Before I start trading, I make sure to mark my calendar, and I repeat several times ¨focus on the process, not the result¨. It’s helpful.
Yet, I’ve still make a couple mistakes. Not discipline-wise, but with reading the chart. I misread two charts and the conditions. The good thing is that instead of closing my trades and reversing my position so that I can chase price, I’m leaving them alone.
I told myself that I’d stop closing trades prematurely. The psychological process of chasing price is not a good one. It makes me feel uneasy. It makes me feel uncommitted to both long and short ideas. I shouldn’t be guessing like that. It’s better to get stopped out once, than to guess and get stopped out two or three times.
I’ve done that a lot before, but no more.
This isn’t exactly the step forward that I want, but I’ll take it.
It’s commendable how you’re focusing on the process rather than solely on the results, and acknowledging the importance of discipline in trading. Learning from mistakes, especially in reading charts, is part of the journey. Your decision not to chase prices and to avoid premature trade closures shows a commitment to improving your trading approach. Each step forward, no matter how small, contributes to your growth as a trader. Keep learning and adapting – it’s all part of the process!
Losing trades really do leave an impact on our minds.
I’ll get stopped out on a particular set up in a bear trend. Then another day, I see the same set up, but in a bull trend. That’s when I get really lost. I won’t even know which way is up. It drives me nuts.
It’s natural to mix up set ups. But practice and study will reveal if there’s a pattern in that set up or not. The strategy should tell us what to do–not fear.
I’m still kicking myself over a couple of trades that I recently talked myself out of. They’re not actually part of the strategy that I’m focusing on trading right now. They’re part of the strategy I’m still studying/practicing. But they’re such easy trades.
Well, I’ll remember for next time: be brave and take the chance–it’s all about probabilities.
I have the excuse that ¨oh, I wasn’t trading that strategy. So, that’s why I missed it.¨ But that’s not true. I missed those two trades because I was scared of losing. It’s was a strange setup, yes. But I could have justified it, given the conditions.
I’m scared that in the future I’ll always be too scared to take such trades. Scared that I’m doomed to take losses and miss out on trades forever.
My next strategy is a take-all-trades type of strategy. In order to execute my next strategy, I’ll have to be more aggressive; braver. But, for now, I’m only practicing that strategy.
Right now, I’m only trading my longer-term swing strategy. I have to tell myself to be patient. I’ll address each of these problems, one at a time, in due time.
It sounds like you’re going through a challenging but important process of self-reflection and growth in your trading journey. Fear and hesitation can certainly hold us back, but acknowledging these emotions is a crucial first step towards overcoming them.
I’m curious, what steps are you taking to build your confidence and become more comfortable with taking trades, especially those that may seem intimidating? And how do you plan to transition to your ‘take-all-trades’ strategy while ensuring you’re prepared and confident?
One step at a time. Focus on doing one thing right, and getting used to it. This helps get used to the anxiety that one encounters when following the strategy during difficult times.
I’m nearing the end of my practice for my most difficult strategy. That means once my practice is done, probably by the end of the coming week, I should start trading the strategy with the live market (in demo).
I feel scared. After this strategy, there are no more strategies for me to study. There may be small details to practice, but I won’t have the excuse of ¨well, I missed that trade because I’m not really trading that strategy right now¨.
I don’t quite feel ready yet, honestly. I may give myself more time to keep practicing before I start trading it.
It’s scary when there are no more excuses. Imagine you’re repairing a device, and you’ve troubleshot all possible solutions, and none of them got the device working again. That’s the time that just when you thought you had given everything you’ve got, you’ve got to give more.
A speaker I like, Eric Thomas, uses the analogy of a diamond. He said, it must withstand heat, intense pressure, and then you must cut it.
So, you’re going through whatever battle you’re facing, and you get some victory. That was just the heat. You feel exhausted, and then the pressure comes. You think you’ve reached the finish line, the end of the journey, and then you have to get cut. If you manage to persevere through all of that, then you’re a diamond. And you’ll wonder if all that was worth it or not. Diamonds and cubic zirconias look exactly alike. But only one of them will break under heat and pressure. Once a diamond endures heat, pressure, and gets cut, it’s beautiful and it can’t be broken.
Dushimes, I must admire the rare dedication and determination that fuel your resolve to be crowned with success in trading. You seem to wear a skin that is impervious to defeat however the army of challenges you face. A remarkable success-oriented posture. Sometimes, the journey is the destination. If ever any crumb of doubt had found scarce shelter in my opinion (none however) it has been swept away with this observation. You already have the markings of a jedi master. Will continue silently following your journey like clouds over a traveler.
