Daily Review

It's just been frustrating with my flat-lining performance over the last month. I mean to think of it, it's really unbelievable. I've lost the momentum, I'm not making any money. Now that I've got a much lower commission structure, more margin $$ to play with, I should be doing better than before right? No. That's the struggle I've been going through everyday in the last 3 weeks. Something isn't working right and I've yet found the right answer to increase my p&l.

Some of the reasons I've pondered upon are:

1. tremendous pressure to perform - i need to start making $$ quick.
   
2. # 1 leads me to trade more often, but low probability trades
3. afraid to lose & not entering good setups because "what if it fails"; not letting winning trades run enough
4. wanting to be right, and started hoping when market goes against me. - only happened once (last post), but was enough to do a major damage to erase days of profitability.
   

So there, I think those are the causes of my underperformance. And if you want to generalize all those 4 problems, they are all related to my thinking/emotions. That's right, it's all in my head. The pressure to perform is in my head. I am the one putting pressure onto myself. I started trading more often, because I needed to make more trades in hopes of making more $$. But more trades NEVER/RARELY equal to more profitability. #3, I need to recognize that my concerns are normal, but I need to enter good setups because only good setups pay in the long run. #4 was talked about much in last post and I am taking great effort not to do it again. To do that, you need to DEFINE your loss target before you enter a trade, so there's no rationalizing about a stop loss once you've entered a trade.

I know all of these things. But why am I committing these mistakes over and over again? I think I just need to take it easy when facing this transition (committing more time to trading). For the time being, I still think that this has been a transitional process. And I just need to take it easy.

I remember when I first started Kendo, I felt awkward of every new move my Sensei had taught of me. But as I made more practice of the same moves over and over again, there was a point in time that the moves just clicked in my head. It's like an on/off button being pressed in your head, and for all the months that it's been "off", somehow one day it's been mysteriously turned "on". I couldn't explain it, but since then every move I performed, I had performed out of ease and fluency. I began to have momentum, I knew how to combine certain moves and make the right combo attacks, etc. Everything became so natural and easy.

I think the process of trading stocks takes the same route. Some people take years, some people take months, but the successful traders are those that have the courage & determination to stay on the course no matter what - because they know, the moment of awakening, the moment of the "click" is just one more step away. I am working toward that click in my head. And I will get it.