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What's the most important activity in your trading business?

  • #21
  • Nov 22, 2013 8:51am Nov 22, 2013 8:51am
Quoting realjumper
1) Making sure that I have plenty of coffee in the cupboard 2) Only if I do not have enough coffee in the cupboard
I feel your pain. I know your pain. It can run deep. Stay caffeinated, my friend.
  • #22
  • Nov 22, 2013 8:56am Nov 22, 2013 8:56am
Quoting cat
Making sure that I'm at my desk at the required time and in the right frame of mind to capitalize fully on the opportunities as they arise. The rest takes care of itself. By pain, I presume you mean the emotional torment associated with loss. This is something most people risking their money in the markets will at some point in time have experienced to varying degrees. It is how one copes with this that separates those who are able to make a successful career out of trading and those who don't.
What sorts of things do you do to get into the right frame of mind? Do you have a routine/process? What do you do if you don't attain that frame of mind? What sorts of things prevent your from being in that frame of mind or what do you do to over come them?

As mentioned in my follow up post I'm mainly interested pain in the ass and not emotional or mental pain but emotional and mental pain are a huge part of trading and something I'll probably focus on in a different but related thread I had planned. So I'll save my detailed answer for then.
  • #23
  • Nov 22, 2013 8:58am Nov 22, 2013 8:58am
Quoting seaman2
1. Determining correct bet size and plan before entering. 2. pain is part of my trading repertoar. Could not trade profitably without it. what about you, JR97 ?
Do you have a routine and/or tool for determining correct bet size? Is it easy or difficult to use? What about it do you like and a what do you think would make it better?
  • #24
  • Nov 22, 2013 9:01am Nov 22, 2013 9:01am
Quoting hayseed
1. identifying the proper trade direction and it's possible length.... ie, short or long, number of pips, and time to target..... 2. no associated pain at all..... actually just the opposite...... .....h
Good. Other than a chart, do you use any other tools in your trade analysis or business? Anything you wish existed or if it does exist you wish was better and what would make it better?
  • #25
  • Nov 22, 2013 9:14am Nov 22, 2013 9:14am
Quoting JR97
{quote} Can you elaborate #2? What are the distractions that you feel keep you from or take you from being in the right frame of mind?



Sure... first i want you to understand that these are issues that i used to deal with when i was developing the RBT Paradigm but have since overcome, these distractions were stuff like having visitors come see me or reading just when a setup was maturing and stuff like that. When i moved away from day trading the impact of these distractions reduced dramatically!
Coz$FX bringing you the good word from RaBiTFX
  • #26
  • Nov 22, 2013 9:22am Nov 22, 2013 9:22am
Quoting JR97
Other than a chart, do you use any other tools in your trade analysis
//-----

actually i seldom look at charts themselves...... other than to markup ones that i post on various places on various forums/web......

my trading mostly relies on ea's/indicators that reduce everything down and suggest a list of certain trades on certain pairs..... similar to the dashboards i commonly post screenshots of..... those i am constantly writing/rewriting.....

my preference is automation..... it frees me up to be me.......h
to trade and code, keep both simple... no call to impress....h
  • #27
  • Nov 22, 2013 10:03am Nov 22, 2013 10:03am
1. My most important activity is not looking at charts.
I need to enter on signal alert and stay away from the charts as long as I don't have one or else I get tempted to enter silly trades due to greed, impatience, boredom.


2. The pain associated is addiction to charts.

3. Right now I try to do activities such as going to beach and surfing but risk it in missing a trade signal, I'm thinking about outsourcing my entire trading to someone else as it is 100% rules based system.
  • #28
  • Nov 22, 2013 12:20pm Nov 22, 2013 12:20pm
Understanding your objective in relation to your current circumstances. When these dont match up my worry is im trying to accomplish somthing thats not possible.
  • #29
  • Nov 22, 2013 12:28pm Nov 22, 2013 12:28pm
Quoting JR97
{quote} What sorts of things do you do to get into the right frame of mind? Do you have a routine/process? What do you do if you don't attain that frame of mind? What sorts of things prevent your from being in that frame of mind or what do you do to over come them? As mentioned in my follow up post I'm mainly interested pain in the ass and not emotional or mental pain but emotional and mental pain are a huge part of trading and something I'll probably focus on in a different but related thread I had planned. So I'll save my detailed answer for then....
I'm a very positive person, but I do find that an hour's yoga early in the morning before I start work sets me up for the day, and I do this every morning except weekends. It is very rare that I find myself in the wrong frame of mind for trading. I have learnt that losses are a part of what I do and so they no longer cause me pain, they used to, but not now. If they still did, I would no longer be trading.

