My trading week was a little like the movie title. Not the best Star Wars movie, but also not the worst. I implemented some changes which were good, and also, I don't want to say bad, but not so good. I ended up booking a winning week, but had I followed my strategy, I could've made a lot more. However, as I stated last week, my strategy only really works in certain situations, and this week was one of those. Next week, it could give back all that I made and then some.
So with this in mind I sat with myself and asked myself - "What do I really want from trading and how do I achieve it?"
I want to make my living from it. Period. Well that was easy.
How do I do it? Ahh. Not so easy. This week I decided I would not simply take every signal that was generated (I know this is not considered good trading because you're taking away the mechanical aspect and replacing it with emotion), but instead I would assess the market. Did the candles overlap considerably? Did they have long tails? Did it appear range bound? Now these questions are all open to interpretation which involves the application of thought which is conscious, which means it is subject to the influence of emotion. But if truly great traders will sit and observe a market without taking a trade, then why can't I as a beginner? Now this did lead to me leaving a lot of points in the market with missed moves, but that is something I am kind of okay with. In fact it's sort of what I preach -
'Your goal when you trade is to make points, but you don't have to make all the points.'
With this in mind, I set about trading this week with a different approach. Simply put, I scalped. I also moved my stops to breakeven sooner than usual, but often than not I scalped, and, I also quit a lot sooner once a certain amount of points had been made. It is these three things that I feel confident, once they are fully accepted by my subconscious and feel second nature to me, that then I will see an improvement in not only my trading, but my p&l, and that is what will enable me to live the life I know I can have.
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