June was a month of mixed results for me. My PnL is more of a straight line up than it has been the last couple of months, and I have only had 5 losing days( 6 if u count the £0.05 loss), so I feel I have made progress in being a bit more consistent. I am still making too many mistakes though. A couple of inplay errors, some slack thinking and slack reactions, and getting caught out by the mad bomber on a few occasions, has meant that my profit isnt as high as it should be. A number of times I have put in a trade in a weak market, the market has moved away, so I put in another trade, it also doesnt get taken, and I leave them in, then the market comes back, and I sit there hoping that it will stop at my trades. Sometimes it does, but if it doesnt then it generally goes through both trades and moves a number of ticks leaving me with a loss that hurts both my emotions and my PnL, since it is a double sized loss. I need to be more careful to remove trades that have not been taken.
I guess I should be happy that I am in profit, seemingly only 5% of traders are. Its tough to keep a level head when you see or hear about others that are making good money and it can make me try and force things sometimes. If I can stay calm and concentrated, do the simple things right, and stay out of trouble, I should see my PnL grow.
Don't worry about the odd losing day everyone has them and they get fewer the more progress you make. You should be pleased with the fact they're more or less in line with you're winning days so easily recovered and none are major losses. Much like the way you wouldn't worry about a losing trade during a day you can't worry about a losing day during a month and need to consider the bigger picture and assess any pnl over a long period. Obviously the more consistent you come at spotting winning trades the less losing trades/days you'll have.
ReplyDeleteYou've identified flaws in your trading so it's just a case of knocking them on the head, think about why you do them and more importantly why they'll always cost you in the long run if you repeat them. Weak markets are always a problem because your offsets are unlikely to get filled even though they may be value if no ones around to take them you'll be lopsided and have to close for a loss. Doubling up is never a wise move once a markets gone against you and you need to actively monitor all trades , maybe consider fill and kill options with your bets doesn't have to be instant use 10 seconds or more.
If you've missed the boat you need to reassess whether you now want that bet it's no surprise that if the market then turns it'll go through you for a number of ticks as you're now opposing the market direction and none of us will consistently predict where it's bottom is. Everyones wiser in the markets these days and backers are quite happy to let a price drift before coming out to play so if the opportunities gone take your bets down and certainly don't double up chasing a price to get caught twice if it does reverse.
You need to stop treating this as some competition where you're thinking your bottom of the class, you already know only 5% come out on top so you're in the top 95% for June. Where you are in that top 5% is irrelevant as you've no idea how efficient those other traders are and just as likely you're on a par but using smaller stakes.
thanks for the comments BT. A lot of good points for me to consider
ReplyDeleteHi neeel, some good results. I started reading trading in the zone again and its suprising how just by being aware of your mental behaviour you act differently... better. What you said about previous stakes, if its a genuine mistake you shouldnt beat yourself up about it, but if its because you was still believing it was because the market was going to change direction then in a way its submiting to the fear the book is all about? A good result none the less! I submit to fear time and time again when i up the stakes.
ReplyDeleteChuck
Hi mate,
ReplyDeleteGreat result and great blog as i keep saying,best trading blog on the net.
Rupert
thanks for the comments guys
ReplyDelete