I caught myself grooving to this one
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I’ve been collecting charts for the past week. I’ve collected about 40 for this one strategy. Now, I have to edit the pictures for speed trading. It’s taking a lot longer than I thought.
And I have to do this for three more strategies.
I never thought of my strategies as separate, but technically they are. Trading retracements and pyramiding, for me, are two separate strategies, although based on the same price action principles.
My brain has been mixing all these things up together. I’m trying to separate them now, so that I experience less confusion when setups appear. It’s kinda like reorganizing the kitchen drawers.
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I had a nice reversal trade that I had running. And this is the kind of trade I’m practicing now. Well, I’m preparing several charts for it, but I haven’t actually started practicing it.
Yesterday, there was a contradictory signal that I didn’t take, so I got stopped out.
To be half fair, I’m not focusing on contradictory signs yet. But I also didn’t take it because I was scared. It’s ok, though. I’m gonna get to that strategy soon enough.
Patience, young padawan.
For the past 9 trading days, I’ve been marking off my calendar. Each day I have the same rule written. I read it aloud, and cross the day off. I’ve forgotten to do it on two or three days towards the beginning. But, I’m paying more attention to it now.
I’m not sure how long I’ll keep up this routine for. Until the end of December? I don’t wanna do it that long, but it may be necessary.
After that, the practice is gonna get a bit bonkers, because the following strategies involve smaller movements.
The strategy I’m following now is the simplest, and possibly least profitable. I take a trade and just hold on. I hold throughout the retracements, etc.
But next, it involves trading the retracements. It’s gonna be a doozy.
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“Advent calendar” (+ 6 days? 
)
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Yeah, I guess so! haha
Except it’s just a piece a paper I drew a bunch of squares on.
My goal is to focus on one strategy at a time, and prepare practice charts that contain this particular setup. The point is to repeat these particular trades again and again, so that my way of thinking becomes habitual in alignment with my strategy. Less doubt, less fear.
If I have about 20 or so different charts for each strategy, I expect that to be enough to get my brain used to those kinds of setups. I collected 40+ charts for the first strategy, and I’m wondering if it’s overkill. I wanna repeat each trade so much that I squeeze the doubt out of my head. By isolating each kind of trade and repeating it, my brain hopefully can recognize the setups better. I need time to move these patterns into my long-term memory. Could 100 trades per strategy be enough?
We’ll see.
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A lot of people have different approaches as far as motivation. I’m not consistently profitable yet, so, this whole argument could be thrown right in my face.
This is how I see it, though.
If a trader wants to become profitable, it’s quite a difficult task. In order to reach ANY goal, one must develop persistance. Along the way there are so many reasons to quit, to get distracted, to slow down, to do something else for a while, to repeat mistakes over and over and get caught in a hamster wheel; while the reasons to continue seem so few.
When we have a comfortable life, we always seek to fall back into that comfort. But, if we’re never willing to leave that comfortable life, that comfort zone, how can we expect to exceed? Some people are not extreme at all. That’s fine.
But if we want extraordinary results, we must take some kind of extraordinary action. If I seriously want to achieve profitability, then I have to face myself and be willing to call myself out on my mistakes, be honest about what’s not working, and be willing to do whatever is necessary to remedy it.
“The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.”
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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Sometimes, I’ll see a chart and think about the lesson to be learned. For example, I recently saw a chart that after the reversal signal there were three consecutive contradictory signals. I’m talking about back to back!
Imagine going long, then seeing THREE bearish candles! But the price continued bullish. I thought that was crazy.
Yesterday, I saw a setup that I shouldn’t have traded, but my fear made me not traded it, when actually I should have traded it because there was a clue + confirmation for price’s new direction.
Fear stopped me from seeing what was in the chart–I just saw a past experience.
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I took a few minutes yesterday to think about how I should organize my reprogramming.
I have three strategies for swings and retracements.
