Thanks. You’re absolutely right. During my practice charts, I’ve had 5 or 6 losing trades in a row, then BOOM. The next trade caught the swing! Sometimes, it’s just 2 losses, but you never know. You just have to keep applying the strategy.
My current problem is closing the gap between practice and live market application. That’s what I’m working on, now…
I’m taking a break from practicing my regular speed trading charts. I wanna try something different.
I’m taking a picture of a chart, and I have to figure out which way price is going. It’s simple, but perhaps this can help me close the gap between what I study and what I do in the live market.
I took a small step backwards today. I’m practicing some charts from the last strategy I was working on. I just finished working with these earlier this month, but I felt like I needed a refresher.
I’m practicing my next strategy with involves choppier trends. There are trends within trends.
Sometimes, there are retracements within trends within trends. That’s when your goose can really get cooked. But that’s where one can make fast money. Fast money = bigger risk.
That’s a tough call. The simpler, less stressful way, is to just trade the support bounce, and just wait until it hits resistance. Less work, less stress, less risk. One trade. And if the trend reverses on you, you only lost one trade. No big deal.
My practice is slowing down a bit, I must admit. For the last few days, my brain has been going slower. I’ve been staring at charts for a while, and these choppy charts are particularly challenging.
But I gotta keep going. I suppose slow periods are inevitable, eventually.
I made some mistakes this week and last week. I missed one trade because I didn’t recognize it. I didn’t pay close enough attention, and I missed out.
The other trades were pyramids that I was supposed to do, but I was scared and didn’t do it.
Giving in to the fear of loss is actually causing me to lose. While I was out yesterday, I made a note to myself in my mini notepad to be braver. I have to remember that right now, my focus has to be on executing this particular strategy.
Sometimes, my mind wanders and I lose focus, and I start thinking that I’m trading everything and anything. but that’s not the focus. The purpose is to work on real-time application of this strategy.
If I want to advance, I must trade thru the fear.
It’s ok to make mistakes, but they have to be stepping stones, not a merry-go-round.
Patience, young padawan
I’ve been practicing charts for this difficult strategy, and some charts I did just OK, but some of them went a little better.
However, none of that is going to matter if I’m giving in to fear all the time. I’m caught in a cycle:
1- miss a trade,
2- tell myself to trade despite the fear
3- calm down
4- repeat
I have to figure this out.
Just this week, I was supposed to pyramid a few trades, and I didn’t. My profit could have been much higher. I didn’t pyramid because I was scared of being wrong. My strategy says I’m supposed to pyramid, but my fear overpowered my logic.
I assumed I was wrong, and I didn’t follow my strategy.
Perhaps I should revisit The Disciplined Trader.
I just remembered something while reading. And it’s a real no-brainer.
Right now, I’m focusing on a particular strategy. And that’s what I’m doing, I’m not trading any other strategy. Or am I?
The purpose is to focus on not just the strategy, but FOLLOWING the strategy. The key element that I’m missing is this: following the strategy no matter what. The focus is on taking the trade despite the fear.
I actually forgot about this. The whole purpose is to slowly teach myself how to follow the strategy. I was following so many different strategies at once, and I was thinking about so many things.
I wanted to slow down my trading activity. Instead of thinking about three strategies, I wanted to trade just ONE correctly. I wanted to ease myself into taking just a few trades, and focusing on doing it correctly.
The irony is that I had given the same advice to a trader friend, and I had forgotten to do it, myself.
I have been taking trades without focusing on trading through the fear, which was my original objective.
That’s why I have that cycle I mentioned earlier:
Actually, it’s more about bravery.
1- miss a trade,
2- tell myself to be brave
3- bravery dissipates
4- repeat
My bravery, or focus, dissipates. I try to use my frustration as fuel to be brave, but then the frustration goes away, and so does my fuel to be brave.
Then, using my frustration (from losing trades) as fuel isn’t working. I was supposed to pyramid a few trades, and instead of trading THROUGH the fear (as is my goal) I surrendered to it. I was thinking about profit–not process.
This is something I really have to think about. Practicing charts has taken me as far as it can, in terms of trading through fear. Next, is the live market (still in demo). This is where I have to keep my focus.
Yes, practicing charts is really helping me to understand my strategies. And, yes, I still need more of that. But that’s level 1, in terms of managing emotions. Trading correctly in demo is a higher level of stress. It’s a stress level beyond the realm of practice charts.
Actually, even in practice I still feel stress. Because, in my mind it’s real. Yet, I find it easier to follow the strategy in practice than with the live market.
I have a calendar on which I’ve written so much stuff, it’s starting to lose meaning. I should prepare another one.
I’m not sure how much practicing I’ll do before going to bed. Not much, I suppose. I have to let my brain digest what I just got reminded of.
Tonight, the weather is quite nice. I may go for a walk.
Tomorrow, I can go back to practicing charts. I have snacks, already. So, I’m good to go for the weekend.
For the first time, in my young trading career, I surfed the market. Meaning, I went long when I got the bullish sign, then went short when I got the bearish sign.
Understand that I didn’t do it perfectly. I entered late because I wasn’t planning on doing these kinds of moves yet. Such moves are what I’m practicing currently. These moves are short-term 7 days or so. What I’m supposed to be focusing on trading now are longer term swings that last a few weeks.
But this is what the market presented, so I took it. I was reluctant to take these trades because I actually thought the trend was gonna keep going, and not reverse. But I was wrong. I gotta pay closer attention. Yet, in the end, I closed a couple long positions, and went short.
This was a first, as far as I can remember. It’s a step in the right direction.
Patience, young padawan
I have gotten ahead of myself here. I did catch a nice entry, but then I saw a confusing candle, and I wasn’t sure what to do. I closed my position, and now I fear that I closed it prematurely.
I’m finding myself in the same situation as I’ve always been. When price gets choppy, I have a plan, then I see one unexpected candle, and I panic.
This is a problem. This is the type of situation I’m working on now, but I only kind of understand how to manage it.
The problem is when you have a support bounce, ideally, you want for price to hit resistance, but what about when price retraces, then retraces again, then retraces again?
Is it still heading to your precious resistance? Sometimes, it’s worth it to hold; sometimes better to close and reverse positions. Knowing the difference only comes from practice.
That’s where I am right now…
But I tried to remember that this choppy strategy isn’t what I’m working on right now. I’m supposed to be trading a broader, long-term swing strategy. So, that’s another reason why I closed the trade.
I just realized, while practicing, that I have a bad habit of experimenting. I see what could be a sign, and I SHOULD take it, but I wonder what would happen if I don’t take it. Then I miss my entry.
Subconsciously, am I joking around while practicing? Maybe I am. I should focus on being brave and taking the signs when I should.
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.
Patience, young padawan.
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?
You may enjoy this book.
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.
