Stick to the Plan!
Hey Traders!
I’m writing to you on a bleary Friday morning. Another week has passed us by, and what I personally do at the end of every single week, is take inventory of where I am at in relation to where I want to be.
Given that I have had a hectic week is no excuse. It’s not an excuse, because I did not start the week off with my goal being to miss a single day of work, or to not execute my trading plan. You know the saying “Plan your trade, and then trade your plan”?
Well, at least I have Inteligex to help me with the planning of the trade, right? Wait. Actually, Inteligex has the automated feature, so I don’t even have to trade the plan – Inteligex will do it for me if I so choose. WOW. (having said that, I still haven’t used the automated feature, maybe because I have a bit of OCD, or maybe I am just a control freak, hard to say..)
Ok on to my trades
Anyways, I had a decent week; took my losses like every trader out there does, but one thing I will not ever do, is allow myself to Revenge Trade. And, I have an example of that to share with you from Monday, April 1st. I thought I would trade the Russell for a change, on a 5 min chart, because I studied it over the weekend, and wanted to try it out.
First trade was a Long, at 9:55 a.m. Entered at 1555.7. Next candle suggested I go short. If I did not manage my emotions, I would have reversed, but I took a deep breath, and continued to stay long. Trade wasn’t working great at that moment in time, and handling emotions was key. I got out at 1560.7 with 50 ticks of profit.
Second trade was a short at 10:50 – entered at 1558.2, took very little heat and got out at 1554.2 – profit of 40 ticks. So 90 ticks on the morning, because I didn’t revenge trade…I hung in there and just tried to manage my emotions. When you find yourself down on the day, the key is to stay calm and focused; remember: it’s just one trade, it’s just one day…there will be thousands of trades in your career. Stick to the plan!
What else am I up to?
Few other things I would like to mention: I am going to be taking a Top Step Trader Combine in the next month or so. So, I asked Peter and Mark if I could share those results with you, and they said I could. On that note, please bear with me until I get that up and running, and remember we are all human. We deal with everything life throws at us, which isn’t easy…on top of which we are traders, which makes things even more complicated at times. At the end of the week, or month, it’s all worth it. You just have to have faith in yourself and know you’ll get there. I can’t even count how many times I wanted to throw the towel in, but I didn’t.
And, thanks to the guys at Inteligex for their top notch customer service. They really do want all of us to succeed!
PS – If you are new to using Sierra vs Ninja, be patient and believe me when I say, you will LOVE Sierra vs Ninja once you get used to it. I have used both, and I now realize how sluggish Ninja is on all area’s, from fills to software processing. That’s just my opinion, but I stand behind it. Give it some time, and remember change can be uncomfortable, but it’s almost always worth it!
Stay Green Traders!
Pam S.