Refresher Course

Apparently a little review is required as we strayed from basic concepts:


[23:00] <@Anek> in order of importance
[23:00] <@Anek> AHG Price action
[23:00] <@Anek> Patterns to supplement yourself in areas of congestion or possible reversals
[23:01] <@Anek> and last 3br for precision on entries
[23:01] <@Anek> all with the heavy use of trendlines
[23:01] <@Anek> the rest is money management and discipline

Trading Rules

personal trading rules
1226174645: Dont call a top
1226174648: Dont call a bottom
1226174651: Dont trade against anchor trend
1226174655: Dont average down
1226174659: Dont anticipate a TL break until it does
1226174704: Dont ban porn
1226174705: Dont trade against the trend
1226174713: Look for confluence in falling knives
1226174716: Dont listen to news
1226174718: etc etc etc

Still sitting on hands

This market started out so slow it just lulls you to sleep and then when it finally moves.... This was a very simple all down day. Started with a double top that was confirmed and then proceeded to make lower lows and lower highs the rest of the day. Simplicity confused by insisting on confirmation from a higher order chart. Not as easy as it looks, though. It was so thin I left for the late afternoon. And after blowing out a QQQQ long from yesterday at a small profit I got sucked in to buying it back slightly lower and it ended down on the day. Why did I get sucked into taking a long when the trend clearly was down all day?

This Message really Resonated

So today I got this email from Joe Ross. He sells trading courses and such, so I view him a bit as a snakeoil salesman. However, his holiday message really hit a note with me! I am not at all religious, but if I ignore the God part of this, it is a very important and very powerful message. Here is what he wrote:

This is the time of year in which some people in the world think at least a little about God.

All traders, sooner or later, begin to realize that there is something more to trading than learning to read a chart, following an indicator or a trading system, or discovering a method or setup that will work a high percentage of the time.
If you didn't fail early in your trading business, then you have probably been around long enough to realize that many of the problems you encounter as a trader are those that derive from your own individuality. Such problems are common among traders and, in fact, common among all human beings.
One of the greatest problems faced by traders is that of fear. Over the years I have discovered a path for overcoming fear. The Bible states: "Perfect love overcomes fear." [interesting…. but not into bible]

The top 3 fears among traders are: fear of missing a trade; fear of losing money; and fear of being wrong (pride). [for me #1 and #3] Interestingly, the Bible also states that "Pride precedes a fall."
If you are constantly being beaten by the market, it's pretty hard to love trading.
Your original passion, which is really not true love, rapidly dissipates, and you find
yourself in battle with your own individuality and with no great love for trading.
Eventually, around 90% (some think more) fail at trading.
The path I found to "perfect love which overcomes fear" is also in the Bible. It is in the fifth chapter of a book called Galatians, in the New Testament. In verses 22-23 it says the following: "God's Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. There is no law against behaving in any of these ways". [and no law that you cannot behave this way without “God”]
I thought about these passages for a long time, and then realized that if I tried for
the items mentioned in the list from back to front, I could achieve the state of loving
trading. [ie self-controlled gentle faithful good kind patient peaceful happy loving]
The very first thing I endeavored to do was to gain self-control. This is something we can consciously set our mind to doing. It involves discipline, and we can make up out minds to be a self-controlled, self-disciplined person. When I achieved a certain measure of self-control, something interesting happened to me — I became gentle in my approach to the markets. I quit treating trading as though I were in a war; I quit being violent in my approach to trading. As I became more gentle, another thing happened: I became faithful to myself and to what I was doing. I began to have an increasing amount of faith in my approach to trading and in my ability to carry out my trading plan. Being faithful then led to becoming good at trading. I became better and better at it, I became a good trader. Amazingly, becoming a good trader led to my becoming kind. My whole attitude towards trading changed. I could now use the money from my trading to help others. I was no longer at war with the world. Selfish greed was being replaced with compassion and kindness for those who were less well-off than me. Kindness then evolved into patience. I became a patient trader. Because I believed in myself and in what I was doing, and because I now had an objective to trade for the benefit of not only myself, but of others, I was willing to patiently wait for the trades that gave me a high percentage chance of producing a winner. I patiently waited for the trades that had my name written all over them. I learned which trades were for me and which ones were for someone else. I was at peace, I became a peaceful trader.

Today I am not at war with anyone. All I want is my piece of the market. I don't want your piece, just my own.
The result of all of the above was that I had become and remain a happy trader. Trading brings me much joy and happiness because my entire attitude is one of giving rather than taking. Trading has made me into a loving trader as well as a loving person. I am in love with trading and markets. I love trading because trading treats me well. I have gone beyond despair, beyond envy, beyond anger and beyond selfishness. More than that, I have been able to pass that same philosophy on to others, especially those who are our staff here at Trading Educators.
We truly love and care about all who come to us with a desire to learn.

[deleted reference and link to “The Spiritual Side of Trading” LOL ]

It's getting better all the time

I used to get mad at my school,
The teachers who taught me weren't cool.

OK, but now they are. And I am learning to trade, after 22 years of trading. I have gotten better with some online help and things are improving. Slow time of year now, but still plenty of opportunity. I just sat on my hands through an options expiration that actually turned out to be a good trading day at the end. However, my plan was to trade sim and sit it out, so I stuck to my plan.