Trading is Fun: July 2010

+ 11 pips = + $22.00

07.30.10

July Total: + 3.21 pips :)

Still in trading purgatory. Sideways results for the past two months. No big deal other than not reaching my goals as fast as I would like. I've definitely learned some things over the past two months that are difficult to put into words but I should be able to more reliably put into practice going forward. Call it levelheadedness, objective thinking, knowing-what-I-am-doing-and-why-I-am-doing-it, etc. Whatever the case may be I'm hoping to once again increase my trade size again towards the end of next month.... positive results permitting. Have a great weekend ya'll. WORD.

+ 7.7 pips = + $15.40

07.29.10

Loss, Win, Loss, Win, + 7.7 pips is how the day went for me. My charts are still up but I won't be taking anymore trades. I'll be watching the market until its time to leave for my day job.

-.2 pips = - 40 cents

07.28.10

Basically break-even.

+ 11 pips = + $22.19

07.27.10

Made mistakes and overcame mistakes to end the day positive. Allot of what I learn while trading is difficult to put into words. The hope is that I'll have tangible proof of lessons learned with a steadily rising equity curve. =)

- 7.29 pips = - $14.59

07.26.10

I'm glad to be back & back to my winning ways =)

Inactivity

07.20.10

Didn't trade this morning as I hoped I would. As I mentioned earlier trading this week is tough because of my work schedule. Time will tell if I can fit some more in!

+ 3.8 pips = + $7.90

07.19.10

I could only squeeze 15 minutes of trading into my schedule today! Tomorrow as long as things don't get too crazy with work then I'll be able to trade for 2 hours.

- 7.7 pips = - $15.41

07.16.10

I'm in trading purgatory. Something isn't fully clicking in my brain. Annoying as shit.

Next week is gonna be tough because of my day job. However, I'll try to fit some trading into my schedule... we'll see.

Have a great weekend! WORD

+ 14.7 pips = + $29.59

07.15.10

I think today was a very trade-able day. I had a goal to be methodical about my trades today while not worrying about if I'm going to miss a trade because I'm being too methodical. I'm really interested in experiencing how I'm going to handle having 3 days in a row where my more methodical trading results in hardly any trades. Will I slip back into bad habits or will I stay on course? Time will tell.

- 13.3 pips = - $26.60

07.14.10

Bad day. Not much else to say. Another day tomorrow.

+ 3.1 pips = + $6.20

07.13.10

I was barely able to trade today. I had a long weekend and dropped my bro off at the airport late last night. The remainder of this week I'll resume normal activity.

+ 5.6 pips = + $11.39

07.09.10

5.6 pips earned the hard way. I don't have an answer to better performance other than to keep pluggin' away. Recently every time I try to change something to capture just a few more pips per day I end up having a max-loss day or several max loss days.

I'm sticking with the reduced trade size for the foreseeable future.

10 pips per day is definitely do-able.

I won't be trading until Tues. next week because I'm attending a wedding on Sunday night and so waking up at 5am probably won't happen on Monday =)

- 19.7 pips = - $39.40

07.08.10

Market reads today were horrible. My first trade was stopped out to the tick before moving to my target. Second trade I didn't hold to target. Third & Fourth trades were impatient. Simply a tough day but my mistakes are correctable. Wait for price to create a recognizable structured pattern and if it doesn't then don't place a trade. It's better to sit through no trades then to make bad trades.

+ 12.5 pips = + $12.50

07.07.10

First trade was an insta-loss and my second trade I held to target. My 3rd & 4th trades I cut short and left an additional 10 pips on the table between the two of them by not holding to the profit targets.

Today was better than yesterday and tomorrow will be better than today. I will conquer this final trading challenge and establish myself as one of the consistently winning participants.

Trust

07.06.2010

I was watching one of Austin P's video posts today and he spoke to my exact problem...Lack of Trust.

Do I Identify winning trades: Yes.

Do I accept the risk of each trade and always honor my stop loss: Yes.

Do I trust the trade will go to my target: NO (But the trade very often does go to target)

For this reason I'm once again reducing my trade size. This is my last remaining hurdle to consistent good performance in the market. I know this. Over the next few days I'll begin to change for the better. My results may take a step or two backwards before moving vastly forward but that's how it goes.

Trading is Fun