‘The time has come, the Trader said, to talk of many things: Of stops and points and interims; Of multiples — and wins.  And why the Market’s hot or not and how frustration stings!'

So last week I made $2,912 giving a month to date of $5,490 not too bad with 10 more trading days to go for September.  Reflection is a good thing, but dwelling for too long on stuff that frustrates you is not. That said I do often find myself dwelling.  When I look at my notebook and read my journal entries I see how often I chastise myself.  Just for fun here are a few extracts for your enjoyment:

• Today’s miss $700!!!
• Bad trade, it was too close to the blended super major
• Set stop wider!
• +22 points, +19pts
• MCL +39 pts
• Waited too long!!!!
• Crap day, got most of it wrong
• Now in the doo doo
• Feeling a bit trigger happy
• Just trade the signals
• Dull day
• Stupid boy trading over jobless numbers
• Moved stop too soon
• Missed chase up chance
• Got too greedy
• Get a profit on the board early

These are just a small selection from my daily notes, and whilst these look pretty scathing for the most part I do think that I’m handling this a little better (this being the emotional piece) with one exception…….. FRUSTRATION.  I will admit to letting my frustrations get the better of me over missed opportunities.   Which for me come in three sizes: missing the trade altogether, leaving the trade too soon and moving the stop too soon.

Getting frustrated is dangerous and can lead to taking a more marginal trade that you might ordinarily take, given that you’ve just decided to let a good opportunity go.

So what can I do to improve further and reduce my frustration? I think it goes something  like this:

• Be more decisive on entering trades - don’t worry about a pullback for a few points when the target is a multiple of that number!
• Be more patient and trust in the system - don’t exit trades too soon, especially if they’re moving in the right direction.
• Don’t move stops too soon. The guidance provided by the system works but must be combined with the point above.
• If my analysis is correct I should see at least a 40%+ improvement in my return. I’ll let you know how it goes…….

Do feel free to get in touch for a chat - it’s a lonely old life sometimes.

Happy Trading!

AP