As the right hand column on the Blog indicates, I'm currently reading
Enhancing Trader Performance by
Dr.Brett Steenbarger, and I finished reading chapter 3 today which goes over building competence in a performance field, and what separates competent performers from experts. One important point Dr.Steenbarger touches upon is finding your niche in any given field, because that's where you'll feel
right and will be able to exploit your natural talents. I'm quick at tossing my losers, but by the same token, I'm also quick exiting the winning trades. I've tried working on holding on to trades a bit longer, and a lot of times, they come back and stop me out at par. Now I'm thinking maybe I should try to exploit speed as a strength rather than view it as a weakness. Outside of trading, I'm all about speed, whether it invoves racing high performance cars, riding a sport bike at full-tilt, or delivering a complex technology project ahead of schedule. I always try to deliver ahead of schedule. When I first got involved in the markets back in 2003, and created a login on the Elite Trader forum, the screen name I chose was "Fast_Trader"; again the emphasis being on speed. Maybe it's time to use that in my favor by entering and exiting several times with quick gains. I use a 6-tick stop, and I can quickly exit a trade for 3 points maintaining a 1:2 risk/reward ratio. Maybe over time, I could develop a style where I could hold on to my winners a bit longer, but at this point, does it make more sense to utilize what comes naturally? I honestly don't know the answer
yet, but I will explore this a bit further over the next few weeks.
Now, to today's performance. I was long at the 781-782 level around 2:00 PM anticipating a quick push up (based on $TICK readings). Unfortunately, I wasn't able to capitalize on that entry since I was stopped out at par. I re-entered at a higher price and exited for a couple of points. Ended the day at +4 pts (mediocre). I wish I could video tape and show you guys how I trade because my day is filled with so many distractions. It's a surprise I'm able to pull any gains at all. I say that, and at the same time, realize it's an excuse. I need to overcome the distractions, and make this work, one way or another. I think I'm gonna get in touch with
Stan and see if he has any ideas since he also has a day job and trades during work.
As anticipated, the open gap at 689.50 was filled today, but now we have an open gap above at 708.25. Lets be mindful of that. A lot of people are short this market, and a small spike up could trigger a short covering rally and fill that open gap above.
Open/Unfilled Gap Above at 708.25
ES/TICK (3-min) Price stayed below Mid-Point and 1st Hr Low, and $TICK moving averages remained below zero-line indicating weakness/bearish bias
ES Market Balance (5-min Day Session)
DMI Ratio red most of the day. I need to work on being selective on trades, and leaning towards the direction of the larger time-frame, and broader market. All my trades should have been short sales today. Instead they were split evenly between longs and shorts, with +2 points coming from each side.
Great post. I think your idea to perhaps implement more of a quick scalping style is a good one. Test it out for a week on the sim just to see what happens and keep us posted on the results.
ReplyDeleteStan