While I came out slightly ahead in the end, today's trading was truly garbage. Easily the worst trading I've done in a long time and extremely disappointed with myself. This is the type of trading that blows people's accounts up and I thought I was above it by this point. Apparently not. $10 in the bad boy jar today. :(
I still have to ponder ponder ponder to be sure, but I think I know what's up. I've focused my mind on going for 10pips a day, instead of 4. This appears to be having a domino affect.
10 pip goal > enter in areas I wouldn't normally to catch bigger moves > these plays have a higher rate of failure which put me back more often > When I do go into profit I hold longer to get more pips since I have a bigger goal > Which leads to allowing bigger stops to account for the bigger swings to reach my bigger goals > If I get stopped out I now have a large stop that was hit plus many small ones > I'm down a hefty amount which adds more fuel to going for even bigger moves > the cycle repeats.
In contrast to...
4 pip goal > enter in very specific high probability areas > make a pip or two and exit > if take a loss or two, they are tiny so easy to make up > repeat a couple times > have my 4+ pips and done for the day.
Soooooo much easier on me that way. I already learned this lesson several months ago, or so I thought. And I know I've been reminding myself of this a little much lately so clearly there is something unresolved that I need to figure out.
Hmmmm, something just came to me. That familiar feeling. The desire to switch switch switch. Inconsistency. For a while there I was going along doing my own thing making pips and being merry. But a couple weeks ago I started becoming more active on Forex boards. I wasn't looking for a new method but someone mentioned in a non-related thread that some guys are making xx amount of pips a day. Piqued my interest so I checked it out. Method is somewhat similar to mine but they enter like scalpers and hold more like daytraders or sometimes swing traders. Which nets them tons of pips. This idea planted itself in my mind. Reflecting back on the one thought that has dominated my mind lately it's obvious. I've been completely focused on entering and holding holding holding. Making 20, 30, 40 pips a day. When I think about the future I think about making more and more and more pips. Without purposely meaning to I've changed a core principal of my method. I'm no longer trading like myself. I'm trading like someone else. Someone I don't even know. This is exactly what happened the last time I went through this.
Perhaps my recent string of success has left me in a vulnerable state. My wins increasing my vanity, allowing old demons to slip back in disguised as friends. Not even friends. Disguised as me!
I need to think.
1 comment:
Wow. Another good post.
You're not the only one who goes through this. It's imperative to look at the method/timeframe you're comfortable with, create rules that work with it, and stick to them.
Much easier said than done though.
In fact, I wrote in my planner just this morning, "Get my charts set up, and don't change them. Use them every day, the same way, and get used to them."
Good luck,
-AT
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