Today I tried to get my mind set more focused on planning but my head is not in the game. I have not felt this way as a trader for long as I can remember. Nothing seems to be clicking with me. The plan, do, re-do is in my cross-hairs and am trying to piece together my “new” approach but I know it will take some time to get my thoughts together.
Tried a couple of paper trades this AM but stopped out. The market is getting the best of my psyche and I’m not enjoying it at all. Confidence is low and feeling like any trade I touch is crap...and the results show it. Result: - 5.0
I know one of the big things I must improve on is planning. EWS shows the way but I’m still trying to understand and implement. Today being Fed day, I’m probably done trading for the day. Need to take care of some spreadsheet and planning tools. Expect the same results unless I change something and that is the process I’m in right now.
Another thing of frustration is the ups and downs of performance. One day I feel like I “click” and feel I’ve gained some ground in understanding what it takes to be a good trader. The next thing I know, the market slaps me in the head and tells me “no, not yet”.
The emotional rollercoaster the market puts us through is like an amusement ride that has lots of turns, twists, climbs and free-falls. If we don’t know what to expect, the ride will be one of fear and anxiety.
One day it will all “click” and I will conquer this ride by knowing what the market ride might likely do and use it to my advantage. Until then, it’s not amusing to be in line for the ride but find that I’m carrying the wrong ticket. It’s time to revisit the ticket booth for a different validation stamp.
Trade Well !
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2 comments:
Steve,
Having read your posts from the last two days, all I can say is I am in exactly the same boat with almost exactly the same results. And particularly frustrating for me has been trying to incorporate the EWS system into my approach, which has generally been more of a swing trade approach, using wider stops. So here I am feeling heat all day after being on the wrong side of the half gap play, my fundamental thesis being that this market is stretched and tired. Ultimately I bailed near the highs on that final push when it looked we were going to push up for yet another leg. Of course we rolled over to where I would have been fine for the day. Caught a little of the push down, but by that point, I was so shell shocked, I covered way too soon.
This EWS is proving challenging in many respects. Amazing, but challenging. I'm going to have to give myself a time out soon and just paper trade until I get my win/loss ratio and my confidence back to reasonable levels.
Jamesk
James. Thanks for the post and for sharing your experience.
There is no doubt EWS is an amazing system. It's the wiring within our heads that needs to be re-routed. As E mentioned yesterday..."turn the keyboard around". In a way, that's what traders need to do.
I believe we both have the passion to conquer and I firmly believe we will. It just takes time, $$, a good support network as well as a class 1A mentor. I think we have all those bases covered.
Although frustrating at times, it's part of the journey that all traders go thru. As I've said time and time again..."if trading was easy, everyone would be doing it".
Hang in there. We will "get it" sooner than later.
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