This post is for Friday’s market June 25th as the market did exactly what we expected in stabilizing itself from the multiple day decline.

The S&P futures ended the day up a few points as did the NASDAQ market. This is what I saw for Fridays session, that we would go down early on in the session and that in the afternoon, we would rally off the bottom and stabilize from the recent decline. That is what I posted in Thursdays blog posting and that is how it turned out, a good call.

Now that we are, “where we are”, what’s next. Well, from just a pure price action basis, we should bounce up from here. I am and will be looking for a move up from these levels. It could be just a few days producing a nice rally up of around 25 + points as there is strong resistance around 1108. I would expect a slight pause at those levels if reached. If this moves comes, then we will have drawn the lines in the sand so to speak for the next move after that, but one at a time. If this move does not come and for some reason we continue with a sell off, the 1044-ish area needs to hold at all cost or else. Currently at 1074 S&P futures.

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I would like to talk about a common problem with traders seeking to find there footing in the trading world. This is a common problem across a variety of markets traded. “Maintaining control while trading”. I know I have talked about that before somewhere in a previous blog.

Every trader brings with him or her, excess. What I mean by that is, emotional attachments that can effect there decision making. Trading discipline is just one of the ways to control some of these emotions but there is more. The way to see yourself is also very important. If you have failed in the past at other difficult ventures including trading, you may have negative emotions tied to your current attempt at tying to bring it all together.

Some would call it “baggage” and I guess we can call it that too, just to keep it simple. This baggage wears on our current self image and unless removed, can hold us back subconsciously. Often times, we will find ourselves taking trades that have nothing to do with our trading method or system. “Why”.  That is the big question.

Once traders get over the fear of “pulling the trading trigger”, they at times now think that they have a machine gun. Over trading is yet another negative end result from from unwanted actions. Again, we ask the question, “Why”. Every trader is different and they come to the table with all of this trading baggage that can weigh them down. It is often to much to bear and another unwanted end result can be self sabotage.

Self sabotage, can be a traders worst enemy, because of frustration and so many uncontrollable emotions, they may find themselves doing the very thing that they do not want to do. These are all results from not being able to stay in control while trading, exercising trading self discipline.

Everyone wants to be a successful trader and has there reasons why. Part of the solution can be found here. If yours is big enough, you will do what you have to in order to get a handle on your weaknesses. The very first step is to identify that you have a problem. Don’t run from the thought, but face it. Here is an exercise:  Write your strengths as a trader on one side of the page and your weakness on the other. Being honest with yourself is only going to get you where you want to be faster.

Now you can face your weaknesses and take steps to overcome them with a direct action plan. When you feel the urge to place a non method trade, ask yourself , does this trade meet my criteria for a method trade setup? If it does, you can not hesitate in pulling the trigger, but on the other hand, if it does not, taking a non method trade is will only continue to hurt you. You now know what you are not supposed to do and doing it anyway will continue to prove to yourself that you are not ready to trade live.

We as traders cannot fulfill all of our emotional needs in the trading arena, but that is what often happens. Our need to be right, is just one thing that hurt. We don’t need to be right every time we place a trade. If your assessment is wrong, chalk it up, learn from it and move on. If you insist on always being right lets say in your relationships or discussions with friends, then you are going to have a hard time as a trader. You need to give up your will to always be right, because you will inevitably be wrong at times along the way. This is another example of baggage that I mentioned above.

See yourself as you want to be and take steps in your personal life and trading life, to work towards that. Many people think that the two lives have nothing to do with one another, but I beg to differ. The two world get blended together.

Taking steps to reduce stress in your life will help your trading results. Being relaxed is yet another sign that you have the self discipline needed to trade your plan and you are OK with it. Stress, Kills.  Don’t trade if you are stressed out about anything. If will get transferred into your trading results and you won’t like what it produces.

As much as it is possible be at “Peace” with yourself and others. There are many ways to go about that and will be a topic for another day.

I hope this helped someone out there. Trading can be simple, but is rarely easy. If you need or want help in this area, I can help in addition to the solid trading method that I offer. Send me an email if you want to turn things around.

Good Trading, Vince !