and earnings on Nov. 2nd. It traded about .50 higher after I closed out, but after the way it acted Friday Trading up 1.38 and then giving back $1.00 I couldn't miss out again. I do regret selling half of my position on Thursday of last week at BE. However at the time, it was a mistake to have even bought 500 shares in that account. I had a chance to sell them and didn't so I had to free up capital. I did good to hold onto the remaining 500 in the intended account after Fridays action.

NUGT was in and out twice after holding 500 shares over weekend. Sold out to late on first attempt and too soon on second attempt but made $200 total, so at least a win is a win. Tomorrow when it gaps up $1 overnight I may come back to this

Futures

/ES Long for $75 To get back some trading costs

New Positions Added: Options

After trading GS successfully on Thursday Entry Friday Exits, I entered again, to early first 30 mins or so of trade. I didn't really give it a chance for the options to settle out and ended up paying to much for the options. I felt it could go either way so started with a small position of 5 short time call options and added as they got cheaper. I didn't go crazy though and build a position so large it would be a ridiculous loss if I am wrong. I have risked little more than my winnings on GS over the past two sessions and I'm positioned entirely one way on the underlying looking at the prior bank reportings as an indicator for GS earnings. Factoring BREXIT occurred during the qtr, I believe they will beat on earnings. I am expecting them to trade up during the pre-market. Then on open, depending on market conditions, either sale off sharply, or sell then continue to rally. I have an assortment of call options to sell should that occur. Having multiple stikes will allow me to scale out and if it does continue to move in my direction, hopefully I won't have sold them all to soon. If it trades down below 170, I will be at a loss since all short dated options. Friday Expiration. Looking for Banks in general to rally on the fact that there have been so much bad news for the banks. Especially WFC.


Thanks, to BigMike for starting this site, and the fellow traders in the community for all the contributions.

Will update tomorrow. Will try to get some sleep.

Reply With Quote
Thanked by:




Last Updated on January 27, 2017


© 2024 NexusFi™, s.a., All Rights Reserved.
Av Ricardo J. Alfaro, Century Tower, Panama City, Panama, Ph: +507 833-9432 (Panama and Intl), +1 888-312-3001 (USA and Canada)
All information is for educational use only and is not investment advice. There is a substantial risk of loss in trading commodity futures, stocks, options and foreign exchange products. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
About Us - Contact Us - Site Rules, Acceptable Use, and Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy - Downloads - Top
no new posts