Up and down

The last several trading days have seen some significant directional trading up and down.  I have never seen it like this.  The average rotation on the ES (S & P e-mini) is about three points.  The ES has been trading in one large rotation of about 13 points.  Taking advantage of those days would net huge profits.  The issue is that you just don't see this many significant directional days.  The normal rotations have been replaced by significant up and down turns.

It is just more evidence that the market will do whatever it wants to do, and that nothing is "normal".  You can be trading for years and you will still be learning new things every week, (at least a trader should be).  You can't be prepared for everything, but you should do what you can to prepare for what you know and what you see, not what you expect.  Every day provides a new storyboard with new context for the same prices and time in a day.

I guess that trading days are like snowflakes, no two are alike.  This has a tendency to mess with people's minds and confidence in a big way.  It is one of the reasons that many people are not successful at trading, give it up and leave it to the "experts" who show their expertise using commissions.  I know that it has messed with my mind.  Fortunately, I expect it so my confidence is not rocked, just my account sometimes.

Once again, I have proven that when I do my homework, build my setups and trade within a plan, I do well.  When I go "rouge" and try something different, the market is consistently there to remind me that it has a mind of its own and I will follow it, it will not follow me.

Tomorrow is another snowflake.

Tough lessons

Well,

It has been a while since I posted.  I have been working on finishing up a project and then I did not do much trading during the week of Christmas and New Year.  When I did trade, I had a several good days and two bad days.

It is amazing what the bad days can do to your psychology and attitude...if you let it.  I have been successful in my trading over the last month primarily because I have been doing my homework, which is to look at the market history from a large perspective and understand where price is relative to the whole auction process.

When I do my homework, it means that I spend time at night reviewing the day and then in the morning to see what happened overnight and to finalize my plan for the day.  When I do this, I have been quite successful.

The two bad days that I have had recently are when I tried to trade just by showing up in the morning and look for trade set ups and I have tried to do some trades that were just not mine.  I tried to squeeze a little out of the market and I got slapped.  However, I have learned that if I plan on trading without doing the work, then I will trade only in simulation mode.  It will be the price that I pay for not doing the work necessary to trade with my money.  I also made some stupid decisions to move my stops, expecting to be able to buy or sell into a trade that went against me to beat the market.  Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Some days, the best trade is the one that you do not make.  I will say it over and over: "Homework and discipline are the keys to success in trading".  Those that don't do the work or have the discipline give their money to the ones that do.  'Nuff said!