New Blog Location

I've joined the team at Blue Point Trading and will be blogging over there going forward. Join us for live chat during the European and U.S. sessions, blogs posts by multiple traders, and the daily market view by Blue himself.

November wrap-up

The results speak for themselves, November was not a profitable month. However, it was not a bad month at all. My mistake was jumping into live trading with a new strategy without properly testing it on a demo account. All of my losses came from that mistake, with my original EURCHF trades still being profitable. Lesson learned. No use crying over spilled milk so its onwards and upwards trading live and demo at the same time. Increased skill is the goal and patience is the key.

Giving Thanks

Tuesday was another productive day. I didn't close any trades but did very well on the demo, which is quite encouraging. The rest of the week I will be trading a little during the London session if at all, because even traders need to take time off. I am thankful for the opportunity to be a trader. I am thankful for all of the people I have met around the world who are willing to share their knowledge and experience with me. I am thankful for all of our military personnel serving their country. I am thankful for my family's health. I am thankful for a million other things that need not be mentioned here. Without a better way to stay it, THANKS!

Today's wrap-up

Today was relatively uneventful for live trades, with only one entry taken on the EURCHF. However, it was still a very productive day. As I've mentioned before I am currently demoing a new trading strategy and that went very well today. The results were definitely encouraging, but the best part was my ability to stay within the plan throughout the day. Looking to repeat that performance every day for the rest of the year, and then possibly taking it live depending on what the results and progress have been at that point.

Weekly wrap up

This week was a success. It wasn't a success because I made a huge amount of profit, which I didn't. This week was a success because I followed my trading plan and exercised patience every day. Not every trade was perfect, but progress was made. Also, I started to demo trade a new strategy picked up from Blue on his stream. Continuous improvement is the plan and this week fit into that plan.

Discipline

A guy that goes by the handle T4 on blue-point-trading's stream was sharing yesterday that discipline is one of the key ingredients in successful trading. He said that what people commonly refer to as emotional challenges with trading just come down to discipline, doing only what your plan allows and nothing more or less regardless of what you may be feeling at the time. This is probably not the trading revelation of a lifetime, but is still very interesting way to look at things. Am I disciplined as a trader? Admittedly, not as much as I should be. What is discipline as a trader? It probably comes in many forms and all situations but here are a few that seem important at this moment. Am I only taking trades that specifically conform to my daily trading plan? Is each trade exactly the size it should be according to my plan, neither smaller or larger? Have I been managing active trades exactly as I should be? Was my computer screen configured the way it ought to be for me to trade? Was I watching the market and ready to trade when I should be? Did I update my trading journal and review my performance at the end of the day/week/month? Did I get the amount of sleep that is necessary to be productive today? These, and many other, questions will help me identify if I've been disciplined today or not. Finally, if I haven't been disciplined today what am I going to do tomorrow to fix that? Again, no revelations here. If you follow Dr. Steenbarger, SMB Capital, the Mind of a Trader podcasts, or any other relevant and qualified trading resource you've probably heard all of these things a million times. A next step for me is to ask myself these questions every day and act upon the answers if they are anything other than a resounding and disciplined yes.

Learning to trade

Blue, from blue-point-trading, made a comment this morning when I was on his trading room at 3am. He said something to the effect that it was evident that I'm a serious trader because I'm up and at my desk every morning ready to go. I responded that what I lack in skill, at this point, I am trying to make for with determination. The concept of trading being a skill set that can be learned is interesting to me. As I was leaving my last appointment of the day I was trying to compare learning to trade to another job, and electrician came to mind. It seems to me that learning to trade is like learning to be an electrician. You can jump right it head first and risk certain (financial in the case of trading) death from the simplest mistake. Some might survive this trial by fire but there probably isn't much learning going on and they are setting themselves up for a devastating blow later on. The difference between learning to trade and learning to be an electrician is the opportunities for learning itself. Electricians, as with every other skilled trade, can go find a company or union to teach them the basics and what not to do, whereas a trader has to find all of this out on their own. There are some trading training programs but their cost or location are usually prohibitive. So we are left to our own devices to learn this business. That's what made Blue's comment so interesting to me. It reminded that while many people have blessed me by sharing of their hard-earned knowledge and experience it is up to me to put forth the effort necessary to grow as a trader. Determination might not be the sexiest way to approach a venture, but its what I have so it'll have to do.

Still in a range day

Today came and went more quickly than I would have liked. My non-trading activities dominated my time today, but with the market in a fairly tight range it was a perfect day to be distracted. I did not initiate any trades today, but closed out a EURCHF long and a GBPUSD long for profit. Until we break out of this 2-3 day range on the broader index (S&P 500) I'll be even more cautious about taking trades. The market needs to decided if we're going farther up or if its time for a real run down, and I don't want to be on the other side of a trade when that happens. I've started keeping a trading journal based on some ideas from SMB Capital and Dr. Steenbarger. The spreadsheet is still in its infancy, but you have to start somewhere.

Decent day

Monday was a pretty slow day for me with only 1-2 signals all day. The first was a USDJPY short, but it didn't feel right so I passed. The second came after 3pm and was an AUDUSD short. I took this trade and booked a modest 18 pips in about 10 minutes. The trade ended up going quite a bit farther, but I was keeping my stop tight once it went positive. Added to my EURCHF longs, but those should start paying off soon. Overall it was a decent day. I was patient and waited for the exact setup I was looking for, took the trade, and managed it effectively. As a trader that is all I can ask for. Now I'm just looking for the next bus.