Distorted Thoughts and Cognitive Dissonance In Trading

Hey Guys welcome back!!

The last 4 weeks I have been in a Roller coaster whether it be my equity curve or emotions. I’ve had consistent states of cognitive dissonance.

Cognitive dissonance – the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change.

In Trading this happens when your thoughts and belief contradict your behaviors/ actions. This has happened to me multiple times this week. whether its me saying I will not trade then continue to trade or me saying that I would take 3 trades but then proceed to take 17(seriously). These behaviors will definitely lead me to failure and crashing and burning earlier than later. I’ve told many people I do not want to make another deposit this year. What is the point of me trading if I’m continuously making deposits only to give it to the market and other traders. In the last 2 weeks alone I’ve doubled my account only take a big hit in 1 day from not being consistent and disciplined. After thinking and really trying to understand why I have these bad behaviors, what I found was that it was a result of my emotions, specifically GREED

Greed – A selfish and excessive desire for more of something (such as money) than is needed

Continue reading “Distorted Thoughts and Cognitive Dissonance In Trading” →

Greatest Challenges this week (FEB 23- 28)

Challenges

controlling the amount of trades I took
trading after hours
controlling the lot size
managing the risk (stop loss of a trade)

fixes!

follow my contract schedule!
dont trade after hours
keep stop loss less than $3

My goal this week will be to take 3 trades a day and accept the W or L. All I need to do is follow the plan and be consistent!!

The Mindset of a trader

Hi guys,

So last week was traumatic lol. L’s on L’s but that is okay, you know you blow up and come to a realization then blow up again then you need to re-build. I’ve been thinking about my whole idea of living off of trading and I feel like it is leaking into my day trading activities and creating issues for me managing my risk. I know I’ve said i am happy with 5-10% for the week but am I truly happy with that if I continue trading?? you see me continuing to trade contradicts the idea that I am happy with 5-10% for the week. then am I truly happy with that if I full margin after? I dont think so. so now the question is how do I change my mindset. Today during the FX review for the week this came up and I realized shit, I really do need to go to a mindset from living off of trading to earning additional income from trading. sure my job can give me x amount of dollars a year but if I can make even half my income trading then I am deemed successful. I may not be able to live off of it but over the long run I definitely will. peep this.. 50% on a 10K account is 15K end of the year then 50% again we are at 22.5K… 33.75K…. 50K…. 75K…. 113K. anyway you get the point in the long run consistency and small gains will grow your account exponentially and you will have more money to make more money. This is how you get to the point of living off your trading.

The other question I need to ask myself is why I trade? Continue reading “The Mindset of a trader” →

More Trading, More Loses, More Risk, More Everything (back dated March 8th, 2018, NFP)

Hey guys, so I’m back after losing control and also after a week long work trip. The journey must continue though. Finally completed my first full trading week. I got back on the 28th of February and proceeded to break many of my rules into Friday, March 8th

Journal entry from Friday March 8th below: Continue reading “More Trading, More Loses, More Risk, More Everything (back dated March 8th, 2018, NFP)” →

A FRESH START – I’m back once again DECEMBER 2020

Hi guys,

its now December 2020 the 14th 1:30am. I’m on my trading journey once again. I am turning 30 in about 2 months and still not successful in the trading game. My goals for the next few years involve myself getting a house, increasing my income whether its through trading or a new job and working towards my long term goals. Right now Trading and Python programming are the two skills I am working on. I’m hoping they will both provide ROI since I am spending quite some time on them. During this week I will work on a risk schedule for my account size and also start sharing how I will trade and the good trades I have taken during the week.

Account details below:

https://www.forexfactory.com/natefx/197365

Back here once again… Trading woes

Hi guys I am back here once again. The year is ending and nothing to show for it. I’m not even sure if I’ve progressed mentally. I remember back in April when I got back to break even I stopped being disciplined once and that was the demise of my account. anyway, I am still emotional, losing money and asking myself why I did that trade if its not apart of the plan….. Depositing money and losing everything once again…. I still have student loans to pay for and credit card debt so maybe I should have actually sent my money there instead. so How’d I get here again?? Lack of discipline, control and greeed! To be honest I thought about giving trading another 2 years before I call it quits. I understand that for some trading can take 4-5 years to actually become profitable but that may not happen. I know its possible to make money in this industry and be free but I need to want it enough to follow the plan. Every time I open a large position I dont even question what it can do to my account. On the other hand I know I can be satisfied making 20$-35$ a day. that comes out to be 400-700 $ a month or 4-8K for the year and as I become a better trader that will only increase gradually. The next step for me right now is to save up for the remainder of the year and start fresh 2019. I will set some new daily/ week and monthly goals and continue from there with a new plan. Before I do that though I need to identify exactly what wrong this year for me.

My trading weaknesses/bad habits:

Emotional -Revenge Trader
- fear, anger, too over confident, happy
Over-trading=> too much chart time
- Greed
Poor Risk Management
- lots too big, risk not identified properly, poor SL placement
No discipline to trade strategy consistently
- boredom causing stupid trades
Not Patient
- early entry, cutting winners

So how the fuck do I combat this?

