Another great post goes ignored! 0c:
Matthew that is not the first time you spilled your guts and missed out on any direct responses here.
As far as the hot keys go, they only work if the Lvl II window is selected, this can be an annoyance if you are constantly prowling through names in a 5 minute chart or using a chat window, etc.
I use the hot keys all day long for order cancellations, and test shorting. I do not use them for trades.
As far as strategy goes, here is most of mine:
I try to NOT:
work very hard at trading
watch CNBC
pay too much attention to my favorite chatrooms or SI threads
worry about news items << a few exceptions
to know anything fundamental
enter a trade too quickly in the morning
trade too much in the middle of the day
buy bottoms
sell tops
let losses run
worry about being wrong
I try TO:
work hard at keeping my discipline
make money every single week
get flat before the end of every day
trade more conservatively after the first couple hours of the day and after making a healthy gain
use margin
focus on, intelligent entries and early exits
be unafraid of contradicting myself
not worry about making a fool out of myself << obvious
accept the fact that i will ALWAYS make blunders and errors
be aware of my emotional state
have fun
stay calm and patient in between opportunities
learn to stick with the "obvious" trades
recognize the "HIGH" risk trades and try to leave them alone
trade one stock at a time and never more than two
take full and complete responsibility for my account and my trades no matter what. this includes but is not limited to + 30k days, - 100k months and everything in between
realize i am in this game for decades not days and try to act accordingly
think of my broker as my partner
my tools are
REAL TICK III with many charts with many SIMPLE MA's and thanks to this thread an adx indicator on my five minute chart
my forte is, playing liquid names on the move
my weaknesses are:
forgetting too quickly the lessons that have been beaten into me
not knowing when to quit
my strengths are:
not knowing when to quit
I have had severe ups and downs as i am still relatively weak and lame. However, I will be trading twenty or thirty years from now, so I have time.
I hope to never ever invest, just to prove a point.
I know from experience that
some of my biggest gains have come from trades where i bought, sold for a profit and then bought right back in almost as soon as i sold and to catch the best part of the move.
some of my biggest losses have come from losing positions that i have reversed only to get whipsawed the other way oy!
I believe,
my strategy will continue to evolve
my main points would be ... stay in liquid stocks, burn all your trading books and shoot your TV ... learn to recognize what works for you and exploit the hell out of it!
mama said there would be bad days ... and she was right, but don't let those eat you up, or a bad day may turn into a week ... a month .... yikes who knows how bad it could get!
In this game, I have to be able to get right back into the fight with my dukes up or just runaway completely. The times i got despondent and stood around with a long face ie "holding a losing position" i got really creamed.
holding some egrp long this summer is a good example
here is my advise to you.
do not focus on what can't be done, i am referring to your post now.
if you believe something can't be done, then forget about it and focus on what YOU believe YOU can accomplish. This is a critical and yet simple thing.
The only trading books I can get behind are the two market wizard books and the stock operator, then formulate your own battle plan.
thats my opinion,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts here Matthew,
best wishes,
ps when i started out, i did not know what a trading plan was, i did not understand AT ALL what discipline really meant, and i had the worst possible broker for the job, and i knew NOTHING,
now i still know very little, but at least i know were my weaknesses are, and i am trying to slowly build strength there.
I am now starting my third year of trading. I only caught the very tail end of the good soes days. |
