David's journal

[azadar]

Yep stick to the plan, dax m1 and be disciplined (no trading when theres no signal). Every time I start thinking about the money and not the process I start to lose discipline and up doing stupid things. Really need to remind myself constantly to focus on the process, on being disciplined and forget about the money.

Yesterday was a complete disaster. Lost some of the nice profits I made last week. What caused all this? I traded before NEO, outside of my regular trading hours. Markets were done moving by the time I started trading and I paid a bunch of rents. Went into revenge mode and obviously that didnt help at all. Felt like shit all day about how I traded (if I can even call that trading).

Costly lesson learned again. Hopefully this time I wont forget it anytime soon.

2015-12-22_1133.png

2015-12-22_1139.png

[azadar]

Today was much better. Still tried to take trades before NEO though so not too proud about that. At NEO theres was a clean break, pullback and signal. Quick easy 2R. Thats how it should be done. wait for perfect setup, get my 2R and call it a day.

2015-12-23_1127.png

[azadar]

So on monday I didnt follow my plan. I ended up overtrading, loosing money and getting frustrated. It was mentally exhausting and I felt like shit for the rest of the day. On tuesday I followed my plan and saw a nice setup during the first 30 min of NEO. I took an easy 2R. It was effortless. I just clicked on auto, waited for TP to be hit and took auto off. No stress, no frustration. Pure simple fun and I felt good for the rest of the day

Now when comparing these 2 very different days its obvious which day I want to repeat and which I want to avoid. The only way I can repeat that effortless, stress free, fun 2R day is by following my plan. Trading at market open. Not before, not 2+ hours after but at market open.

I have been running the seed/cherry full time on auto mode on a demo account. The stats so far seem to agree with what I have been told so often by Immy. Market opens offer the best opportunities. My stats show a higher win rate during the first 2 hours of market open (LO and NEO).

So from now on, I only trade market opens (except for red news like FOMC that happen late in US afternoon session but usually generate a nice seed/cherry setup).

[immy]

The candle was almost a seed (price closed on wrong side of channel) and I decided to take the trade anyway. It worked out flawlessly

You are training the little puppy and he pooped on your favourite carpet, some even went on your Gucci shoes... you went on picked the puppy gave it a good tight hug, kissed and rubbed and then a nice cracker to make him "not feel bad"....

The puppy now knows, every time he poops he "should" get rewarded...

I thought I'll point it out clearly in case you missed the obvious.

The market , the chart is a conveyor belt of Christmas crackers... of all sizes, shapes and colours. You are given a choice to pick any 3 every christmas morning. and every day is a christmas morning. You decide to pick only the ones that fit your criteria. You don't want too big a cracker. You won't be able to handle it. But not too small either because it won't be fun and not as rewarding. Plus young boys like BIG things. so, not too big, not too small, not oddly shaped just the right one.

Yet you don't know what's in it. But you know that as long as you keep picking the right ones, you will get enough goodies at the end of a bunch f crackers that will make your day... a true christmas...

I wish you, your family and family and everyone in the AIMS community,

a merry christmas and a happy new year.

[azadar]

Yes Immy, you are right as always, thanks. By taking that almost seed, I broke the rules and opened up my mind to more rule breaking. The very next day I broke just about every rule in my trading plan and paid the price by losing some of my hard earned profits. I noticed that every time I have a bad day of rule breaking, its preceded by a day where I bent or broke just 1 rule. So I have to be very careful with this and avoid breaking rules so I dont open the door to more rule breaking.

[petera]

David

I think you should have to pick up your own poop. Or wack your nose with a rolled up newspaper (of course I don't endorse puppy abuse).

Peter

[azadar]

lol yeah the poop analogy... I like the christmas conveyor belt better

[azadar]

Tuesday started well enough but broke a rule and screwed up my my mind which snowballed into a bunch of broken rules. -4R DS 4/7

2016-01-05_1430.png

Took trades outside trading hours. Paid the price for breaking my rules.

2016-01-05_1444.png

Wednesday was much better. Followed my plan, DS 3/3, 1 win and 2 rents but -0.5R because of slippage.
NEO:

2016-01-06_1509.png

After FOMC:

2016-01-06_1512.png

[immy]

What does your trading plan say about what are you going to do when you find yourself breaking 1 rule? and what about if you break 2 and then 3? The only way to learn to be disciplined is to discipline yourself. E.g. I love coffee and if I make a mistake , there is no coffee for me today... ouch it hurts... if I make 2 mistakes i won't trade next 2 sessions, it hurts more than coffee, because I love trading....

[azadar]

yes thats a good idea. adding that to my plan right away. Thanks

I also noticed it helps to prime my mind to follow the rules prior to trading. This morning I kept repeating to myself that I will not break any rules. I was tempted a few times today but it was easier than usual to follow the plan and not break or bend any rules.