Well In the past what really really worked for me was having a risk manager. That was short lived though because I cant have someone watching over my account forever. While I did have a risk manager though I did work on limiting my trades and also lots opened in a day which made me only open up my “Best trade” and after 3 months I was able to earn about 2.2K so about 700+ a months and breaking even. after that though I took a huge tumble and been ever since.

I think limiting lots opened and applying daily risk limit will up my game but how would I enforce this limit!? Thats the biggest issue again which comes back to discipline and risk management. Like I can post my daily report just for accountability. but again who will help me maintain that?…. so again it comes down to me. how much I really want this.

End of day setting the lot limit and daily/weekly risk limit will definitely get rid of all of those weaknesses above. a set lot limit will effectively make me patient and wait for the best setup, increase my risk management, and also reduce over trading if I only have a set limit to trade. As for as emotional trading goes that will come down to discipline. will I be disciplined enough to not open that next trade after a win or a lose….

I think thats it. I’ll revise the risk management plan and prepare for next year by back testing. My next post will identify what I am trading once again!

thanks for reading all if anyone is lol.

Trading Goals (September 23rd – 28th)

I think I will start doing this weekly so I can keep myself more accountable instead of leaving it all in my excel sheets. So after reviewing my tradings last week for the 2 days I traded I noticed a few alarming things.

lots size is still way to large
risk to high
too many trades during work hours
traded on phone during high volatility
more than half my trades were outside of my plan (how I’d like to trade)

so how will we go into this week doing a little less of those. I think the best way to conquer these all at the same time is to create a process geared towards risk, lot size, and clearly identifying my trading hours. This way I can be waaaay more process oriented and find ways to tweak and modify my process which will inturn change my behaviour once I consistently follow the process.

CREATE A CHECKLIST to use for alllll trades!!! thats it.

anyway just a thought for the week. I will begin working on the process and document my journey as I continue trading.

failed before I even got to POST THIS LMFAO

anyway, eliminated phone trades. legit did 1.5K on my phone in an hr.

What I’ve learned thus far….as a trader

So as of now I would be trading about 2 years serious and then about 4 yrs overall. It’s kind of crazy seeing how I haven’t even made it yet. I know what your thinking, why hasn’t he quit? why is he burning money? is he fucking stupid? well?

Truthfully, I am flawed as a trader…. I am human after all. I am not disciplined, I am chasing Money and need to continuously work on my psychology. Even now when I think about only risking 1% a trade and being consistent I’d be living life and profitable. Earlier this year, I made a goal for myself to earn 1 Million dollars from trading. I know what your thinking. is he fking serious? Yes I was, you know I think you should always be shooting for the stars.

So as of now I failed. I failed because I couldn’t stick to the process and I couldn’t remain consistent. all this mean is that I need to pivot, create new goals going in the end of the year and into next year. I will be starting over and will do it better.

I’ve connected my new account to myfxbook and deposited 500. This is live and will continue to leave it up. If you have any questions about how I trade or what trade comment below or send a message to NateFX@outlook.com.

Lets get these pips boys

cya

I’m still trading

Hey guys,

its been a long time, been trading a much smaller account and even trading less position and size! This week I’ve had a really good week earning 16% on my account balance since Sunday. I feel risking only 1-2% to make 1-3% will lead to long term success especially if you know how to set your position size correctly. Not only that but it calms the nerves since the size is small and allows you to think easier while in the position.

anyway just a little blurb until I get my account back to B.E.

cheers,

Bad Trading Habits

Hey guys,

I know we all have bad habits between life and trading! As a trader its in your best interest to have good habits because often bad habit you have in life can creep into your trading. The best example of this is discipline. Discipline is rarely practiced on our own. we go to work because we know we will be accountable and if we dont go then we get fired. As a trader you must create your own rules to become successful and disciplined. if you dont have rules that apply to risk or a strategy then how do you track your consistency? how will you know what your doing right and wrong? how exactly will you know when your disciplined vs not disciplined?

All these question are questions you should ask yourself as a beginner, intermediate and even advanced trader because there is always room for improvement.

TRUST THE PROCESS!

Am I ready?

Hey guys, this post is actually well over due, I had one of my best trading days this month and it may turn out to be my best week yet. My risk was consistent and lots size in control, everything on point. In addition to that I was sooo very close to break even (2K) curve (by the time I wrote this I was already 10% for the year 🙂 then back down to -40% and now coming back to this again 2 weeks later im 5% for the year after doing a huge YO-YO in my equity curve. below you’ll notice I had a good 2 days to start and then massive drawdown for the next 4 days. I hate when loses come, I feel loses are obviously inevitable in this business but one must always control the risk or you will blow the F up.

anyway I’ve been meaning to write this post since May 10. “Am I ready?” It’s funny because the post before this I talked about almost making it and essentially being ready. Next thing you know I blow 700 in a day. I think fear is always a good thing just not while trading. My biggest fear right now is to not be successful as trader once I decide to leave.

Can’t remember where I was going with this post so I will stop here.

My goals going into next week and to follow for the rest of the year:

not trade on friday
keep my risk consistent
only take my BEST TRADES!!
control my damn lot size for the day and my trade limits!

anyway wish me luck,

cheers,