20121211
Short 1 TF 830.9, -1.0
Short 2 TF 832.3, 832.5, -0.8, -0.5
Short 2 TF 832.7, 832.7, -0.4, -0.0
Short 2 YM 13258, 13258, -5, -5
Short 2 TF 835.3, 835.6, +0.4, +1.0
AM SubTotal YM -10
AM SubTotal TF -1.3
Appendum: PM trades
Long 4 TF 833.8, 833.2, 833.0, 833.0, -0.1, -0.4, +0.5, -0.2
Long 1 TF 832.1, -1.0
Long 2 TF 831.4, 831.3 +1.0, +1.0
Revised Totals:
Total YM -10
Total TF -0.5
Persistent Trend Days appear without warning. By the time their characteristic 'tells' have appeared for you to recognize, an initial trend thrust can already be behind you, and a trader is left either fading extended waves of thrust without success, or skipping in-trend pullbacks entries because they seem too shallow. The other way is to take entries at what Serial Sequent identifies as SubSequent Inflection Breakout Triggers. ...and these don't always appear in all contracts. Today, my focus did not include the NQ which up til today was lagging the overall bull moves day after day with the heavy AAPL component. Murphy's Law: the change you are looking for will appear in the least expected place you have now become accustomed to ignore. The chance to recognize a buy signal and enter before today's 1st frame explosion got away was in the NQ only. Asleep at the switch, I was left to the less attractive alternative of fading the thrusts of a Persistent Trend morning in the TF contract, where my focus was in lazy residence.
When a more conclusive sell signal finally did come in the TF contract that eventually provided enough pullback to cover all losses and move my P&L into positive ground, I felt compelled to exit at the initial mechanical profit levels, rather than take the play into the post-Boehner news conclusion it deserved, and thus left 2/3's of its potential on the table. There is not much in one's plan a trader can correct when faced with profits that recover part of earlier losses. Working your way back to health can also push you deeper into the hole if you insist on recapturing all your losses with each successive trade that begins to go your way. This only compounds your problems. It's the reality of trading. If your trade plan works more often than it fails, and you never let yourself dig deeper into a hole of losses than the amount of a single day's profit goal, you can always work your way out of a bad day.
Instead, focus on the miss opportunities and/or bad trades that got you into negative territory in the first place, not your lack of premonition that could have recovered from all your losses had you brilliantly held some specific later trade to greater lengths than normal exit targets. Today, I missed an important in-trend breakout trade in the NQ that would have set me straight for the day, and well towards my normal profit goals, had I only had better focus on trade opportunities on other key contracts contained in my trading plan. Review the plan each day before the day begins. Understand where your focus must be in order to succeed with plan execution. Stay focused. This is the discipline of trading. This is the key to success.
