Today is Wednesday February 17th
Continuing from yesterday: Becoming your own Trading Coach. Yesterdays trading lesson, may have seemed a bit harsh for some, but it is the truth that will set us free to live our trading dreams. With that said, having identified what some of our biggest trading problems are, we can now set on a course to find solutions to those problems.
The ability to focus our concentration on our trading setups is going to be key. Let us assume your trading plan is to trade the first 90 minutes of the day or less, which is a good plan. There you will have volume and usually plenty of trades to choose from. If you have a daily goal, like I do, 2-4 points most days, then you can break your goal down to a few bit size pieces or you may get it all at once. The trading session will have to determine that.
You need to be mentally prepared to see and wait for what you believe is a high probability set up. If you take less than that, you put yourself at risk for getting stopped out. You will have to make that up, if you expect to hit your goal within the morning session, so be a little particular, but not so much to where you don’t end up taking any trades. You can not have fear as part of your self talk or underlying mindset. You should be calm and relaxed. It is normal to be a little anxious, but that is what we want to work on. RELAX, but get and stay focused on what you are looking for.
Let the trade come to you, don’t go out searching for it. If you know what you are looking for, then wait for it. A sniper does not go out and use his rifle like a machine gun, hoping to hit something, but he waits for his target, sets his sites and lets the target come to him. When it all lines up, he takes the shot. This reminds me of the resent movie, “The Shooter”. That is what we should be doing, lining up our entries and letting our targets come to us. You will need the power of concentration behind you, to focus and execute the trade.
If you are not exactly sure you know what you are looking for, then you have a problem. You need to be sure, what you are waiting for. If you get confused about your entry, how can you be sure about getting your target. So, that may be one of the things you need to put on your list to solve and resolve.
Assuming you know what your target looks like, you should have a tight set of conditions that can put you in the trade. I, often times put up a small circle on the screen as an acceptable entry area. Going outside that entry area posses more risk on getting stopped out, but also of not hitting my target. Every trader needs a reference point for his entries, something that tells him he is paying too much or just right. If you don’t have one, that to is a problem and another item to put on your list of trading solutions.
Trading for extended periods of time can work against you. So be sure you do not find yourself glued to the chair for 3, 4, or 5 hours straight. You will not be helping yourself, by doing this. Your ability to concentrate will go down as more time goes by. Sitting at your computer and trying to follow and or trade most of the day is very draining and you will make mistakes. You may just be trying to work hard and that is admirable but we need to do more activities with direct purpose and concentrated effort. Think of it as leveraging your time, the same way that we leverage ourselves in contract purchases. You will get far superior results by executing your trading plan this way. But again, this is only my opinion.
The last point for today. One key element for trading success is going to be your ability to stay focused and concentrate through the whole process as mentioned. Staying sharp and fresh, first starts by making a decision and then doing those things that will bring it about.
Read about the life of any great man and you will generally find that the dominent quality that made him successful was in his ability to concentrate. Study those that were failures and you will often find that there lack of concentration was the cause.
I have tried to give you a few different things to think about here, but the main point is your ability to concentrate and execute your trade plans.
Good Trading to all !
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Todays trades; just small scalp trades today. I have not done this for a long time. I usually have trades for 1 or 2 points or more, but today, I did not have all that much time in between doing other things. I find it odd, that the subject I spoke of today, is what I did not have. I was not as focused as I should have been, but just trying to do too much.
I do know that I came in late on the first trade and a touch to early on the second trade, the third trade I added on and averaged out a larger position the fourth trade was flat and I re-entered for the last. All winning trades but all small. I just took what I saw quickly in and out. +2 ticks, +2 ticks, + 2 and +1 tick (avg), flat and +2 ticks. These trades were not pretty but it counts and I will take it. I should have a little more time tomorrow.
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