The Wrap for 3/8/11

• Posted by UpsideTrader
• on March 8th, 2011

Charlie Sheen on a meth binge could have traded better than me today. I wanted to share this, because I know you guys have bad days too, also writing about it is therapeutic to a degree for me and when I write, I sometimes open up some doors in the labyrinth of my mind and it helps. You should all have a trading journal or even a napkin works to help you remember some of the things you did wrong during the course of the treading day. I don’t keep mine more than a few days, but I do highlight the crap out of things when it is glaring.

My best trading days are when I trade the lightest. I can trade 60,000 shares and screw things up, but it seems by best days are when I trade one third of that. Less volume means my entries were thought out and I didn’t have to trade myself out of  mistake. Also with good entries you wont have to play catch up, playing from behind is a traders worst enemy as it forces you to trade out of your rhythm.

My discipline seemed to be way off today too. By that I mean position sizing and taking profits when I was green in a very choppy market. I was sloppy on both fronts.This market is sloppy and I always tell you to sell and take the green when you can. I had a tough time today, as I started in the red, it took me about five hours to get almost even, only to give it back and close my P&L on the lows in the last hour. I attribute that to making sloppy entries, at the time I thought they were good, but it didn’t pan out. I am also trying to keep myself to a maximum draw down or loss, if I hit it I stop trading. I didn’t follow that to well today either.

I am very competitive with myself, so naturally am pissed as hell. I like golf and fishing, probably because its me against the ball and me against the fish. From 9:30 to 4PM its me against the market.

Anyway, I feel better already. I am no Jesse Livermore, but he said a losing day never bothered him for more than a couple of hours as tomorrow is a new day. The market also doesn’t know I exist so who cares? This game, like any sport is about 70% mental, the rest is execution.

I am working on a Webinar for either tomorrow or the latest Thursday. I think each Webinar will be specific to a single topic, although this one coming will probably be generic until I can get the technology down.

I got a lot of good feed back from you guys and I thank you for chiming in with ideas. Top of the list seems to be position sizing and risk management. Funny how I screwed both of those things up today. Hey, I’m human.  Entries, stops, exits are all going to be discussed too.

Housekeeping:

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5- I have had this blog for about three years now and I just found out tonight that there is a double space after a period.

Have a great night….Joe

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The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.

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