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.

Weekly wrap up

What a week. I ended up slightly negative on the P&L for the week but consider it an overall success. I've been listening to 'Mind of a Trader' podcasts downloaded for free from iTunes, keeping an actual trading journal, setting a clear goal for each day, and being patient enough to almost completely avoid the 10min charts all together. Not too bad. This is a business and I am structuring my business in a way that I feel will lead me to success. The EURCHF trades are still working, they're just few and far between due to the extremely low volatility in that pair recently. My focus on the longer time period charts has slowed down my trading significantly, and I'm ok with that. I remember Richard Regan of Pro Trading Course saying that if he doesn't take a single trade all day, he's done his job well that day. Part of the 'job' or 'business' of being a trader is to protect your capital. If I'm vigilant and don't take a trade then that day was a success. Mack, from Blue-Point-Trading's stream likes to say that "there's always another bus". Dr. Steenbarger continues to be a great resource with his blog and I intend on reading all of his books as soon as I can free up some time.