What a week, and what else can I do.

Posted on March 8, 2008
Tags: Day Trading, Personal development |

We had some really nice volatility this week with a couple of strong trending days (obviously down trending). Lots of opportunities to (mostly) short the heck out of stuff. It’s on weeks like these that I wish I would have pressed harder, took more trades, increased R size etc. but it’s of course very difficult if not impossible to figure this out on time. At least I haven’t found a way yet. Nevertheless it’s been a good week, in fact one of the best since September last year. A lot of the hard work I’ve put in over the last month is starting to pay off. But beyond the profitability I realized the effort I put in made me more aware of things in the market, it’s as if in the past I was just trading the same pattern blindly while now I have a few new angles of looking at the market and potential trades. It’s difficult to explain this even if I went into details, it’s almost like those paintings you have to stare at to see something and you think you’re seeing some shapes but then all of a sudden you see more and different things and you realize that earlier on your vision was working but more limited.

The next steps I want to take is to try and continue on this path. In a nutshell I’m looking at, and asking myself: What else can I do to become an even better trader, what steps or actions, what learning or process improvement I can embark on to ratchet myself up a further notch. I don’t think this is going to result in any immediate revelations or great discoveries all of a sudden. But that’s ok, it’s a long process and I’m enjoying the journey.

Comments

2 Responses to “What a week, and what else can I do.”

oonr7 on March 8th, 2008 5:22 am

I like your painting analogy and it’s very appropriate for me. Prior to 3 weeks ago, I found myself feeling stuck with trading as I was so tuned into certain patterns and/or signals. Now, I focused on these patterns because I knew they worked in the past. And, they were still working but there weren’t enough opportunities sometimes. Meanwhile, as I waited for those patterns, I would see great setups - that didn’t exactly fit my rules, but I knew looked good nonetheless - that worked out very well. At that point, I decided to ‘let go’ and just trade. I saw a whole other interpretation of ‘the painting’ as you say.

I think my foray into ‘futures’ was a result of my frustration with my stubborn, yet disciplined, view of setups. I read charts more now. I don’t wait for my signals, I actively look for them. The last 3 weeks have provided a lot of self-satisfaction. Looking at multiple timeframes has also made a world of difference as well.

Who knows what the future holds but I read other bloggers who are having a tough time in this market and I’m doing well. Will this change soon? Maybe. But a good setup is a good setup no matter what market you’re in. My goal is to make sure that my good days are way better than my bad days.
I’m encouraged with my results not because I’ve opened up my trading analysis but because I haven’t had to reinvent the wheel in doing so.
eyal on March 9th, 2008 9:56 am

oonr7 - yeah it does sound like a lot of people are facing challenges with the changing market conditions. Those who will survive will probably come out stronger and a lot more experienced.
I agree there’s usually no need to reinvent the wheel if the strategy is based on sound ideas. Tweaking it to match the new market profile should be sufficient. That’s more or less what I’ve done, I still trade the same dummy style but with new criteria.
Good to know you’re doing well, keep up the good work.