Bananarama knew what's up when it comes to trading. The rest of the chorus ends with the line 'And that's what gets results.'
It was a much better week in terms of the application of not just discipline, but acceptance. Acceptance of the outcome no matter what. Acceptance that not every trade, not every day, and not every week can be a winner. It was a very composed week and one in which the results were not stellar, obviously, but the application of the trades and the awareness was better than it has been in a long, long time.
For example instead of simply watching the market break through a trading range and then looking for an entry on a lower time frame to try and catch the move, I preempted it and had the trade loaded up in the ticket ready to be executed the second the current candle (5 minute chart) closed. I was ready. Too many times in the past I have gormlessly watched the market moving and missed opportunity after opportunity because I just wasn't prepared, I wasn't present. It felt good to be proactively trading because that is what a trader should be. Not only that, but I keep a diary of what I refer to as 'Calendar Days of Note.', meaning, days that the market had announcements on and days which are volatile or lacklustre. For example, the FR/DE/GB Flash Manufacturing days. I have witnessed on these days GAPS, big arsed gaps! I saw a gap up of 28 points at 08:15 on 22nd August, and on 23rd September, a 42 point gap down, also at 08:15! On these days I am already primed mentally, before the first trade is even considered, that Scalping and not Trading is the order of the day. If I get into a trade and it goes 8/9/10 points in profit, I will close it manually. If it takes off and I could've had 30+ points, then so be it. I would rather book a small win than watch a profitable position snap stop me out, and maybe even suffer a little slippage in the process, losing me more. You have to pick and choose your battles. Also on these days I am also prepared that I may actually not get any signals and it might just be two hours of watching and then nothing. That too is okay. I've not lost anything and more importantly, I've not forced anything. All too often I've found myself in the past taking a trade purely because I feel like I must take something. That is not good trading. So whilst this weeks result are not exactly the most satisfying to look at, they feel very satisfying when I think about how I made them.
At the end of the day...
I thought I was smart but I soon found out,
I didn't know what trading was all about,
But then I learned I must confess,
That trading's like a game of chess.
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