These strategies have gotten mixed up in my coconut, and I don’t see the charts clearly. My wires get crossed and I don’t trade properly. Confusion, fear, and doubt take over.
So, I decided to separate each strategy, collect chart samples of each strategy, then practice those charts over and over until my brain can reprogram itself. I’ll practice one strategy at a time.
That’s the plan, but I wasn’t sure in what order I should practice each strategy. Another thing, each strategy has two sub strategies of pyramiding and contradictory signals. For two days I was pondering what approach would be best. Yesterday, I took a few minutes during my day to make a list on paper. That often helps.
So, I made a list, and now I have my plan in order.
The contradictory signals will be particularly tricky, I expect. Same for the retracement strategy.
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I recorded my monthly account balance. It’s lower this month. I could have recorded a higher balance if I closed my open positions. But I’d rather keep them open, as there is no closing signal.
Patience, young padawan.
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Baoding balls, I think they’re called.
Perhaps, they can be helpful when you need to think before opening a trade. They can distract your mind enough to let other thoughts come up. Kinda like how people get good ideas in the shower…
Just a thought.
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I’m still kicking myself over a trade that I didn’t take. It was super clear, but I still doubted it, and I was too scared to take the risk.
I was scared of the loss, and now I’m regretting it. But, it serves as a reminder to be willing to take appropriate risks.
@dushimes Taking the first risk is scary, but calculated ones beat impulsive choices. So no regrets—every experience teaches something valuable! 
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Thanks! Yeah, everything in that article is basically what I’m doing now. But on top of that I’m working on reprogramming my way of thinking.
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Faith is believing, in the dark, what you were told in the light.
I’m trying to step up my productivity. I’ve been quite slow lately. I had my notepad with me while I was out, and I wrote down some ideas to help me.
It’s nice to be writing some kind of plan, and it’s not about my trading strategy.
For each of my strategies there are contradictory signals. I gotta study and practice these. However, there’s also the pyramiding sub-strategy. The only problem with this, besides running out of margin, is that sometimes, it’s better to just leave a trade alone rather than trying to add to it. Pyramiding is only worth it if the additional position is a better entry than the original position. That’s a case-by-case situation. It’s not a concrete rule.
I have a strategy for retracements that are short lived. I was thinking about it, and perhaps it’s ok for me to let go of this strategy. This strategy is useful if I missed the proper entry. Ideally, I should have already have a position before such a retracement happens, rendering this strategy unnecessary.
To be completely honest, though, I have three strategies to practice, and I seriously don’t feel like dealing with a fourth.
Each strategy is based on the same price action principles, but they each occur at different times. I used to think they were all the same, but they’re really not.
I just realized I don’t use the strategy map I made a while ago. I’ve really simplified my strategy, but I still need more practice with it.
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I restructured my study/practice routine. I was trying to study for 25 minutes, then take a break for 10 minutes.
Quite often my breaks turned in 40 minutes, or even an hour. For the 25 minutes I would practice a chart and surf the web simultaneously. Then, when I have five minutes left or my timer beeps, I try to squeeze in a little more work–just to make myself feel better.
I wasn’t getting much done, but I kept going, regardless. That I kept going was more important than HOW I kept going.
I wanted to be more productive, but I wasn’t sure how. So, instead of studying for 25 minutes, I set a number of charts to practice/prepare, and after completion I allow myself a break. During my first hour of study, I allow myself to have the wifi on and I can study kinda willy nilly.
After one hour, I turn off the wifi. I’ve been practicing waaay more charts since I started a few days ago.
I will admit it’s much more mentally exhausting. But, I know this is a better path for me.
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I’m trying to focus on just ONE strategy right now. There are not many setups for this strategy. So, I’m not taking many trades at the moment. In order to focus on one, I have to ignore the others. That means I have to deliberately NOT take other trades.
I saw a super nice set up, and I really wanted to take it. But I decided not to because I have to focus on just one for now. It feels foolish, but I hope it’s for my own good. There’ll be more.