[Gabe2004]

The most common sentence in trading forums and books is "Follow your trading plan and the money will follow" or a variation of the above.
The problem is - How do you follow an unproven plan?
How do you trust a trading idea that some how one thinks that it has an edge or a statistical advantage?
The most obvious answer would be to SIM trade the plan for a while and if all is going well switch to a live account.
The problem with the above is that SIM and LIVE trading are totaly different as far as emotions go. So, when one finally switches to a live account, if a string of losses is encountered (which is possible) then one starts to doubt the edge.

I am strugling with the above for a long time now.

Any comments would be welcome.

Gabe

[Cory2679]

I doubt there exists a real solution to this problem...it's probably just a matter of managing the problem as best as possible.

Probably just a matter of SIM trading (carefully, as to not create an addiction/crutch), then live trading small size and gradually increasing size (or just growing the account via profits). It's obviously not smooth sailing toward success...it's a journey of 3 steps forward, 2 steps back, 3 steps forward, 2 steps back, etc.

[Tams]

if you have a "plan", but don't follow it,
do you still call it a plan?
can you still call it a plan?

[Gabe2004]

Originally Posted by Tams »

if you have a "plan", but don't follow it,
do you still call it a plan?
can you still call it a plan?

Some of the definition for the word PLAN in the Merriam-Webster dictionary
A. method for achieving an end
B. an often customary method of doing something
C. a detailed formulation of a program of action

Having a plan and following it are two different things.

You can plan to go to the movies but at the last minute you decide to go to a restaurant.
You can have a plan for a house with a French roof and then change it to a Barn roof.

The same with trading. One can write down a detailed course of action but change it during the trading day because of lack of trust of the plan.

Gabe

[Tams]

Originally Posted by Gabe2004 »

...
You can have a plan for a house with a French roof and then change it to a Barn roof.
...
Gabe

the moment you changed your "plan", you have a NEW plan.

[Tams]

.......... ..........

[SIUYA]

Originally Posted by Tams »

the moment you changed your "plan", you have a NEW plan.

A good plan should be a living document, and being flexible within the plan can be a part of it.
However I feel a good plan for trading should start with a basic philosophy of the market how it works and how you can profit from it, and if it starts to deviate too much from the philosophy you know you either have a poor plan or philosophy

[Tradewinds]

I'm not saying that I have a solution to the problem, but I can write about what I'm doing.
I've written hundreds of notes down, written strategies, and struggled with trying to apply rules to actually trading. It's not easy.
I've come up with a couple of conclusions. Rules are good and they are bad. I have experienced situations where my rules made me inflexible, and caused me to mindlessly ignore the reality of the present situation. So I realized that I need to have a balance. I need something that allows me to be flexible, and deal with the situation at hand; but I also need guidelines for recognizing high probability set ups.
So instead of rules like: When line X crosses line Y and indicator Z is greater than value V, then buy, I am putting together basic concepts that can generically be applied to all sorts of situations. Instead of the basis of my trading being rules based on hard values, like, indicator XYZ crossing zero, I'm looking at basic concepts. Those concepts are things like Higher highs, Lower Low's, Failure to make a Higher high, a higher high, but it was very weak, weakness, strength, success, failure, confirmation, lack of confirmation, divergence and convergence.
Those generic concepts can be applied to any combination of indicators, news, information, and price.
I have come up with rules to determine things like whether there was confirmation of a trend reversal, or not. So I'm applying concepts to the indicators. I used to look at indicators without analyzing them within the terms of those generic concepts. It's a different mentality to look at an indicator and say to yourself, "This is showing signs of weakness and failing to continue", rather than thinking, "This indicator just crossed the zero line, . . . that's a signal." I think those two situations are two totally different perspectives.
I have found that the more generic I get, the more flexibility is automatically programmed into my rules.
But a combination of things are happening for me. I have decided on the indicators that I trust and that I know give me good information. I have trimmed down my charts and indicators to just a handful of things that I can focus on. But that has taken me almost 2 years to get to this point. You must put the hours in.
So what's my point? Your question seemed to be about emotions and sticking to your rules. I believe that you can't stick to your rules and control your emotions unless you really know that your strategy works. I'm getting there slowly, but it's been a long road.
I have written many, many pages of notes and observations and rules, and thrown them all away. But it's a process that was necessary to get to where I am now. Currently I'm at the point where I feel like I'm getting some really solid rules that I can now start practicing over and over until I develop a discipline. That's a whole other level. I get easily bored, and distracted while trading. And I tend to stop analyzing the situation and just waiting for the price to move in my direction and stop thinking about what is going on. I think of it as practicing something like learning an instrument. Just do the same things over and over again until it's committed to memory.