One year ends and another year begins which means I am another year closer to accomplishing my dream of being a full time trader. It's strange to think that I have been trading for a year and a half already. The time has flown by. Sure, I am not where I dreamt I would be when I first started, but, I was naive and full of the ignorance of youth (at least in trading terms experience if not actual years of life) and had an unrealistic ideal of just how 'easy' trading is.
But now however, I am a completely different trader to the one who first began back in May 2022. I have a totally different mindset. I've honed my strategy. I've experienced discomfort and success. I have a much more grounded and realistic idea of how trading can be. I have experience. As the saying goes -
It's not about timing the market, but time in the market.
With that being said there is of course still a long way to go both financially and mentally. You don't just wake up one morning and BAM! you're the greatest trader with the greatest mindset. There are constantly changing variables both in the markets and in you, and so this means that working to cultivate the 'best' (I say best because there is no such thing as perfect, not in trading nor in life), mindset to be a successful trader is a life long project that you will never complete. That's the fun of it.
So this first week back was a short one in the UK due to New Years day being on Monday which was a Bank Holiday, but for me it was a very good one both in terms of points made and of discipline adherence. I traded very well. I took signals when they were presented, I flipped the switch, I moved my stops, I read the market and made good decisions and until Friday I was only 5 points away from a 100 point week. But sadly it was not to be. It was tough day and I missed a possible 50+ points due to my exit strategy. But this is what I refer to above with regards to mindset. Before I would've FOMO'd back into the market on a lower timeframe chart, or if not, I would've been particularly upset about such an event for the whole day, but now, sure there's always a tinge of sadness, but I fully accept that whatever happens, happens. The most important part of trading is not the points made, but the application of discipline in adhering to your strategy. And that's what I did. My strategy has both entry and exit criteria, which must be observed. It's all very well entering a trade, but to make points you also have to exit it too. I was simply unlucky that a candle retraced and triggered my exit by 0.75 of a point. The only question after such an event is "Did I trade my strategy 100%?", to which the answer was "Yes", then that's all I care about, because that is what will propel me towards my ultimate goal, not just the points, but the consistent application of discipline. In instances such as these I always recall my most important trading belief -
My goal when I trade is to make points, but, I don't have to make ALL the points.
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