Top Pick Trading Forum

I realize now that I havent been listening.... To anyone.

Over the last few weeks ive tried to sit down and be real honest with myself. Look at my past trades and try to see whats happening. After much delusion I realized that im going about this all wrong and ive been lying to myself. I can actually pick good trades, and make the occasional mistake. I would consider a mistake as a trade that I truly thought was a good setup but wasnt and didnt workout.

What I was actually doing was celebrating the good trades that worked, getting extremely frustrated at the trades that I thought were going to work but failed, and completely ignoring/justifying the impulsive trades and revenge trades and tilt trades, and it is hands down the impulsive trades and revenge trades and tilt trades that is killing my P&L and making my equity curve look like a choppy trading range. Big up, big down. I can manage to tread water like this, I can always recover from the big down move and end up giving it back. It was a bit of a revelation to realise that all I actually need to do to make money is to eliminate the all the bad behavior and learn to accept the actual mistakes.

I was lying to myself and ignoring all the bad behavior going all over the place looking for more setups and different charts and being just totally erratic and inconsistent.

Ok so then I set out to restart my "trading plan" which is basically a little book I have with about 30-40 second entry patterns in it. Second entries show up all kinds of different ways, so I made it for pattern recognition. The rules are simple, wait until I know the market direction and look for these patterns and take them when they show themselves. Do nothing in between. No trading the outside of a trading ranges, or triple tests, or anything other than just wait for good directional context and wait for the setups, take the setups, let it play out no matter what without ever going breakeven. At this point I was feeling pretty good. I got this shit now.

And hand to god before I knew it I was in a trade that was completely breaking the rules. Not even a setup, nothing to take, but before I knew it I was impulsively in a trade.

I was watching an old video from Brett Steenbarger and in the beginning hes talking about a man who gambles, a woman who eats, and a man who watches child porn (yikes) but the message was that every single one of them HATED that behavior and truly wanted to stop, but could not do it. They all went to see him for these reasons, they wanted to stop but before they knew it they were acting out these behaviors. This hit me like a ton of bricks because I am doing the same sort of behaviors (minus child porn) in my trading. Which was obviously the his point the whole time.

I have created a new book to go alongside my setup book, and thatll be the book of horrors, inspired by something Tom Hougaard said in a video, and im going to review all this before trading, do some meditation, and really try to work on changing directions, but this I hate to admit has got me pretty discouraged overall. I know from experience how hard it is to change impulsive behaviors that have actually become almost subconscious. Its incredibly frustrating to know that I am standing in my own way and cant figure out how to move out.

Have you ever gone through this? Any advice or words of wisdom? Its clear I need to change my relationship with the market but its hard to find a place to start.

Strange,

A good posting. From a trade perspective, one of the most critical aspects, which you caught, is to take a trade when one understands the bias of a market. This is an imperative FACT that most miss. 2nd entry "this", 15th entry "that", and most importantly the "f2e*" nonsense that is often put as a "label" to justify clicking the mouse button. . . . Nothing about bias or failed biasing in that is there? . . . NOPE! But they can still press that damn mouse button!!!!

So, more towards what you are asking for, the mindset stuff. . .

An issue with learning to trade is that one makes an assumption that one "knows" what one needs to learn. One believes they are "on the road" when in fact they may be in the middle of the forest in the middle of nowhere (and I'm not saying this is where you are). However, there are certain key markers and signposts. For trading, one is understanding bias, from a technical level. From a mindset, there are other different markers. But back to the mental performance aspects. . . . and this isn't going to "feel good" necessarily. In fact, it may downright suck! And yes, it has been outlined, but often ignored.

Section 7 was not created as an accident. The reading materials actually are required, and brought up in a specific order too!

Read & execute Heart Breath & Mind for the next 10 weeks, daily and religiously. The phone apps are free. EVERY DAY, 2X A DAY! NOT OPTIONAL. NO EXCUSES! This effectively begins to build the PFC, as well as creates an environment to begin to experience emotional content (not get rid of it) and manage. This "change" will not happen overnight either. Hope isn't part of the process. Doing the process is.

After the 6th week, read & work through Fear As Fuel. You will notice some overlap. HB&M is stronger on the mindful breath injection part (The "B" portion of FAF BASE). However, Fear As Fuel is to train to manage the chemical dump, as a rigorous process to build that part of executing a plan, regardless of how one feels. HBM builds it strongly, but FAF creates an environment for challenging oneself through "what one fears to do".

This isn't going to feel good, but IS THE WORK WHICH NEEDS TO BE DONE!
(you are welcome to post any weekly changes you notice. Sometimes looking back many find it interesting)

Good trades to you!

Its difficult to know anything with trading, its hands down the most frustrating thing ive ever tried and it really tests a human being on a weird level. Its hard to measure progress too because its so zero-sum. Your account is either growing or its not, it doesnt lie and theres no squirming around it. Not like a real job at all. Thats the reason I was looking at my own trades. I cant measure much in my progress other than my own actions and the results of those actions, and its definitive. At least this way with actual self reflection and honesty I can measure/adjust/change my own actions and my mind, not the market or the chart. Its weird how I was just flippantly disregarding tilt and impulsive behavior. "That doesnt count, it was tilt" "Impulsive, just forget about it and wait for the next one". Even yesterday, even after all this shift in perspective, MANY times yesterday I had to correct myself and stop my hand from just breaking the rules. What is it about trading that makes following simple, well defined rules so damn difficult.

The only way this works is if we aim to do precisely the same things over and over again and pay attention and correct any deviation and our own actions and to do so ive got to be honest and maybe thats why most people fail at this. Im pretty sure this is exactly why most people fail at this. Its the discipline required to act consistently.

I appreciate all your help and ill go back to section 7 and work through. Theres some things in my personal life that I need to correct as well. Ive been focusing on the charts and "studying" and given nothing to the mind and body, clearly developed some bad behaviors and ive got lots to correct. Ill post updates as they come, probably more ranting and long winded posts before that though. Somehow I just need to sit down at complete peace and trade with out expectations, but that seems so damn far off.

Thanks again.

I just watched the mental performance video again, and its funny, ive been all over the internet this last month or so reading and listening to stuff on psychology and performance and process etc and at the end of the day everything I learned was already in section 7 in these lectures and I just blasted right past it without much thought.

and in doing so, you will begin to do what science is figuring out . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84dYijI ... anLabClips

Full link (a great way to start a New Year):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDLb8_wgX50

Good trades to you!

Strange, what you are describing is not unique to trading.

I have been reading the book "The Art of Learning" by Josh Waitzkin. He was at one time the youngest chess world champion in the US and inspired the film "Searching for Bobby Fischer". He later went on to win several World Championships in push hand Tai Chi.

I have had the book for several years but never really put the effort into reading it. It was just one of those "I'll get to it soon" until I came across a discussion around it on the PATS forum. One of the forum members (dojibear) mentioned how he was actually friends with Josh and learned directly from him the techniques that helped him become a chess Grandmaster, speak 5 languages, learn to code and eventually become successful at trading.

The principles and obstacles involved in learning any skill are surprisingly common. You'll definitely get something out of it.