End of Day Journal (8-16-10)

Summary:

Finished the day at -$173 (200 share lots of TNA on paper):

Another nearly fear-free day today.

And another negative day.

The thing about it is, I feel that I can now safely attribute most the of loss to a lack of market reading skill, not dumb luck or raging emotions. A day of practice.

Overall, it was much easier to think in terms of probability today. The thought pattern goes something like:

1. Fear/anxiety creeps in.
2. I notice it and remind myself that the market can do anything at any time. 
3. I ask: 'Am I willing to accept the risk inherent in the moment?'
4. I say: 'That depends on what the market is doing right now.'
5. I ask: 'What is the market doing right now?'
6. I look at the charts for an answer.

There is a big difference in the morning and afternoon cumulative curve, and I can say with some confidence that I almost traded them the same way. Granted, I came off of the morning feeling pretty good, but I felt that I could counter the mild euphoria with some thought re-direction. The one difference in the morning and afternoon, was that once in the afternoon, I ramped up positions fairly quickly to 1000 shares (11:05) and ended up getting stopped. Hard for me to say what I was feeling over the time I placed the orders, but I remember feeling regret afterwards.

The afternoon simply felt like a difficult session to trade. Thinking about it now, I was seeing/expecting/guessing weakness - perhaps that had something to do with accepting more short side probability trades during the afternoon? I know that the dismal volumes in the early afternoon kept me away from reading strength until fairly late in the game. Regardless, it was a great opportunity to practice my quick profit taking skills - and - to try out my newly found quasi-emotionless wings. This will all come with time.

Trade well.

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