[MRW]

Thank you all for the Thank You's!

I keep a journal, too, where trades taken are recorded. Recorded are:
Time, position (long or short), and price entered
Time, and price of exit
The reason the trade was entered
The reason the rade was exited
"Post mortem" commentary after the fact - it's said hindsight is 20/20, which is true, but upon review, these comments are quite helpful.

Each day after the close, the chart is printed, entries and exits marked, as well as all the other things seen or missed.
I then go back and scroll the screen back so that only the data leading up to the trade is visible, and analyze my thought process. So, for example, if a trade is entered at 9:04:03, the chart is scrolled back so that the last bar showing is the 9:03 bar. I mentioned that I use 1 min charts, but also no indicators of any kind, only price and volume.

I also review the week's trading every weekend, and perform a monthly trade review at month's end for each month. So hopefully, each trade has been reviewed at the time it was entered/exited, at the end of the day, at the ned of the week, and at the end of the month.

The 5, 10, and 30 min charts are checked frequently throughout the day to get the big picture perspective, see where important support/resistane might be, prior highs/lows, etc.

I also look at the ETF for the stock I trade, as well as the Dow industrials and transports, S&P cash, cumulative tick.

I have a trading plan which is a continual work-in-progress that is (hopefully) a reminder of what to look for before, during, and after the trade. It sits, written out, in front of me all through the trading day, and is reviewed before and after trading for that day.

I've also found that talking out loud, as a coach would, to be helpful. There have been times, for example, where I've been poised to hit the NX Sell key, and then said out loud, "Are yuo @#*!$ nuts? It's in an uptrend!" Or, if in a trade to continually say, "Is it against you? Is it against yuo? No? Then hang on!" Sounds silly, I know, but it actually helps!

Discipline is even harder under fire as when in a trade, than when yuo're flat. It's so easy to forget, get impulsive ad take trades yuo shouldn't or violate your rules.

Thanks again for your patience - perhaps there will be something of use for someone else here, too.

[imgunn]

great article, some good points !