Evening sessions

Managed to trade 13 markets so far the past two evenings. I was feeling really shaky on Wednesday after rushing home from work and trading straight away. I soon made some poor trades on the second race and didn't close out fast enough. I actually identified myself on stage 4 of the spiral and closed out as soon as I noticed I was slipping into the routine. Reaching stage 4 is not great but having the outline of the stages is helping as before it was all a blur and before I knew it the race was off. Did decide to call it a day early as I had a few other things I wanted to get done before the evening was over. Was happier with my attitude as I didn’t feel obliged to chase my losses even though I was down for the session. I had traded the whole session without automated stop losses switched on. After a quick review of the videos I discovered if I had used them I would of been more profitable and the big loss on the second race would have been reduced considerably. I decided to use them for the next session.

Thursday was better. It started off well and I remember thinking I want a couple of bad positions to test my resolve as after 4 markets nothing had really gone against me. I got what I asked for in the next 2 markets where on reflection I was showing signs of overconfidence which got me in trouble. On both I managed to close out quickly with a bit of help from the stop losses when needed. On the first market I would of actually made a profit without the auto stop loss, however it did prevent the situation form escalating and I much prefer having that safety net. After losing on 2 markets in a row I took a moment to refocus and traded what I knew was the final race really well. This did make me realise how important it is to take time to refocus.

I would consider my first evening sessions a small success, having managed to cope with the losses and still profit. However having said that, I have been reading much material on mindset and risk management these past few days, and realise I have much to learn. My mindset and attitude towards risk was poor when I started this blog, and as I am developing I am placing more focus on these areas. The racing analysis is important but it is almost irrelivant if I trade in a poor state of mind and without adequate risk measures. I will continue the analysis, as it is helping identify the patterns when my mind is fully focussed, but will also allocate some time for developing my mindset and attitude towards risk.

If anyone is interested, amoungst my research I found a link to a Mark Douglas seminar explaining some trading fundamantals. It’s a bit long and his accent took a bit of getting used to but he does make some good points. I read Trading in the Zone a couple of months ago and almost forgot all the great points he makes in the book, this seminar reminded me once again. Will need to invest some time in reading this book again, and perhaps a couple of others.