Last week was exhausting - and it looks as if I don't have much to show for it... besides racking up more screen time.
I finished negative on Friday, somewhere in the $249 range, and was too tired to do any trade review or analysis.
After Thursday, I am having some doubts with my edge as it was last outlined. I did have a decent application on Thursday, but only having a few trades off made a significant difference on the day. I think the strategy has me jumping in and out too often, so I would like to somehow address that, perhaps by adding the EMA's back to the charts or paying more attention to the 15 minute candles (which up until now, I really haven't considered much at all).
Thanks to Fozz for pointing some of this out to me.
Hope to have something in the works before tomorrow. We will see.
Trade well.
i need more. i'm bored without any big posts. lol. deciding between replay or shuffleboard, shuffleboard may win tonight
ReplyDeleteDTF,
ReplyDeleteThe "It is the toughest thing you will ever attempt to do successfully" stuff is accurate. If you really love trading, you will hang in and hopefully morph your beliefs/system to be more consistent with the market environment. If not, it will eventually wear you down/out.
What type of engineering are you in/studying? You don't realize the extent to which the formal education works against your trading. In engineering, there is almost always a workable solution (with some trade-offs). And, the same laws/equations/computer algorithms (if general/robust enough) can be applied over and over again with success. In trading, the subtle changes (day-to-day and over time) in volatility, etc. combined with the emotional aspects (also dynamic) require a very adaptive system (you).
You believed (Douglas - belief system) that you had developed a general approach that was robust enough to be profitable almost everyday (5min sup & res trades based on QQQQ). In fact, your engineering background probably helped make that a very strong belief. And even though it continual appears to be profitable EOD, you have not been successful with it in RT (even on paper). Now you have recognized this and must adapt.
If your adaption takes you toward more selective trading, I believe you will be headed in a good direction. Compare you typical trade period (in a trade) to that of Scott. The only times his trades are that short/brief is when a) he is wrong/stopped, or b) he is in an explosive move that plays out in a matter of minutes.
Sorry so long.
no, not to long jim. awesome comment!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the input Jim - great stuff and a good reminder. Yipper... engineers crave certainty and I have stumbled against this time and time again. I hadn't thought about how it could contribute to my 'breakthru' moments and the mindset I adopt ('This is finally it!!), but I think you are right. Good point about Scott's trades as well, I have wondered how many short term trades he does. This past week has shifted the emphasis to being a big picture guy. Not sure how it will look yet.
ReplyDeleteBoom and bust. Rinse, repeat. Kind of crazy to come off of a 7 day seat of the pants profitable paper run, catch some additional insight into what it means to be a 'good' trader, then fall flat while trying to implement it over the next 7 days. Practice goes on.
Oh yeah - and civil (hydrology/hydraulics & OR) is my specialty.
Fozz: I hear you bro. Hope you did shuffleboard tonight. We have all week to trade.