Trading plan - self psychology

[james_gsx]

So I have been writing my trading plan for a while now, basically going over all of my strategies and exactly how I play them and my few exceptions. I was almost finished and about to type it all up when I realized I was missing something I think could be very important, my own self psychology.

For the last few days I have basically been staring at a blank piece of paper with a title at the top that says Trading Plan - Psychology. I can't seem to get it started, and I don't know how to start. I finally just started writing down some of my emotions that I have noticed before in different trades. For example I always feel uneasy with a quick scalp trade, yet in a pivot or gap play I am very calm.

But other than that, I'm not really sure what to put down here. I'm hoping some of you guys could help guide me and add some suggestions. I was thinking maybe I could write down some emotional rules, for example the other day my best friends dad died and I took the rest of the day off because of it.I knew I would make bad decisions. But what are some other things I could look at?

Thanks a lot.

[wrbtrader]

Originally Posted by james_gsx So I have been writing my trading plan for a while now, basically going over all of my strategies and exactly how I play them and my few exceptions. I was almost finished and about to type it all up when I realized I was missing something I think could be very important, my own self psychology. For the last few days I have basically been staring at a blank piece of paper with a title at the top that says Trading Plan - Psychology. I can't seem to get it started, and I don't know how to start. I finally just started writing down some of my emotions that I have noticed before in different trades. For example I always feel uneasy with a quick scalp trade, yet in a pivot or gap play I am very calm. But other than that, I'm not really sure what to put down here. I'm hoping some of you guys could help guide me and add some suggestions. I was thinking maybe I could write down some emotional rules, for example the other day my best friends dad died and I took the rest of the day off because of it.I knew I would make bad decisions. But what are some other things I could look at? Thanks a lot.

The trader psychology aspect of my trading plan involves a software called Camtasia Studio.

http://www.techsmith.com

I record (screen video and audio) my trading day from entry to exit, from the first time I log on to when I log off.

This documents every day how I interacted with the markets and how other things in my life impacted my trading.

With that critical information, I can easily see things that have impact on my trading results that have absolutely nothing to do with my pattern signals.

For example, yesterday I traded with fear the entire trading day because I was having major ISP problems (their doing upgrades to their system).

Playing back my recording I can hear the frustration in my voice, anger and see that after I logged on to my system, I spent so much time trying to find a work around solution that my mouse movements on my screen shows that I wasn't prepared to trade when the market open.

My point, we all act differently to particular situations, Further, our reactions or interactions with the markets and our trading environment (at home or office) will repeat itself.

Thus, the best trading plan involving the psychological aspects of trading really can not be developed until after several problematic situations and if we don't document these problems...

It's too difficult to see how our personalities (who we are as a person) interacts with the markets.

Note: Make sure you have a powerful enough system to use Camtasia because their system requirements do not take into account that traders will be using it to record things like realtime graphs, broker platform, spreadsheets et cetera.

Also, I have no affiliation with Techsmith and I'm just a happy user of their program.

Mark
(a.k.a. NihabaAshi) Japanese Candlestick term

[brownsfan019]

I agree with Mark - Camtasia and/or SnagIt are great tools for your trading business. Using Camtasia as Mark does is a great idea and I use SnagIt to capture chart images and annotate them. You could then add those annotated charts into your Camtasia recording later if you wanted as well.

SnagIt: http://www.techsmith.com/snagit.asp
Camtasia: http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp

Note - if you purchase both at the same time, you can save some money - http://www.techsmith.com/purchase/default.asp

** I also have no affiliation with techsmith, just a very happy user as well **

[torero]

Adding to the above, I occasionally use a webcam to record and watch myself for any cues of behavior changes that may reflect my mental and emotional state (a mirror is good too but having a view of yourself on screen keeps IN YOUR FACE). It helped me catch occasional habits that showed signs of distraction or nervousness. Hope that helps. Writing emotional stuff might be not enough, you need more visual and audio cues to point them out.

One other thing I use that became very effective problems of taking profits or getting out too early is the use of stopwatch or timer, either clock or computer timer (google gadgets). I think we get in a trade and watch and wait, it seems like hours have gone by. When I set the clock with an alarm with an objective to start with 5 mins holding the trade, then move to 6-7-8, etc. until my reality of time is in sync with my mind's concept of time. This is one of the few ideas to merge reality with our perception of reality.

[torero]

A quick question to Mark, you leave on audio recording on your video right? Do you talk yourself through the process of prepration and setups? Right now, I only have the audio off but trying to find a more effective way of using audio in it. Thanks.

[darthtrader]

wow both those are fantastic ideas. i especially like the Camtasia idea. I could completely see just talking about what your doing in the trade instead of trying to write out a journal entry while the trade is going on.

how fast is a fast system to have Camtasia running on?

[james_gsx]

Wow guys, thanks a lot. That looks really interesting and I will have to give it a try. Thanks for the input!

[brownsfan019]

Originally Posted by darthtradar how fast is a fast system to have Camtasia running on?

Minimum requirements: http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/systemreq.asp

Obviously the more the better.

You can get a 30 day trial, so test it out and see if your machine can handle it.

Could make for a neat TL Members' Video Log Area...

[cooter]

It's also an excellent tool to not only improve your trading discipline, but to document any discrepancies or anomaly that you may need documentation for later on.

[torero]

Originally Posted by brownsfan019 Minimum requirements: http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/systemreq.asp Obviously the more the better. You can get a 30 day trial, so test it out and see if your machine can handle it. Could make for a neat TL Members' Video Log Area...

We mentioned this to James before and he mentioned there is little server space since video files are huge.