End of Day Journal (8-12-10)

Summary:

Finished the day at +$206 trading 200 share lots on TNA:

Profitable morning, funky afternoon; I am trying to be aware of the 'strong-time-to-get-out' moves, and didn't do so well with it. Again, a 20 tick profit target would of set me up very, very nicely for the day, probably somewhere north of $1000.  I only had two trades that didn't have direction.

I caught myself getting distracted emotionally and when I did, I tried to shift my focus away from the emotions and back onto the trade. Towards the end of the day I started hiding the Chart Trader window to avoid the PnL field that NT insists on displaying. This helped a lot. In the past I convinced myself that I could ignore it, but it is there right in front of me, and I don't. Minimizing the Chart Trader was just one less distraction. I am going to setup hot keys so I can keep it minimized for tomorrow.

Giving myself permission to screw up and learn helped deflect my tendency to beat myself up when missing an exit (and then getting stopped). Hey - I am a newb. Given enough time and practice I won't be.

And, along the lines of the simplicity kick, I removed the EMA's from the charts. I have not been using them, unless it has been sub-consciously, so I figured why not? Maybe I can go with invisible candles next week. =)

No fear, no greed, no frustration, no hope; and no charts. Trade well friends.