Just One of Those Days

[Bam-Bam]

Fellow Traders / Psycho-Analysts:

Today is one of those days when every expectation I put in place is correct. Every push is in the direction I expect. Every signal taken works out. Signals not taken worked out. And moves are to or through my exit points. I can't possibly fail, not even once.

Okay, based on that last comment, I've stopped trading for the day. And, I have yesterday's results to keep my feet on the ground.

What's so different between yesterday and today? Both days I sat down with the goal of properly executing my trades. Both days I made the commitment to succeed. Both days I reviewed my strategies and how I planned to trade them. Yesterday I got clobbered, and today I surpassed my daily target by 11:00am.

One difference is that I approached the markets today with some expectations on direction, etc. But I was willing to acknowledge that anything could happen, and as long as I position myself properly and am open to the opportunities presented, I could be profitable. So my expectations are/aren't right, so what? Just trade based on what the market is doing now. Don't keep asking, "How could the market possibly be doing that?"

Another difference is that I made myself focus on the fact that it is okay to miss a trade. What happened yesterday (and numerous times before) is that a signal fires just after I log on to my platform. Instead of jumping in blindly after watching the market for 30 seconds (even though it is a strong signal), I watch the move and wait for the next signal to fire (good thing). This first move--that I miss for good reasons--typically works out exceptionally well (had I been in it). This makes me anxious and perhaps not as careful when entering the next trades (bad thing). If the first trade I take doesn't work out, the death spiral frequently starts. Well, today I missed the first trade because it fired before I had a feel for the market today. It was a doosie, would have been a perfect entry/perfect exit. No worries. Another signal came along ~ 20 minutes later. I took that in with good exit points established.


So, how do you keep a positive, resourceful attitude from one day to the next? It's more than having a trading plan or wanting to do well or having good intentions. It's an expectation of success. It's a willingness to open oneself to what opportunities are out there. It's an ability to see each trade as a discreet action without influence of previous trades, PnL, or prior signals taken/not taken.

Thoughts, recommendations, comments?

Thanks,

Bam-Bam

================

Trading ain't horseshoes. You miss by a tick, you miss by the world.

[zdo]

BamBam,

Do you want the nice PC version or do you want it straight up?

zdo

[Bam-Bam]

zdo:

Straight up takes any mis-interpretation outta the way. If it's too, uh, fresh for a public forum, you can PM.

Might just remind me of my days in the service---> Stand at ease, and bend forward with your head between your legs. Count backwards from 10 to 0. When you hit 0, snap to attention and say, "Pop, Sir." There, you've pulled your head out.

The thread was started in all seriousness. If I can't get consistent, I'm going to ground my accounts into dog food.

Thank you zdo,

Bam-Bam

[torero]

	Quote:	Bam-Bam
	So, how do you keep a positive, resourceful attitude from one day to the next? It's more than having a trading plan or wanting to do well or having good intentions. It's an expectation of success. It's a willingness to open oneself to what opportunities are out there. It's an ability to see each trade as a discreet action without influence of previous trades, PnL, or prior signals taken/not taken.

You've hit it right on the nail! Consistency is the biggest hurdle for everyone to overcome, it takes a long time to get it and keep it. For us humans, no day is the same (cat shit on your shoe one day, then you get big promotion the next day). Staying with the same mentality day after day is no easy feat.

The only recommendation is the work it into a routine one day at a time, like the dunkin' donuts guy "time to make the donuts" without thought, without emotion (remember him just getting out of bed without a moan or smile or nothing, just those 5 words all the way to work. If you don't know it, youtube it). Routine is the key to make it mechanical. Write down the plan, 10-, 20- or 30-min to memorize it and internalize it. Then meditate or go over charts, whatever, make sure it becomes a routine for days, then weeks, then months, time precision routine before the market rolls in. Once you have that down, it's like... well, making donuts, no thoughts into it. That's how my mentor taught me and it's how i started out. This is the reason why money and winning should not be a part of the scenery, just carrying out the strategy perfectly. Once the routine is in and the strategy perfected, then sizing up position is just a matter of adding another number in.

[zdo]

Bam-Bam,

"The thread was started in all seriousness." ...And this is a sincere but not serious reply

re: “If I can't get consistent, I'm going to ground my accounts into dog food.”
Wanting to change, needing to change, trying to change is one of the greatest impediments to change…

re “how do you keep a positive, resourceful attitude from one day to the next?”
You don’t. Don’t even try. Instead practice mindfulness real time. If you haven’t ever, ‘learn’ and practice Vipassana style meditation and get over trying to be ‘your’ ‘self’ again the next day… (google it or PM me with an off site email and I will send you a plain English doc). And if you have ever, start afresh.

… and question everything – especially that “goals”, “commitments”, and “expectation of success” crap. Lose the battle and discipline metaphors. In fact, as you become aware of them, befricknhead all of your trading metaphors and any new ones you encounter! Then explore - are your methods based on fantasies and potentials or are they based on your true nature? ie zdo say if you have to apply ‘discipline’ more than once a month, your whole trading endeavor is at risk (dam but wwhat about Mark Douglas ??! and what happened to Dr Adorn? and Brett says train hard now cause the war hasn't even started yet )

And this “You miss by a tick, you miss by the world” business – get to know that even more precisely even though you ‘know’ how many years you’ve ‘known’ that and suffered with it. Many can relate! I know I can - especially with them dagblame indexes! Then explore the polarity of that – entering some more cars 93 ticks from where you started entering the position. And quite hootlessly thinking good lord maybe gonna get filled overnight at 112 worlds from where I started this freakin position. And will be prepared to pile on some more tomorrow on a limit or a stop – somehow not experiencing having missed by a world at all no matter if the overall position is in red or in green…

hth and All the best

[waveslider]

Yeah! nicely put. For me I have to quantify as much as possible to see things objectively. If you can test your ideas and quantify them, then in the back of your head you know that there is an advantage to following your rules.
Then it's simple. Take small loses when you're wrong. Know where you will exit profits.

Personally I don't believe there are too many out there that can just "trust intuition" and make money consistently. Why? Because your intuition/gut feeling is not consistent! As humans our moods are affected by such a variety of factors, how can you trust that?

I have to quantify and then follow the rules. Then just make tons of donuts.

[Bam-Bam]

Torero:

Yeah, that Dunkin Donuts commercial is a family favorite. When I think of the market that way, it puts a whole different spin on it. You can read, "trading should be boring," many times over and not truly get the message. But if you think of the donut guy, that image really has a lasting effect.

I've finally devised some strategies that I feel quite good about and have a nice win percentage, so it's a matter of following them routinely.

Thanks for the input,

Bam-Bam

[Bam-Bam]

zdo,

Thanks for kickin' it up a notch. It's good to get the BS out of the way and start moving forward.

For the record, I don't think I used any battle analogies, beyond maybe word choice. From my perspective, anyone who compares trading or business to war hasn't been to war.

Very true that one should question all assumptions. I've done that in my life outside trading and discovered how many limitations we put on ourselves without even realizing it. Working within the limits of other people's metaphors in the markets will certainly limit potential.

I appreciate the recommendation for Vipassana meditation. It seems like all roads point to meditation. I am currently reading about another branch of Bhuddism based meditation. Vipassana may provide a more direct approach that is less esoteric.

Great input! Thanks,

Bam-Bam

[BlowFish]

Good post Zdo, some real important stuff in there.