Today is Tuesday, April 13th and volume picked up to move the market nicely today.

What a difference a day makes, a big difference from yesterday with the volume more than double what it was, with the volatility to go with it.

Today, the market started off lower as it was following through with the downside momentum started in late yesterdays session. At a touch past 7 am West Coast,  a very nice rally short took hold which I was in for about 6 S&P points with 7 contracts on board. I did not scale out as I usually do, but held on for the full move. I had been calling out 1186 as a target from the start. I had gotten in on this move at 1192, right at the top. I did have a bit of circumstances that lead me to place an order short at the high into resistance, which I don’t normally do. As it turned out, I was right on taking no heat and the market just dropped like a rock straight down.(you can see most of the trade in my U Tube  gallery) I covered right near the bottom at the 1186 area. It traded one point lower to 1185, but close enough. This was only the second trade of the day I took. The first trade, I did take the largest stop-out I have had on the year, two point loss on 5 contracts.  If I did not get my second trade right, I was going to call it a day. After I place my second order, I adjusted my stop to 3 ticks and it never came close.

I had to adjust a few things today, which is a little unconventional, but it worked out for me pretty nicely. If it didn’t, I was prepared to stop for the day. One thing I have found, if you make a mistake while trading, it is all to easy to make a second, third and forth. Pretty soon, your whole trading plan is out the window and you may find your self chasing your tail, just trying not to have a whip out day.

That is the ruin of so many traders. You can not have whip out days where you just get so frustrated, that you continue to make bad call after bad call. You are now thinking about the money and trying to get even. If the market price action is not co-operating, your frustration only builds and that brings on more mistakes and bad entries. Your confidence comes into question and you don’t want to be wrong again so you continue to move your stop and take even bigger losses.

This is no way to trade and if you even find a hint of this kind of behavior lurking around in your mind, stop it, say no to being impulsive, no to greed and no to fear and the fear of missing a big move, which can be just as bad. You need to maintain control, if you find that you are loosing control while trading, you need to stop for the day. Forget about trying to get it back today, cut your losses, which will still be small, and come back when you are focused and level headed. If you don’t you only risk making things worst and we all know where that can lead, a big hole in your trading account.

Being satisfied with modest gains, day after day is really fine, because you will have days, like today for me, that I was able to see clearly a strong move, where I held it for the full move. This adds nicely to any monthly return and makes up for days that you may quit early or come up short from hitting your daily goal. This is a marathon not a sprint. You always have to protect your capital, your life blood. Keep it in your account until the setups are strong. You don’t have to trade 5 or 10 times a day to make a nice income, 1,2 or 3 trades in the course of a morning session could be plenty. I at times do trade more than that but I have been at this for a long time and often times only take small scalp trades for 3-4 ticks.

With that being said, I only have 2-4 point daily goals on the S&P emini’s and it is really not to hard to hit, if you take your time and wait for what looks like the easy and obvious. If traders did that, it often times would be like walking over to the corner of the room and picking up money off the floor, not to hard.

It is kind of funny that way, what seems easy on the surface, is not really so. The way to make it so, is to wait for the “easy and obvious”. I think I am going to coin that term and even make it into a trading mantra. “Easy and Obvious”, I like it. I have been using this for at least 6 months hear and there, but if traders want to see immediate improvement in there results, fulfill this call, – Trade, the “Easy and Obvious” and you will be picking up money off the floor, with ease.

When you rush the trades because of fear and this is the fear of missing a move, that is what will cost you dearly. If fact, I will confess, I make this mistake today myself in my first loss and tried to cover my tracks, but could not conceive taking  more than a two point loss.

So, the point is, don’t be afraid of missing the move, if the setup is not right, don’t do it, just wait it out until it is clear, crystal clear and then jump on it and don’t worry. If you get stopped out, that is how it goes. Just have in your trading plan an exit strategy, at where you will stop trading if you are not doing well. For me it is 4 S&P points maximum. I have stopped trading at lesser points, but stick to this and it will reduce stress allowing you to better concentrate on good trades.

I hope this helps those following me and wish you all the very best. Feel free to request my Free Book on Concentration. I will send it to anyone interested and I won’t be pounding you to sign up for course to get it, so,  “No Fear”, just ask.