I just dont understand what i need to do to realize when I have edge and when i dont. What the fuck is wrong with me that I can be happy with making 21 dollars and then the next day I lose over 3x that amount? How the fuck is that acceptable or okay? I dont get it. I really feel like the only thing I can do is like "fire" myself. Daytrading is hard mostly because we are our own bosses and we allow ourselves to make stupid decisions with no reprocussions because we own our accounts and we own our business. If someone was sitting over my shoulder and said to me "this is my money you are trading with and if you lose a fucking penny over 20 dollars you are out," then maybe id be able to control myself but for some reason i just keep going and pretend like the money im trading is so unimportant to me that I can just keep losing more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more until it just slowly bleeds out into nothingness. I cannot fucking take this shit anymore.
Rules broken:
1. Stop loss over 25$
2. Multiple back to back losses that well exceeded 2
3. More than 4 trades
4. Traded before data came out
Each of these rules were created because I am unable to identify them in the moment. The whole point of writing out and putting these rules everywhere is so that I can REMEMBER them when I start to break them. I am giving myself a break today simply because I havent traded in a while since before yesterday and I am allowing myself one more chance to understand the importance of this idea.
Why do I break my rules?
I think sometimes I just dont really remember how important it is in this gambling profession to make sure you keep yourself in check. If you dont you end up just bleeding and bleeding. It is so fucking important to realize that the money in your account is extremely valueable and its very imperative that you treat it as gold even tho its only small amounts of money. Every time you take a trade that breaks rules or emphasizes trades that shouldnt be taken you end up losing a very crucial thing, money. For some reason I dont feel that bad when I lose money, until its all falling down and I say "just one more trade" then i lose again and "just one more trade" then i lose again and all the sudden im down 4 green days without feeling like i even took a trade yet.
How do I solve this recurring problem?
I need to be a better boss to myself. I need to realize the importance of fucking up and understanding that if I was the boss of myself and my employee went 3x his stop loss I would fire him and find a better candidate. I need to treat and trade the capital in my account as though it is the blood sweat and tears ive put into this business and not like its some thing I can piss away. This money is EXTREMELY VALUEABLE. Do not waste it.
How could I have traded today profitably?
- on the first trades at bottom left of chart we have just a pure stupidity, makes zero sense trend continuation trade. The reason why this trade makes no sense is because we are in the middle of the range on the micro chart. (check below) YOU NEVER TRADE THE CENTER OF A RANGE. The price can go in any direction and you will not know when or how it does it. These first 3 trades (which was really just 1 trade with 3 accidental hot key executions) was dumb and should always be avoided.
- I was trading a setup that did not exist. I took a short in an area that made zero sense. If you look at my chart above you see my first short at mid day was just terrible timing and placement. If there was a trade to take it wouldve been the retest of the reversal spot. That is the ONLY place where this trade makes sense. I understand that maybe we drop very strongly immedaitely after this big red candle and that is not always a bad thesis but it only works 1 time and it has to be damn quick to be significant. You only get 1 chance at scalp trades, never more than that. .
- After I took those losers I was immediately proven to be right about my thesis that we would make a lower high and continue lower but of course I wasnt actually trading the good part of the move. Sadly I did stop stop out for -36 on the day right at the last top candle. I shouldve held that position to either high of day of a breakdown through new lows. That wouldve been a very high EV setup considering that we are on the top of the range and creating a lower high with a high right before it that we can use as our stop. I couldve risked about 25 dollars to make 50. Sadly I was going for trend continuation trades when I shouldve been looking for Trend reversal trades. I need to remember when the EV is high. For trend reversals it is always the best to take them to the side of the macro and micro market. The best scenario is if we are in macro downtrend, micro downtrend, and intraday uptrend. These will almost always break to the downside but will be somewhat accelerated and more difficult to take because it is unknown when sellers will show up but when they do its so fast that you have to chase to get in. The Second best scenario is macro downtrend, micro range, intraday uptrend. This gives us a chance to get a really nice trend reversal to the downside. The range aids in the fact that we could drop heavily but ONLY if we are at the top of the range, never in the middle. Besides these scenarios it is somewhat difficult to trade trend reversals in any other way. Long trend reversals work best in a micro uptrend market because momentum is shifted but so long as we are in a macro downtrend it will always be more difficult to go long no matter the circumstances.
