CLICK HERE FOR TONIGHT'S RAW VIDEO COMMENTARY ABOUT MY TRADING RECENTLY
I have posted prep overlays and trades for Jan 27 and Jan 28.
I want to let the commentary video do most of the analysis this evening. It is 34 minutes long and is a completely honest review of the state of my own trading for the past 6 weeks.
If you are looking for a positive review that may be uplifting or motivational, do not watch it. It is a frank and somewhat somber recording.
I am talking to the viewer but really talking to myself more than anything. It captures my mood well. All the way down to the fact that I have been under the weather for the past few days and my voice sounds horrible.
I feel beaten up this evening. It starts with the market throwing some punches over the past few weeks then I pile onto myself.
I am a glass half empty type of person. Most traders are.
The video sounds exactly like I feel which is exhausted, frustrated, and angry. Angry at myself and my lack of execution.
I am not trading poorly this week, I am simply not trading. There are reasons for this but no acceptable excuses.
I am reading everything extremely well, better than ever in fact; but am failing to convert my reads into profits recently.
This is a personal battle that has little to do with strategy or knowledge.
It can not be won by changing rules or tactics.
The only way to prevail is to keep fighting.
As irritated as I am about my performance, I am anxious to get up and trade again tomorrow.
This is one the most important characteristics of a successful trader in my opinion.
Brian,
ReplyDeleteI've been reading this for a little while and appreciate your honesty. I hesitate to send you this advice, because when I was in your state of mind about a year ago no one could console me or deter me from what I thought. I got caught up in the crude run up and given my educational background felt that the fundamentals didn't support the price. I kept using an old indicator that worked in choppy markets and kept shorting the market. That indicator simply didn’t work in the strong trending market. I lost alot of money and finally took about half of my money out of my account and left the rest there without trading for about 6 months.
Of course I was correct about the market, and the brutal correction and price action now in oil prove that. Nonetheless the market didn't care what I thought and so I learned a tough but valuable lesson. Thats my experience so you know I'm not blowing smoke.
So here is my advice.
1) Stop trading for a while. Even if it's just a week clear your head and rework your system. There will be opportunities next week just like this week.
2) If you insist on continuing then I would suggest finding a system that you can quantify. Do you have a percentage of time that your analysis works? What that is going to do is give you more of an idea of your percentage of success. For example if your system is accurate 60% of the time then you can hang on to that if the trade begins to go against you.
3) I know you went to a class or something to trade but know one can teach you how to relax in a trade, and their advice is not always correct. On interviews.com they posted something called 10 rules of trading. (I think it was interviews.com) Anyway rule number one was “never ever add to a losing position”. That is a terrible rule. For me I know my system will work 70% of the time. If a trade begins to go against me I will usually have areas picked out ahead of time where I will add to the position and average in my entries. Watch the action in your market if the action is up and down then you should be able to add to a position and fairly easily get out even. Think about it and look at your entries and exits.
4) Lastly if you’re going to trade the S&P futures that market is not sideways it has rolled over. I would say trade your 30 minute charts aggressively short and tentatively long.
Good luck
E. Parker