Physical exercise is a huge part of my life, as is sport. It has been a hugely important counterbalance to the stresses of everyday life. One will always feel a whole lot better after a work out in the gym, a run or a swim following a hard day in the office or whatever it is one does. It works for me.
  • #30
  • Nov 22, 2013 12:51pm Nov 22, 2013 12:51pm
Quoting korvix
1. My most important activity is not looking at charts. I need to enter on signal alert and stay away from the charts as long as I don't have one or else I get tempted to enter silly trades due to greed, impatience, boredom. 2. The pain associated is addiction to charts. 3. Right now I try to do activities such as going to beach and surfing but risk it in missing a trade signal, I'm thinking about outsourcing my entire trading to someone else as it is 100% rules based system.
Excuse me for quoting your post.but are you a intraday trader ?.

If so how can taking a swim or ride the surf help with the continually changing forces of the market.im a scalper or I should say short termtrader .I would believe that anybody intraday trading is or must be evolving with the market change.
  • #31
  • Nov 22, 2013 6:04pm Nov 22, 2013 6:04pm
Limiting my risk on any trade I make is the most important thing to me.

(I digress here: There is no ideal place that the market provide/ makes available for anyone to put stops. I consider it hogwash when I hear other traders talk about 'the best place', and 'the right place' to put stops. There is no such thing from the market's perspective. But from your perspective as the trader - you decide the right place for a stop, the best place for a stop. And that should ideally be a 'suitable place for you' from your entry.)

I just cannot afford to lose any money unnecessarily. For me its easy to top into the market's flow with a simple method.
But, when the flow gets tumultuous, I wanna make sure it does not leave me licking my wounds...
Smalls wounds can heal quickly. Big ones can kill you. Account preservation and growth is the be all and end all for me.
Cheers.
  • #32
  • Nov 22, 2013 8:03pm Nov 22, 2013 8:03pm
Quoting JR97
{quote} Curious... why do you feel you need to defend your views? I know you say you're joking but I kinda think you're not. And you wouldn't be the first. Hell, this place would have closed down 10 years ago if it weren't for people defending their views. Do you have a planning process? Is it written or entered anywhere?
Hahaha.. I think that's the human nature, isn't that? We hate of being wrong.. That's why it is hard to follow simple suggestion on "Trade what you see, not what you believe.." We all know that we can't outsmart the market.. but our nature limit us..

Well, back to your question:

1) What's the most important activity in your trading business?
To me the most important activity is to read the market...
I begin with Monthly down to Weekly, Daily and H4 Chart..
Then I draw TL, S/R lines, and simple Wave count..
By doing this, I would be able to sense where the market is going in each time frame..
and thus will determine my entry point.. Whether to enter in the beginning of new trend (swing point), or in the middle of an established trend (entry on PullBack)..

I am more to a swing trader.. so I usually hold my trade more that 3 days.. Even weeks..

As for journal, I utilize my MT4 brokers report as my trade report.. We can just select the data on the MT4 Daily or Monthly Confirmation report Copy it and paste it into excel..

As for my note.. I take special notes on negative trade.. "Why did I go wrong? ".. Find the cause and always improving my entry precision..

And of course Money Management is important.. (max of 3% risk per trade)..

These are the most important activity for me.. So I keep it simple..


2) Do you have any pain associated with that activity and why?
So far, I do not have any pain associated with that activity..

Because..
1. No data to enter.
2. I do two kind of analysis (ie., 1. Chart analysis, 2. Negative trade analysis), which I love doing.

The only pain, if I can categorize it as pain though, is the waiting game ..
It is sooooo boring to wait for the perfect entry timing according to my analysis and entry rules.

(That's why I don't regard this as pain.. as this is the consequence of doing this business.. isn't it..?)


3) What tools are associated with your most important activity and what about them do you wish were better?
I do not use any other tools except for what has been mentioned above.. So far I do not need any tools..

Hope it helps..

May the market be with you..
  • #33
  • Nov 23, 2013 3:41am Nov 23, 2013 3:41am
Quoting realjumper
1) Making sure that I have plenty of coffee in the cupboard 2) Only if I do not have enough coffee in the cupboard
You mean Kuala coffee! I heard it does magical to pain..

regards,
Passion, Persist, Patience, Protect
  • #34
  • Nov 26, 2013 10:11am Nov 26, 2013 10:11am
Quoting JR97
{quote} high five. I'm deep into mediation. (bad pun) Can you be more specific about what type of meditation you do? I typically meditate once a day which is at night between 10-11 pm before the euro/brit markets open. I just go through some guided stuff. I don't trade every day so on the non-trade days it's deep alpha or theta programming. On trade days it's just simple relaxation, clearing, visualization, and re-affirming. I also do a meditation before I play hockey which follows the same pattern.
I just do a guided meditation from headspace, just following breath and letting my mind whizz around (without trying to stop it) until I manage to get some gaps in thinking and enjoy the space for as long as I can until another thought pops in. Really sets me up for the day

