"A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits."

Thursday, February 11, 2010

February 11th


Small gains again but no losses. That is the problem. I averaged down on my first trade of the day and it worked out in my favor. While I have become adept at it and some traders swear by the method (gMan at SMB Training calls it "paying for information"), I still loathe the idea that I cannot break my habit of doing it. I simply HATE to be wrong on a trade, as it is in other parts of my life and ever since I was young. It is why I am a perfectionist... I don't like to make mistakes. I don't like to fail and selling for a loss is a failure, even though it is the wise choice to do so. At some point, if I am to trade successfully, I will have to become comfortable with taking losses. It hasn't happened yet, and I am frustrated by it. If I were to go on a streak of 99 for 100 in winners, I still would not be happy unless I am doing it "cleanly" by not averaging for a better price to get those winners.
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My final trade was a good one but late in entry. I did peg the momo drying up and sold within 3 cents of the top of the move I was in. A small gain on a small move but an acceptable read of the price action.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

February 10th




Three paper-trades, three winners. And, no adding to losers to average a better price so they were "clean" winners. Modest gains, as usual because I tend to run quickly with gains, often at the risk of leaving $ on the table, as I did with the first trade. I had pegged the top of the big move up at the 3:00pm candle and faded it short at the start of the next candle. The short stalled with a small gain... so I covered. Then, the price continued its drop. Feeling cheated by not holding until stop-out, I caught the bottom of the same candle and went long for my second winner. I sold that one near the eventual close price of the candle. A bit later on at 3:30pm, I felt like a long trade was in order so I took it... I was about ten minutes early so it was a small loser for much of the next ten mintues or so. However, it stayed within my hold range so I did not stop it out. I sold near the high of the move and ended for the day.
The market is closed as I write this and I notice that my last exit was a good one, considering how the last couple candles finished on MOS.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

February 9th




Most of my day was spent working a large bid for a day-job project but I did take an hour or so at lunch to watch the markets.
I took four practice-trades, three in FAZ and one in ENER. all four were winners for small gains. I haven't much to add to this for analysis. Mostly, I was fading strong moves at opportune times.