Trades for September 2nd, 2015

Trades for September 2nd, 2015

              Today, I'm making a recap after a very long time. Things still aren't working for me as a trader and I still think a lot of it is emotional. Every time before taking a trade, I find myself considering so many things in my head. I need to try and work on being mechanical and have a max loss per trade and a max loss per day. I need to become more mechanical in my trading and just have set risks.

Was reading @JGram135 's blog the other day and in it he poses the question, "are you really committed?". This kind of stood out to me because I want to become a successful trader but I don't study every night, I never make watchlists anymore, and I never do the most important thing which is go over my trades, winners or losers. Which from now on I am going to go over my trades and see what I did wrong. 

Today I only traded 1 ticker two times. $BVXV had an insane run up in the morning. Looking back, in premarket when it stalled going to the 6 mark, it was a good risk/reward trade. Risk 10 cents with the potential of a long ways down. I didn't take this but saw a lot of people that did. 

When it opened after the pull back to 5.40s from the top, it popped to 5.70s and it was game over from there. I got short in the 3rd candle. but why did I get short? I don't know. Sure you could say after the fact that it was weak but I didn't know shit about that at the time. I got short because I didn't want to miss the move and be left out of everyone banking on it. That's one of my major issues. I'm always so concerned about making money off big moves that I tend to ignore the technicals. I made money off the quick cover but need to note that this is obviously not a sustainable way of doing things.

After making a quick buck there, I wanted more of the action. I think my mistake here was not waiting for a rebound to short and just kind of did it randomly. My second mistake was that I didn't have a set risk. When you dont have a set risk, you tend to cover randomly. And I did exactly that. Literally after my cover, the stock never went higher than that, and it possible never will in it's life lol. 

Lessons:

1- Emotions - this one will possibly be a lesson in every one of my recaps. Stop thinking with emotion, stop thinking "How much could I make with this trade?" or "How much are commissions going to be on this trade?". Think like a robot: see the technicals, understand the technicals. Set your risk and take the trade. 

2- Risk- Reiterating this point. Need to have a set risk per trade, if you reach that risk..then get out of the trade. Then it has nothing to do with emotions and you are more mechanical. Before, I tended to end a trade whenever I 'felt' it wouldn't work. This is such a pathetic strategy once you think about it. 

3-Missing out- Don't be so worried about missing out on a trade, if you missed it, don't worry. The market isn't going anywhere.