When the plan works brilliantly but you are shi** at implementing it.

[Bladerunner]

are you mixing method up with entry..the 2 blured together perhaps not helping

key might be to define entry method / conditions from your actual method in your own mind, very clear whats your reason for being in the trade the whats my method for getting me in and out

make them and accept they are seperate

obviously I no nothing of your method and its complexities etc

but entry exit stop placements limits = just a routine, nothing really to do with your method, same as switching on the pc, and going to get your coffee and toast...what order do you do it in, is it the best way or the way you always done it ?

Routine, get a good one , write it down at first then shuffle the list till your happy then practice it till it requires no thought at all and it does not interfere with your usual observations looking for your signal / market conditons to be met then ...

onto entry exit method, you can have a list 1.2.4....etc of jobs to do



BSD ....your hats safe

hope something clicks J , good luck with it

Andy

 

[Bladerunner]

six months

Hi JT,

“A very successful hedge fund manager recently told me that his project for the next six months was to increase his trading size. He never risked more than 0.5% equity on a trade – and was going to teach himself to risk 1%. Good traders tend to stay well below the 2% limit” Alexander Elder


Regards

Fibonelli

Hi Fib

good post

if he needs six months then mere mortals might need a little longer

Andy

 

[Paul71]

What does one do:?:

Lol! Top thread title, laughed as soon as i seen it

 

[Paul71]

Was it Mr Nike who once famously said -

Just fu**ing do it!

Maybe thats the best advice!

Probably right. Like has been said before, run it on minimums (small women with children) until you get into a routine/rythm, that will give you a bit more confidence in what you are doing.

Hope this helps, JT.

 

[JTrader]

Thanks guys, i think bladerunner, BBMac & Paul71 have hit the nail on the head.

Since my "awakening" to my new method/s, i have had around 18 days practise, both observing, demo and live cash. I've made some mistakes, and i knew they were mistakes almost instantly - which is good. Over these days, i have refined the plan & continued to see it work, very well day after day. I believe in it, and i'm amazed how well it works.
I'm naturally a cautious person, so that probably explains many of my problems regarding premature exits and hesitation on entry.

As these guys have said, i think for me, it is just a case of doing it. Its fecking laughable the number of times i've made one of the above mentioned mistakes, knowing immediately what will probably happen next, usualluy in my favour, and it does.

I just need to get on a run of following the plan to perfection, and seeing it be a success for a few days, nailing it in my head, gaining some confidence in my ability to follow it, and so forth.
Paper trading and proving yourself to be right about what will happen next, are one thing, but little pressure exists. Doing it with real money, in the moment is completely different. I've done the former, now i just need to nail it with real cash for a few days.

Cheers.

 

[Charlton]

Fear of failure -
bit lively on the exit triggers -
hesitancy b4 entry

Here are my suggestions - all easy to say and difficult to do

Fear of failure
The actual failure is not following your well-thought out and well-defined plan, rather than making a loss on that particular trade

You need to trade it and, then if necessary, adjust the plan. Whether it is in profit or not congratulate yourself afterwards on following the plan. By not failing to follow your plan you now have valid stats that can be analysed.

bit lively on the exit triggers
How about selling/covering at the point where your finger is twictching, but only 75% of the position. Let the rest run with a stoploss to ensure you are at least break-even on the remainder. You will then have the confidence derived from having taken profit and you will protect yourself from any further loss, as well as being able to participate in any further profit on the remaining 25%.

hesitency before entry
Plan out before hand exactly what conditions would alert you at the earliest possible moment that the entry is being invalidated and be decisive about exiting at this point with as little damange to your account as possible. If it turns out your entry is validated then you may have a second opportunity to re-enter

Charlton

 

[new_trader]

Study and Practice

What does one do:?:

My trading notebook is littered with the following comments to myself:

“Brilliant methodology, terrible execution”
“Sound methodology, poor implementation”
Etc

You cannot fear making a loss or fear missing out on a profit. Fear, hesitation and uncertainty are deadly enemies of the trader. This applies to both entries and exits. You need to eliminate these feelings through constant study and practice. It is the only way. These feelings need to be conquered under the conditions in which they are met, not via some automated or mechanical ‘system’. Is it any wonder most don’t make it!?

 

[JTrader]

Thanks charlton & NT. Again you make some really good points. Everything that has been said i was pretty much aware of myself. Good to hear others echo it though. Just time to get a grip on the situation & follow the plan.
Its such a deflating feeling when you dont follow the plan only to miss a positve/more positive outcome. Eventually this should hit home. Except i've just made the same mistake right now - FOR THE LAST TIME. I feel like such a **** now!
It can become a vicious circel as if u miss the 1st trade/exit early and suffer a consequence, youcan begin to worry what effect this has on the next trade & bttom line p/l - breeding more caution.....
But at the end of the day, if the plan is good, you just need to get in, stick to the plan, right out any losses, stick to the plan & come out the other side!

Anyway, that was offically my last **** up!

 

[JTrader]

Good thing is - the plan is rhobust., Eventually i will follow suit - you'd think. If the plan fell on its **** regularly this problem would be more understandable & justifiable.

 

[new_trader]

Thanks charlton & NT. Again you make some really good points. Everything that has been said i was pretty much aware of myself. Good to hear others echo it though. Just time to get a grip on the situation & follow the plan.
Its such a deflating feeling when you dont follow the plan only to miss a positve/more positive outcome. Eventually this should hit home. Except i've just made the same mistake right now - FOR THE LAST TIME. I feel like such a **** now!
It can become a vicious circel as if u miss the 1st trade/exit early and suffer a consequence, youcan begin to worry what effect this has on the next trade & bttom line p/l - breeding more caution.....
But at the end of the day, if the plan is good, you just need to get in, stick to the plan, right out any losses, stick to the plan & come out the other side!

