{quote} Thanks for this detailed response Strat. What you have said above ^ makes sense and its good to hear the arguments against from someone who is as experienced (and profitable) as you are! I am very much still on the quest! Most of my mumbo jumbo "ideas" came from books written by Wyckoff & Williams (Larry not Bill) and nothing I have read on FF, thankfully! Bugger - I thought I was on to something, but obviously not!I will go back and read & re read the thread until I'm blue in the face (and especially Dr Joe!) and try not...
I had trouble "emptying" my mind from everything I knew or thought I knew. Just watching the chart (only one now). It is still hard to just watch the numbers change , the candles dance around until they "lock" in place, and literally meditating to have an empty mind and not allowing my thoughts to start analyzing what is happening. To just watch and observe and then making a decision ONLY when the trade presents itself is very difficult but pays off immensely (or I pay abit when I get it wrong).
I am not always able to be patient and wait until there is a trade of course. I am still learning how to trade and what I found out so far is that an entry is not so important (although it is nice to have a tight stop and good price). I was always uncomfortable to have a trade on the chart and that had an impact on my results.
- I was not adding to the trade when the market moved the way I wanted.
- I wasn't accepting the fact that I would NEVER know how price would move after I put the trade.
- I was not patient to wait for the next one around if I missed one entry.
- I took profit way too soon many times.
So I went back to basics and tried to rectify my shortcomings (mental) as best I could
- I FORCED myself to add more to the trade once it started moving my way. There is absolutely no reason not to add once market tells you that you are RIGHT this time. And NEVER adding once the trade was going nowhere or moving against me, just taking it off the chart no matter how small the loss or profit.
- Once I had my trade I was moving back (physically) taking a few good breaths
. And then accepting the fact that this could move ANYWHERE up or down, and since I dont know why not just accept the fact the probably I am wrong and make it easier psychologically. - When I miss a trade or get a loss, instead of chasing price (and get more losses) I would force myself to sit tight and wait (as long as it takes even if it is until the next day) and since I dont have a trade on to just watch and observe how price moves (how fast, where it stalls etc and take notes that might be useful at some point).
- Once I had the trade moving my way, I would literally sit on my hands and watch. The possible targets would have been spotted in advance (like recent highs lows or other areas of price where it MIGHT be a good idea to exit). Most importantly though I would watch and let the market SHOW me if I should exit. And if I did I would go back to watching price to find the NEXT trade. Done is done and review will be done at the end of the day.
One thing of advice to people that are really serious about trading is this: I am NEVER EVER comfortable having a trade on, and I don't know if it just me (probably not) but I accepted the fact and I am just trying to think about process and execution. And don't expect to learn much just reading posts or books. You will NEVER learn anything if you don't actually trade and experience having money at risk with your every decision. No matter how much you read it will not change the fact that you ARE going to make the same stupid mistakes that EVERYBODY is doing from time to time (if not every time).
Once I read in a book that trading is a profession where the lessons come only after the test. Now I know how true that is. And if I may add that it is up to me to go looking for that lesson even if it means I need to doubt everything I know and do every day.
If I am not willing to commit to the process of learning, then chances are I will never succeed in trading. (I could write a whole book but there are so many good ones that it would be almost a waste of my time)
