Another week and it was going quite well. At the end of Thursday I was 20 points away from recording another 100 point week, and then Friday came, and, well, that was that.
I still booked a profit for the week of basically 20 points, but it is so frustrating. It feels like as soon as I make what appears to be progress, with regards to building my account back up, the market does what the market does and my progress is wiped out. Now I can say that I have followed my strategy almost religiously again this week, with the exception of a couple of errant trades, so really I have to just accept the fact that as long as I keep doing that, things will eventually start to go in my favour. The things is, that's way easier written than done.
I've been trading for 16 months and yes, I haven't blown up my account, yes, I have made considerable progress in that time from when I first started, particularly mentally, but I just want to start making proper points!
I've developed a strategy that has proven, over what would be considered a very small sample size granted, to be profitable, but it is just so frustrating to be basically spinning my wheels. My trading just cannot get traction. But, I have to ride it out. I have to accept that realistically, for a new trader, to be breaking even and not having redeposited, is an achievement in itself, but, I so want to start making consistent profit and be in the position to increase my stake size, it f**king hurts!
On the plus side it has lead to an evolution of my strategy. A little fine tuning. For example, now, when the market is in what I consider an indecisive trading range and the candles have those telltale long wicks of volatility/ market indecision, I will not scalp profits as such, but once a trade is 10+ points in profit, I will move my stop to breakeven and what will be, will be. I understand and accept that this will result in missed moves due to premature closes, but I feel in a market that is choppy, you cannot and should not have a 'one size fits all' strategy. Your number one priority, above all else, is to protect and respect your principle, and to do so I believe your overall strategy, at times, needs a sub strategy dependent on perceived market conditions. A good trader should be flexible in their approach. Yes they have a strategy that has rules that must not be broken, but that doesn't mean that you have to have only one strategy. Now this might be the wrong way to approach trading, in fact and as I'm writing this it feels like it smells a little bit of fear, but I am not scared of losing in the slightest. I will happily close a losing position and flip a trade in the opposite direction, and if that loses, still not hesitate to take the next signal. That, is the nature of trading, and how you handle your losses is what defines you as a trader, but, I have been trading long enough now to recognise the signs of a choppy market, and so have a responsibility to trade accordingly.
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