Anyway, that was offically my last **** up!

I'm in the fortunate (unfortunate depending on how you view it) position of not having to wholly depend on trading for my income. But I am not allowing that to ingrain bad habits. I treat my capital as if I am living of it. Unless you 'need' to trade, I would strongly suggest you limit yourself to 1 trade per day, strictly, winner or loser. Otherwise you will 'see' opportunities that do not really exist and you will over trade. This is another reason that turns profitable days into losing days. 1 live trade per day regardless of the size of profit!! Watch the market the rest of the day, paper trade if you must. 1 live trade per day!! But, do not feel you need to record a trade either!! I should say, 1 live trade or less per day.

 

[north5]

I would suggest going through your plan again - and again. There is obviously something in it that you don't feel comfortable with. Find out what that is and the go through your reasoning again and again so that you do feel comfortable. You need the plan to feel right so that you can execute without even thinking about the right and wrong of it.

 

[JTrader]

i still have a diary but i think it served its purpose. i got sick of writing things like - "premature exit" & "missed entry due to hesitation". It served its purpose.

What i find more useful these days is chart annotations - colour coded arrows, X's, thumbs up/down, rectangles, triangles, eclipses, text notes etc. of each trading day, that i can quickly save an image of, reflect on later - quicky & easily.

 

[north5]

I don't mean examining what you did wrong. In some ways that establishes the bad practise - you are repeating to your mind what you are doing wrong. The brain can be quite illogical - if you are thinking about something (even the wrong thing) then it ingrains that.

I mean you should be really establishing in your head what the right thing is. I would go through those charts - remove the wrong stuff and replay them as the plan dictates. Do that a lot and the brain should then be conditioned to do it again.

 

[JTrader]

I don't mean examining what you did wrong. In some ways that establishes the bad practise - you are repeating to your mind what you are doing wrong. The brain can be quite illogical - if you are thinking about something (even the wrong thing) then it ingrains that.

I mean you should be really establishing in your head what the right thing is. I would go through those charts - remove the wrong stuff and replay them as the plan dictates. Do that a lot and the brain should then be conditioned to do it again.

I do that, and if i exit early or dont enter at all, i'm on the sidelines usually seeing what i hoped would happen occur. Unless it was a losing trade. I mark entry & targeted exit area on the charts.

Although the plan is there and workss well in its current form, maybe its still evolving / being refined in my brain, as i see new aspects. Maybe this process just needs to settle down a little more b4 it all clicks.

 

[north5]

How about cutting the stake for a while and just concentrate on doing the right thing? Maybe that will remove some of the doubts?

 

[JTrader]

Also, theres nothing worse than seeing the plan work well overall, being hesitant on entries/missing some, and exiting prematurely. If - when you do enter you have the misfortune to randomly pick a higher % of losing entries than exist overall.

 

[north5]

I think you must be concentrating on the money - concentrate on the trade - the money will then take care of itself. If the trade calls for an entry - you enter - if it calls for you to hold - then you hold- if it calls for an exit - then you exit. You don't second guess it - you just trade what it shows you.

It's hard - but it's also easy.

 

[new_trader]

Also, theres nothing worse than seeing the plan work well overall, being hesitant on entries/missing some, and exiting prematurely. If - when you do enter you have the misfortune to randomly pick a higher % of losing entries than exist overall.

Never, and I repeat, never bemoan a profit. You are trading with too much emotion. Get to the point where you can immediately enter an order when you get your indications and you will make real progress. When going into a trade you don't know whether you will make a loss or a profit or how much. Trade when you can secure protection with a tight stop and you will do well.

 

[JTrader]

aLSO BEEN drinking tea on a morning recently - as its warm & low in calories. Went without drinking it for over a year. I now realise it leaves me feeling slightly hyper & dehydrated. Will ditch the tea....

 

[Bladerunner]

why not Concentrate on what you did right J ?

why not consentrate on what you did right ? then go after the others one at a time, small steps and all that

dwelling on the bad and negative will perhaps make the job an unpleasant task, sort of re-enforcement of what your bad at..........

look see I new I was going to F..ck up !! arrr F..ck it, plans not right.....need another one

Give yourself a break from the bad press J you could be contributing by trying to hard to get it perfect. Seem to remember you have posted some down stuff in the past

nt says one trade a day or perhaps less, I agree 100% if your up to your neck in poooooo !! no point being / making it more dificult than it is or your finding it.

This could have / lead to problems ~

your going to end up trying to cherry pick the best and we all no what happens with this one, well I never seem able to select the good one out of the group anyway, its like some inner beast helping you avoid them You would need to no that its a learning exercise and not get frustrated if you cherry pick the wrong ones, assumig you have a few to choose from.

If you think this approach might help

For the exercise make it random = 3rd set up of the day or something along those lines, the 1st two could be warm up exercises

a good post by some guy called Nick on an old thread I saved ~

Douglas' approach is best summed up in his own words:

"All traders give themselves exactly what they deserve."

He means this in many different ways, but the main one is: our successes and failures are the inevitable result of the way we think, usually unconsciously.

I think this probably applies to life, too!


Nick



Nothing is as powerful as a positive attitude, and nothing is as detrimental as a negative one.

so I have been told, ok I read it and saved it but reads well and I have been known to beat myself up from time to time so try to remember not to


Andy