I posted this just over four year's ago in response to a similar question as yours..... Perhaps, you'll find it helps you on your own journey. In a word........ Discipline. Having the discipline it takes to keep after your trading education after putting in long hours to study, prepare, test, analyze and review the rules, software, trading vehicles and systems before ever placing your first trade. Having the discipline to start with small sizes as you continue to learn and trade. Having the discipline required to wait to trade real money with maximum leverage until you achieve proper capitalization for your trading goals. Having the discipline required to remain patient while waiting for the most opportune time before entering a trade. Having the discipline to exit a trade and take a loss when the market tells you you were wrong this time. Having the discipline to exit a trade when you reached your target by not permitting greed to influence your decision. Having the discipline required to control your emotions before, during and after a trade. Having the discipline to follow your well tested and proven trading system rather than override it simply because "you know better." It's rather easy to find the Holy Grail. Maintaining it is quite another thing. I know I fight the battle each and every day. Good Trading to you all. - Spydertrader
You are really getting some good advice now! I see some priceless gems in some of the posts made here. If you pay close attention, you can trim about 2-3 years off your learning curve. Rest assured, there will be a steep learning curve. Cool beans!
good advice spyder, it has taken me a long time to have discipline in my trading. I remember in the beginning i would have $2000 losers, $1500 losers, now i havn't had a loss bigger than $145 last 4 months (knock on wood)Here is some more of my personal rules. â« Don¡¦t worry about getting stopped out, focus on making good trades â« No buying or selling in nomans land. In other words don¡¦t trade for no reason. â« Look for higher highs and lower lows for trends â« Have a trading plan â« Double check your tt trader every day to make sure you don¡¦t have any open positions you didn¡¦t know about. â« Be patient, let the trade occur naturally don¡¦t rush it â« It¡¦s a good idea to check your daily charts for an overall picture of the market. Look for charting patterns. â« Get rid of that excess baggage, no EMOTIONS, don¡¦t take it personal â« No trades without indicators setting up â« When in doubt stay out â« When trading live no breaks between 6:00-7:30 am â« Don¡¦t trade the open, too much random movement â« Keep your eyes moving in a clockwise direction so you constantly see the changes in the markets â« When bonds close the DOW is free to do anything it wants, be careful â« Buy what¡¦s strong and sell what¡¦s weak â« Don¡¦t lose your cool, and don¡¦t fight the trend â« After 2 losing trades in a row must take a 30 minute break â« NO REVENGE TRADING â« Take what the market gives you-no greed, no fear â« No trading last hour unless you are up $500 and you can only risk $150 of that $500. â« Markets job is to hurt you and get you into bad trades and keep you out of good trades
The most important lesson is that trading takes time. Lots of time. You must study like you are trying to graduate from harvard. Never give up, don't listen to the naysayers and don't take it personal. Trading is not a get rich quick scheme. It takes lots and lots of time to understand the markets and to understand yourself. It is not to be taken lightly and everyones rules wont do you any good unless you are willing to put in that 3000 hours every year, year after year.
There are actually some really good replies in this thread. I have been trading full time for a few years and still make plenty of mistakes. The #1 thing I have learned is that there are no short cuts or quick fixes and you have to be willing to take risk. My biggest draw downs come from hesitating when I am right. Not from losing trades. Even after having some success it is still a problem. I think it will always be a problem. Trading will never get easier, just more routine. I made a video for my trading log last night after a losing day. It shows some ugly misses and is very honest. I think it is worth watching. http://www.screencast.com/t/dBdkp3RVS7J4
A word to the wise and so very true. People who study 'performance' conclude that it takes the average person 10,000 of engaged, full-time, repetition and experience before becoming 'expert' at any chosen field of study. That just about fits my own personal experience. I like the NASA model myself - the way Astronauts train in particular. No your environment intimately. Have a back-up plan for the back-up plan. Be consistent about following protocol. Consider failure as not an option. I wish I had this kind of truthful advice when I was starting out - I'm now officially jealous of what this guy is getting, but very happy he's getting it.
BHOFFCO, Nice log and I can appreciate what you said. Your decision at 10:59 to not enter, surprised me, given what you said earlier in your audio log about how you would have liked to enter earlier! I cannot see the 10:59 candle completely, but it looks like an old Pin Head that I used to see and use quite often, yet you passed up on that cue - interesting. By 12:00, really thought you might have gone ahead (again, based only on what you said about how you like to enter) and positioned your capital for a run-up - but again, you said you got stuck - I guess, mentally. I think your "?" with the "obscenity" explains it all. I used to run into the same mental disconnect all the time, so as you were going through your day in your blog, it rang very true to my ears. "You get your Fibonacci traders and other nonsense like that....." Right about the time you went to lunch. I thought that was funny and well worth the watch. I take it that you are not a pure technical trader? It also looks like you trade with a small stop as well. This is one of the primary reasons why I shifted to being a technical trader many years ago - to remove the second guessing and mental games that I know will creep into my decision making. The key there, of course, is making sure you have a solid technical platform for making decisions. All a technical system does is code your own thought process into a mechanical methodology for execution. In my mind, that removes much of the indecision and still allows me to correct mistakes when the market anomalies occur. Very interesting video - thanks for contributing.
Those are great and a lot of that is dead on based on #1. What I highlighted is close to my heart. On the up side, I've learned that being too cautious and getting out because I get myself nervous is better than hanging in too long and getting slaughtered. I've been in a blood bath so I guess that again goes back to #1. It's something I learned, and now need to control better. I've sat here today sitting on my fucking hands because I know I'm not thinking clear after getting out too early and missing a decent days pay. It's frustrating, but right now I can hurt myself. But I'm looking.... Man, I say you won't get real feedback and it comes pouring in. Y'all are making me look like an ass.
My favorite rule. If you keep doing what you're doing, you're going to keep getting what you're getting.
Once stated as the very definition of insanity: "Continuing to do the same thing, over and over again, while expecting a different result." Excellent point!