3 replies to this topic

[freddy1]

I come from the school of thought that one aspect of emotional intelligence is self-awareness and giving yourself a 360 degree feedback on a regular basis is very imperative. Once the results are in, the next step is to develop a strategy to correct and improve your methodology (continuous improvement). Looking back at my trading results for the past week, it is clear that I sucked at trading because the thrill and the challenge to beat the market are hindering my progress. I clearly state in my newsletter when to enter and exit the market removing all the emotional attributes associated with trading. However, I find myself over and over trying to enter and exit at my own instinct trying to catch every high and low in order to maximize my profit. Unfortunately, I missed the greatest gain on Wednesday because I failed to enter the market on Monday night (I was hoping to enter at a lower target after I closed my long position right before the close). What was more aggravating is the fact that few members wrote me letters thanking me for the best gain they have ever had sticking to my recommendation ( which was to enter long on Monday and close all positions by Wednesday close). Then it was recommended to enter short on Wednesday close (for 2 days only) and exit short ONLY if SPX closes above 1595 the next day. I closed my position on Thursday after we broke the 2000 and 2007 trendline and got really scared ignoring my own system and my judgment was that we are going much higher. Luckily, I was able to calm down after the close and worked so hard for few hours and my system was still showing a sell signal (so I entered short Thursday night and was able to catch the fall on Friday recovering all the losses taken on Thursday). I made an overall a decent small profit for the week versus members who made 3 times what I made. Do not get me wrong, I’m very happy for them…but this is about me and my trading failures!!!! The system has not failed me…but I have failed my system due to my own greed and fear. I have a long way to improve myself and I hope to be able to become a better trader one day. P.S: Please feel free to share your won trading experience with the notion that what you write is constructive to you and the rest of us!!!!! We all make mistakes and the goal is to become better at what we do.

[opinionated]

Thanks for your input and yes this is exactly my trading problem as well. I was long for the move going into wendsdays close as well but because of fear I brought my stop to close and was kicked out At the close. Then Thursday since I was stopped out I jumped in short thinking stopped out, reverse! Bad move, within minutes I got ate up holding puts with no stop because I had convinced myself that the top was 1575 MAX... Then as time ticked by... You know the story. I did end up short friday but believe we are going much lower. Bottom line is YES my own emotions cost me my losses. I wish I could become an emotionless trader. O

[cycletimer]

Thanks for your input and yes this is exactly my trading problem as well. I was long for the move going into wendsdays close as well but because of fear I brought my stop to close and was kicked out At the close. Then Thursday since I was stopped out I jumped in short thinking stopped out, reverse! Bad move, within minutes I got ate up holding puts with no stop because I had convinced myself that the top was 1575 MAX... Then as time ticked by... You know the story. I did end up short friday but believe we are going much lower. Bottom line is YES my own emotions cost me my losses. I wish I could become an emotionless trader.

O

My biggest problem I face is my travel schedule. I am only home three weeknights the entire month of April and this will repeat in May. Being on airplanes, in airports with little to no wifi AND driving in areas (last wk was Mississippi Delta) with no cell phone coverage; this hectic s he duke is costly me thousands of $! I don't have the liberty of sitting in front of a PC. Before all this travel I was able to easily recoup a loss by lightning quick trading. Now that's impossible. I am STILL short (in puts) from 1572 & 1576. I was on an airplane when the mrkt blew through my stop point of 1582. By the time I landed and had Internet we were trading in the 1590's.
I said, "screw it!" And have remained in the SPY and IWM puts. My account was + 49.3% YTD before this trade an now its only +8% YTD. Yikes!!!
I would never advise this practice and I have violated all of my own trading rules I've spent years building. The house of cards came crashing down in two trading days.
Hindsight, I shouldn't have been in a trade while flying but you live and you learn. I still have a great deal of confidence thr we have topped or will soon top and decline into May.
I do plan to trade around this position. If we gap down and/or begin dipping tomorrow morning, I'll buy calls on that dip and exit at resist. >1605 area. I do plan to be short fully again by end of week. That's all I got.

[freddy1]

Thanks for your input and yes this is exactly my trading problem as well. I was long for the move going into wendsdays close as well but because of fear I brought my stop to close and was kicked out At the close. Then Thursday since I was stopped out I jumped in short thinking stopped out, reverse! Bad move, within minutes I got ate up holding puts with no stop because I had convinced myself that the top was 1575 MAX... Then as time ticked by... You know the story. I did end up short friday but believe we are going much lower. Bottom line is YES my own emotions cost me my losses. I wish I could become an emotionless trader.

O

My biggest problem I face is my travel schedule. I am only home three weeknights the entire month of April and this will repeat in May. Being on airplanes, in airports with little to no wifi AND driving in areas (last wk was Mississippi Delta) with no cell phone coverage; this hectic s he duke is costly me thousands of $! I don't have the liberty of sitting in front of a PC. Before all this travel I was able to easily recoup a loss by lightning quick trading. Now that's impossible. I am STILL short (in puts) from 1572 & 1576. I was on an airplane when the mrkt blew through my stop point of 1582. By the time I landed and had Internet we were trading in the 1590's.
I said, "screw it!" And have remained in the SPY and IWM puts. My account was + 49.3% YTD before this trade an now its only +8% YTD. Yikes!!!
I would never advise this practice and I have violated all of my own trading rules I've spent years building. The house of cards came crashing down in two trading days.
Hindsight, I shouldn't have been in a trade while flying but you live and you learn. I still have a great deal of confidence thr we have topped or will soon top and decline into May.
I do plan to trade around this position. If we gap down and/or begin dipping tomorrow morning, I'll buy calls on that dip and exit at resist. >1605 area. I do plan to be short fully again by end of week. That's all I got.

Thank you both so much for your honest and genuine comments and constructive feedback. Thanks for Traders-Talk (Mark) for allowing traders to truly share ideas and learn at the same time.

Trade safe and all the best!!!!