The title says it all. I followed my strategy haphazardly and it shows in my returns, or rather lack of returns. The week started well with me sticking to it and a nice return of 47 points, but then from Tuesday onwards, is when the cracks started to show.
I was listening to Tom Hougaard via his Telegram channel which is something I do in the morning usually from around 08:00 until 08:30 as that is when I focus fully as my trading day begins on the 08:35 bar. However, this particular morning he was talking about it being a German Holiday (Tuesday was Unity Day) and how he though he would maybe scalp, or indeed not trade at all. To my disappointment in myself, I allowed his opinion to influence my decision on how to trade instead of simply trading my strategy irrespective of the action unfolding. This lead to sloppy trading with me trying to scalp and trade tweezers. I missed a FTS (Flip the Switch) in the DAX, and it was generally awful.
I ended up 29 points down when my strategy would've returned 26 points.
As a result I decided to remove temptation and I left his Telegram group. In fairness, I have never followed his trades and I do not use his strategies, so I only followed it to see how he fared vs myself, and so have no reason to still be in it.
This doesn't mean I am no longer a 'fan' as I still credit and attribute my trading style and any success I will have to his teachings.
Wednesday was more of the same and Thursday...well let's just say my poor performance on Thursday lead to me actually not trading on Friday because when I woke up my mindset was not in the right place. The silver lining here though it that I realised my mindset was shit and so didn't force myself to trade. That is very good discipline which is something I should be and am, proud of.
That being said though, this week is not one I want to forget but instead it is one I should use and revisit to remind myself how I don't want to trade.
I finished the week 18 points down, when had I followed my strategy, I could've been 97 points up. That's a big swing and I am at least grateful that the lessons are cheap at the moment, as in the future, when I reach my stake size goal, that would've been a £23,000 lesson...
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