If I've got time I'll do a couple of wing chun forms straight after
Anything can happen.
  • #35
  • Nov 26, 2013 10:42am Nov 26, 2013 10:42am
1. Buy low sell high. Nothing beats the importance of this.
  • #36
  • Nov 26, 2013 11:01am Nov 26, 2013 11:01am
Quoting JR97
1) What's the most important activity in your trading business?
2) Do you have any pain associated with that activity and why? (ie pain in the ass, emotional/mental pain, time consuming, etc.)
3) What tools are associated with your most important activity and what about them do you wish were better?!
1 Playing guitars (mainly acoustic ones).
2 Interruptions making entries.
3 Youtube -- it is my teacher for building repertoire.
  • #37
  • Nov 26, 2013 11:12am Nov 26, 2013 11:12am
Quoting JR97
I'm very curious about the nature of how trader's approach their trading business. If you could, take a minute to think about and answer these three questions: 1) What's the most important activity in your trading business? 2) Do you have any pain associated with that activity and why? (ie pain in the ass, emotional/mental pain, time consuming, etc.) 3) What tools are associated with your most important activity and what about them do you wish were better? If answered honestly, I'm 100% sure that there will be a lot to learn from each other's answers....
1) Waiting.
2) I hate waiting.
3) Patience/Music/Studying
Build good relationships with others.
  • #38
  • Nov 26, 2013 3:17pm Nov 26, 2013 3:17pm
Hehe, I like this one.
Quoting JR97
1) What's the most important activity in your trading business?
Counting and reading.
Quoting JR97
2) Do you have any pain associated with that activity and why? (ie pain in the ass, emotional/mental pain, time consuming, etc.)
If am reading news and counting nonstop for few weeks, I get information overflow, my brain stops working, I start loosing, start to be very annoying, dont eat, dont sleep and then I need to sit back, go to mountains or woods and relax. And yes, whole this bussines is very very time consuming, so am loosing contact with normal people.
Quoting JR97
3) What tools are associated with your most important activity and what about them do you wish were better?
For news its internet , I mostly read financial times, bloomberg, wall street journal, reuters, daily, forexfactory, forexlive and also receiving couple of emails with yet another news. Am counting everything in excel and this one is almost perfect tool. But think I am going to need to learn SAS soon, as excel cant make everything. How to make better news, haha, one would wish for a free and clean economic news, but they all got cash invested, so all news are a bit rigged.
"I know one thing, that I know nothing." Sokrates
  • #39
  • Apr 1, 2015 5:28am Apr 1, 2015 5:28am
Quoting JR97
I'm very curious about the nature of how trader's approach their trading business. If you could, take a minute to think about and answer these three questions: 1) What's the most important activity in your trading business? 2) Do you have any pain associated with that activity and why? (ie pain in the ass, emotional/mental pain, time consuming, etc.) 3) What tools are associated with your most important activity and what about them do you wish were better? If answered honestly, I'm 100% sure that there will be a lot to learn from each other's answers....
1. Today that is much easier to answer.. (3 years in the darkness getting to know myself better, as a trader.. I could not of answered the question) Today, I have a method or system that suits my personality running for just over 4 years.. Im too competitive as its my nature so trading small time frames not good for that reason.. Daily end of day my main system. Nice and quiet, nothing moving fast.. check the charts...enter the trades or set orders depending.. Come back tomorrow and check to see if we caught a fish or not.. lol.. All journal-ed and entered into my own xl sheet to record for me and investors..(On that point having other peoples money in play helps to keep you on the tracks...with the plan..)

2. Pain emotional or other wise used to be from just not being right and loss of money... (oh that used to hurt) Today after listening to Mark Douglas "in the zone" (lazy prefer the audio than the book lol)... Quite a few times actually and I still listen to certain chapters to top up the psychology stuff... If i could pick One thing he said that it took a while for the penny to drop was the question about "Accepting the risk of any given trade..knowing that none are of guaranteed outcome" . Knowing this and the question of acceptance we all say yes we have !! The reality is no we have not, as this is why are ego's get damaged and pain is felt when we are wrong and the SL is smacked.. To truly have confidence in your edge in trading and to actually except the risk, there is no pain...and a trade winning or losing has no bearing on your over all profit at the end of the year.. So winning or losing no longer means feeling good or bad... just the edge over the next 20 trades.. and your position then will..deliver the results as they do and have... ( a lot of back testing brings an amount of confidence..a lot more live trading and results concretes the theory into practice...no need to look back now)
Just found this thread as I have very little to do for the next few hours.. hope it is of benefit to someone...
  • #40
  • Nov 4, 2015 1:09am Nov 4, 2015 1:09am
Quoting JR97
1) What's the most important activity in your trading business?
My weekend analysis and preparation for the coming week .... analyzing each currency and deciding whether to buy, sell or avoid it for the week .... probably 90 - 95% of my 'trading time' is spent on this .... during the week I only trade for 5 - 10 minutes per day.

Quote
2) Do you have any pain associated with that activity and why?

No, because I do it when the markets are closed. Nothing is moving, there is no stress or pressure and I have all weekend to do it, I can take my time and do it whenever it suits.

Quote
3) What tools are associated with your most important activity and what about them do you wish were better?

Not much, I just read a couple of blogs/articles and look at some charts of economic data. I find those tools sufficient to get the job done, though there is always room for another regular blog if I could find one with a similar approach to the markets than myself - I've only found two blogs that I make a point of reading regularly.
si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes
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