✍️WEEKLY QUOTE: Can we change our beliefs about the market?✍️..Each time I experienced a conflicting thought and was able to successfully refocus on my objective, with enough conviction to get me into my running shoes and out the door, I added energy to the belief that "I am a runner." And, just as important, I inadvertently drew energy away from all of the beliefs that would argue otherwise.
..Beliefs can be changed, and if it's possible to change one belief, then it's possible to change any belief if you understand that you really aren't changing them, but are only transferring energy from one concept to another. Therefore, two completely contradictory beliefs can exist in your mental system, side by side. But if you've drawn the energy out of one belief and completely energized the other, no contradiction exists from a functional perspective; only the belief that the energy will have the capacity to act as a force on your state of mind, on your perception and interpretation of information, and your behavior.
..Remember that consistency is not the same as the ability to put on a winning trade, or even a string of winning trades for that matter, because putting on a winning trade requires absolutely no skill. All you have to do is guess correctly, which is no different than guessing the outcome of a coin toss, whereas consistency is a state of mind that, once achieved, won't allow you to "be" any other way. You won't have to try to be consistent because it will be a natural function of your identity
In fact, if you have to try, it's an indication that you haven't completely integrated the principles of consistent success as dominant, unconflicted beliefs. For example, predefining your risk is a step in the process of "being consistent." If it takes any special effort to predefine your risk, if you have to consciously remind yourself to do it if you experience any conflicting thoughts (in essence, trying to talk you out of doing it), or if you find yourself in a trade where you haven't predefined your risk, then this principle is not dominant, functioning part of your identity. It isn't "who you are." If it were, it wouldn't even occur to you not to predefine your risk. If and when all of the sources of conflict have been deactivated, there's no longer a potential for you to "be" any other way. What was once a struggle will become virtually effortless. At that point, it may seem to other people that you are so disciplined (because you can do something they find difficult, if not impossible), but the reality is that you aren't being disciplined at all; you are simply functioning from a different set of beliefs that compel you to behave in a way that is consistent with your desires, goals, or objectives
From Trading in the Zone by M. Douglas
Frustratingtimes
I Was Right...But At The Wrong TIME! - 05/14/20 RECAPHi traders,
What a day! I took a record of 7 trades (my average is about 3) and all of them were beautiful setups. But most of the time the market went immediately against me and pushed the stocks I traded the other way!
Key point here is not to give in and blame the market - it doesn't care at all and you can't sue it :D
Reduce the size so you don't exceed your maximal daily loss but stay in the game if you are mentally in a good state (for beginners I'd suggest switching to DEMO after 2 consecutive losses, though!).
Yes, being down for the week again sucks, but thanks to good risk management it's just over 1 percent - a single winning trade away from turning green. This is why RM is your priority. It's much harder, if not almost impossible digging yourself up from 10, 20 or 30% Drawdown
My Trades:
1) CODX - LONG @28.39, -0.95%
2) Z - LONG @46.53, +1.18%
3) MRNA - SHORT @61.95, -0.75%
4) AMD - LONG @53.03, -0.93%
5) UNFI - SHORT @18.89, -0.04%
6) DDOG - SHORT @62.78, -1.08%
7) SYF - LONG @17.02, -0.65%
*In my ID trades, I risk 1% of the account per trade and go for 2% (2:1 RRR ). Sometimes I adapt a little bit as you can see in the trades' description.*
Total PnL for the day: -3.22%
Total PnL for the week: -1.37%
Good trades,
Tom | FINEIGHT
I Just Work Too HARD For The Gains - 05/05-6/20 RECAPHi traders,
Due to technical difficulties, I wasn't able to post Tuesday Recap, so I merged Tue and Wed together.
Oh boy, this week started on a good note and turned into frustration and below-average results... I'm still up, but based on my statistics, I'd expect to be much better off after 8 trades since Monday. This is the real challenge with Datrading, not being able to spot the formations and entry points.
Anyway, staying positive as a profit is profit, here are my trades:
Tuesday:
1) PCG - LONG @11.65, failed to continue. -1.1%
2) UAL - SHORT @24.80, a good breakdown situation, chickened out but at least only a minor loss. -0.23%
3) WRK - SHORT @26.92, failed to add later on for bigger profit. +1.41%
Wednesday:
1) PINS - LONG @18.24, looked well all the way, then crashed. At least reduced risk. -0.66%
2) SPCE - SHORT @17.21, a beautiful triangle breakdown that offered some +1.2% immediately, which I was too slow to take. Then grinded for another hour to reverse 4c before my TP. Frustrating reality!! -1.07%
3) JPM - SHORT @89.98, a typical failed breakdown, at least I recognized it somewhat soon. -0.6%
4) GOLD - SHORT @26.79, a nice, albeit not full, winner to end the day and relieve the frustration from SPCE ;) +1.69%
*In my ID trades, I risk 1% of the account per trade and go for 2% (2:1 RRR ). Sometimes I adapt a little bit as you can see in the trades' description.*
Total PnL for the day:
Tue +0.08%
Wed -0.64%
Total PnL for the week: +0.97%
Good trades,
Tom | FINEIGHT
Frustrating times3.3.20 Oil. Everyone runs in to frustrating times when trading. Frustrations can be due to a number of reasons. Taking a break from training is one obvious solution, but I have some other solutions that are not so intuitive which of work for me. Since I only had 90 minutes for the video I had to scurry forward to cover the topics that I wanted to discuss, and I also wanted to read the markets on different time frames and related to how your trading can be affected. Probably too much information into little time, yet I think this video can be helpful in a number of ways if you listen carefully, and you take some time to draw some of these lines and work through the process on your own chart. Obviously I do not know all markets, but my belief is that these patterns are universal and that price action is due to human behavior, and that all you have to do is understand the thinking of other people, including those that have more influence on the market than you do and they can influence nonrandom behavior in the market. Even if you don't agree with every premise, my experience is that these patterns are highly repeatable and require some time and introspection regarding your own analysis, and this should have a beneficial effect.