Chris,
Been lurking in this thread for awhile and enjoyed reading every single one of the post. I'm also a strong believer in trading what you see, not what you think; even though it took me more than 5 years to figure it out.
>>"selling for the small gain only to see it relatively stable later and then end into the close rather strong."<<
One thing I learned is that you must let the trade go after you bailed. Looking back (with the benefit of hindsight) will not do you any justice because what happened to the price afterward have absolutely nothing to do with what you saw at that "moment". You saw, you reacted, you sold, end of story.
That "moment" you saw was a battle between buyers and sellers. Sellers might be winning, (you were long), so you bailed. There were no way you would know that a backup army of buyers were waiting to pounce on the unsuspected sellers.
I've been training myself to look at each trade at a trade only. Each trade is an isolated incident which have no relationship to the stock or commodity that I traded. Thus, the price history of the stock/commodity that I bailed (profit or loss) is of no relevant to me as far as my "completed" trade is concerned. In other words, the stock/commodity market is like a huge hunting ground where there are always animal for you to hunt. If you miss one, you move on and look for another one.
It is the "hunt" (trade) that a trader should focus on, not the "animal" (price). Too many people focus too much on the "animal" that when it ran away from their grasp, they grumbled over it. However, if all your focus is on the "hunt", then you simply look for the next hunt if the previous one was not successful. Focusing on the hunt naturally forces you to learn from your mistake so you could improve your odd on the next hunt.
Think about it, there are an unlimited number of animals (price) out there for you to hunt (trade); there is really no need to fret over some lost animal that you almost caught...
Of course, it ain't easy to simply ignore the animal after the missed hunt. But with a trained mindset, it can be done. I found daily meditation a big plus for this purpose.
Hope I'm making sense here....
Btw, our mind has a way to wander away from our goal and objective; that is why I find this thread a godsend because reading it reinforces and reminds me of what I've to do.
Cheers! |
