Mickey's Journal

[kiravon]

What Deadly Effects?

Thanks Ray - I'd forgotten about SNB Bomb

Yes bathroom mirrors, sticky notes, fridge doors, whatever it takes

Three years ago I had an A4 picture printed and posted on my wall by my computer
of Dirty Harry with the Bold Caption -

' You gotta ask yourself one question, Do I feel lucky? Well do ya punk?'

I went to Poland for a few days and had such a great time I stayed for six weeks
but I didn't tell anyone I was going as it was just for a few days originally.

After about three weeks I thought I had better tell the agent I was away
and she told me everyone had been concerned because my car hadn't moved for three
weeks and no one had seen me

So expecting the grisly worse she went into my apartment and found nothing amiss

but when I came back we were chatting and she had mentioned she noticed I was a
Clint Eastwood fan.

I almost thought I would try to explain but where do you start

Three years later I no longer have the poster on my wall but probably should

There are still times I 'know' where the price is going, with or without any
system rules and sometimes I am lucky, and that probably emboldens me
to trust in my luck even more

Yes we need to be reminded continuously, and journals are a good place
to jot down reminders.

'Repetition is the mother of learning!'

dirtyharry07.jpg

[immy]

No bone indicator stuff please... feel lucky all the time... but trade the strategy to the T. The only way forward is to BELIEVE in the viability of your edge. Random Outcome (for individual trades ) yet consistent results (at the end of a large enough sample size)... Have a great weekend!

[kiravon]

Wasn't impressed with DAX this morning but took a valid S1 for small +4 profit.

Screenshot_24.png

Screenshot_25.png

Screenshot_26.png

[kiravon]

More on Dirty Harry ( and Sticky notes )

How Often Do You Break the Rules?


How many times have you broken the rules?
For many traders, promising to follow rules doesn’t work for long.
One reason is willpower fatigue, a well-documented phenomenon.
I regularly receive emails from traders who are very bright and hard working –
often with a degree from a top school or a successful prior career– and they
are so frustrated with themselves about ‘breaking rules’ in trading.

For most traders, the work required to succeed is not what was expected.
Trading discipline is not about willpower to follow rules. It seems like that
on the surface, and it sort of is in the beginning of one’s trading career, but
there are three reasons why simple willpower is not the answer for long-term
success:

First, discretionary trading means by its very definition that we must use our
judgment to make a decision – not simply use willpower to follow a rule.

Second, in discretionary trading there will always be ambiguity or mixed
signals coming from the market – generally, no two entries will look exactly
the same, different players with different intentions (including machines
and algos) is why each market move is unique.

Third, add in your own personal hopes and fears and it quickly becomes
very difficult to stay out of trouble and make money, let alone follow
rules consistently.

Discretionary trading is about using one’s judgment to make a decision.
It’s also not about trying to follow others – if it was there would be more
successful traders. Each trading decision is unique and requires judgment
on the fly, therefore, you have to be aware of what you’re bringing to the
situation. What are your deep-seated hopes and fears? (often they’re
subconscious).

Trading is all about expanding self-awareness so you can really see yourself –
including your desires and vulnerabilities.
Expanded self-awareness – knowing what is really going on inside you – is what
allows you to control your actions and act in your best interest as a trader.

It takes more than a post-it note to remind yourself to ‘follow the rules’.

[wiseambitions]

I couldn't agree more, with your article about rules

And it seems to me that innately we are less confident to let a winning trade keep running, there is a strong desire to take 5 pips of profit rather than let them go back to zero, whereas we might be happy to let a trade go 5, 10 or more into the red in the silly hope that it will come back round to profit...... Therefore with all this going on, the pips returned per trade from winners can easily be less than the pips given away rent per try.....and then that's the way to ruin.

In order to make the process "Stress Free" as the system name suggests, I believe one of the keys is to trade smaller positions, so that 1% loss or 1.5% or even 2% loss makes no noticeable depletion of capital, and stick to the rules with more view to the price action than to the outcome of the trade. Once you allow for losses of more than a couple percent then the fraying effect on the nerves takes its toll on ones happiness with the system. I think it might have been Grant said if he lost 10 or 15% he would be in coronary care, and although we might not all agree, what it does mean is that we would have ceased to act in our best interests and discipline has gone out of the window.

Just work out the compounded return of 1% profit a day, which is more than 1000% capital growth a year, and we should satisfy ourselves with making moderate rather than crazy targets...... 2% obviously achieves that kind of growth in half of the time. I find it works!

[kiravon]

A Gem of a Reply from Ray!

Very hard to follow Ray's comments in the last post
which IMHO eclipse the article he was responding to,
(which wasn't mine btw, just cut and paste job )

I've heard Ray's point before about small stress free gains
being better than the roller coaster ride of big wins
and coronary inducing big losses, but not sure I've
ever seen it expressed so well

The truth is even the most modest daily or weekly profit
can become very substantial so we don't need to allow greed
to cause stress that distorts our trading perception

I think Ray's last post is more valuable and incisive
than volumes of trading verbage which doesn't really
improve matters, not usually at least

[kiravon]

Poised, Supremely composed and in control!

'' (The King doesn't ) go to them, they come to you. sit back with straight back.
head straight. arms relaxed and chest slightly out. you're a king .let the SETUP come
to you. don't chase them. sit like a king. ''
Immy1 and 2

Its great advice!

Screenshot_3.png

[kiravon]

Sequence 14

C1 DS 1 -7
C2 DS 1 -1
C3 DS 1 +4
C4 DS 1 -10

[kiravon]

It usually takes a great deal of pain and suffering...

It usually takes a great deal of pain and suffering to break down
the source of our resistance to establishing and abiding by
a trading regime that is organized, consistent, and reflects prudent
money-management guidelines.

You can't take for granted how much effort and focus you may
have to put into building the kind of mental structure that compensates for
the negative effect denied impulses can have on your ability to establish
the skills that will assure your success as a trader.

I think what Mark Douglas is pointing out is that traders are attracted to
trading because of the freedom it brings, and this desire for freedom
may be the result of a life time of pent up frustration and resentment
at parents, school and society in general imposing their rigid rules on us,
in many ways we would like to be trading hippies, without discipline,
being free at last to do our own thing (man)

But we soon find out that freedom to trade any way we feel, on any
given impulse, without being answerable to anyone can come with
a very high price indeed

and that to have any chance of success we must create and rigidly
adhere to a set of trading rules.

We know it makes sense

But at the deepest level we don't want to be hemmed in with rules
and rigidity. We don't actually want to be so rigid and disciplined.

But we make the rules because everyone tells us we must and
we know they can't all be wrong

but this poses a real challenge and struggle for the inner hippie

and the process of knuckling under, to consistently stick to the
rules like a true disciplinarian is what Mark Douglas means I believe
when he says this process may take a great deal of pain and suffering

Ian-hippie.jpeg

[kiravon]

I missed London Open, Can't make Skyperoom

and I made 23 pips! yippeee!

Nice S1 on the M1 burst of momentum so trailed - I always do!
momentum doesn't last forever

Screenshot_10.png