I’ve been practicing this strategy for the past two weeks or so. I saw a setup that’s just like what I’ve been practicing, and for some reason, I was completely confused.
In all honesty, I probably shouldn’t have traded this strategy yet, but it was exactly like what I’ve been practicing.
The set up looked right, but I was still doubtful. I was so nervous that, even though the setup looked right, I had trouble finding a reason to trade it.
The setup looked right, but I kept wondering if it was a fakeout or not. The fear was almost paralyzing. It took a few minutes to decide what to do. I decided to come back to it after checking on my other pairs.
In the end, I thought about my objective of taking setups despite the outcome, and I took the trade.
I think I could use a little more practice–perhaps for another week. I want to understand the strategy a little bit better.
Before I start the practice again, I’d like to review a 1-month period for a few pairs and see how many trades there were. It would give me an idea of what I should’ve been doing, and what a month looks like when I’m trading correctly, and 100% on point.
I just reviewed my trades for February 2024, and I noticed I exited a few trades too early when I saw fakeout signs.
And I fell for it a few times. This tells me that I need to be patient, which is really scary. The nature of a fakeout is to resemble a sign, even though the conditions are incongruent. Paranoia kicks in and wants to take the sign. Only to find out after a couple days that price is still trending in your favor. Boo hoo.
It actually happened a few days ago. There was a fakeout, I suspected it was a fakeout, but I was too scared to wait, for fear of missing out. I’ve encountered this during my practice trades, but with the live market, it’s much scarier.
I have a particular set up that has me lost. It’s hitting resistance, but it didn’t look right. My spidey-sense told me it’s a fakeout. I followed my spidey sense and opened a long position.
Two candles later, my fear and confusion kicked in after seeing a bearish sign. Should I go bearish or stay bullish?
What are the odds of ME being right? I closed my long and went short. Now, I’m regretting it, wondering if I made the right move.
May is halfway done, and my account is lower. Such moments are discouraging.
But, one good thing is that I’m not chasing price like in the past. If I’m wrong, then my losses are limited. Before, I would reverse my position three or four times. It was chaotic.
I’ll keep practicing.
Actually, what I have to do is keep chipping away at my bad habits. I had the bad habit of closing trades prematurely. I mean, before price even started trending. I would enter, get nervous, and close it the next day.
I made a rule that I’m not allowed to close trades prematurely like that. That has helped a little bit so far. But now, I have the problem of making an observation of the chart, then contradicting myself. I’ll go against my first instinct.
What I should do, instead of just following my first instinct, I should assess the chart and its recent signs, then come to a conclusion. Then STICK with it!
I’ll have to write some rule down or something. I need a way to keep myself from this chaotic trading.
I got an idea that may help me understand the fakeouts better. And it’s a really simple idea as well.
I should incorporate more fakeouts into my practice charts.
Right now, I have about 30 practice charts and there are about four or five fakeout charts–not much. I got an idea to increase the amount of fakeout charts.
At first, so many fakeouts may not be a good idea because I need to learn how the strategy works.
Now that I have a better understanding of the strategy, I can increase the fakeout chart # to 50% of my practice charts.
I have to keep studying so that I’m not always one step behind the charts. Meaning, I want to understand what I should do in that moment–not AFTER I make a mistake and get stopped out.
I have a mini notepad where I write all my trading ideas and thoughts. I carry it with me when I go out. It’s frustrating to get an idea, only to forget it later just because I didn’t write it down in that moment.
Sometimes, when I go to bed, I try to think about trading, instead of thinking about other random things. And once in a while I get an idea. I usually remember in the morning, but I don’t wanna take the chance of forgetting. Why risk it?
I started a new routine.
When I go to bed, I put my notebook within reach. This way, I can jot down my idea.
I wrote down my idea for fakeout charts, and I’ll start that as soon as I finish just a few more practice charts of the current practice strategy. Perhaps by Friday.
I finished practicing my last strategy, and now I’m collecting fakeout samples.
I collected one chart so far, and it’s exactly like the trade I recently missed. So annoying. But I only have myself to blame because I saw the fakeout, traded it correctly, then got nervous and reversed my position. And I lost.
I think the anxiety partially comes from not understanding what’s going on. At first I understood that it was a fakeout, but I doubted myself. I saw a candle that allowed me to give in to my doubt, and I took it. Bad move.
Perhaps, after studying these fakeouts, I’ll have a better understanding of what candles to ignore. That’s my goal.
